It's been a few days now and the school week is almost over. I have been bombarded with school work this week and I hate it. I'm the type of student that doesn't need to study or do homework to get good grades, however my teachers get mad when I don't do it and I end up getting detention. So I try my best to stay on top of it.

I haven't had football since Tuesday. We usually practice almost every day after school but coach got sick this week and was unable to come.

It's also been a couple days since I've seen George. He hasn't been to school since I last saw him on Tuesday in the locker rooms. George isn't the type to miss a bunch of school days because unlike me, he needs to pay attention in class in order to maintain his grades. I only know this because the amount of times he bickers and complains to me about how its unfair is absurd.

My mind keeps lingering back to that day. To the bruises on his stomach, the look on his face when he noticed me but quickly covered it up with a playful smile, to the feeling of his wrist in my hand. I couldn't shake the incident from my mind and its been frustrating.

On Tuesday I didn't think too much of it when he missed that morning, but maybe something had happened and that was why he was late.

When Wednesday came I was a little skeptical. A lot of the boys were as well. They had asked Braden if he has heard from George and he vaguely said something about him being sick. The boys just accepted it and carried on with their day. Well everyone except Nick.

Nick gave him a stern look and asked if he could speak to him later, which Braden hesitantly agreed to. I have a feeling Nick knows something and that's what I wanted to ask him about today.

It is now Thursday and George is still not at school. I'm starting to get a little worried about him. Has something even worse happened? I hope not.

Well I mean I don't like him but no one deserves that I guess.

It's now lunch and I ask Nick if he wants to go out to eat today instead of staying in the cafeteria.

"Only if you let me drive" he replies arms crossed with a huge grin on his face.

"What? No way" I say.

"Are you serious? You let that bitch Braden drive it and not me" he says seeming offended by my response.

"Bitch? Since when don't you like Braden?" I question. Knowing Nick that isn't such an out of pocket thing for him to call someone he actually likes, but the tone he used seemed like he meant it. They used to be pretty good friends so I'm a little taken aback when he calls him that.

"I meant it lightheartedly" he flashes me a sarcastic smile. "Let me drive or have fun eating alone in your car" he closes his locker and starts walking towards the cafeteria.

"Okay!" I yell after him and he turns around slowly.

"Ok what?" he smirks.

"You can drive my car" I roll my eyes and turn to walk out the front doors leading to the parking lot. I hear cheering coming from behind me and he sprints to catch up with me. "I swear Nick if you crash my fucking car I'll-"

"I won't chill man!" He excitedly interrupts me. I try and hid my smile, he seems happy with the whole situation and as much as I don't want this to happen it's funny seeing him get this excited over it.

We get into my car and I laugh when he has to pull the seat up enough so he can touch the peddles.

Which earns me a punch to the arm.

I am now rubbing my arm in pain.

"Where do you wanna eat?" he asks keeping his eyes forward which I am grateful for. At least he cares enough to be cautious when driving my car. "I don't care" I shrug.

"McDonald's it is!" he shouts and turns into the drive thru. We order what we want and Nick parks my car in the parking lot. We start talking about football, then leading to coach and this is when I take the opportunity to bring George up.

"Yeah maybe there's some type of bug going around since George is sick too" I say setting up the conversation perfectly. Nick quietly responds turning to look out the window, "yeah maybe"

"Have you heard from him recently?" I ask curiously while taking another bite of my Big Mac.

"No" he says keeping his answers short. I don't understand, he's my bestfriend why won't he just tell me what's going on.

"I'm worried about him" the words roll of my tongue before I even registered what I just said. His head snaps and he gives me a confused look. "You? You hate the guy" he laughs, "he's only sick man calm down" he tries to reassure me.

"I don't believe it." I tell him.

"What do you mean?" Now he's the one wondering what I know, and I decide to tell him. I tell him about the bruises I saw on his stomach and the way he tried to brush off the conversation, I tell him about how I think Braden is lying and something else is going on with George.

"He is lying" he mumbles quietly, looking down at his lap while fidgeting with his thumbs.

"Nick, if you know something you can tell me okay? We are best friends" I reassure him and put my hand on his shoulder, he looks up at me and flashes me a small smile before turning back to his neutral face. "Look, he didn't want me to say anything, and I doubt he would want you out of all people to find out."

"Its not about that, someone is hurting him, all this other bullshit doesn't really matter right now" I respond coldly.

"Well, on Monday I..." He pauses and huffs before continuing, "I saw him getting beat up in the hallway. Of course I intervened I mean George is a good friend of mine. He seemed really hurt and he was bleeding. Fuck the guy couldn't even stand properly. I tried to help him but he pushed me away and told me it was fine, that it was a one time thing." He stops talking and I start getting angry. I can't believe someone at school had been the cause of this. I'm completely taken by surprise, who would want to hurt George? Almost everyone is friends with him and if not that, they respect him.

"Who hurt him" I ask through gritted teeth. Thinking about how Nick just said he was practically passed out when he found him. I can't even picture the situation in my head, but the more I think about it the more upset I get.

"Dude why are you getting so defensive, you don't even like the guy"

"Just tell me who it was Nick" I ask again my tone stiff.

"It was Braden." He says quietly.

"BRADEN? What the fuck why would he hurt George, I thought they were perfect" I'm in shock. How could Braden be the one that caused all those bruises. Every time I see them together they act so happy and loving towards each other. Maybe a few times I have been a little skeptical over but never would I have thought he would be abusing him. George doesn't deserve that, Braden is just some random guy that no one would talk to until he started dating George. I guess the popularity got to this guy, because I don't understand in what world he thought he could do this to George and get away with it.

In fact, George could easily have everyone in the school hate him, and I don't even mean by him telling everyone the situation he's going through, the whole school does what he says. Well, if I agree to it, which in this case I would. So if he were to hate Braden for whatever reason, then the whole school would. That sounds super dramatic, but that's the dynamic of our school.

Nick pulls me from my thoughts when he clears his throat. "I don't know Clay, you can't tell anyone got it?" he says harshly.

"I won't. However this guy is gonna get the beating of his life" I realize how hard I'm holding my drink when it starts breaking and the liquid starts pouring out. I soften my hold and clean up the mess. "No! You can't do anything, George said it will only make it worse for him" he sighs and I can tell he wanted to do it too.

"So what do we do?" I ask desperately trying to find a solution.

"We do nothing, if George needs anything I told him he could talk to me" he starts the car and starts driving back towards the school.

"We can't do nothing? He needs help" I continue to argue.

"Its George we are talking about, he can handle himself" Nick replies. "No he can't Braden is like twice his size!" I raise my voice because I am so frustrated right now.

"Clay why do you care so much? The guy hates you" A silence falls between us and I don't know what to answer with. He looks over at me with a smug smile on his face.

"You don't, like him... Do you?" He asks with a hint of implication behind his words. I stiffen in my seat. "What? Don't be dumb. I just don't think abuse should be a thing" I try and say convincingly but the words I just uttered sounded like I was in a 5th grade debate class.

"Whatever you say dude, you already admitted to me that one day that you found him attractive." He continues to pester.

"When did I ever say that?" I try and remember back to a time I had ever said that. At least out loud, but I fall short. "When you were drunk at George's party" he says.

I scoff, "I was drunk, it doesn't mean anything"

"You know what they say" he finally pulls into the school and turns to me. "Drunk words are sober thoughts." He flashes me a playful smile and gets out of the car.

I try and push the conversation to the back of my mind and focus on what's important here.

No way in hell am I letting this whole Braden situation slide.