Ryan caught the late bus home that afternoon. He sat in his seat quietly as the bus rumbled on, just thinking about his detention experience.

After Urie had left, it had been really quiet. Ryan just sat perfectly still in his seat until the time was up. The teacher, Mr. Howell, didn't even seem that surprised by the absence of the boy that had been sitting next to Ryan.

"Add a day..." He sighed, marking something down on a piece of paper as he excused the students by first name, for some reason. His name had to be somewhere at the beginning of the alphabet.

Ryan didn't think he'd ever really know. He didn't plan on enduring that again any time soon. It had felt like the longest day of his life, and he wasn't even home yet.

Speaking of home, as Ryan thought about it, the bus pulled up to his stop. Ryan grabbed his backpack and hurried down the middle isle, quietly thanking the bus driver before thudding down the bus steps.

The bus dropped him just a street away from his house. Ryan ran that street, feeling like he wanted to die when he finally thudded to a regular walking pace. He panted as he walked up the driveway to his dully lit home.

The street lights were just starting to flicker on as he made it up to the door. He dug in his pocket for his keys, listening to the noise of the TV on the other side of the door.

"Ryan? Is that you?" A soft voice called out when Ryan did manage to get the door open.

Ryan smiled sadly as he closed the door softly behind him. "Yes, Mom." He called out, walking down the hallway to get to the kitchen. "I'm sorry I was late today! I was..."

"It's alright, Ryan, Mrs. Stump just left. I haven't been home alone long."

Ryan sighed in relief. It was just he and his mother in the home, ever since he could remember. They had been decently set, at first, but that was before Ryan's mother got sick. She now needed help with the simplest things, causing the families friend, Mrs. Stump, to come over during the day. Ryan took care of her the rest of the time; that time usually starting as soon as he got home from school.

When Ryan stepped into the kitchen, he found a small pot of spaghetti on the stove. "Did Mrs. Stump make dinner?" He asked, feeling his stomach grumble as he stepped closer to the stove.

"Yes! It's very good." His mother responded.

Ryan grinned, moving quickly to grab a bowl from the cabinet. His stomach was speaking and he definitely didn't want to deny it. "So you had some?" He asked, loudly, as he pulled a spoon from the dishwasher he'd have to fully unload later and let it clang against his bowl.

"As much as I could eat. Which wasn't a lot, I'm afraid."

Ryan nodded as he walked through the kitchen to step into the living room. His mother was in there, sitting in a large, recliner chair. She had several large blankets covering her lap that went all the way down to the floor. It made her look so much smaller than she already was after all her treatments and long term sickness. She smiled at him, making him smile back.

"You were at school late today." She commented as Ryan walked to the couch behind a small coffee table, "Did you have some tutoring? Or where you trying out for some sports?"

Ryan laughed as he set his bowl on the table and slid off his backpack. "I don't sports, mom. It was... The tutoring, yea, this Urie kid..." Ryan bit his lip after the lie came out of his mouth. What the hell was that? He hated lying, how had he just lied to his mother?

Because he didn't want to admit he had done something to disappoint her.

She seemed oblivious to the twist of truth, however, continuing to smile at him. "That's nice. You're such a good boy, Ryan." She reached out and patted his arm.

Ryan smiled, feeling guilt fill him. He wasn't sure what he hated more, lying about what he had been doing, or the possibility of her disappointment at his getting detention.

Instead of talking about that, Ryan diverted the conversation to the show playing lowly on TV. They talked and watched, Ryan slowly eating his spaghetti in the process, before he sighed.

"I should probably go get some homework done." He said, scratching the back of his head.

"Okay, Ryan." His mother nodded. He stood up, grabbing his now empty bowl and backpack, but she stuck out her hand. "Would you please hand me the remote on your way out?" She asked, to which Ryan nodded.

He shifted his bag into his shoulder before grabbing the remote and walking it over to his mom. She thanked him softly, giving him that smile she kept plastered on her face to cover up her pain. He gave one back as he walked through the living room to dump his plate in the sink and hurry to the stairs in the main hall.

"I'll come down and check on you later!" Ryan called out before taking the steps two at a time. He didn't hear her soft response as he made the swift movement of skipping the last step with a jump and rushing to his room just around the corner.

His backpack was dropped right at the doorway as his feet lead him to his bed, plopping down on it, face first. He used his arms to cover his head before closing his eyes. Detention. Lying. This was possibly the worst day of Ryan's life. He wasn't the type to get in trouble like this, but here he was with two bad things under his belt in under twelve hours. He was going to let it eat him away, especially the lying to his mom.

Ryan groaned, rolling over into his back before sitting up. "It's just a white lie..." He muttered to himself, "Mrs. Stump was with her while I was gone, she was okay..." He reached up and tugged at his hair, the only thing going through his mind being things that may have happened if his mother had been home alone.

She had been so weak since she had gotten sick, Ryan was always so afraid for her. He was afraid of her having a complication while he was out, or worse. She told him not to worry, but he couldn't help it. With it just being the two of them, Ryan didn't want to loose her. So, he did his best to make her proud with his academic success and helpfulness around the house.

Ryan sighed, standing up to go get his backpack. He missed going out with friends after school and on weekends, but he was more afraid of being alone in the world. He had friends, but he only had one mom.

He grabbed the bag from the floor, thinking about what that Urie kid had said about being bad. "If being bad feels like this so far, there's no way in hell any other part of it could feel good." He muttered to himself as he walked over to his desk. He hadn't even done anything very wrong, and he felt queezy to his stomach.

He sat at the desk, tapping his hand on it's wooden top while looking at the wall in front of him. He had some small versions of movie posters, such as: Deadpool, The Avengers, Ghostbusters, and Corpse Bride. He smiled as he looked at them. If life was as simple as a well acted script, maybe he wouldn't be this conflicted about the events of the day.

"Just sit back and relax..." He spoke lowly to himself with the exhale of breath, "Tomorrow it'll just reset. No detention, no lies, and no worries... As long as you finish the math homework." He groaned at his finisher for the pep talk. He'd much rather sleep, but he knew he needed to get this done.

He simply continued to mutter to himself as he unzipped and dug into his backpack to pull his assignments out through the clutter. He finally pulled them out before slapping them to the desk. He stared at them a moment, trying to focus his thoughts, before grabbing a pencil and opening a notebook to set to work.