Playing Poker [BEING REWRITTEN]

10| Father

Rayland

"What the hell happened to your face?"

He turned his head to the side shielding his face from me. He rubbed at his eyes, they turned more red than before.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You want to tell me what happened?" He stared at me for a moment and hesitantly nodded.

Hayden

Liam's car pulled out of the school parking lot as soon as I stepped out. I waved a pitiful goodbye when he was still in view, doubting he could still see me.

"Aww, is Hayden sad that big bubba is leaving?" Dylan mocked, pushing me into the street.

My school life was shit if I was being honest. All of middle school I was picked on for not having a mom. At first, people mocked me, they made fun of my every move but when that wasn't enough for them, they began physical violence.

Dylan, Giovanni, Cai, and Fallon were the regulars. They were well-known around school, not likeable but well-known. Nobody had the balls to tell them they were the most hated people in the school because they could make your reputation plummet to the ground- not that I cared at this point.

My brothers don't know about my bullying, I didn't want to burden them with my minor issues if I could just deal with it. I'm surprised they haven't found out about it, I was never the best at hiding it. They were never very observant and neither was dad. Sometimes it felt like I was always forgotten until Rayland came along; she made me feel a bit better.

"Hayden, I'm talking to you." Cai screamed. I resisted the urge to wipe his saliva off my face.

"Come on, be nice. He's probably thinking about his mom." Fallon laughed. I got up and headed to the main entrance of the middle school.

"Not so fast buddy." Dylan pulled the hood of my jacket, cutting off any air circulation. I landed on my butt when the three of them started laughing at me. Giovanni watched with sympathy.

Giovanni was the shyest of the group. He's not a mean person but he never stopped the bullying, he just watched as kids got picked on everyday, following behind the crowd. Coward.

Punches started flying toward my face before I could block them. Eventually, I laid there and let it happen.

You're pathetic.

I know.

Playing Poker

"Are you okay bub? You look tired."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a late night." I laughed, it wasn't genuine though.

"Come on." Liam ushered me out of the car. I went to my room and lay in my bed, contemplating on whether or not to talk to someone. It gets boring when you only have your thoughts to occupy yourself.

I decided I would go to Rayland's room because it was the closest. Fallon stomped on my knee, I was in pain all day.

I jumped on top of her bed despite the pain.

"Hey, bud. How was school today?" I froze at the question.

"It was good. Wait, let me show you what I got on my test." I tried to change the subject. I ran out of the room but before I made it out the door, my knee gave out. I was ready to face the impact until I felt someone catch me

"Woah, are you okay?" She looked at me concerned. This question was enough to make me sob into her lap. After a few minutes, I lift my head up to look up at her. She shot a soft smile at me but her face slowly formed into a mad expression. I thought her anger was directed towards me but I realized she was staring at my check.