Broken Pieces

Chapter 4

*TW: Slight mention homophobia and of drug use*

*Evan's POV*

Here I am sitting on a couch in a strange apartment next to my ex best friend, who also happens to be my first love. We are at his brothers apartment trying to do this stupid fucking assignment for debate, this is truly hell on earth.

The person next to me is not the boy I grew up with. The green eyes that were once so vibrant and full of life are now dull and hallow. His long brown hair is now cut short and neat. A loose white shirt and light baggy jeans hung on his tiny, tall frame.

To the naked eye, he looked fine. But to me, he looked broken. A shallow, hallow shell of what once was.

It almost made me feel sorry for him........almost.

Then I remember that HE was the one that had his sister kick me out of their home. The one that couldn't face me himself, so he had his come in the dead of night to tell my parents what a despicable fag I am.

My parents had to slam the door in their faces, it took hours to calm me down.

If that wasn't enough, those assholes thought it was a good idea to out me in front of the entire congregation. They thought I would be a good example to show everyone what happens when you choose the sinful path. My family hasn't been back there since.

That Sunday night I ended up going to a party thrown by a sophomore I barely knew. I thought it would be a good way to forget about that previous week. When I got there, there was a lot going on. It was almost overwhelming, then I stumbled into a room where they were doing cocaine. I don't know why I tried it, I was just in such a dark place; I figured what's the worst that could happen? And that's all it took.

By the time school start a month and a half later I was hanging with a new group that I met the night of the party, and smoking, drinking, and doing drugs almost daily. It made it forget how shitty my life has become.

I had one friend left from before everything hit the fan, Tyler. I refused to call or text him back after the day I was outed. His family is close to Daniels, to me, he was already against me. I know I couldn't avoid him forever, but I could over the summer.

The first week of freshmen year, I finally ran into him. My friend, Jay, and I just finished a line in the bathroom and I did not want my high ruined already. He attempted to talk to me, so I punched him square in the face. Got me suspended for two days, but I really didn't care. The old me was dead.

I quickly gained a new reputation as someone not to fuck with, as I slowly came undone. By my sophomore year I was sneaking vodka into class in water bottles and skipping class more than I was showing up. My parents were aware of the new reputation and the skipping, but knew nothing about my other new habits. Not that I was around them long enough to find out.

Half way through that school year, a new kid moved to town. His name was Alex, and we quickly bonded. It was the first real friendship I felt I've had since Daniel and Tyler. However, the more we hung out, the harder it became it hide my dirty secrets.

He caught me one day after following me to a party and I finally broke down and told him everything that has happened to me over the last year and half. The bullying, the looks and murmurs I get from older people in town just by existing, the stupid church that outed me, and the drugs. After some convincing from him, I finally told my parents. There were a lot of tears that day, I'll never forget it. I finally saw how my actions effected everyone around me and how I was starting to slip into a hole that would become very difficult to crawl out of.

They immediately got me into an after school program to help my addicts, got me into therapy, and really started being there for me. For a while, they did not like me out of their site. If they did, Alex was the watchdog. It annoyed the hell out of me at first, and I was a dick to all of them during my withdrawals; but we made it through somehow.