I Was Hoping For A Quiet Life, But You Gave Me So Much More

That Was Fun

Going back to school was rough at first. Liam had only been out for two days, but they were two days in the second week when everything really started. He had some homework and felt like he was already behind in some of his classes. There were also migraines. Melissa said they were a common side effect of concussions, and that they would go away, with time. Liam had to leave Bio, run out the back door, and sit in the bathroom with the lights off for 15 minutes. Even the smallest amount of light made his headache. He took an Excedrin and was fine a little while later. That had been the worst one.

Thankfully by Saturday, he had managed to finish up and understand all of his class assignments, and the migraines had become more of a constant pulse, ringing in his ears.

He found that his nightmares had gotten worse. Not really surprising after you go through, yet another, traumatic experience. These were different from the others. For the past year or so the dream had always been the same, painful, experience. However, now, when he closed his eyes, he saw the eyes of the man pointing a gun directly at his head. His eyes, a dark brown, were the man's eyes, but his face. In his face he saw his father, eyes no longer blue, but replaced with the only other person who had almost killed him. He didn't think the majority of people had more than one person on that list, or hopefully any at all. But here he was, waking up in a cold sweat, dreaming about his almost-murderers.

He felt strange looking around his room like something had changed.

But nothing was out of place, no one was around except Isaac, who he heard downstairs. Mumbling incoherent words to Scott. Liam had told him he could invite Scott over, but Isaac was insistent that it wasn't a big deal. Liam could tell by the way he nervously shifted when he spoke to him that he was incredibly nervous. He wanted to see Scott, but he really just wanted to be WITH Scott. In a way that would be really weird if anyone else were around.

Liam was able to make it through the next week of school with relative ease. He found that as long as he paid attention and asked questions periodically that his teachers really liked him. It was part of a 'plan' he had come up with pretty early on in his school career. As long as he was nice and did his work for the first two or three months, most teachers didn't care when you started turning in late work or going to the bathroom for long periods of time to take a break.

Liam sometimes fell into seasonal depression. Winters were hard on him. Usually it was because he was trapped in the house with his father, if there was a lot of snow or if it was too cold. He usually missed a lot of classes and homework in the winter, so his 'plan' made teachers more lenient.

The Saturday after the third week of school, Liam was home alone, Isaac and Scott had gone out. Liam was doing laundry when he heard a knock on the door. He left the basket in the laundry room and made his way to the front door. When he opened it he was met with a very happy looking Theo.

"Hey!" Liam greeted joyfully, "What are you doing here?"

Theo smiled, "I- um- my first day of school is Monday."

Liam smiled bigger than he had in a long time, "Oh my god! That's awesome!" He pulled Theo into a hug. Theo hesitated in surprise, his arms hovering over Liam's back before they settled comfortably around his shoulders. Liam relaxed his arms and stepped back, his face slightly flushed, "Uh, did you already take your placement tests?"

Theo smiled, "Yeah," He scratched the back of his neck, "I actually did pretty well."

"Really? That's great!" Liam was jumping slightly with excitement.

They made their way to the couch as they spoke.

"Yeah," Theo said sitting down, "I'm a little behind in everything, but with some extra work outside of school I should be alright. And, uh, I'm actually ahead in science."