From underdogs to top dogs

Chapter 3

As soon as Rocky walked through the door, he wished he was somewhere other than his house. He refused to call it a home anymore. He was a mere two minutes late and his father went ballistic.

"Why the hell are you so late?!"

"I had to talk to a teacher." The boy could smell the alcohol on his so called father.

"Don't lie to me! You've been with a girl haven't you?!"

"No."

"Oh I forgot, you're not into girls. You were with a boy then?!"

"No I haven't."

"Of course not. Get out of my sight!" Rocky ran into his room and locked his door behind him. The man downstairs didn't know about the lock but it made Rocky feel somewhat safe.

He looked around at his few possessions; his bed, drawer unit with hardly anything in it and he reached under his pillow for his most precious item.

His fingers held the photo as if it were about to break. One single tear fell onto the once shiny surface of the paper. He looked at the image for a while. It showed himself, a few years ago, age 11, with a kind looking woman with the same silver colour hair and golden brown eyes.

"Oh mum why did you leave me here?" He asked the photo.

In the past four years he had never spoken to anybody about the day he lost her, no one ever seemed to care about him now they just wanted to make his life miserable.

He thought about his day and how when everyone seemed to be against him, Skye and Chase offered him some form of comfort.

He reached into his bag for his phone and opened up his contacts, scrolling to the brunette's number. The two had worked together once in science the previous year but only ever spoke about the work, both of them wanted to avoid the other picking on them like everyone else did.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this. " he muttered. Pressing the call button.

Meanwhile, said brown haired boy was sat on a swing in the park, his best friend, Marshall next to him.

"So how'd you do today?" Chase looked at the black haired boy who's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Came second in solos."

"Well done Marsh. Kinda missed you at school today."

"What do you mean kinda?" He playfully punched his arm. "Talk to anyone new?" Marshall knew about Chase's problems and how difficult he found it to talk to people.

"Two actually. Rocky, you know? The kid I worked with last year in science and-" Chase was cut off by his phone ringing. It was Rocky.

He answered the call and listened to the panic in the fair haired boys voice. Marshall listened to what his best friend was saying.

"Woah Rocky slow down. What's wrong? Meet me at the park. Just me and Marshall but I was gonna see if Skye wanted to come. Ok see you soon." Marshall looked at his friend shocked.

"What?" Chase said.

"Not only have you made two friends but one is a girl!"

"It's no big deal. Anyway your lockers next to mine and some kid named Zuma." Chase desperately avoided the topic of girls when it came to Marshall.

"Cool. Hey is that the new girl, Skye?" He asked, peering at the Instagram profile picture on Chase's phone.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Why?! Do you now know who she is?!"

"Marsh she's just a new girl at school." Chase laughed.

"But it's Skye Chatswood-Smith."

"Yeah I know, I'm in all her classes."

Marshall rolled his eyes. "But she's a-"

"Chase! Chase! I'm here!" Rocky called as he ran to them and collapsed down onto the grass.

"Geeze you really ran." Marshall noted. He saw the boy's face. "Have you been crying?"

"No. What makes you say that?" Rocky said, getting defensive.

"It's ok to cry Rocky." Chase left the swing and sat with the grey haired boy. Marshall followed in suit.

"Ok I've been crying. Happy now?"

"What about? Is it Ashlynne and the others again?" Marshall asked.

"Partly. Look is Skye coming?" He asked. He trusted Chase but Skye had also been kind to him and he wanted to talk to them both at once. It would make it easier for him.

"Yeah. She said she's busy but will be here soon."

"I'll explain when she gets here."

After what felt like an eternity, Skye came over to the boys. She had changed out of her outfit from earlier into a pair of leggings, hoodie, scarf and trainers. She sat herself between Rocky and Chase.

"Hey guys. What's up?" She said.

Marshall stared at her, mouth open. Chase kicked his best friend to snap him out of his daze.

"Well firstly, this is Marshall. And second, Rocky wanted to talk to us about something."

"Oh it's nothing, you'll think I'm silly." Marshall and Chase exchanged an unsure look.

"You can talk about it if you want." Skye offered.

"Nah. I'm ok now."

"It's getting dark, I should get going." Marshall said, standing up.

"Yeah me too." Chase followed in suit.

"Aw but I just got here." Skye looked up at them.

"Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow." They waved as they headed home, leaving Skye and Rocky alone.

"If you need me, I'll be here Rocky." Skye said, as she started to walk to the bus stop.

"Thanks Skye. See ya tomorrow."