That night was rough. Once I got home, I had to do all my chores. Mum yelled at me for not doing them correctly, so I had to redo them. After that, I had to get a bunch of homework done. By the end of all that, I was exhausted, and just wanted to go for a shower and go to bed. Right before heading to the shower, I stopped and looked at myself in the mirror I had over top of my dresser. I now had a massive black eye and I had a bump from where I hit my head. I couldn’t help but look at my hair in disgust. Most boys at school had short hair and looked amazing. At least they didn’t get picked on for being feminine. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pair of scissors. I could easily cut it off. Mum would probably beat me for it, but it would be worth it. I wouldn’t get picked on anymore and might actually be accepted as one of the boys for once! However, another part of me didn’t mind having long hair. I could do a lot with it, and it did suit me.
Unfortunately, people’s comments got the better of me, and I grabbed the scissors. I held them up to my hair and was about to do the big cut when Mum walked by my room.
“Kevin!! What in the world are you doing?!!” She ran into my room and yanked the scissors out of my hand. I stood there awkwardly, and kept my head down. I could feel her glare. I didn’t even have to look to know she was furious. I wanted to explain to her what happened but she wouldn’t understand. She wouldn’t even care.
“Sit.” Mum demanded. I obeyed and sat down on my bed. To my surprise, she sat down next to me.
“What’s going on?” She asked in a softer tone than usual.
“It’s nothing.”
“Which is why you were about to cut off your hair a couple seconds ago?” Mum raised a brow. “And you’ve got a massive black eye and bump? Right.”
“...Everyone just hates me.” I could feel my voice cracking. I was on the verge of tears at that point.
“Daisy doesn't hate you. Your father and I don’t hate you.” Mum said. “I know we’re hard on you, but we don’t hate you. You’re still our child.”
I stayed quiet. This was the calmest Mum was around me in a while. She usually shut me down if I even tried talking to her.
“So, mind telling what happened?” Mum asked.
I took a deep breath, let it out, and then told her what happened. She actually looked shocked.
“Wait, wait wait.” She said once I finished. “Alex did that? I thought he was your friend?”
I shrugged.
“Jeez. Well.” Mum seemed at a loss for words. “Did you tell anyone?”
I shook my head no.
“Alright. I’m calling the school. And then we’re going to Alex’s.”
“Why?”
“I want him to apologize to you.” Mum said. “That was completely uncalled for.”
“Oh, uh, it’s ok.” I mumbled. “I don’t want to make things worse-”
“No. Get your coat on. Once I call the school, we’re heading over.”
I sighed, and did as I was told. After Mum called the school and complained, we headed over to Alex’s house. I was still in shock Mum was even doing this. I thought she would’ve ignored it.
We got to the house, and went to the front door. Mum rang the doorbell, and shortly after, Alex’s parents came to the door.
“Oh, hey Kevin!” His mum smiled when she saw me. “What’s up?”
“We need to talk about Alex.” Mum said bluntly.
“Oh?”
Mum briefly told the whole story, and Alex’s parents did not look impressed in the slightest. They dragged Alex out and forced him to apologize. He didn’t really look like he cared too much though. I knew I wouldn’t be hanging around him anymore. I suppose it was fine. My senior year was almost done so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I didn’t expect the friendship to last past high school anyways.
The next day was Saturday thankfully. I woke up early, did my chores, and got my homework done. By noon I was free to do what I wanted. It was nearing the end of winter but we still had quite a bit of snow outside. Just the right amount to go sledding. There was a nearby park with a huge hill most kids used for sledding in the winter. It was a lot of fun and normally Alex and I would go quite often. However after what just happened, I wasn’t about to hang out with him again. So I asked my true best friend. Daisy.
“Hey Daisy.” I popped into her room. She was sitting on her bed getting some homework done. “Wanna go sledding?”
Her eyes lit up immediately. “Ooo! Yes!!”
“Let’s go then!” I smiled. She quickly dropped everything to get up and head to the entrance where all our outdoor gear was. We quickly got ready, grabbed our sled, and went down to the park.
We were really lucky and there was almost nobody there. It was always more fun like that.
“Alright, who’s going first?” Daisy asked. We only had one sled so we had to share.
“We could go down together.” I suggested. It was tight, but we were both able to fit on the sled. We didn’t do it too often because someone always flipped off, but it was still fun.
“Alrighty.” Daisy set down the sled and sat down on it. Daisy kept her feet planted in the snow as I got on the back end. “Ready?”
I nodded. Daisy put her feet on the sled and I gave us the boost we needed to get going. We started going slow but quickly sped up. By the time we reached full speed, I fell off the back end. I got a big mouthful of snow which sucked. Daisy traveled quite a bit further before she slowed to a stop. She let out a little cheer before we both headed back to the top of the hill. From there we took turns.
We continued sledding all afternoon. It was starting to get dark by the time we decided it was time to call it a day. We went for one more trip down the hill together before leaving, and of course, that’s where everything went wrong.
Halfway down, we both flipped and practically went flying. Daisy landed in the snow, and I landed right on top of her.
“Ow!” Daisy let out a yelp. “Get off! Get off!!”
Quickly I scrambled to get off. “Sorry!! You ok?”
“I’ll be ok…” Daisy groaned as she slowly got up. She was rubbing her lower back. “Probably gonna bruise, that’s all.”
“You sure?” I asked. “You look like you're in a lot of pain.”
“I mean, it hurts, yea, but I’ll be ok..”
I sighed.
“How about we head home?” Daisy laughed a bit. “Mum’s not gonna like us being late for dinner.”
“Yea, lets go.”
Daisy got up, and immediately flinched.
“Daisy?”
“It’s nothing.” She smiled. It was obvious she was in pain, but I couldn’t get her to admit to it. She looked like she had put out her back or something, but I wasn’t too sure. She pretty much hobbled all the way home. The one thing with Daisy was she was very stubborn, especially if it was something that could get me in trouble. If Mum found out I had accidentally hurt Daisy, she would flip out at me. Even if it was an accident.
We got home to see Mum just finishing up dinner, and Dad sitting at the table.
“There you two are!!” Mum sounded a bit pissed off. “Get your butts to the table! It's dinner!”
I quickly took off my winter gear and then helped Daisy out a bit as well. She was struggling to do certain things, but also didn’t want to make the struggle too obvious. Unfortunately, Mum noticed Daisy’s pain quite easily.
“Daisy? Dear?” Mum gave Daisy a funny look as she made her way to the table. “You ok?”
“I just took a bit of a tumble.” Daisy laughed. I stayed quiet and sat down at the table.
“Did you hurt anything?” Dad asked.
“Nah, I just landed funny and did something to my back-”
“Here let me see.” Mum put dinner onto the table and pulled up Daisy’s shirt enough to see the massive bruise that was forming.
“Well no wonder you’re in pain!” Dad chuckled. He was a lot more chill than Mum was when it came to these things. “That’s quite a bruise!”
Daisy laughed nervously. Mum had gone a bit quiet and then looked over at me. I started sweating the minute our eyes met. She knew. She knew I crashed into her. She knew I was the reason for the bruise. Daisy caught on and yanked her shirt back down and quickly sat down at the table. We both looked at her nervously. Mum glared at me a bit longer before also sitting down. For the remainder of dinner, she kept her eye one me. I knew I was in trouble.
After dinner I headed right to my room. I didn’t want to be caught around Mum. One wrong move and I’d be in for it. I kept myself entertained by getting some extra schoolwork done. I didn’t have to do the extra work, but I needed something to do. And if my grades didn’t stay up, Mum and Dad would flip at me. They expected me to maintain an average above 90. Daisy didn’t have the same rules I did though. She would only get talked to if she was getting grades below 80, and then Mum would help her out to make sure she understood the material better.
I was doing my work when I started hearing Mum and Daisy’s voices coming down the hall. Both of them sounded very upset. I tried to keep my head down and keep working, but they were too loud for me not to listen to them.
“It wasn’t his fault!!” Daisy yelled. “I told you!! It was an accident!!”
“Why do you even try to protect his useless ass?!” Mum countered.
“Useless?! Mum, he does everything you ask!! And you still yell at him for it!!”
“Because he can never do it right! He never learns!!”
“What is your problem?!”
“Him! He’s the problem! Now MOVE!!”
I heard my door open suddenly. I knew what was coming for me. I kept my head down and kept trying to do my work, even though my writing had become barely legible from the shakiness of my hands. I heard Mum stomp over to me and stand next to me. Daisy remained in the doorway, giving Mum a very upset glare.
“Look at me, boy.” Mum demanded.
Shakily, I lifted my head and looked at her. She stooped down to my level and made direct eye contact.
“Don’t you ever hurt Daisy like that again.” She hissed. “And don’t even try to tell me it was an accident. You and I both know that’s bullshit. You had some dumb idea, and pushed Daisy into it, and she got hurt because of you.”
I nodded. “Y-yes Mum.”
“Kevin!!” Daisy looked at me in shock. “Don’t agree with her!! That’s not what happened!!”
“Daisy, if you say another word, you’re in trouble.” Mum hissed. It was rare Mum used that voice with Daisy. Even if she had done something wrong, Mum always handled it differently.
“I’d rather be in trouble than to sit here and watch you bully Kevin.” Daisy hissed back.
“Don’t use that tone with me young lady.” Mum stood up straight and looked directly at Daisy. I sat there nervously. I didn’t know what to do.
“I’m not letting you bully him.” Daisy said flatly. “Punish me all you want. Just leave Kevin alone. He’s had enough.”
Mum and Daisy had a moment of silence where they just stared at each other. I thought it was over and I would be left alone, but that wasn’t the case. Mum had to get her last move in. That meant me getting a slap across the face.
“Kevin!!” Daisy cried. She ran over to me, but just as she got close, Mum slapped her too. Daisy let out a yelp and fell back a bit.
“I don’t want to hear another word from the two of you for the rest of the night.” Mum stated as she stormed out of the room. Both Daisy and I were covering up our cheeks where we got slapped. Daisy was holding back tears. I wanted to cry, but I refused to do so with Daisy around. She didn’t need to see that.
“You ok?” I asked quietly.
“No.” Daisy said a bit shakily. “I.. I just can’t believe her!”
“Yea…” I mumbled. “Um… thanks for standing up for me anyway. You didn’t have to.”
“Didn’t have to? Kevin, I’m not going to let her bully you like that!! It’s not fair to you at all!”
“I’m used to it-”
“You shouldn't be! That’s the thing!” Daisy cried. “You shouldn’t be mistreated just because you’re a boy! And then the nerve for them to treat me like I’m some angel? It’s not right!”
I sighed. Daisy had some strong feelings about the home situation. She didn’t like how I was treated in the slightest. Even when she was young she realized it was wrong. Honestly, I was very, very thankful that our parents didn’t brainwash her into thinking I was this horrible person Mum saw me as. Daisy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Had she not been around, I would’ve ran away years ago.
“Ugh... “ Daisy groaned. “Do you have a plan for after you finish high school?”
“Well… I was hoping I could move to Canada.” I admitted. “I want to get as far away from here as I possibly can.”
“Oof. You know Mum won’t be too happy about that.” Daisy said. “They want you going to that nearby university.”
“Yea, I know. But if I go there, then I’m stuck here for another 4 years and I don’t know if I can handle that.”
“Can’t you move out?”
I shook my head. “I tried asking. They won’t let me. They claim it's because it’ll be cheaper, but honestly, I’d rather pay more to get out of this place.”
“I could try and talk to her.” Daisy offered. “Maybe she would let you move out if you moved out with me. I’m planning on moving out for school. We could get an apartment and share it.”
“You can try, but I doubt anything’s gonna change her mind.”
“Doesn’t hurt to try.” Daisy smiled. “I’ll talk to her about it when she’s in a better mood.”
“Thanks Daisy.” I smiled.
“No problemo.”
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