One of the Boys.

Omnipresent.

When they returned to school, the usuals were thrown at them. But it’d made others who had felt pressured into keeping in the closet come out. So people weren’t as harsh as before, as some of their nearest and dearest were either bisexual or homosexual. They wouldn’t offend them if their best friends were exactly the same.
They didn’t get beaten.
And Brendon was over the moon because of this. If they were to get beaten, it would have been all his fault, and he couldn’t stand seeing Alex in pain. Also, it meant that his mom would never find out because there would be no black and blue evidence on his face.
Emma, on the other hand, had the black and blue evidence all over he body. But for some reason or another, no one noticed, nor did anyone care. The bruises were not from school, so her fellow pupils didn’t notice, they were from her dad. She was a slutty, pathetic waste of space, and deserved to be beaten to try and knock some sense into her. Well, as her dad put it. But to be frank, she had become a bit of a slut in comparison to her former self. Everyone had seen that, except Brendon as Emma was an angel in his eyes, so she’d slowly been abandoned by all of the people who really cared for her. Her true friends, like Brent, Ryan and Spencer no longer bothered to be with her. As for Henry, it wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was more of the case that he cared too much that he scared him, so he stayed well away.
Then there was Brendon.
He’d left her completely. This was the time she needed him most, but he wasn’t there for her. He was so cooped up in his whole new ‘gay’ life. She still thought that he wasn’t really gay, merely a little confused and lonely. She was single now, though. She could stop him from being lonely, she could cuddle with him and kiss and tickle and giggle. The life had literally been sucked out of her since Brendon had stopped speaking to her, for the past three weeks. Sure, when she was in Italy she didn’t speak to him much, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t talking to her at all, it was because they were far away. If she wanted, she could have called him, she knew that.
For once, Brendon had so much more than Emma, but he still felt empty. He had a wonderful boyfriend, caring parents and a school that pretty much accepted him, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew it must be something to do with Emma.
As she floated by the boyfriends in the hallway, when Alex was laughing and clutching Brendon’s hand, Brendon quickly turned around. His mouth dropped as he saw the pale and awful state of his former best friend. His heart seized up in his chest, and he so desperately wanted to run over to her, pull her into a tight grip and let her cry into him. He didn’t know what was wrong, but her skin was so pale it was almost gray, and that must mean something was wrong. He couldn’t help but feel that that something was his fault in a way.

As the weeks passed, the feeling didn’t leave him. Nor did it leave her. She was becoming progressively weaker and finding it more difficult to disguise her bruises, cuts and even more bruises. At first she’d tried to fight back, but it was no use as she was so weak now. Even Jemima, if she chose to, could fight her and win. It felt like that when every time someone passed her or bumped into her in the hallway, she would keel over. Brendon still wanted to rush to her side, pick her up and whisk her away from all of this, protect her from whatever was attacking her. It hurt him in ways beyond words when he saw her lifeless eyes no longer glow in the hallway. She’d also resorted back to her old clothes, as they were baggy and big, thus more able to cover her bruises. Make-up was now such a chore, but she had to wear cover-up if her dad ever got to her face, which was rare but still happened.

She gave up eating, too. Not entirely but almost. Her life no longer had a purpose, and she was a slut, so eating wasn’t a use to her anymore. She was so frail that it looked like a single touch would cause her whole body to shatter.
Brendon noticed she still wasn’t her usual self, but not that she’d become so bad that she was getting beaten every night and was suffering from pretty severe depression and anorexia. He was too stuck up in his own life with Alex to notice really, but he still did for a bit.

Alex wanted to spend as much time with Brendon as possible, as he knew when a relationship was breaking down, which theirs was. He knew how Brendon had always wanted to be treated ‘like a princess’, if he remembered correctly, so thought it was the perfect time to treat him like that for Valentine’s day. He made sure his house was empty, then spent all day preparing a meal for them, with candles everywhere and Brendon’s favorite movie; Aladdin.
Then he took Brendon’s virginity.
It had been planned that he was going to do this, making his bedroom as romantic as possible, with candles, dim lighting and rose petals. This was someone’s virginity we’re talking about, you can only lose it once, so the least he could so was make it special.
And just as Alex thought their relationship was deteriorating, it picked back up again. It was like the sex and formed some new, closer bond between them, and Brendon was completely smitten by his other half. So smitten that in fact, he’d stopped noticing Emma’s problems entirely.
So, the relationship was no longer worsening. But Emma was definitely worsening. Her bones jutted out, her skin clinging to them, and she’d stopped caring about her looks altogether. Henry’s dad had also come back to her, thrilled that she was in such a vulnerable state, so she could work for him. She figured she had nothing to lose, so she agreed to it, and was soon stuck in the game, getting laid almost every night. She lost all sense of reality, ignoring and blocking out everything around her. Being so oblivious, she didn’t notice that her drink had been tampered with. She had barely any control as it was, but now, none whatsoever, so Henry’s dad raped her. He’d always wanted his way with her, and now was his opportunity.
She didn’t go in to school the next day.
She was so fucking terrified of everything and anyone that all she could do was sob and sob until she hyperventilated, gripping at her scrawny body, shaking under the sheets until she was beaten.
Brendon should have seen it earlier, seen the warning signs, but the sex was all too much for him. He’d never experienced a thing like it, and wanted more and more of it. He’d even persuaded Alex to fuck him in the gym changing rooms, skipping gym. They would have been caught had they not been in the showers, pulled out quickly and gone to a shower head each so it looked like they were innocent of anything.
He loved the sensation too much to pay much attention to anyone else but Alex. And Alex was fine with this, because he cared about Brendon, really and truly.
So much so that he had to break up with him.
He knew that no matter how much he tried, or however much sex they had, Brendon would never love him. He would treat him wonderfully, kiss him and compliment him, but he would never love Alex. And that’s what Alex needed, someone to love him, as his parents thought he was a useless fag. He also understood that Brendon was in love with someone else, just too blinded by orgasms to see, and rekindle that first love.
The break-up did indeed, do just that. He cried for a while first, but once he’d regained composure, he returned to school with his head held high and in good spirit. This was soon discarded as he realized Emma wasn’t there. He asked around, but people had said she hadn’t been to school for at least three weeks now. He called her but she didn’t answer. He called again and again, and she finally answered.
“Emma?” he asked down the phone. “Emma! Where have you been? I’ve been trying to ring you all day but you wouldn’t answer!”
“Bye, Urie.” was all she said before the dial tone was heard. He gripped at his cell, clutching it tightly to his chest, nearing to tears. It hadn’t helped that his parents wanted him out of the house as soon as he turned 18. He didn’t want to go to college, he wanted his band to be a success instead. Music was his only passion, so he couldn’t imagine doing anything else for the rest of his life. Also, his parents couldn’t ‘afford’ him anymore, after his hospital bill had set them back a lot. But the main reason was the ‘band’. And the fact his dad had come home once to hear a collection of moans coming from Brendon’s room, from both him and Alex.
The Urie’s don’t tolerate homosexuality, but didn’t confront him for it.

Tears rolled down his face as he felt more alone that ever before, sinking down to the floor. He delved deep into his pocket, pulled out a blank scrap of paper and a pen, and a pen, then wrote down what seemed appropriate.

You’re beautiful.