All The Pieces

I was lost, that was for sure. I was fairly sure, though, that this girl was part of the reason why Viola had sunk into herself so much. Why she was so shy and didn't talk to anyone.

I looked over. "Well, Lilly Anderson," I began. "I don't usually say this and truly mean it to be rude to a girl, but go fuck off," I snapped.

I put my hand behind Viola's back and tried to lead her out of the hallway, away from whoever that bitch thought she was.

Viola wrapped her arms around her torso and kept her head down. I glanced over my shoulder at the blonde. She looked shocked, but quickly regained her stance.

"You're doing-"

I cut her off. "If you haven't noticed yet, no body here wants or really cares what you say," I told her before rounding the corner.

The blonde let out a frustrated scream before stomping off in her high heels. "You have to tell me what happened, Vi. You've got to just tell me so I'm not in the fucking dark and still defending you when I really don't know what from," I stated, stopping her.

She was tensed up and avoiding my eyes still. She just glared at the lockers behind me. "Some other time," she mumbled before walking off.

I gaped at her back. "Seriously? Viola, you can't just give me a reason to why all those fucking girls hate you? Why you all used to be best of friends, but now you hide from them? Why now they just taunt you and bate you all the time?" I snapped at her as she walked away.

What was with the secrecy? I hadn't done anything to not earn her trust, yet here she was still avoiding me. I wanted an answer. I wanted to know why those girls were such... bitches to her. She didn't seem like the type to have done anything.

"Just leave it alone. Just leave me alone, Nate," she replied as she kept walking.

"No!" I yelled. "I'm not leaving you alone. So... Just deal with it. I'm here." I stopped yelling and let my voice fall to almost a low whisper.

She only hesitated for a fraction of a second as she kept walking away.

-----

"What's wrong with you, bro?" Zack asked as he flopped onto my bed, his phone in his hand.

"Nothing," I murmured. I scribbled some chords down on the paper I'd been writing on.

Zack simply laughed at me. "Bull shit. Is it because Viola doesn't talk to you anymore? Because she doesn't wanna fuck you like mom's little drug buddies used to?" he taunted.

I glared at him. "Stop bringing her up," I muttered. I still took how my mother treated us hard. I didn't like remembering her or thinking about how fucked up she made our lives.

Zack didn't have a problem with talking about the druggie we called mom. He never really cared. After all, who else would have taught him about the highs certain drugs could give you and how to use them?

"What's the big deal about it? It's not like she was terrible. She was pretty cool, actually," he stated as he typed out at text to someone.

I dropped my guitar pick onto the ground. "Cool? Zachary, she used all our money to get high or drunk. She sold everything we had to get fucking high! Do you really think I can call her cool when it was her fault I never spent any time away from work or school? She never gave me the chance to have a life. I can't exactly praise her," I snapped at him.

Zack just shrugged and walked out of my room. I sighed and sat back in my chair, my guitar still rested on my lap. I stared at the picture on my desk from when I was little. We used to be a happy family. We all used to have such a good thing going for us.

The knock on my door snapped me from my thoughts. "Yeah?" I called, picking up another pick.

The door swung open and Vaughn walked in. "Hey, I didn't know you played," he stated, nodding to my guitar.

I nodded. "Yeah. Bass and drums, too," I said, putting the guitar back on its stand.

He nodded. "That's awesome. Anyways, you wanna come over tonight? I'm having a bunch of guys over for my birthday and we're just gonna fuck around or whatever," he stated.

"Yeah, sure," I answered.

We left my house after a few more minutes. Everyone was just staying at his house for the night. There were a few people already there in the from yard when we got back.

Nick Hamlin was tossing a football around with a guy named Seth from my government class while Kade Johnson and his friend Liam were either wrestling on the lawn or getting it on.

"Hey, fuckers, we're here!" Vaughn yelled.

"Liam, fuck you! Give me the fucking phone!"

"No, this picture is legit!" Liam laughed as he held a phone away from Kade.

We laughed as we walked towards the two. "What's going on?" Vaughn asked.

Nick pointed to Liam. "He stole Kade's phone and found dirty pictures of Kade's girlfriend on it," he explained.

We all laughed as Liam got completely crushed into the ground. We hung outside until it got dark before heading into his house.

His mom walked out of the living room and smiled. "Hey, boys," she greeted, glancing over everyone. "Oh, who are you?" she asked me curiously.

I smiled and held out my hand. "Nate. I live next door," I told her.

"Oh! Nice to finally meet you," she told me.

"You, too," I said politely.

"Well, I made some dinner earlier. You boys can go warm it up again and eat some if you want or there's those pizza roles in the freezer," she told us.

We all made a bee line for the kitchen. Vaughn began taking anything out of the fridge that was either good or looked decent to eat.

"Dude, fuck off my pizza roles! You already looked through my phone," Kade snapped as Liam tried to eat off his plate.

Liam chuckled. "You're girlfriend has nice-"

"Vaughn?"

We all looked to the door as Viola came into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw everyone. "O-o-oh. Uh, I'm... Uh..." she stuttered.

"What's up?" her brother asked.

She glanced at him as she took a step back. "N-nothing."

Her eyes finally met mine. She instantly bit onto her lip. I didn't say anything as we just stared. I was waiting for her to say something, anything.

"Vi?" Vaughn asked.

She blinked and looked to him. "Hm?"

He gestured to all of us at the counter. "You going to say hi or anything?" he asked.

Her eyes went wide slightly. "N-no. I-I-I'm just... I'm just going to go upstairs a-and, uh... Read or s-something," she said.

She quickly ran off after that. "She still hasn't gotten over what's his face?" Seth asked as he took a bite of pasta.

Vaughn was quiet. He obviously knew what happened. I glanced at the other guys. "Over who?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it.

Vaughn glanced up at me, but quickly looked away. Nick answered me. "Last year. She and this one guy, can't remember his name, were dating. Ended badly, I guess and she's been all quiet since then," he explained briefly over a mouthful of food.

I lost interest in the pasta and pizza roles in front of me. That guy had something to do with it. "Hey, where's the bathroom?" I asked.

Vaughn pointed to the door. "That way then turn right and the second door on your left," he directed.

I nodded and left the kitchen, ignoring his instructions. I went up the stairs, guessing that the bedrooms would be up there. I glanced in the rooms that had their doors open. So far, no Viola.

The last door down the hallways was closed tightly. I knocked softly on it. There was a shuffling. I was fairly sure I had the right room.

Viola opened her door and looked up at me. "Yeah?" she asked.

She chewed her lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot. She was only wearing a pair of black shorts and a loose t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail. She looked beautiful.

The thought hit me oddly. "I-I, uh." I cleared my throat. "I just want a small answer for now. You don't have to tell me the whole story, but please just give me a small piece," I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled. She moved away from the door and sat on her bed. I followed her in and sat at her desk. She covered her lap with a light blue and grey pillow.

I stared at her. I wanted only a piece. She didn't have to tell me the whole thing at the moment. I needed to get her to trust me a little more... Just enough for her to open up some.

"My mom was a druggie," I stated.

She gave me a questioning look. "What?"

"My mom. She was a druggie," I admitted. I hadn't talked about her with anyone other than Zack and an old friend I had back in my old town.

I swallowed hard. "It's why Zack and I moved in with our dad. She... She over dosed on something and died."

Her eyes fell. "I'm sorry," she whispered. I simply shrugged it off. There was a long silence. "Which part do you want to know?" My insides jumped when she asked that.

I debated about which part I wanted to know about. "Who's the guy?" I asked. I wanted to know the most about him for whatever reason. Was she really still caught up on some guy? For some reason, I kind of hoped not.

Her shoulders hunched. "His name... His name was Danny Coleman. He asked me on a date and I agreed. We went out a few times and eventually he asked me to be his girlfriend," she said. Her voice shook slightly.

"I agreed. I fell for him. I thought I was in love with Danny. Then... Things turned out bad. He just laughed at me when I told him for the first time that I loved him. He just... cracked up. He told me it was all a joke and then just left me there," she said.

Her voice cracked lightly on the last sentence. I was furious. "He played you? He never even..." I couldn't finish the question.

She nodded her head, wiping a hand over her cheek. I moved to sit beside her, hesitantly pulling her into a hug.

She tensed up for a second. "I'm sorry, Viola. I... I'm sorry. He's such an asshole for doing that to you!" I told her softly. "I wish you didn't have to go through that. That's terrible," I whispered softly.

She relaxed a little more, resting her face against my shirt. She didn't say another word, just cried. She tried not to be loud about it or make it obvious, but it was hard to miss the tears on my shirt or her shoulder that would shake lightly every now and then.

I felt like she had started to trust me a little. She finally opened up to me and told me. It wasn't the whole story, but it was a piece. I knew I couldn't just walk away now, not that I even planned on it before.

I couldn't believe she finally had told me something. I hugged her a little closer.