I Have Problems, but So Do You

~Raven's P.O.V.~

I heard a knock on the door and rushed to open it, wondering if it was Jade or Bryan. It turned out to be Bryan. I let him in and almost tackled him in a hug.
"Whoa, hey Raven." He said, laughing. I pulled away and laughed. He leaned down to peck me on the lips and when he pulled away, I smiled. I took his hand and led him inside. When I walked into the living room, Skylar was on the phone with a worried look on his face.
"Okay, I'll be there in under two minutes, I swear. Bye." He hung up and looked at my and Bryan. I tilted my head like I always do when I'm confused and he just shook his head.
"I have to go get Jade. You two stay here." Both of us nodded and he ran the best he could in his braces to his car. I heard him start it and heard the screeching of his tires as he drove away. I looked up at Bryan.
"I hope she's okay..." I said. He looked down at me and tried to muster up a smile.
"She will be, I promise. Now, may I use the bathroom?" He asked and I nodded, pointing the way. He kissed my cheek and walked off. I went upstairs to my room and just laid on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming down the hall. I sat up, thinking that it was Bryan. But then my dad stood in the doorway, looking very drunk and very pissed. I stood up quickly.
"D-dad. Wh-what do you want?" I asked, suddenly very nervous.
"Don't you talk to me like that, missy." He slurred. He started walking towards me and I started to back up. I backed up until I hit the wall. He walked up and put his face very close to mine. I could smell the alcohol on his warm breath and it scared me to death. "It's all your fault your mother left. She knows that you're a mistake. Why can't you be more like your brother?" I gulped, holding back tears.
"I-I don't know what you mean." I said. He yanked the sleeve of my jacket up hard, showing my scars.
"You think that by doing this shit," He spat the word into my face, "you can get away from me?" I shook my head as a tear fall down my cheek. "Oh, don't you start crying, you worthless piece of shit! You have no reason to cry!" I stifled a sob.
"I-I'm sorry, dad!" I said as more tears started flowing. I knew that he was drunk and probably didn't really mean what he was saying, but it still stung.
"Don't you yell at me, bitch! You have no right!" He punched me in the gut. Hard. I let out a quiet sob and shrunk to the ground. He threw my pocket knife at me. "Go cut yourself, bitch!" He wobbled out of my room as I crumpled even further to the ground. I held my stomach which I was sure was going to bruise and thought about doing what he said, i.e. cutting myself, but that would hurt Bryan.
"Raven? Raven!" I heard Bryan yelling from downstairs. I picked myself up and dusted myself off. I walked into my bathroom and washed my face and reapplied my makeup. When I was done, you could barely tell that I was crying. I lifted my shirt a little and saw that my stomach was indeed starting to bruise. I sighed and walked out of my room, pulling down my sleeve as I went. I took a deep breath and put on a smile as I walked down the stairs.
"Bryan?" I called. He rushed around the wall and pulled me into a hug.
"There you are, Raven. I was worried." I quietly sucked in a breath as my stomach ached because of the bruise.
"Yep," I said as lightly as I could. "here I am." Bryan pulled back, sensing something was wrong.
"What's wrong, Ray?" He asked, looking deep into my eyes.
"Nothing. I'm fine, Bry. Just worried, you know?" He looked like he didn't believe me, but he didn't push any further and just nodded in understanding. Suddenly, the front door opened and I heard sobbing. I rushed to see what had happened. Jade was leaning on Skylar and crying her eyes out.
"Jade! What happened?" I asked. She took a deep, wobbly breath.
"M-my uncle c-came to m-my house and t-tried to k-kiss me a-again. M-me and Skylar beat h-him up though, b-but n-now, I can't st-stand to s-see my p-parents. C-can I st-stay here again?" She sniffled.
"Of course! Oh, hon, I'm so sorry. Come on, let's get you to your room." I said. Skylar took her upstairs, but instead of putting her in her room, he laid her down on his bed. I just nodded in understanding. He wanted her close. Frankly, I wanted her far from me, so she wouldn't see my bruise at all.

~One Week Later~

It's been one week and Jade hasn't eaten anything at all, my bruise is still there and purple as ever, and Skylar got the braces off, so he's free to move around however he wants. I've stayed around him, Jade, and Bryan all week, but kept them at a little distance, but not enough that they would worry. I just don't want them to accidentally see my bruise. My dad has stayed away from me because of that, and I'm glad.
Anyway, me, Skylar, and Bryan were all at my house while Jade was still upstairs, refusing to eat or come downstairs. We decided to call the band to come over, now that Skylar could play. They all said sure and in no time at all, they were all here and sitting at our dining room table.
We were talking about random stuff when Jade came downstairs for the first time all week. I felt my face grow happy and so did everyone else's. She looked horrible. She was pale as heck and deathly skinny. She had huge bags under her eyes.
"Hey, are you feeling better?" Skylar asked. She looked up at him and opened her mouth to say something, but right then, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed. I gasped and rushed over to her with Skylar right behind me.
"Oh my God, someone get water or something!" I yelled, panicking. Bryan got up and ran into the kitchen. About three seconds later, he came back with a water bottle in hand. He handed it to me and I shook Jade to wake her up. Right as I was about to give up, her eyes fluttered open. I sighed in relief. I propped her up and opened the water.
"Jade, open your mouth." I said forcefully. She did as I said and I pressed the lip of the bottle to her mouth and poured some water in. After a few seconds, she took the bottle from my hands and chugged the whole thing.
"Skylar, get her some fruit snacks or something." I said. He got up and came back in a few seconds with fruit snacks. I opened them and gave them to Jade, who ate them in three seconds flat.
"M-more please." She said. Her voice was raspy from being silent all week. I gave her a half smile and turned to ask Skylar to get some more, but he was already coming back with three more packages. Jade ate the first two quickly, but ate the third slower. When she was done, her eyes fluttered closed and she lightly fell against me. Soon, soft snoring came from her mouth and I half smiled again. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her, completely forgetting about my scars.
Skylar picked her up and set her on the couch to rest. Poor girl probably hasn't had any sleep at all this week. While this all was going on, the rest of the band members were just sitting at the table in a state of shock.
"Jesus Christ, what just happened?" Larson asked, running a hand through his long, straightened blonde hair. I just looked up at him.
"Welcome to the house of Raven and Skylar, where drama comes around every ten seconds." I said and then sighed. I got up and sat back at my spot and rested my arms on the table. Suddenly, I realized that Matt was staring at my left arm. I looked down and realized that the scars of all the words I had carved into my arm were in plain sight.
"What... Are those?" Matt asked, still staring at my arm. Of course, I'm super pale, so the scars stand out even more. I put my arms under the table in attempt to hide them, but I didn't do it fast enough, because now they had all seen. They all stared at me with wide, expecting eyes. I sighed and looked to Bryan for help. He shrugged off his jackets and gave it to me. I gladly took it and put it on.
"Well...?" Larson asked.
"Um... I went through a rough time..." I said and looked down. I saw that they all just nodded. God, sometimes I loved these guys. They didn't ask about the scars anymore, and I mentally sighed with relief. The rest of the day was quiet. Bryan and Larson were quietly debating about something, but they were so quiet that I couldn't even here them. They would look at me for a second, but when I'd catch them looking, they'd look back at each other. I did, however, catch a few words here and there.
"....song....romance....words....no....softer....famous....daughter....no....band...." Those were the only words I caught, and they made absolutely no sense at all. Finally, they stopped whispering to each other, but then they started right back up, only this time, Matt and Kory were involved. They started back up with the looking at me and looking away thing, which really kinda bugged. I saw nodding, but no words this time. They were just too quiet.
Suddenly, Bryan stood up and walked over to me. He smiled softly down at me and took my hand, pulling me up.
"Come on, me and the guys wanna show you something." I gave him a confused look, but he just smiled.
Their instruments were set up, seeing as the whole reason they came in the first place was to have band practice. Bryan led me to a chair that was set up for me and sat me down. He pecked me on the lips and went over to his bass. Larson strapped on Skylar's guitar (Larson is the back up guitarist in case something happens to Skylar or he can't make it.), Bryan strapped on his bass and set up the microphone, Kory sat down at his drum set and twirled his sticks around, and Matt picked up his rhythm guitar (Turns out that he can play the keyboard and a rhythm guitar if they need it.). Kory hit his sticks together to count off the song. Larson and Matt started playing and Bryan started singing.

"Now I know that I can't make you stay.
But where's your heart?
But where's your heart?
But where's your?"

My heart swelled at the sound of Bryan singing one of my favorite My Chemical Romance songs. I felt the prickle of tears form in my eyes.

"And I know there's nothing I could say
To change that part
To change that part
To change..."

Kory started playing the drums and Bryan came in on his bass.

"So many bright lights to cast a shadow, but can I speak?
Well is it hard understanding why I'm incomplete?
A life that's so demanding, I get so weak.
A love that's so demanding, I can't speak.

"I am not afraid to keep on living.
I am not afraid to walk this word alone.
Honey, if you stay, I'll be forgiven.
Nothing you can say can stop me going home."

They played the rest of the song, and when they were done, I was speechless. They seriously touched my heart and suddenly I was crying. They really did care about me. They were telling me that I shouldn't be afraid to keep on living, or to not be afraid of doing some things on my own. Bryan walked over to me and I stood up to give him a giant hug. I pulled away and looked up at him.
"Thank you so much. I needed that. It meant so much to me, and you sang it wonderfully. Thank you, Bryan." I turned to look at all of them. "Thank you all so much for caring." I smiled through my tears. They all smiled back. "Well, don't just stand there, join the hug!" I said and laughed, though it sounded more like a cough because of my crying. They laughed and walked over to hug me and Bryan. Well, almost all of them. Matt was standing by his guitar, looking out of place and lonely.
"Matt, hon, you too. Get over here." I said. He looked up at me with wide eyes and I motioned him over to us with my head. He gave me a huge smile and walked over to join the group hug. I ignored the pain screaming from my bruised stomach and enjoyed the moment. I looked up at Bryan and caught his eye. I smiled and mouthed "I love you." He smiled back and mouthed "I love you, too." I smiled and put my head against his chest, listening to his heart beat.
We stood like that for I don't know how long. I realized something in the midst of it: These guys were my family now, including Skylar and Jade and even Matt, whom I'd only known for a short amount of time. That realization made me start crying tears of joy even harder.