I'll Be The Brightest Someday

Vic's P.O.V

I woke up the next morning not wanting to get up. My ribs were killing me and I could hardly move without wincing. I crawled out of my bed cursing at every painful movement. I wish I could just stay home but I know that my dad will give me hell to pay if he finds out I skipped. Not to mention I have to drive Mike to school even though I'm sure he wouldn't mind skipping school either.
I made my way over to my closet and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and a plain white V-neck. I slipped on my red Vans and walked into the bathroom that was attached to my bedroom. I brushed through the mess of hair that was sticking out in odd directions. I checked all the bruises to make sure none were visible. Only two were but the one on my arm could be covered with a hoodie which I had no problem wearing since it was a bit cooler today. The other was on my neck, which was obvious it wasn't a hickey, which most neck bruises are, so I had no excuse if someone were to ask me how I got it. It literally looked like a hand print, like someone had choked me, which I had been, so that was accurate. I hoped no one would notice it but then again, no one paid attention to me so I just shrugged at my thoughts & walked back into my room.
I went into Mikey's room to tell him we needed to go. He looked up at me from putting a shirt on and nodded telling me he was ready to go. We walked down the steps nearly as slow as possible, trying to avoid school. We looked at the living room couch to see that our father was still asleep, luckily.
Mike grabbed something to eat along our way past the kitchen and out the door to school. I walked out and waited for him in the car. He came out a minute later with food shoved in his mouth. I laughed at the sight of his mouth nearly over flowing with food. He mumbled something to me, most likely telling me to shut up, considering I was still laughing at him when he got to the car. He hopped in the car and I drove of to my favorite hell hole. Gotta love my sarcasm in that thought.
We pulled up to our shitty school and I could already feel deep in my stomach that today was going to be a bad day even though it was a Friday meaning I didn't have to deal with Jack, Kellin, and Gabe all weekend..
Me and Mike grabbed our bags out of the back seat and started walking slowly towards school. Mike had nothing to be afraid of because he didn't get the shit beat out of him everyday at school but he was just walking slowly with me so I didn't have to be alone, which I liked that my brother was nice and cared about me that much. He knows how much I hate school and how hard it is for me to handle everything I endure in this shit hole.
We walked up to the doors and I took a deep breath and hoped that today would go better than most. I walked into my death trap and went to my locker, which conveniently was right next to my best friend Tony's locker and I was lucky he was still there or I probably would have gotten attacked by Jack, Kellin, and Gabe.
I walked over to my locker and unlocked it. Tony looked over at me and spoke first.
"Hey man, what's up?" Tony looked at my neck curiously and I was hoping he wouldn't ask even though I'm sure he already knew since he knew about my dad.
"Oh nothing much, Tone. Just really not looking forward to being here for the rest of the day," I ended with an upset sounding sigh.
"Yeah dude, I know what you mean. If Jack starts sayin' shit to you today, text me and tell me where you are and Ill kick his ass so he doesn't break anymore of your ribs that aren't already broken. Actually, if you want, I should probably take you to the hospital so you can get those taken care of."
I just stared at Tony with wide eyes. How did he know? Did I make it obvious that it was killing me every time I moved? I wondered if he already knew that my dad did it. I hope not, he would try to go off on my dad and I'd get kicked out for sure. I had no where to go.
"I-I uh, thanks turtle, I'll definitely text you if Jack does anything and I'd rather not go to the hospital, but thanks." Got I'm such a stuttering fucking mess.
He looked back up at me and he didn't look convinced. He obviously knew. The words that spilled out of his mouth next told me he knew.
"You have to do something about it eventually. Just try and stay out of trouble, I'll see you later dude. Be careful."
With that Tony walked off down the hall. I was snapped out of all the thoughts spinning through my head when the bell rang warning that we only had one more minute left to get to class. Today is not going to be fun and I don't think going home later will be either.