What's So Good About Picking Up the Pieces?

Vic’s POV:

I groaned and reached my hand over to slam the snooze button on my alarm clock. It was Monday morning at 7 am, great. Normally I’d try to sleep in late, but I knew my mom would kill me if I brought Mike to school late again.

I sighed and threw my legs over the side of the bed. Oh well, at least it was my senior year. I grabbed a pair of grey skinny jeans and paired it with a loose fitting tank top before slipping a grey beanie on the back of my head.

I finished up my morning routine and called out to Mike, before grabbing my keys and starting to go out to my car. On the way out I noticed a new car in the house next to mine’s driveway. I noticed a woman, not too much older than my mom carrying some boxes into the open door to the house. Next to her was a boy around Mike’s age, he had long-ish raven black hair and it was covered in a beanie. I could see he was wearing some vans and a purple V-neck along with some black skinnies. The only odd thing I noticed was the black jacket thrown over his purple shirt. It was nearly 75 degrees out and it was only 8 am. Oh well, maybe he was new to the area and wasn't used to it yet.

“Vic?” I jumped a little when Mike hit my shoulder, trying to get me to pay attention to him. I must have been day dreaming again.

“Yeah, sorry. Let’s go, I don’t want to be late again. Mom’s going to kill us.” I shook my head to get the thoughts of the raven haired boy out of my mind before hopping in the car and pulling off to school.

We made small conversation on the way to school, mostly about bad teachers or some project we didn't really want to do. It was still fairly early in the school year, it was only September, so everyone was still getting in the swing of having to wake up at the crack of dawn and completing a shit ton of homework. So far senior year was going pretty well, and I’d be 18 soon.

I parked in the student parking lot and we walked at a slow pace towards the school. I was honestly in no rush to get to class; and the only good thing about starting school again was getting to see our friends again. We were all pretty close, consisting of me and Mike, his girlfriend Ace, and our friends Tony and Jaime. Ace was a really cool girl, short and blonde with a few tattoos littering her body, much like Mike. They’d been together for about a year, and they were both juniors this year. Tony was the quiet one, but would always sneak in funny comments. Jaime has crazy hair, and his personality matched it. Tony, Jaime, and I were all seniors this year. Over all, we were a pretty interesting bunch, but I loved it.

The day went by normally, filled with classes and work, along with funny moment with my friends. My life was really normal at this point, I kind of wish I could tell you about all the cool things I do, but they don’t exist. Save for the occasional party or something, my life is just filled with school and music. I love music, writing it and playing it. It's my passion and I spend most of my free time playing or writing alone in my room. Music is my drug of choice.

Mike and I just got home, and I noticed that the car that was in the driveway of our new neighbors house wasn't there anymore, but it was replaced with a new car. I decided to go and see if the raven haired boy was still there, I really wanted to introduce myself. I quickly walked across the lawn and hesitated before knocking a few times on the large door. I few seconds went by, but the door eventually creaked open, revealing the raven haired boy behind it. He looked like he had been crying, his face was red and puffy and his hair stuck to his forehead at odd angles. I must have been staring again, because he cleared his throat.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Vic, I’m your neighbor. I thought I’d be cool to introduce myself, I saw you earlier.” I scratched the back of my head. “Sorry if it’s a bad time…” He closed his eyes for a minute before I heard a voice yelling from inside.

“Kellin? Baby, where are you? You better not be hiding again, you know how mad it makes me.” The voice sounded angry and the raven haired boy’s eyes widened. They were big and icy blue, absolutely breathtaking. “I’m Kellin.” He whispered. “But you should really go… If he knows you’re here…” He trailed off before starting to close the door. “I’ll come introduce myself properly another time. I really have to go.” And with that, the door was closed and I was left standing there confused. I heard more yelling inside, but I couldn't make out what was said.

I turned and continued my way to my house, still really confused on the events that just happened. I don’t know what happened, but I had a strange feeling that it wasn't good.

---

This afternoons events replayed in my head over and over again, and I found myself unable to sleep. I don’t know why, but there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was wrong with Kellin. He was crying, and there was a boy yelling at him… One sentence stuck out to me in particular. If he knows you’re here.

Who’s he? And what will he do if he knew I was there? I was just trying to be a friendly neighbor; I really hope I didn't get Kellin in any trouble. I just hoped he would stick to his word and come and properly introduce himself tomorrow, and then maybe I could find out what was actually going on today. I’m going to do whatever I can to help my new neighbor, even if I don’t know him. He needs help and I’ll gladly be the person to help him.

I drifted into an uncomfortable and forced sleep, with thoughts of the blue eyed boy filling my mind.