Welcome to the Family

(Lennon aka Bradley's POV)

When morning time rolled around, we were graciously awoken by the smell of food cooking. The lingering odors wafted through the entire basement and I was starved. Vinny, Nova, and I all raced up the stairs in a matter of minutes and into the kitchen where my mom was indeed shoveling out sausage and eggs onto a stack of plates. "Well, good morning you three. I knew you would be hungry, so I made breakfast. Help yourselves." Vinny is the first to snatch up some and I decided to thank her first. "You didn't have to do all of this just for us, Mom. But thank you, we really appreciate it." To tell you the truth, I was starting to get comfortable with being here and with being genuinely sincere towards everyone. I wasn't this polite around my other parent's, truth be told again. I was actually rather rude and rebellious when it came to them and how they were raising me. But what did they honestly expect from me? Their son was abusing me, I was being tormented day in and day out by everything he said and did. And they didn't even fucking believe me about anything, so that always just added insult to injury. "You don't have to thank me kiddo, this is what being a mom is all about." I just smile warmly before taking a plate of my own and heading out into the dining room where everyone else is sitting.

"Morning, kid. You all sleep well?" I nod my head at my dad who is seated at the far end of the table with a cup of coffee tightly in his grip. "As good as we could, Vinny snored all damn night." Nova says as she shoots him a sideways glare to which he immediately throws his hands up in defense. "It's not my fault, you two kept squishing me. You know I don't sleep well in cramped conditions." Just as I was about to speak up, the sudden and obnoxiously loud vibration of a cellphone completely broke my concentration. It was coming from Vinny's cell phone, it had to be his parents. "Hello?" He answers agonizingly slow. I'm holding the fork so hard in my fist from the anticipation that my fingers are starting to turn white. "I didn't run away mom, I left a message at the hotel. I said I was going on a date with Nova for the weekend. Lennon? No, I swear, I haven't seen her since I left. You don't have anything to worry about. They just assume that we'd be with her because we're her friends but I assure you, I'll be home by tonight. Yep, I love you too. Bye." Well, that is not exactly how I figured that was going to go. "Uh...So, are you in trouble or not?" He simply shakes his head before proceeding to practically shovel a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "Nope, they believed me." Was all he could manage to get out with his mouth completely full.

I wasn't too surprised though, because Vinny's parents believed anything he said. They trusted him and never gave anything a second guess. Well, that took care of his and Nova's problem. Now all that's left is my own problem. "Looks like the cops got the memo too, they're leaving from across the street." I hear my mom say from the living room as she's peeking out of the big bay window. "That means we're in the clear to move the kids." A heart wrenching feeling set in over all of us as I immediately drop my fork onto my plate and sigh rather loudly. Nova and Vinny clearly felt it too, as they soon do the same. "Oh hey wait a minute guys. That doesn't mean we're going to up and abandon you. We decided this last night, we're going to be driving you back to Vegas. We're going to try and straighten things out with your adoptive parents, kid. And we've thought it over more too, we wanna help Nova. Brian and Michelle haven't been able to have a baby, and they've been trying for the last few years. Well, they want to take you in as their own. If we can somehow start the process to get you emancipated or somehow get the courts to see that your parents are unfit to take care of. We're not going to let you guys go, not without a fight at least."

The entire table is still silent and as I look over at Nova, I can see the tears are just pouring out of her eyes. I go over to her side and hug onto her as tight as I can. I couldn't believe that all of this was happening in the last twenty four hours of us even being here. It's definitely not something that I even had a thought of happening that's for sure. "But we can't just leave Vinny behind either." That's the next topic I was getting at. She was right, we couldn't just leave him, he's the whole reason why I got here in the first place. "Well, we thought about that too. Maybe Vinny can convince his parent's to let him stay here a few weeks during summer and winter breaks until he's able to legally move out. This is all going to take some time though, guys. I know for a fact it isn't going to happen in a matter of hours or days, maybe it might even take months. Who really knows, but I promise, it is going to happen one way or another. We're all a family and family doesn't leave anyone behind or forgets about them." I was just waiting for Nova to jump on the fact that my dad actually half ass quoted the movie 'Lilo&Stitch' but she doesn't to my surprise, she's actually bawling like a baby. And it's not long before I'm joining in with her either. Seriously, who the hell are these people? I'll tell you, fucking saints, that's who they are and I couldn't be anymore proud to call them mom and dad. "Little cheesy there, aren't you Zack?" My mom says suddenly, causing everyone to laugh rather loudly, which is just what we needed to do. "Whatever, you know what I meant!"

After breakfast, only uncle Matt and aunt Val had come over to say goodbye to us. Everyone else had called and wished us well and that they would see us very soon. "We actually brought all of you some gifts." Nova was the first to tear through the packaging and she immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream. It was an Avenged Sevenfold hoodie that she had been wanting for the last couple of years since it had been released, only this one was autographed by every member of the band. "OH MY GOD!!! I FUCKING LOVE YOU PEOPLE!!!" She latches on to the both of them in a tight squeeze and they don't hesitate in hugging her back. I open mine next, seeing a simple picture frame that's wrapped in a tissue paper. I look at it briefly; it's a family portrait of everyone, including my late uncle Jimmy, with me in the middle. A couple of tears run down my face but I try to wipe them away quick. I turn and hug them both with n appreciative grin. "Wow, I can't believe that's me. I can't believe how so many things have changed since then either. You guys don't age, do you?" Val chuckles heartily, nudging Matt in the side. "WHAT?!?! HOW THE HELL-WHAT?!" Vinny is practically hysterical as he holds his gift in his hands. It was an autographed picture of his favorite singer, Jonathan Davis of KORN. "I called in a few favors and had it dropped off last night. You're welcome, dude." Something I had never seen before? Vinny, crying and hugging onto people he barely met. "YOU GUYS ARE MY SECOND FAVORITE BAND EVER NOW!!" Nova roughly shoves him over after that comment, narrowing her eyes. "Back off Vincent! They're mine!"

A few hours later after many tear ridden goodbyes, we were finally on the damn road. With the cops off of our tail and my dad's exquisite taste for completely blacked out window tints, it was an easy squeeze through 2 hours of traffic but I was still frantic. I didn't want to go back, this wasn't the plan that I had in mind at all. I was going to send my friends back on the bus and just hole up here at my parents. But they wanted everything done legally and obviously it was selfish of me to even think that I was just going to stay under the radar for the next two years. "I have to pee." I say with a slight agitated tone. My dad immediately pulls off of the freeway and into the nearest gas station. We were only an hour out and I was doing everything as humanly possible in my power to stall. I made us pull over at least six times since we had been on the road and I think by now they were all catching on to my little plan. My mom followed alongside me this time, keeping a watchful eye on me. I knew damn well I didn't have to go, but I was determined not to get there. "You know, this isn't going to make anything easier. We really gotta get a move on kiddo, we're getting very close and I don't want the police to spot us. We can get in a lot of trouble for this." I swallowed hard, the guilt hitting me like a ton of bricks in the face as I flushed the empty toilet and exited the stall. I beelined for the car, not stopping to see if she was behind me and climbed back in beside Nova.

"No more bathroom breaks, we're almost there. Nova? Vinny?" They both shake their heads no and in no time we're back on the godforsaken freeway. All the sights start to become awfully familiar as we eventually cross into the state line about an hour later. "You guys can just drop us off at my place, it's about a few minutes out of the way from Len-I mean, Brad's house and that way they don't suspect that we were even with her." Vinny states as we proceed to pull into Downtown Las Vegas. My parents agree it would be a good idea and we are in front of his house in what feels like seconds. I'm to the point where I felt like jumping out and heading straight into the middle of traffic to end my suffering. I know I'm just being a child, but for fucks sake, can't I just catch a break this one time? I hug onto the both of them for as long as I can until my Mom says it's time to go. I'm almost afraid to, because I have a feeling this probably will be the last time that I ever get to see either of them. "Don't think like that! You can't have a negative mind, we have to just keep positive and hope for the best. We love you dude, we'll call you later." I mutter a few words and curses to myself as I force myself back inside the car. From here on out, it was nothing but utter silence until we pull into an oh so familiar driveway. Fuck me, can I just die right now instead of deal with this, please? "Come on sweets, this is just something we gotta do. The more mature and appropriate you act, the better the outcome. Keep your head up and lets get this show on the road."

My heart is pounding and I feel like I'm going to pass out at any moment as we walk up the pathway to the front door. I hesitate monumentally before ringing the doorbell. I knew they were home, I could see their car parked in the garage. But to my not so surprise, they don't answer the door, Danny does. "Wow, why am I not surprised? Mom! Dad! Lennon is here!" He yells with a disgusting and smug look on his face that makes me want to puke. He moves out of the way to let us inside the house, but yanks me back harshly by my arm. "You're so fucked after they leave. I am going to make you regret ever thinking you could run away from me."