Chapter 2:

A few months later and I was still just as lonely, but for some reason it didn't really bother me that much. As it turns out, Sam's new girlfriend is pretty cool, and I feel bad for being jealous of her. She'd been coming with us a lot on our little excursions. Sam's the kind of guy that stays in pretty long lasting relationships. Even when they do break up, he always remains friends with them.

Today Mike and Dave were out jamming with Chris, but most likely they were just doing drugs. I was left with just Sam and his girlfriend, Sara.

I could tell by the way Sam looked at her that he liked her a whole lot. He had his trademark grin plastered on to his face, and was staring at her as she talked non-stop about Sid Vicious. Although I don't like the Sex Pistols that much, it was nice to see Sam looking so happy.

I don't know what he'd have done if he hadn't found her. His grades hadn't been as good as they usually were, and I have no idea why. I don't think it's been bothering him though, he seems terrifically cheerful.

"So, what should we do now?" I asked, bored of hearing about how great Sid Vicious supposedly was.

"Actually, I kind of wanted to spend the day ALONE with Sam." Sara revealed, raising an eyebrow and throwing a glance in Sam's direction.

"Allright, that's cool, I guess." I said truthfully. Sam looked genuinely enthusiastic about this idea, and spending some time alone didn't sound bad to me. It was pretty early in the day, and I hadn't had much time to write recently. I'm a writer by the way. It's what I do for fun, as well as a way to work out my problems. None of my friends know that I like to write.

The more I thought about a day spent with my writing, the better it sounded.

"Have a good time, you guys." I said smiling

"Wow, thanks man." Sam looked even happier.

"What are friends for?"

With that, I waved goodbye and walked back home to work on a story that was already beginning to form in my mind. When I got there, my mom had left and I had the whole house to myself, and the whole day ahead of me. It was only noon.

Sam and I had crashed at Dave's the previous night after a great show at Gilman, but had been kicked out early when Dave's dad woke up. So we had picked up Sara and went to Peet's for a cup of coffee before Sara started going off about the Sex Pistols.

I grabbed the mail and sorted it, finding my report card. 'this should be good for a laugh' I mused, sauntering into my bedroom and kicking of my shoes, flopping onto my lumpy mattress.

"Let's see." I said to myself.

Biology: C

Well that's a surprise, I thought I'd get a D

Geometry: F

Trying in that class is hopeless, Mr. Johnson hates me with a passion…

Spanish: C

What use is Spanish to me anyway, I don't plan on going to Mexico anytime soon.

Health: F

I hate health.

English: A

The only class that makes school worthwhile.

Art: B

Only because Mr. Fisch is a Gilman Street regular.

Modern World History: C+

I have a slight interest in history, but not enough to do my homework…

Well, that's better than I did last year. I guess that's only because of Mr. Fisch though. The day was shaping up to be a good one, and I hadn't even written one word yet. So I pulled out a pen and my notebook and was lost in my writing. I had the Ramones on in the background, and warm sunlight shined in through the opened windows.

I only had to put down the pen once that afternoon, to get more coffee and something to eat, before my mom came home. By then, I needed a rest from all the writing, so I made dinner for my mom, and she told me about how she was getting a raise. Looks like the day just gets better and better.

Having spent my first day alone in a long while, I was feeling refreshed and happy. I was passing most of my classes, Sam was happy, my mom was getting a raise; life was looking up.

I played the drums for a while after dinner, but needed Sam on guitar to really jam. We don't really have a band, Sam and I just like to jam as much as we possibly could.

So I went to bed early having exhausted my caffeine high, and feeling content. About four songs into Bad Religion's 'All Ages,' I fell asleep.

Sometime around two in the morning, somebody tapping on my window awaked me. Letting my eyes adjust to the dark, I saw the outline of a thin face, and Sam's unmistakably blue hair. I managed to climb out of bed groggily, and open the window to let him in.

"Hey." I mumbled, walking over to the lamp. He didn't greet me back aside from a few sniffles, and I knew that something had to be wrong. After knocking a few of my notebooks off of the bedside table, I found the lamp and switched it on, turning around to face my friend.

"Holy shit…" was all that I could get out. Sam's left eye was swollen shut, encircled by blue and black coloring. He was hunched over, his 'Clash' Shirt torn. His face was red, and tears were pouring out of his eyes. In all my years of knowing him, he'd never once cried. He was always the strong on, mentally at least…

"Hold on" I instructed, running to get some ice, and not feeling so tired anymore. I hurried back to my room to find that Sam had seated himself on the edge of my bed. I took a seat next to him, and tentatively pressed the ice pack to his black eye.

"What the fuck happened, Sam?"

"I…I…" he began, but my mom interrupted him, opening my bedroom door and peering in.

"Young man, it is way too late for you to be up talking to your little friends. Sam, you go home right now!" She ordered, oblivious to the fact that Sam had been in a fight, and to the fact that he lived five miles away. She just closed the door and went back to bed.

"Let's go on a walk and talk." I suggested.

"I…don't if I …can." He managed to get out between sobs.

"I'll help you." I told him, and threw on a pair of pants and pulled on my jacket. Suddenly becoming aware of the fact that Sam was shivering, I took off the jacket and handed it to Sam. He merely nodded, crying too hard to thank me.

I put my arm around him and helped him limp out the door. Luckily, I live about a quarter of a mile from the bay, and by the time we got there, Sam's sobbing had calmed down, but he was still pretty shaken up. We took a seat on some grass, looking at the reflection of San Francisco's bright night lights in the bay. The silence lasted a long time until i broke it.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" I asked, not wanting to force him to relive whatever hell he had just been through.

"I got my report card today." He said quietly, voice cracking a bit. It was clear he was tired of crying.

"Yeah, I did too." I said, unsure of where he was going with this.

"Mr. Johnson gave me an F." His voice cracked even more at mention of this.

"Sam, what happened?" I begged, wanting to now what was wrong.

"It's…it's my dad. He…went insane. Beat the shit out of me." He said, starting to cry again. I grabbed him into a hug, and he sobbed into my shoulder.

A million thoughts raced through my head. I always thought he had a great relationship with his parents, dad especially. I thought about how wrong I was, how much of an asshole he must really be. But most of all, I thought about Sam. He was supposed to be the strong one. He always comforted me when something went wrong. It was never supposed to be the other way around. Sam's always been like a role model for me. It's hard to see your heroes when they're weak.

"He's threatened to before, but I never thought he was serious. And he's so nice when he's not angry." Sam continued when his crying stopped again. My shoulder muffled his voice.

"I can see now that he's not going to change. He's two faced. I can't trust him anymore." He weeped softly. " I didn't know what to do, Adam. He ripped the phone out of the wall and locked me in my room; I didn't know where to go. I just climbed out the window and walked all five miles to your house. I just can't trust anyone else. You're my best friend, you know that, right?"

"Of course, and you're my best friend too. I can't let you go back there Sam. My mom just got a raise, come live with us. It'll work out, Sam." I said hopefully.

Sam lifter his head of my shoulder to look me in the eye. His left eye was swollen from the physical pain of the beating, while his right one was swollen from the emotional pain of crying.

"Allright. I know I can't go home, so…" he said, barely loud enough for me to hear it.

"And no matter what happens, you'll always have me...and Sara." I added, as an afterthought.

Wrong thing to say. His crying started again for the third time. He collapsed, and would have fallen to the ground if I hadn't caught him. He hugged me tightly, small arms wrapped around me. Seeing him like this was horrible, and I started to cry too.

We stood there for a long time. Grasping each other tightly, crying. The city across the bay lighting up our surroundings.

"She dumped me" he finally informed me. Sam had never had a relationship this short. He'd also never been dumped; he'd always been the one to do the dumping. I knew this must have affected him a lot.

I didn't reply, just hugged him tighter. After about five more minutes, we released each other and sat down, facing the bay.

I had no idea what time it was, and to be honest I really didn't care. We sat for three whole hours just talking.

Sara had dumped him because he wouldn't have sex with her. Sam wants to wait until he's sure he's found the right person. Also, being straightedge, he wouldn't have sex until he was either married or eighteen.

" She didn't even care about me, man. She just wanted sex."

"You know what man, fuck her. (Not literally) You'll find somebody else. You'll come live with me, get the fuck away from your dad, and graduate high school. Don't let a couple of run-ins with assholes ruin everything for you.

"When did you get so wise Adam?" he said, smiling.

I looked up at him to see that same smile that always had cheered me up in the past. Yet somehow, it had lost its magic. He was in pain, and it hurt to see him like this. I turned away from him and started crying. How selfish could I be? My friend just had his life fall apart on him, and I was the one crying. Sam scooted toward me and hugged me again. He was trying to comfort me, even though he was the one who needed the comforting.

Sam always thought about his friends before himself. It was something I always had admired about him.

Before long, the sun had risen and I notified Sam that we better get back before my mom got mad.

We clambered in the window at eight o'clock in the morning. We'd been out for almost six hours. It left the two of us feeling as close as brothers. But it also made us ridiculously tired.

There was a small red couch in the corner of my room with springs sticking out of it. I told Sam that I'd crash on the couch, that he could have the bed. Too tired to insist that I take the bed, he collapsed on top of it, instantly falling asleep.

Noticing once again that he was shivering, I pulled the blankets over his body, and lay down on the couch, letting myself fall into an uneasy sleep.

Author's note: Hopefully that chapter was a little more exciting. Reviews? Please?