Not So Romeo

7

Tatum

I wake up feeling quite refreshed. I slept better last night than I have in a long time. After using the restroom, I check my phone and my happy, relaxed, attitude flies out the window. It's 10:30. My parents are due home in an hour and I have to clean the mess made by my brother and our friends last night. I also have to get our friends to wake up and get them to leave because my parents are crazy.

I run down the stairs and see everyone passed out in the living room. I'll wake them after I clean the kitchen and make them breakfast. I walk through the door of the kitchen, bracing myself for the disaster, but to my surprise, it's spotless.

I decide not to think much of it and walk to the fridge to grab the eggs. I notice a note hanging on the refrigerator door, my name written in bold.

Tatum,

I thought you could use a break from cleaning up everyone's messes. Good luck with the parents.

Your Bestest friend in the whole world (aka Shawn the incredibly sexy Andrews)

I roll my eyes and laugh lightly. This guy. I take the note and set it on the counter, so I don't forget about it later. "Need any help?" I hear Adelaide's soft voice behind me.

I turn and smile at her. "Could you start making some toast?" she nods and grabs the bread from one of the cupboards then plops a few pieces in the toaster.

"I take it you're the only one who didn't get trashed last night?"

"Yeah. I was just here for the company." she replies, buttering a few of the finished pieces of toast.

Grayson is the first to wake up, most likely because of the smell of food. I hand him a large glass of water along with an aspirin and a plate of food. "I knew there was a reason why I love you."

I laugh sarcastically, "I love you too, i***t. Now I have to go wake the rest of the idiots so they can eat and leave."

True to my word, I woke everyone up, fed them and then kicked them out. So now I'm finishing up the dishes while Tyler sits at the counter, complaining about how shitty he feels.

"Seriously Tatum, never let me drink again. I'm dying." he cries and I laugh.

"You say that every time you're hungover, bro bro." I look at the clock and sigh. My parents will be home any minute. "I'm going to go get dressed. You should go take a shower and you definitely need to brush your teeth." he sighs but listens to me. I grab the note from the counter and walk out of the kitchen, behind my brother.

Not long after I finish dressing, my parents show up. As I enter the family room, my mother looks up at me and gives me a curt nod. "Tatum."

I mimic her movements and reply formally, "mother. How was your trip?"

"It went well." my mother replies.

My father finally turns to look at me, "where is your brother?"

"Upstairs showering, sir."

My father scoffs, "and why didn't he do that before we arrived? He knew we would be home."

"He's not feeling well. He could barely get out of bed, sir." I answer truthfully. I just didn't tell him why he's sick.

My father growls and walks from the room, probably going to get his bottle of scotch. So if you couldn't tell, my parents aren't the most affectionate and kind people. My father always says love and kindness are weaknesses. I find that incredibly stupid, but I'm not going to say that to him.

******

The weekend went by painfully slow. It consisted of my parents saying how Tyler and I are disappointments and my father telling my brother that he's not going to college because he's going straight to work for our company. That didn't go well.

I'm honestly so excited for school because it means I can get away from my god awful parents. It also means I can see my friends again. If I didn't have a phone, I would've gone crazy not talking to them.

Tyler and I arrive to the school to find our friends are all with their cliques. Its strange because they usually hang out with us before school, but I'm not going to think about it too much.

Tyler ditches me to go make out with one of the cheerleaders, probably Courtney. It honestly doesn't surprise me. I get to my locker and grab my book for English. I close my locker, and I swear I jump ten feet in the air. Shawn laughs at me and hands me a cup.

"You bought me a coffee?" I smile at him gratefully.

"Yeah. Thought you could use it." He puts his arm around me and we start walking towards my first period classroom.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." He just smiles at me and continues walking.

We reach my classroom and I'm surprised when he walks us inside. I lead him to my seat and he sits on top of my desk. I sit in my chair and take a big swig of my coffee. "So your parents leave today."

I snort, "thank the Lord for that. They'll be gone by the time we get out of school."

"So I can drive you home?" he questions. I nod, happy he asked. I really missed his presence. The bell rings and he gets off of my desk. "See you later."

"Wait." I grab his wrist to stop him. "I have a quiz this period so I have to stay, but would you ditch the rest of the day with me?"

He gives me a look, "Tatum, do you really think that's a good idea? I don't want you getting into any trouble."

I sigh, "I'll be fine, Shawn. If you don't want to, I'll go alone."

This time he sighs, but in defeat, "no, I'll go with you." I smile and he leaves the room.

Shawn

I don't know why, but I thought Tatum would back down if I said I wouldn't go. Although, I'm pretty sure she knew I would go with her in a heart beat.

We're currently driving to Ezra's to get some breakfast. Tatum is singing along to a song I don't recognize, on the radio. Her voice isn't the best but it's not God awful either.

"Do I need to show you? Guess I gotta show you!" she sings, pointing at me. I laugh and she giggles cutely.

After we eat, we just drive around the country roads on the outskirts of town. I drive to her house when it's around the time Tyler gets home from practice. I don't think he knows she ditched because neither of us have gotten any texts or calls from him.

We arrive to the Mackenzie estate at the same time as Ty and Grayson, coincidentally. "What happened to you two today?" Grayson questions, eyeing us suspiciously.

Tatum and I just shrug. As we walk up the steps to the front door, we hear shouting. "Is that mom and dad?" Tyler asks. All of our eyes go wide.

"What's going on in there?" Tatum questions, her voice so quiet I could barely hear.

"I guess we'll have to check for ourselves." Grayson says and slowly opens the door. When we walk in, the shouting gets louder and is coming from the direction of the kitchen. We all cautiously walk over to see what's happening.

"Harry! Stop it, please!" a woman that looks like an older version of Tatum sobs.

The man, Harry, slaps the woman and we all cringe at the sound. Suddenly Tyler jumps into the kitchen getting in between his mother and father.

"Tyler! Move! Now!" Harry's gruff voice bellows.

Tyler just looks at his father, anger consuming his entire body. "No! You do not hit my mother again, you piece of shit."

"If your not going to listen to me, I guess you need to be punished." Harry then grabs an empty glass bottle from the counter and smashes it over Tyler's head. He falls, knocked out from the force. Tatum starts to sob and I hug her tightly. Grayson looks at us, fear written all over his face.

"Don't leave her side, and call 911." and with that he attacks Harry from behind. Harry stumbles in surprise but manages to stay upright. He lunges at the much smaller Grayson and they fall to the floor, making a loud crashing sound.

I call the police and give them the address. Tatum still sobbing in my arms. Grayson is now trying to help an unconscious Tyler. Suddenly, Tatum jumps out of my arms, begging her father to stop. I then notice that he's going towards Gray and Ty with a knife, and his wife isn't doing anything to stop him.

"Father please! Don't do this." Tatum's voice is strong even though she's crying extremely hard.

Harry turns towards her, livid. "Stay out of this child, unless you want to end up like your brother."

"Stop now!" Tatum shouts, not backing down. "We already called the police, they will be here any second."

Her mother gasps, "you did what!" she screams, sounding angrier than Harry. Both adults lunge at Tatum but I grab her before they can get her. Everything happens so fast. The police barge inside, disarm Harry and take him away. The paramedics put the still unconscious Tyler on a stretcher and take him to the ambulance. When things start to calm down, Tatum's mother storms over to us.

She slaps Tatum, hard, across the face. "Why the hell would you call the police?! What possessed you to do that?! You are a f*****g disgrace to this family and you just put your father in jail. I wish I never even had a f*****g daughter. Especially one like you!" I hold Tatum tightly in our arms and a police officer, we didn't know was here, walks up to us.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have you come with me." He cuffs Tatum's mother and reads her her miranda rights.

After being questioned, Grayson comes over to Tatum and I. "Hey Tate." he says softly. She just hugs him tightly then returns back to me.

"Hey, how about we go to the hospital and check on Tyler." I suggest and both of them nod at me. We pile into my car and I drive to the nearest hospital, Tatum's small hand clasping my large one tightly the entire way.