Chapter 12
 
Middle of the night...

Jeff POV

"Please don't! I'm sorry! I'll do better!" I screamed.

"You deserve to get punished. You're so worthless, and your grades aren't helping your cause," dad said.

I saw him take out the baseball bat from the closet. I bolted up to my bedroom, and tried to crawl under my bed. But my dad grabbed my leg, and pulled me out. I curled up on the floor, screaming as I felt the bat hitting my skin. The hits kept getting harder and harder until I couldn't take it anymore. And I let out a loud scream.

I sat bolt upright, scared. I have no idea where I am.

"Jeff?"

"AH!"

"Hey. Calm down."

The light went on, and I realized it was all a dream. I guess Alex and I fell asleep during the movie...

"What happened?" Alex asked.

I started calming down.

"Bad dream," I said, quietly.

"What was it about?"

"Nothing... I'm fine."

"Jeff."

"It was nothing. I promise."

I quickly laid back down again and closed my eyes.

"Jeff?"

"What?"

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes... But can I please stay here for the night?"

"Sure, whatever..."

Alex shut the light off again, and laid down next to me. I tried to push all the bad thoughts out of my head, and I managed to fall back asleep.

Morning...

Jeff POV

I was so scared today that my dad was going to come here and bring me home to beat me.

"What are you so nervous about?" Alex asked as we ate our breakfast down in the cafeteria.

"I just really don't want my dad finding out about my grades, but I know the half way reports were sent home."

"Well I'm sure you'll be fine."

"What if he comes to pick me up!?"

"Jeff, let's just wait and see what happens, ok?"

"Ok..."

I kept scanning the cafeteria.

"Jeff."

"What?"

I turned back to Alex.

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing! I'm just nervous!"

"Calm down, ok?"

I nodded, doing my best. But I couldn't stop tapping my feet from the nerves. I was all jittery, and I couldn't sit still.

"Jeff."

"What?"

Alex sighed.

"Let's go upstairs," Alex said, pulling me up from my seat.

"I'm sorry... I just get nervous."

We went upstairs, and I finished my breakfast.

"Alright, Jeff. So we need to address something."

"What?"

"Your uh... your weight."

I immediately tensed up. I don't eat a lot because my dad calls me fat. And it's true.

"Jeff. Calm down."

I started backing away from her until I'd hit the wall behind me.

"Come here. I just want to talk. You're not in trouble."

She took my hand, and pulled me over to her bed. We sat down.

"W-what are you g-going to d-do to m-me?" I stuttered.

Alex lifted my shirt up, showing my stomach.

"Look. See that?" Alex asked, poking my ribs.

"What?"

"Those are your ribs. I'm not supposed to be able to see those. You're too skinny."

"No, I'm not. I'm fat."

"No, you're not, Jeff."

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not."

I started crying. Alex hugged me.

"Alright. You've got some serious problems, Jeff."

"How?"

Alex sighed.

"I don't know yet, but I'm going to do research."

"Research?"

"I've been studying you."

"W-what?"

"Don't panic. I'm just writing down how you act and stuff so I can research it, and try to help you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... You cut. So obviously, that's a sign of depression. And you seem to have anxiety. One of the signs of anxiety is trouble sleeping. And now it looks like you might have an eating disorder."

"A-am I g-going to d-die?"

"No. Not if you get help."

"W-will you help m-me?"

"Of course I will. And Nick will too."

"Ok..."

"I'm going to do some research, ok? You just focus on relaxing for right now. Ok, Jeff?"

"Ok..."

Later...

Alex POV

I'd narrowed down Jeff's symptoms to a few different things. I wasn't sure if he had all of these, but so far, I've come up with hypervigilance, ADHD, depression, anxiety, and I sort of think he's being abused at home by his dad. And that can cause PTSD. So... I don't know. His symptoms are all over the place. I think Nick is coming back today though because his mom's birthday was yesterday. So we have tonight and tomorrow before we go back to school, which Jeff seems scared of too...

Sure enough, Nick came through the door and found me and Jeff sitting on my bed.

"What are you doing with my laptop?" Nick asked.

"Researching Jeff."

Jeff was currently cuddled up into my side. He kept falling asleep, but he was awake now.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"I've got a lot to tell you."

We left Jeff upstairs in our room, and we went down to grab dinner.

"So what happened?" Nick asked.

"Well... I've got his trust. A little bit, at least."

"What's been going on?"

"He was bullied in high school. And I think he has an eating disorder. He barely eats, and he barely drinks because he's terrified to go to the bathroom at school. That's where he used to get bullied. In the bathroom."

"Wow... Ok, how did you get him to tell you all this?"

"I honestly have no idea... Anyways... I don't see him throwing up or anything, so I think he's got anorexia. He just starves himself. And I think he has depression and anxiety. He has trouble sleeping, and he always seems sad and stressed out. He might also have hypervigilance."

"What's that?"

"It's where he constantly looks for danger. And he might have ADHD. He said he's failing some of his classes. So maybe he can't concentrate because of his ADHD and everything else going on and that's why he's failing. He's not paying attention. And then I found one other thing he might have."

"What?"

"PTSD, which stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some of the symptoms of PTSD are nightmares, which he has, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, increased alertness, and clinginess. He's been very clingy to me this weekend. And I think the reason he might have PTSD is because he's being abused at home by his dad."

"Right..."

"And... Child abuse can cause depression, anxiety, PTSD, sleeping problems, eating disorders, and attachment disorders. This is the cause of everything. And he's being super clingy to us now because this is like the first time he actually has someone he can trust, who he knows won't hurt him."

"Wow..."

"Yeah. If he's being abused, I get why he acts the way he does. He's terrified. And he's also terrified his dad is going to see his bad grades from the mid marking period reports. He's scared to get hurt again."

"Ok. Well maybe we should go back up there so he's not alone."

"Yeah."

We grabbed some cereal for Jeff, and went upstairs. But when we got to our room, he wasn't there.