Zeke doesn't push when Mylo doesn't answer him. He pressed his lips together, understanding what silence begins to mean with his new friend.
Mylo stood there with a blank stare, his eyelids half closed as he stopped himself from shedding tears. He knew he had to be strong if he needed to survive, he understands that Ryker is another type of nightmare. The type that claws on your skin and he needed to do what the older asked if he needed to survive another day in this school.
But his body cannot take it anymore.
"Have this, please," Zeke points an ice pack at Mylo. He doesn't wait for Mylo to take it as he placed the pack on his left cheek.
Mylo sighs at the coldness he didn't know he needed on his skin. He wants to shut his eyes and enjoy this brief moment but he keeps them open to watch Zeke curiously. He couldn't understand why the boy was so nice to him. He himself had even judged him, told him to stay away.
"Why are you not in class?"
Zeke sighs tiredly, "There is no way I could stay there when you were dragged away by the Alpha. He looked so mad and he is not in his nature to react. You must have gotten on his nerves, Mylo."
"I shouldn't have opened this restroom that day," Mylo hears himself say as he holds the ice pack with his hand. He walks out in hurried steps, as if, if he left the building he could walk out of hell.
"Slow down."
"I shouldn't have," Mylo repeats himself, his chest tightening. It felt like he was going to explode at any second. He knows he is not the type to regret his decision because every step he takes in a day is counted in his head. How did he get himself into this mess?
It didn't help that the passing students were pointing fingers at him, mumbling under their breath.
He was being seen.
He increased his walking pace.
"No one is here, slow down," Zeke crouched over breathlessly, his hands resting on his knees, his glasses almost falling off his face, "Let's sit over there."
Zeke noticed Mylo's hesitation as he looked around, afraid that sitting or standing here might be wrong.
"Come on," Zeke slowly pulled Mylo along, pushing him to sit on a garden stone bench, "You couldn't have known the place was out of bound Mylo, don't blame yourself too much. The highest point is punishment by Alpha Ryker for a school year. He will forget about you soon but what bothers me, how did you get noticed by Alpha Royce? That is also the first time the Alpha has come to the junior level lecture hall. And it seems he came specifically to look for you."
"That is my first time seeing him in my whole life. I don't know what I have done to him. He asked me to come to a place called Cocktail Moon at 4pm. He is an impolite fellow and I could tell he mistaken me for someone else."
"What?" Mylo looks at Zeke as he is silent with his mouth open in surprise, "Is there something on my face?" Mylo asks him, cleaning nothing off his forehead.
"The Alpha invited you to Cocktail Moon?" A blush appears on Zeke's cheeks as he clears his throat.
"What is this place?"
"A renounced gay bar… it's freaking expensive and I heard a lot of naughty things happen there."
Mylo raised his eyebrows, his ears hearing the most abominable thing in his whole existence, "Why would he invite me to a place like that? Why would he even ask me to go to such an unholy place? Is he that way?"
"What way?" Zeke gives Mylo an unimpressed look, "Are you asking if Alpha Royce is gay? No, he has never mentioned his sexuality to anyone and it was rumored in the campus gossip page that he was a VIP at the club. No one knows what he does there and I never believed he went there until you mentioned it."
"So what does this have to do with me?"
"Maybe he…"
"I'm not gay!" Mylo said truthfully, his tone serious, "And I distaste people who commit such a great sin. It is against God and what I believe in."
Zeke hides his fidgeting fingers at Mylo's words.
"I'm not going there," Mylo sighs, "He has the wrong person."
"You are going to be in big trouble if you don't go. The Alpha Twins are not to be played with Mylo, you don't understand but their father is the most powerful Alpha King, he rules over a hundred states in this City alone. And Northern Lantern is the city with the highest population of werewolves and other shapeshifters. The City trades with everything and they hold a lot of power in the world."
"Zeke," Mylo calls out his name for the first time, "I appreciate you telling me this but I really do not care about what happens in this city or who rules it. If my parents ever see me hanging out with you, we are probably going to move cities and by then you and this city will be forgotten in my life."
He gets up instantly, "I should go home."
Zeke gets up as well, his eyes filled with worry, "You should go to the medical center before you head home, you don't look too well."
"I rather not," Mylo tightly clutches his school bag, "I should leave."
~
"I'm home," Mylo begrudgingly announces his entry in the house, taking off his backpack, unaware of the surprise stares coming from his father slouching on the sofa with a bottle of beer.
"May your light guide us to the right path, may your face shine upon us, oh God," Catherine was seated in the dining chair, her fingers laced together on top of her holy book. She opened her eyes slowly to the last voice she is supposed to be hearing when she is talking to God, "Why are you back so early?"
Baldwin stood up on his feet, his body swaying a little from the much alcohol spreading through his system, "I didn't have to drive you back. How did you get home? Where did you get money to use the bus?"
Mylo turns around to face his father with a big wonder in his heart. How on earth did this man become his father? What was his mother thinking? He was tired, his body was trembling with fatigue, he had walked home himself.
"Don't just stand there, answer me you little shit," Baldwin shrieked.
"I walked home, I'm done with my lectures for the day," Mylo answers flatly, "I don't think I…"
"What is wrong with your face," Catherine cuts Mylo's sentence off as she walks towards him grabbing his chin, "How did you get hit?" She scoffs, "Did you seduce somebody's husband?"
Mylo gasps, unable to understand why his step mother always thinks the worse of him.
"No, I slipped in the bathroom."
Catherine pushed Mylo away forcefully, "Don't you dare lie before God and me. It is a sin to lie, Mylo and it is one God frowns upon a lot. Why do you have to drag your soul to hell with your own hands?"
"Are you having problems at school already, Mylo," Baldwin asked, "We only got here two days ago."
"Father, let's leave, let's go to another city. They're strange things here, creatures that heal themselves and they don't seem like they worship the God we worship."
"I think you are the strange one," Catherine doesn't understand why Mylo is so demonic. She knows he is a pawn that escaped from hell to torment her poor soul but she hasn't gathered the evidence yet, "No food for you for the next three days."
She turns to Baldwin, "Are you listening to your son? He is definitely causing trouble at school."
"I'm not, I swear," Mylo argues, defending himself. Even though he doesn't remember the last time she fed him to start with. Even though he is committing a great sin for lying after what happened at the lecture hall earlier with the Twins. He cannot accept that he had caused any trouble.
"Mylo, speak the truth," Baldwin demands, his tone harsh, "What happened?"
Mylo wants to answer and tell them they are werewolves and other possible creatures at his school when his vision suddenly blurs with a sinking feeling as he slumps, losing his consciousness.
"Mylo!" Baldwin yells as Mylo suddenly slumps, he hurries to him, tapping his head, "What is wrong?"
"Why are you even asking that? Obviously he is pretending."
"It doesn't look like he is pretending right now, Catherine. Do you think we should take him to the hospital?"
"No, why should we do that? It will cost a lot and that bitch might be faking it for all I care. Just keep him on that sofa, he will probably wake up soon."
"Are you sure?"