High school is hard on everyone. But it's especially bad when it's your first year of public school ever and you're blind to boot. Mason's prediction was right on the money. The kids at Wilson High School had decided he was the newest and best thing to be stared at and poked. Yet none decided he was the type they wanted to make friends with. After a week of people whispering around him as if he couldn't hear or was some china doll, too fragile to touch, he wanted to get out of the school.
     With no friends, and homework he was having trouble understanding, things couldn't get worse. But it seems as if Murphy had it in for Mason. The newest terrors were named Zach and Jason Freemen. They were seniors, and skaters. But most of the school had figured that these two were to stupid to bother with and generally ignored them. So they did what most bullies did. Went after thing smaller and weaker then themselves:
     Mason found himself being hit in the back of the head with textbooks in crowded hallways, having his hair pulled, his cane taken from him and used to knock him off his feet, having his supplies stolen, crude taunts whispered at him when he was alone and so one. The two even went as far one day as to ambush him when he was alone, introduce themselves and steal his wallet. Fortunately, it was just the backup one he kept in his backpack for emergencies and had no money. Unfortunately they discovered this later and he came home with bruises on his stomach and chest from Jason's fist. He hid these from Mari and slept on his stomach for the next week or so. But the two wouldn't leave him alone, going as far as to follow him halfway home on occasion. Ghod, high school was hell.

     It had been a long day, and Nick, his best friend Vaughn, and two other friends and teammates, David and Eddie, had just gotten out of basketball practice. Amy was at her friend Mae's house and was going to give the boys a ride home, so they were heading over there. It was late and already dark out, and they were taking a short cut through Jefferson Park, full of shadows and trees. Nick didn't see the boy until he was almost on top of him. He stumbled, trying not to trip and land on him, and Vaughn reached out and caught him before he fell. The four looked down.
     The white haired boy was sitting on the ground in the shadow of a large tree, slightly curled in on himself and fast asleep. His books were spread before him from where he had been doing his homework. Nick blinked at them, confused. They were perfectly blank, with rows upon rows of raised dots.
     "Braille," Eddie whispered. "He's blind. I've seen him around school. Dunno his name though."
     Nick knelt down next to the boy. He shook him gently. "Hey," he said softly. "Dude, wake up."
     The boy's shoulder shook under Nick's hand as he awoke. He sat up, tense and seemingly ready to bolt. "Who's there?" he whispered, wrapping his small hand tightly around Nick's wrist.
     "Hey, hey! It's okay, calm down. Name's Nick Taylor," the blond replied.
     Mason was silent still, and they could tell he was still wary and slightly scared. His breath came in rapid, shallow bursts and he didn't relax any. Nick tried again. "We're friends. No need for alarm. We won't hurt you. What's your name?"
     Mason took a few deep breaths. "Mason. I'm Mason McGuire." He replied softly.
     "You go to Wilson, right?" Vaughn asked. He continued when Mason nodded. "Yeah, you're in my Health class. I sit in the back corner and you sit in the front row."
     "Here," Nick said at Mason's constant silence. "Let me give you a hand. You planned on falling asleep under a tree?"
     "No," Mason admitted. "I got turned around here in the park and decided to stay and do my homework."
     Standing up, he came out from the shadow of the tree and into the light of the street lamp. Nick reached out and gently touched the large bruise marring the petite boy's high cheekbone. Mason flinched but stayed put. " 'Got turned around', huh? Sure doesn't look like it." The taller boy murmured.
     Mason cringed away at that. "Lost," he said defiantly. "I usually avoid the park, because I always get mixed up in here, but today . . ."
     Eddie and David growled. They could hear what Mason wasn't saying and recognized the oval shaped bruise for what it was: someone's fist meeting the small boy's face. Mason jumped at the sound and tightened his grip around Nick's left wrist.
     "Can we walk you home?" Nick asked.
     "I'd rather you just pointed me in the direction of 6th and Stevens. My experiences with 'Good Samaritans' aren't good ones." Mason replied.
     "C'mon . . ." David pleaded. "We'll walk you up to 6th and Stevens, then home. That way you'll know if we make any wrong turns."
     After a moment's hesitation, Mason nodded. He knew it was late, and deep down, he'd rather have a guide. Or guides as it were. He also knew who Nick was: Amy's brother and captain of the Junior Varsity basketball and football teams. Didn't mean he actually knew the boy, they could be like Zach and Jason for all he knew, but it was better to chance the unknown then risk running into those two again.
     David placed Mason's books back in his backpack, which Vaughn carried. Nick extracted his wrist from Mason's death grip finally, and instead looped his fingers through the blind boy's. Mason balked at this and tried to pull away.
     "I can walk by myself," he snapped.
     "I know," Nick conceded. "But just let me, please?"
     Mason snorted, but didn't try to pull away again. Instead, he smiled hesitantly, and said, "Lead on, good sirs."
     The boys chuckled a bit at this, and Eddie walked up to Mason. He touched Mason's free hand lightly. "I'm Edward, but you can call me Eddie. Everyone does." He stepped back as David stepped up.
     "I'm David, and I don't have a shortened version of my name. Well, except that my Dad calls me Dave. But my mom calls me Dave-Dear. And my sister calls me Davey. And my teachers call me Maxwell cuz it's my last name. Then again, what do they know? They also say I talk too much. I don't think I talk too much . . ."
     "Yes, yes. The entire point of his anecdote was that he's David. Believe what his teachers and family and friends all say: he talks a LOT. He's the only person who can distract the other team in basketball, but only because he strikes up a conversation with them in the middle of the court. I'm Vaughn Carpenter, by the way."
     "Nice to meet you all," Mason murmured, looking at the ground. Nick looked at Vaughn, who shrugged, as if to say, 'Hey, we tried', and the five started off towards the corner of 6th Avenue and Stevens Street.
     Once they got to the corner, Mason ran his hand down the light pole, and finding what he was looking for, pushed the crosswalk button. He relied on the others to indicate when it was safe, and they crossed the street. They walked up one block, turned left, down two blocks, turned right, down two more blocks, turned left again, and at last stood in front of a two story house familiar to them all.
     "You live here?" Eddie asked, startled.
     "Yeah," Mason replied as he walked up the stairs, counting as he went. 13. Just right. "I'm home!" he called as he opened the front door.
     "Mason Alexander Leonardo McGuire, where the HELL have you been??" Mae jumped up from the couch and glomped her nephew. "Do you have any idea what time it is? I've been worried that you were hit by a car, or kidnapped, or hurt and dying in a ditch somewhere!"
     Mason stood there for a few moments, surprised. "I'm fine, Aunt Mari. In one piece and all." He pulled out of her embrace. "I accidentally fell asleep in the park, that's all."
     "And what were you doing in the park? Jefferson Park? I thought you avoided places like that? That's it, I'm getting you a cell phone. And what is this bruise? Did you fall? Did something-"
     "I'm FINE!" He snapped, cutting her off. Then walking with a hand out in front of him to keep from falling, he walked down to his room and slammed the door.
     Mae blinked, just staring at the place her skittish nephew had just vacated. A slight cough caused her to jump, and she noticed Nick and the others for the first time. "Oh, hi guys! Um, Nicky, you sister is in the living room, if you all wanna go in there. I'll be a few minutes."
     Nick nodded, and they went into the living room, where Amy sat on the couch, tapping her fingers idly. She looked up when they entered and a confused expression flitted across her face. "Hi Nicky. Hi guys. I thought I heard Mason just now . . ."
     "You did," Nick replied sitting next to her. "He's in his room, I think. Mae went to go talk to him."
     "Oh, so you met him finally? I though he was beneath you? You didn't want to talk to anything related to 'Super-hyper-never-stops-chattering Mae?"
     Vaughn, Eddie and David looked away, uncomfortable, as they could tell this was an old argument between the siblings. Eddie looked up to see Mae standing there, frowning. He nudged Vaughn, who looked up and saw her, and together they dragged David silently back to the back of the room. Out of the line of fire.
     "Well, you didn't tell me he was freaking blind! I met him when I almost tripped over him in the park! We walked him home, but we didn't know home was here!"
     "He told me not to tell you, Nick. He said when I met him that he didn't want yet another person treating him like an object or a baby. Okay? That's why I didn't tell you."
     "Nick?" Mae interrupted. "What happened? He's all bruised and he won't tell me how he got that way. He's just laying on his bed, refusing to talk." She was worried that if he shut himself off again, she had instructions to call the Institution and he'd have to go back.
     "I don't know Mae. Like I said, we found him in the park, sleeping. He had fallen asleep doing his homework. We introduced ourselves, convinced him we weren't going to hurt him, and walked him home. He said he got turned around in the park, but he also said he never goes in the park, so I can only imagine he was there hiding from something. He wouldn't tell us how he got the bruise on his cheek."
     "Not just his cheek." She replied. "When he took off his coat, he has a T-shirt on under it. I could see bruises around his upper arms as if someone had gripped them really tight. I'm worried about him, but he's starting to close in on himself again. Will you go talk to him?"
     Nick turned and stared blankly at her, shocked. He didn't know that Mason was bruised under the coat he wore. He hadn't said a thing. Nick nodded and went back to the room he had seen first Mason, then Mae disappear into. He shut the door behind him.
     Mason lay curled in a ball on the bed, his back to the door. Nick could just barely see his upper arms, and the bruises that ringed them. The only thing they could be was hand marks. Nick walked over quietly and knelt by the bed. "Mason?" he spoke softly, trying not to cause the boy to draw further in then he was already. "Mae's really worried about you out there. We all are."
     There was no reply, and Nick was upset to hear soft sobs come from the figure on the bed. He was crying. Despite his mind warning him against such foolish acts, Nick got up and sat down on the bed. He reached out and pulled Mason to him, tucking the blind boy's head under his chin.
     "Shhh. It's okay. You're safe and at home now." He rocked back and forth slightly trying to comfort Mason. "Tell me what's wrong, please?"
     But Mason remained silent, wincing when Nick passed a hand along his side. On a hunch, Nick reached down and tried to pull up Mason's shirt. But Mason squirmed away, hauling his shirt down firmly and pulling away from Nick. "Please Mason, I just want to see something."
     "I don't want you to see." Mason replied, speaking to the boy for the first time since coming home.
     "Why not?" Mason had no answer. "Please just let me see? I won't hurt you, I promise."
     Mason conceded and pulled his hand away from the hem of his shirt. Nick reached down once more and tugged upward, taking the shirt off the petite boy. He gasped at the myriad of colors on Mason's chest, bruises both old and new. Mason sniffled, and Nick realized he was crying again. Once more, he drew the smaller boy to him.
     "What happened? Who did that to you?"
     A murmur against Nick's neck where Mason had hidden his face caused Nick to tense up. "The Freemans."
     "Not anymore, they aren't" Nick hissed, angry. "Now you have me and Vaughn and David and Eddie. Plus a few more that hate those two. I won't let them bother you anymore." He had to talk to Vaughn and the others, but Zach and Jason would soon learn that Mason was off limits as far as they were concerned. "C'mon. Let's get something on those, like ice, and we'll go talk to Mae and Amy and the guys in the living room."

End notes: Yes, I know I'm evil. I'm causing Mason more pain. This time I won't say this will be the last time, because Mason is one of my personal characters, and I love torturing him. I know he acts like a girl in this chapter, but I'll fix that too.