just a sad song

[Gabriel Slater]

"Please! Please!"

Gabriel stood back, while Kaden wailed on the teenager in the Degrassi letterman while his girlfriend screamed at him to stop. The guy was supposed to have it coming. Several months ago, there'd been a fight between him and Kaden. Hell, Kaden had been jumped by the kid and a couple of his friends. It hadn't been too bad, just a couple stitches and bruises. Kaden got over it, but not without swearing vengeance. And when Kaden felt vindictive towards Degrassi students, it never turned out well. They'd found the couple out at the edge of the woods. It was lucky for them, because it was quiet and empty.

The silence broke with the sound of shattering glass. Kaden was going in big. They busted out the windows and while Kaden dragged the guy out of the car, Gabriel was sent to slash the tires. The whole time his stomach was churning. It was wrong. It was beyond wrong. He wanted to fit in with them though. It's all he ever wanted when it came to that group. He could be bad. He could be edgy, but he had a limit. And his limits seemed to be significantly more restricting than Kaden's. But of course, Kaden hadn't let go fast and while one guy tried to hold the girl back so she didn't get in the way, she eventually broke free and went at Kaden, screaming and yelling. That's when Kaden punched her.

Gabriel was still shaking. He still felt as ill as he did before. The yelling and the fighting still in the back of his mind. He'd taken a few shots too at the guy, because Kaden wasn't going to let up until he did. He fumbled with the lock on the door and slipped inside, rushing straight into the kitchen. It was late, but not so unreasonable for him. He turned on the water, running cold water over his hands, both washing them and trying to settle the throbbing in his bruised knuckles. This was the type of assault he wasn't used to. The type that got people in a hell of a lot of trouble. He didn't think he was a terrible person and he tried to convince Kaden that it was a bad idea, but they didn't leave until he wanted to. Not turning off the water, he grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it before taking a long drink. God, what had he done?

[Bruce the Moose]

"Gabriel's home!" the cry echoed from the nursery as the kids hopped up and ran to their older brother. The three girls, all adorned in Powerpuff Girls pajamas, ran out of their room, running straight into the kitchen and hugging his leg. "There's a monster under my bed!"

"nuh uh! He's under mine!"

"nooo! He's in the closet! And Ricky said it belongs to you!"

"Kristen, Kaylia, and Kendra. You're supposed to be asleep!" Bruce's voice boomed from the living room.

"I did not!" four year old Ricky, followed by his three brothers came out of the boys' room. "It was Billy!"

"Gabriel! Can I sleep with you?" little Jake asked him. "Tyler peed the bed!"

"No I didn't!"

"yes you did!"

"Finally!"Ulyssus said,walking in the kitchen. "I've been waiting for you forever" he told Gabriel. "Horror movie fest, remember? I can't watch them without you" the oversized seventeen year old freshmen was just a little too scared to watch the movies without his brother. Even though Xatia planned on joining them. It wasn't the same. She was a girl.

"Gabriel!" Xatia came downstairs, her black hair in a pony tail and a sweat dripped tank top and shorts. She got a soda from the fridge and took a drink. "I made routine for the talent show next week! You want to see?"

"Show him tomorrow, Xatia. It's too late to be flipping anyone." Bruce said, walking in on the 10 kids. "you guys are supposed to be in bed, you little munchkins!"

"but Gabriel's home!" Kristen protested

"and his monster's under my bed!" Kaylia added

"in the closet!" Kendra protested her announcement.

[Gabriel Slater]

Gabe was barely paying attention when the children suddenly latched themselves to his leg. In mid-drink, he choked on his water and looked down. He only opened his mouth to say something when he also heard his older brother's voice as he walked in. He stared at him fore a moment. Horror movies? His brain was still in the past, reminding him of what he'd just witness, not to mention help take part in. He was still trying to calm down from it and with all of the chatter and sudden movement, he felt lost. "Right, yeah.." He breathed. As Xatia walked in, he was about to say something to her too, but then Bruce walked in and he looked from him, to the kids, back to his brother and Xatia before he finished the water and put it down, immediately covering his right hand with his left, to hide the evidence of the bruising, and because it was comforting.

"I'll come down in a bit to watch them, promise. I just need to—get cleaned up. Long night, you know?" He said, though he sounded somewhat strained and even a little panicky. He wanted to get to his room, make sense of his thoughts and act cool. But he couldn't. He felt like somehow all of them would know. He felt like Bruce was going to somehow read his mind and see what he had been doing all night. Normally, he didn't care so much. He hung out with a crowd that tended to get in a little trouble. But tonight felt much worse, it felt like he had crossed a line. He didn't even make eye contact with Bruce. He couldn't look directly at him at all and instead tried to work his way through everyone so he could get to his room.

[Bruce the Moose]

Bruce was used to juggling nine kids before he ever took the girl in. He might have a lot of them, but none of them ever slipped past unnoticed. Bruce would like to think that he knew the kids. So when Gabriel refused to look at him, he focused on the boy. As he tried to walk past, he put a hand on his chest. "Not so fast." he told him, nodding to the dining room table. "sit." Oh, he would get to the bottom of it...whatever it was. To the other two teenagers, he sighed "can you guys get the rugrats in bed?"

Ulyssus had been staring at his kid brother in confusion "cleaned up from what?" he had asked, but then their dad interrupted, and Uly knew better than to question him right now, or to argue with Bruce. "Yeah. Come on," he told the boys, ushering them out of the kitchen, as Xatia took the girls.

Bruce opened the fridge and grabbed a beer, opening it and taking a drink. Beer tended to take the edge off, he learned. He was going to be open to anything Gabriel had to say. It was pretty obvious that something was up. And he wasn't about to let him watch movies or anything until he knew what was going on. After all, Bruce wasn't that scary that Gabriel would randomly be avoiding looking at him.

[Gabriel Slater]

Gabriel wasn't afraid of his dad. Though, he didn't want to be in trouble, nor did he want to admit to what he did that night. Not only because it was horrible and worth getting into a lot of trouble over, but because he didn't want to be looked at like that. He felt guilty. He kept hearing the girl mostly. She kept screaming at Kaden to stop and the guy, well, by the time they were finished with him, there was no way he wasn't going to need a hospital. It just went above and beyond the normal. When he felt his hand on his chest, he paused and took a step back before walking to the dining room table and sitting down. He was completely silent as the rest of the family filed out and he was left with his dad. Sighing, he looked over at him, already feeling fidgety.

"What's up, dad?" He asked, still not looking over at him. Instead, he paid attention to the table, keeping one hand on top of the other. He wanted nothing more than to go up to his room and forget about everything that happened. He didn't get how he couldn't just stand up for himself or at the very least walk away. He told his friends he thought they should stop, but it wasn't taken lightly and they wouldn't have listened anyway.

[Bruce the Moose]

Bruce studied his son before taking another sip and setting the beer on the counter. "You tell me." he told him, eyeing him suspiciously. He was either going to tell him, or he would be spending the rest of his life in the kitchen. Bruce thought it was simple enough. He wanted to know what it was that kept Gabriel from looking at him. Apparently, the table was more important. He groaned and grabbed his beer, taking a long, cool drink before setting it on the table and walking up to his son.

"Gabe. Eyes on me, kid." he said, reaching over to his chin to lift it. If Gabriel was going to avoid eye contact, then he would try and force it. "What's the matter with you?" the question was asked softly. For as big of a guy that he was, Bruce was a big softie. He rarely raised his voice at his kids. The only time he really yelled was when he wasn't being heard and he had ten kids to get over. But then, ten kids talking at once could create quite the clamour. But this wasn't the case, so he kept his voice low.

[Gabriel Slater]

"Nothing," Gabriel responded, still unable to look at him. All he wanted was to go hide in his room and forget about what happened. He shouldn't let it affect him like that. He could rest assured that Kaden wasn't at home having a hard time hiding any guilt. He didn't think what they did was wrong. To him, it was getting someone back. And sure, he didn't care for Degrassi. He was all for the rival and messing around with people, but they did more than that that night. They hurt someone and Gabriel had been afraid that his friend was going to end up killing the other one. When he took his chin, he looked up at him for a moment. He was still having trouble and he opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't.

The sound of metal crunching, glass shattering and yelling and screaming hit the forefront of his mind. He helped destroy that car, helped scare the hell out of the couple that probably thought they would kill them. And he choked, pulling his head away to drop his head straight into his arms. "God, I'm such a wimp," he mumbled, still he didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to face it, but he was getting close. Part of him wanted to just let it all out, to have someone tell him he wasn't the worst person in existence.

[Bruce the Moose]

"I'm not buying it," he informed him. Nothing? Yeah, he seriously doubted that. If nothing was up, then he wouldn't be acting like this. He leaned back and set his hand on the table. "You're not moving from that spot until you come out with it," he told him casually. Though, he was worried. He knew the kind of kids that Gabriel got himself involved with. What on earth could they have dragged him into?

"Should I be expecting cops at the door?" he asked him, and he was serious, too. With the way Gabe was acting, Bruce was wondering if he had gotten in trouble with the law. When he called himself a wimp, Bruce chuckled. "Yeah, you are," he completely agreed there. He couldn't help it. His boy was a wimp. Both of his boys were. But he wouldn't trade them for tougher kids. He loved his little wimpy boys. "Talk to me, Gabe," he continued to coax. He wanted to be able to bail him out. Even if Gabe thought he was going to be in trouble, he should be able to turn to him. Bruce would help him out before grounding him for life.

[Gabriel Slater]

"God, I hope not," Gabriel said, lifting his head and seriously looking worried for a moment. He didn't know if the guy even knew who he was. They would remember Kaden, definitely and know what he looked like, but he never figured out how much about each of them knew. And when it came down to the fights and vandalism that came from the school rivalry, not much came of it. They never really told on one another. They just retaliated. So, the couple could get them in trouble or they could go after them. He didn't appreciate being called a wimp, even when he said it himself and frowned up at his dad. "Hey, you're not supposed to agree," he sighed, slumping. He rubbed a hand over his face before he started to talk, unable to keep it back.

"It was Kaden, a few months back, he got his ass kicked by these Degrassi jerks. So, he—we—decided to get back at the guy that started it." It wasn't really his decision; it never had been. "He was parked out by the woods with this chick." He began, starting to get a little shaky as he continued. He took a breath, staring at the table again, before looking back up at Bruce. I thought we were just gonna scare 'em and mess up the car a bit. Maybe rough the guy up a little. But Kaden wouldn't lay off of him. And he wouldn't stop until we all had shots in at him... And the girl, she was yelling and screaming and Kaden... He knocked her straight to the ground." He shut his eyes, trying to get the image out. "They were terrified of us. And I thought Kaden might kill him if he could've." He didn't think his friend was a killer, but he wasn't someone you wanted to get into that type of fight with. And he definitely was no psycho like Kevin Lempke.

[Bruce the Moose]

Bruce sighed and looked down. "Gabriel Isaac Slater." he spoke sternly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Do you realize what you could have done? This rivalry shit, it's ending now. Before you end up stabbed, or worse--hearing that one of your friends did the stabbing." Yeah, he still remembered that night. He was sure that he, and Johnny would not be forgetting what happened...ever. "That's it. You're going to be making some new friends. I don't care what it takes. Lucas is my buddy, but his kid is out of control. Do I need to transfer you to Degrassi to make that happen?"

He would do it, too. Ulyssus went to Degrassi, so he had no problem sending Gabriel there. Degrassi was a safe choice. He kept his eyes on his boy. Oh, he wasn't going to let him get away with this. But he didn't blame him. Not completely. He would be disciplined for taking part. But Bruce knew that had it not been for that kid, his son would never be in that mess. "And I'll be calling Lucas and making sure he knows what his son's been up to....not that it'll do any good," he murmured the last part under his breath. If only he could get his hands on Kaden. Just for one day.

[Gabriel Slater]

Of course, the stabbing wasn't something that they had never heard of. He didn't think that it would ever get that bad. After all, they just roughed Degrassi kids up. Kaden had never killed them. Except tonight, Gabe had been seriously afraid that he would take it too far. He hadn't been in control at all and he didn't seem to care that they were screaming at him to stop. He had the upperhand and it should have stopped long before it started, but Kaden had just kept it up. It scared him to think that he could have taken it too far. But, when he mentioned transferring schools, Gabriel looked at him in shock. "Dad, no! I can't go to that school!" The rivalry was too deep in him and he liked Lakehurst. He didn't want to be at Degrassi, especially not with the people he had been more than willing to harass before at Kaden's lead.

"Come on, it's not like Kaden's some psycho like Kevin Lempke was." He said, because Kevin had been renowned for being violent and dangerous. Although, no one ever saw much of his violence and none of his twisted threats ever came true. But, the guy had a way of acting like a psychopath, so it could be assumed that he was. "Don't call his dad. He'll be pissed." And he was scared he'd be pissed at him. Then not only would he lose a friend, but he would wind up with Kaden on the opposite side and he didn't want that to happen.

[Bruce the Moose]

"You can and you will. Ulyssus is over there, and he's doing just fine. I am not going to lose you over trivial bullshit, young man. I already lost your mother, I don't need you gone too. And if you get arrested or worse, that's exactly what's gonna happen. And then what? You think I can really help you out of murder charges??" he was dead serious, too. Gabriel needed to recognize the seriousness of the situation.

When he mentioned Kevin, his eyes narrowed. "Are you even listening to yourself? He just made you guys gang-bash a kid and his girlfriend. How can you not see the problem with that? And all because they go to Degrassi. What if next time they go after Ulyssus? You wouldn't be able to walk away because you're too much of a fucking coward to do the right thing! And I am not going to stand by and let you do that, Gabriel!" His voice raised with every word that was spoken. He was concerned and angry all at once. There was even a tear in his left eye, but he quickly got rid of it, looking down. "You can't keep doing this." he repeated, with a low tone, almost a whisper.