I sighed, feeling slightly awkward. Thankfully, Ryan broke the silence.

"Hey, why don't you head home?"

I flinched at the word 'home'
Home was supposed to he a happy place for most.

Not for me.

I shuddered and rubbed my arm where a scar engraved was engraved near my shoulder out of habit.

"I would rather take my chance with the bullies.." I said.

He tilted his head. "You dont wanna go home?"

I nodded. "I dont like home.."

"Hmm" Ryan looked at me from my feet to head. "You could stay with me for a bit, then I could bring you home when you feel more comfortable" he suggested.

I thought about that. "I barely know you..," I started, "But then it should be much better than home.. Sure"

Ryan smiled. "Alright. Follow me" he nudged me forward and we began to walk somewhere.

Soon, we reached his house. It was at the end of a nice looking neighborhood and it was a decent looking out from the outside.

"Uhm.. Why do you keep rubbing your.. Your arm..?" Ryan asked.

"Huh?" I looked down to see I HAD been rubbing my arm. I quickly pulled away. I hadnt even realized I was doing so until he pointed it out. "It's a.. A force of habit" I said quickly, hoping he would drop it.

He stared at me for a moment before finally unlocking the door. "It's not much, but its home. Oh, and I hope you dont mind dogs"

Suddenly, two dogs raced in and practically tackled Ryan. One was a golden lab and the other looked like an Australian Shepard mix.

This brought a terrified feeling to my heart. I was always afraid of dogs since.. The incident.. But Thats for another time..

Ryan must have noticed my expression change, because, "They won't hurt you. Especially Sadie. She's a sweet dog. Right, Sadie, girl?" the golden lab barked almost in response and trekked towards me and licked my hand.

I gave a small smile and leaned down to pet the dog fearfully.

"Yeah," Ryan chuckled, "Sadie is a sweet dog, very nice and protective"

He pointed to the Shepard. "And Thats Nick. We're not sure what other half her is, but we think its husky. He's super hyper and loud but very sweet"

I smiled as Sadie and Nick ran back to Ryan.

"Wait. We?" I asked, confused.

He nodded. "Yeah, we, as in me and my roommates. They are on vacation, so you can choose which room to stay in for the time being" he said. "You hungry?"

I looked at him. "Me or the dogs?"

"Both of course!" he exclaimed with a big goofy grin on his face.

I chuckled. "Nah I'm not hungry" I said, smiling my ugly smile.

He shrugged. "Oh well. I'm gonna feed the monsters real quick and you make yourself at home"

"Monsters..?" I mumbled in an amused way

"Yeah! The cat and the dogs!" he laughed as he pulled down food and poured it into three bowls and I saw a tabby run from upstairs towards a smaller bowl and the dogs ran forward to eat from their own.

I smiled as Ryan came back into the room. "So care explaining why you dont like home?" he asked.

"Oh.. Uhm.. Recent family problems.." I lied.

He looked me up and down again. Obviously the lie worked because he smiled and nodded. "Alright." he said.

I sat down on the couch after he told me he was going to play video games so to just sit down somewhere and make myself comfortable.

I looked around. Maybe this was a good idea. Ryan seemed nice, This neighborhood is nice, and overall I didn't have to see my parents again.

As long as I was away from them, I was happy.

Because only God knows what would happen if I went back to them.