Is it love, or revenge Ch 1

Matthew woke up with tears streaming down his face again. He didn't move to wipe them away, just lay there and let them fall. He should have been used to it by now, though he never had the dreams for that long. Usually they would leave him after a few weeks, but Arthur was in his mind for nearly a month.

School would be starting soon, he thought. Maybe with the pressure of school work he would forget about Arthur as easily as the rest. Just a few more days, actually. It would probably help if he wasn't always over with Alfred, too. Or if Alfred would stop dragging him out when they got together with friends.

With a sigh, he finally sat up and wiped his face, then checked his watch. It was still dark out, and the time read five in the morning. It seemed his body was already getting back to school mode. He always woke at five to get ready for school, because he needed to wake Alfred as well. His older brother was always sleeping through his alarm to a point where he didn't bother setting it any more, so it was Matthew's job to wake him.

Matthew climbed out of bed and turned on his bedside table lamp. He was wide awake, so there was no way he would get back to sleep. Instead he reached for the towel on the post of his bed. He would take a shower, then make breakfast early.

On his way to the bathroom, he grabbed a set of street clothes. They were the same clothes he'd worn all week. This would cut back on the amount of laundry he would need to do, because his brother changed clothes every day. The mountain in the bathroom was mostly Alfred's clothes.

Usually, their mum took care of the laundry, but she wasn't home at the moment. Both their parents were out on a vacation at a beach in New Jersey. They would be back the week of school staring. This left Alfred and Matthew alone, with their old neighbour checking up on them every day.

As Matthew closed the bathroom door behind him, he stepped on something cloth-like. He looked after he turned the lights on and sighed. He'd stepped on a pair or Alfred's jeans. They had a habit of missing  the basket. As did his shirts, socks, and underwear.

Matthew dropped his clothes on the sink and reached down to pick them up. The felt oddly heavy. He reached in the pocket and found why. Alfred had forgotten, again, to remove the car keys and his wallet before going to bed last night. As usual, he left the wallet on the sink next to his clothes. However this time he kept the car keys for himself, hiding them in the pocket of his red maple hoodie.

Today he would make sure to get their school supplies. If not, they'd be unprepared, and Alfred would complain about his teachers being on his case so early in the year.

It didn't take long to get cleaned, however he remained until the water was cold. A near forty five minutes, which wasn't good for the water bill, but he enjoyed every second of the scorching hot water. Eventually he was out and dry, clothed and making his favourite breakfast.

Pancakes and maple syrup went well with mornings. Coupled with a glass of milk and he was set for the day. He made sure to make enough for Alfred, and left them in the refrigerator before he sat down to finish his breakfast. They weren't the best he'd made in a while. Again, he'd over cooked some of them, and the edges were crispier than they should be.

He found on one, the pancake was undercooked, still leaking batter on the plate. He sighed, and scraped it to the side to finish the burnt ones. Usually his pancakes were great, but for a while now, his skill seemed to have disappeared, and it annoyed him to no end.

Shaking his head, he tossed the gooey one and rinsed the plate, then looked for a post-it to write a quick note to Alfred.

'Gone for school supplies. I'll be back soon.'

The note went on the door, because this was the first place Alfred would go when he woke up.

Matthew checked his watch while slipping his shoes on, and saw the time was now just past six. The stores wouldn't be open until at least seven. He could kill time around the house, but that was boring. Instead he would go to the park.

Castle Creek was the name of it, and it was right next to the pool where Alfred drug him over the summer. It was empty, as he'd thought it would be, but that was just as well. He wasn't one for company any more, since around first or second grade.

He walked down the small hill and across the wood shavings until he reached the swing set. It was the most appealing part of the park now that he was older, but when he was younger he would climb up and down the tire in the middle, or the rope bridges (upside down was his favourite way to climb them, even though it took nearly five minutes to finish halfway) if he was feeling brave. But now he was too tall for the tire, and bumped his head if he tried to climb under.

So instead the swings were his favourite place to go, and with no one in the park, he wasn't afraid to swing as high as he could go. He could recall once, just a few months ago before Arthur asked him out, that he'd nearly swung right over the top, letting go just in time to land on Arthur. That was just around the time they'd officially been introduced at a creative writing club they joined outside of school.

"I wonder how everyone is doing there." He said aloud as he climbed on a swing and started to move. The last time he went was right before he was dumped for his brother(again). There were a few people he knew from school who joined the club, including Roderick, and his best friend-enemy Gilbert. Gilbert wasn't the type you'd see as a writer, and Roderick was more into music, but they could write a good piece when they worked together(Not often. Gilbert was an avid fan of murder and action, while Roderick preferred the classical romance genre).

There were others he knew, like Gilbert's brother. He mainly came to make sure his brother didn't get into any trouble. There was an Italian boy in his class who followed the German everywhere he went, so it was obvious that he follow as well, though his older brother was the one who'd signed for the class. Lovino was a great writer(Almost better than Arthur), but he was always denying it.

Other than that, there weren't many others.

Matthew shook himself from his thoughts to check the time. It was officially a few minutes from seven. 'Have I really been here that long?' He thought as he finally jumped off the swing, landing perfectly on his feet rather than on an unsuspecting person. His hair was blown wild from the wind, but he quickly patted it back down as he went back to the car.

He let out a sigh as he unlocked the door and slipped in the drivers seat, bringing up a mental map of his next path. He would have to drive back towards his house, however he took the low road littered with overgrown trees on the side(They still haven't trimmed them) and past the post office.

Eventually Matthew arrived at his destination, annoyed to find most of the parking spaces were taken. "Why is everyone out this morning," he complained, pulling in to a spot by the RiteAid. He crossed the large parking lot and was glad to see, at least, that the Family Dollar was mostly empty.

Everyone was probably in the Walgreens (Why were there two drug stores next to each other?) or the clothing store with the odd name. Peebles, or something like that. It didn't matter, he never had much a reason to go any ways.

Before he entered the store he grabbed a cart and stretched, satisfied with the loud crack he heard. School supplies were the best art of the school year. He'd  need to be prepared to grab everything he needed.

The door detected his presence and opened.