Chapter Text
“Hey, Rick!” Beth greeted with a bright smile as she and Yolanda walked up to Rick’s locker. “What happened last night? You hung up so abruptly, is everything okay?”
Rick looked at his two friends and lied. “Yeah, sorry about that, I forgot I had to do something.”
“Oh, okay, no worries!” Beth smiled, before her eyes turned concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rick said in a steady tone.
“You sure?” Yolanda asked. “You don’t look well.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Rick said sharply, closing his locker. “I’ll see you later.” Before either girl could say a word, the boy stormed off.
“Okay, something is definitely wrong,” Yolanda noted. “Something is up with him.”
Beth nodded. “Definitely. But what could it be?”
“Hmmm, you said he hung up abruptly last night right?” Yolanda asked.
“Yeah, he did.” Beth thought back to her phone call with Rick last night. “Now that I think about it, I heard something break. Like...glass, I think? And then Rick hung up.”
The bell rang, signaling that first period has started.
“Damn,” Yolanda swore. “Do you wanna skip first period so we can figure out what’s going on with Rick?”
“Yeah, definitely. But where can we go where we won’t get caught?”
“The bathroom,” Yolanda said obviously, looping her arm through Beth’s as they walked to the nearest girl’s bathroom. Once there, Yolanda perched herself on the sink counter, followed by Beth.
“Have you skipped class before?” Beth asked curiously.
“Yeah, who hasn’t?”
“Me.”
“Oh yeah… I guess I’m corrupting you,” Yolanda teased. Beth laughed with her before they both sobered up. “Okay, so Rick. What do we know about his home life?”
Beth shrugged. “He lives with his dad on the outskirts of town. He walks to school everyday and he’s currently fixing a car of his own. That’s it, we don’t know much,” Beth realized. “We don’t even know his dad’s name .”
“Oh my god, something is definitely going on at home. Rick told us less than the bare minimum about his home life, that’s a classic sign that something is wrong.” Yolanda said, concern and panic laced in her voice.
“So what should we do? You saw how he reacted when we kept asking him if he was okay, he’s not going to tell us anything,” Beth acknowledged sadly. Rick built strong walls around himself, and sometimes it feels like she and Yolanda weren’t strong enough to break them down.
Yolanda thought for a moment. “As much as I want to, we can’t keep asking him if he’s okay, since he’ll get more and more agitated with us…”
“And he’ll probably stop talking to us altogether,” Beth finished with a pang. “But he wouldn’t ignore us completely, though, right?”
“I don’t think so… I hope not,” Yolanda admitted. She didn’t want to lose Rick. “How about we keep an eye on him as much as we can throughout the day?”
“I can do that! But what about when school ends?” Beth inquired.
Yolanda hesitated. “Maybe we can… follow him home?”
Beth’s eyes widened. “Won’t he notice us?” She wasn’t opposed to the plan, but there was a good chance they would get caught.
Yolanda admitted that Beth made a valid point. “We’ll be sneaky?” She tried. It wasn’t her best response, but she didn’t have any other ideas at the moment.
It wasn’t the best plan. It could blow up in their faces. But, Beth really wanted to help Rick. So, she agreed. “Okay. I’m in.”
Yolanda grinned. “Great! So we still have half an hour left, we can’t just show up to class this late…”
Beth thought for a moment. “Well, Rich lives on the outskirts of town, right? Let’s try and see if we can find any shortcuts we can take and hide on if Rick notices us?”
“You’re a genius, Beth! God, I wish I had my phone…” Yolanda groaned as Beth pulled hers out.
“I told you, you’re always welcome to use mine,” Beth reminded her as she pulled up a map of Blue Valley.
“I know, but I still miss my own.”
Beth zoomed in on a trail that led to the outskirts of town. “Maybe you can buy a burner phone?”
“Hmmm, that’s not a bad idea. I do have some cash stashed away,” Yolanda said thoughtfully. She may not be able to use the internet without a data plan, but she would still be able to make phone calls and text her friends.
“Yeah, we’ll be able to talk more,” Beth glanced up and smiled at her friend before returning her attention to her phone. “Okay, I can’t see any shortcuts, but this part has a lot of trees, so we’ll be able to hide and follow him.”
Yolanda shifted closer to Beth to look at her screen. She moved her finger around to see more of the map. “Okay, so we’ll mainly have to be careful here,” she pointed at a part of town that had a few stores and buildings, “but I guess we can always sneak inside a store or duck behind some cars.”
Beth nodded. “Sounds good to me.” She pushed the side button of her phone, making the screen go dark. “I hope we can help Rick.”
“Me, too. You’ve known him longer than I have, did he ever act differently?” Yolanda asked curiously.
Beth thought for a few moments. She and Rick weren’t friends before, but they still ate lunch together. He usually stayed silent during the entire lunch period, no matter how much she spoke. He never snapped at her, but once in a while, he would get up and leave angrily. “Yeah, actually, he has,” Beth relayed her thoughts to Yolanda.
“So this definitely isn’t a one time thing,” Yolanda realized.
Beth sighed. She felt guilty, all this time Rick was going through something and she never realized. “I should’ve realized…”
“No, Beth,” Yolanda cut her off. “You couldn’t have known. None of us were friends with him then, and he didn’t talk to anyone. There’s nothing we could’ve done then, but we can do something now, and that’s what matters.”
Beth smiled and rested her head on Yolanda’s shoulder. “You’re right… Also, I can’t believe I’m skipping class right now.”
Yolanda laughed. “It’s high school, you have to skip class at least once.”
Beth giggled. “I guess. I doubt anyone will notice that we both skipped class.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
The two girls continued chatting until the bell rang and they went their separate ways.
~~~~~
“So,” Rick started as he plopped into his chair in the cafeteria. “I overheard some other students talking about how the two of you skipped first period earlier?”
Yolanda groaned. “Seriously? We thought no one would notice!” Why would anyone notice that she and Beth both skipped class? And why would they talk about it? What was wrong with this school?
“Why did you skip class?” Rick asked curiously. “Did something happen? Did Henry try something? If he did, I swear to god-”
“No, no,” Beth said quickly. She couldn’t tell Rick that she and Yolanda skipped class to create a plan to follow him home and figure out what was going on with him, so she had to lie. Beth hated lying, but she had to. “I got a killer headache after you left your locker. Yolanda walked me to the nurse’s office so I could lay down and she stayed with me.”
Yolanda was impressed at Beth’s quick thinking. It wasn’t surprising though, Beth was super smart on her own. “Yeah, that’s all.”
Rick’s eyes were filled with concern. “Are you okay now?”
Beth nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”
“You could’ve texted me, I would’ve come,” Rick offered. Did they choose not to tell him because he snapped at them this morning? He actually had a good thing going for once, did he really just screw it all up because of his own issues?
Beth waved it off. “I didn’t want you to worry. I tried to get Yolanda to leave to go to class so she wouldn’t get in trouble, but she didn’t budge at all. Plus I didn’t want you to get into any trouble for skipping class, either.”
“I don’t mind getting in trouble, I would rather sit with you if you weren’t feeling well,” Rick said softly.
Beth smiled, touched at Rick’s words. “Aww, you are such a softie!”
Rick groaned while Yolanda laughed. “You really do love us,” Yolanda teased.
Rick rolled his eyes but secretly felt relieved. His actions this morning didn’t push the girls away at all, in fact, they seemed to be over it. Rick meant what he said, though; he’s fine getting in trouble if it means being there for his two friends. He also made a mental note to be more careful and not snap at the girls, especially Beth, since he didn’t want to cause her to have another headache.
“No comment,” Rick said curtly.
“You didn’t deny it,” Yolanda pointed out with a grin.
“Don’t worry, Rick,” Beth began. “We love you too!” When she saw a small smile on Rick’s face, she gasped dramatically. “Is that a smile ?”
“It is!” Yolanda exclaimed.
“You two are going to be the death of me,” Rick grumbled, prompting a laugh from Beth and Yolanda.
Their lunch period continued without a hitch, the incident of Beth and Yolanda skipping class long forgotten, until Yolanda dropped her books and Rick knelt down to pick them up.
“Thanks!” Yolanda accepted her books. Rick’s jacket had rolled up a bit, and it took everything Yolanda had not to gasp at the dark blue bruise creeping out from under the sleeve.
“See you,” was all Rick said before he left the cafeteria.
“Did you see that?” Yolanda hissed quietly. “He had a fresh bruise on his arm!”
Beth’s eyes widened. The glass breaking, Rick being more irritable than usual, and now the bruise? “Yolanda, do you think…” Beth couldn’t even bring herself to say the words.
Yolanda gulped. “I… I don’t know. I hope not… But…”
“The signs are all there,” Beth finished solemnly. Was Rick being abused at home?
“Okay, we definitely have to get to the bottom of this,” Yolanda said firmly, Beth nodding in agreement.
They had to help their best friend.
~~~~~
“See you two tomorrow,” Rick said goodbye to Beth and Yolanda as he left on his trek home. After he moved out of earshot, Yolanda turned to Beth.
“Okay, let’s go… now!”
The two girls followed Rick, making sure to keep a good amount of distance from him while keeping him in their sights. They kept close to cars and buildings in order to easily hide if Rick caught on that he was being followed. The duo were doing a decent job, ducking behind cars and staying out of sight. Once Rick got on the road that was surrounded by trees on either side, Yolanda quickly grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her into the trees to stay hidden.
The two girls walked slowly and quietly, careful not to step on any stray branches that could break and attract Rick’s attention to them. They watched Rick stop in front of a large tree and stare at it as if it had taken something he loved from him. After a few moments, Rick sighed and continued on his journey home.
“What was that about?” Yolanda whispered to Beth, who merely shrugged in response.
They continued following Rick until they watched him approach his house. Once there, they saw an older man waiting for him.
“Who is that? His dad?” Beth whispered.
“I think so?” Yolanda responded, unsure. She watched as the older man yell something at Rick, who stood his ground. Rick shouted something back, which made the other man angry. The older man violently grabbed Rick, causing both girls to gasp. They watched as Rick was pushed into one of the wooden columns of his house.
The older man shouted something at Rick before getting into his car and driving away. Beth and Yolanda hid behind some trees to avoid being spotted.
“Oh my god!” Yolanda cried out.
“I can’t believe that Rick’s been dealing with that for so many years…” Beth felt like she was about to cry. “How could someone do that to their kid? My parents aren’t really around that much anymore, but they would never do that to me.”
Yolanda nodded, wiping her eyes. “My parents may not acknowledge me, but they never, ever raised a hand to me… What should we do?”
“Check in on Rick?” Beth suggested. “I don’t care if he gets mad at us for following him, we have to help him.”
Yolanda nodded. “Agreed.”
The two girls waited until Rick walked toward a yellow car, presumably the one he was working on. Beth and Yolanda emerged from the trees and quietly approached Rick, who opened the front hood of his car and was currently trying to fix something.
“Rick,” Beth said softly.
Rick jumped at Beth’s voice and turned around wildly. “Beth? Yolanda? What are you doing here? How did you even know where I lived?”
“We were worried about you and we decided to follow you home,” Yolanda admitted. “Why didn’t you tell us about your dad? About how he… hurts you?”
“Rick, we just want to help you,” Beth pleaded.
Rick didn’t know what he was feeling exactly. Anger, shame, sadness, desperation… and touched that his friends cared enough to follow him out here. He sighed, he had to tell the truth to someone, why not his only two friends? “He’s not my dad...he’s my Uncle Matt. My real name isn’t Rick Harris, it’s Rick Tyler.”
Beth and Yolanda were both shocked. That was a hell of a secret.
“I don’t understand, why did you change your name?” Beth asked.
“When I was a kid, my parents had to leave. They were in a rush. I didn’t understand what was going on, but they left the house to Matt, and changed my last name to Harris. They told him to pretend like I was his son. My parents drove away and they hit a tree and they died,” Rick finished, looking down so the girls wouldn’t see the anger and pain in his eyes at the reminder of his parents. He was broken out of his feelings and thoughts when his best friends launched themselves at him, hugging him.
“We’re so sorry, Rick,” Beth said softly, squeezing the taller boy. Rick clinged to Beth and Yolanda, tears streaming down his face. The trio stayed like that for a few minutes before breaking apart. They all wiped the tears off their faces.
“Rick, you can’t stay here,” Yolanda said softly. “Not when your uncle hurts you.”
Rick sighed. “I don’t have a choice. And besides, he doesn’t always do that, only when I provoke him or when he’s in a terrible mood.”
“That’s not okay!” Beth insisted.
“I’m fine with coexisting with him for a few more years,” Rick said firmly. Where would he go even if he did file a report with the police? Chances are, he would have to move to another town, and he didn’t want to do that. As much as he disliked Blue Valley, it was the only reminder he had of his parents. Plus, he didn’t want to leave his best friends. “This house and this town is all I have of my parents. I can’t lose that.”
Beth and Yolanda glanced at each other, knowing that they couldn’t argue with Rick on this.
“Okay,” Beth relented. “But whenever your uncle gets in one of his moods, I want you to come and stay with me, okay?”
“Beth, no-”
“I mean it! Just call me or text me and I can let you in. At least you’ll be safe,” Beth was not going to give up on this.
Rick sighed and looked at his very determined best friend. “Okay, I will.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, Beth, I promise that when things get bad, I’ll come stay with you,” Rick promised, touched that Beth would let him crash at her place.
“So you’ll stay over tonight?” Beth asked, hopeful.
Rick hesitated and then saw the determined glint in Beth’s and Yolanda’s eyes. “Yes, I will.”
Beth smiled at Rick, whose lips upturned as well. “Great!” She turned to Yolanda. “Do you want to stay over tonight, too?”
Yolanda considered it for a moment. “Yeah, I do. Aren’t your parents going to notice that you snuck in two people though?”
Beth shook her head. “No, my mom is working the late shift, and my dad is out of town.”
Yolanda nodded before returning her attention to Rick. “And you’ll come, right?” She asked, double checking.
“I’m pretty sure if I don’t, the two of you will come back here and drag me to Beth’s, so yes, I’ll come,” Rick deadpanned, making the girls smile.
“There’s the grumpy Rick we know and love,” Yolanda proclaimed with a smile. “Hey, can I punch your uncle? Kick him?”
“As much as I would love to see that, that’s probably not the best idea, he’ll just take it out on me,” Rick said regrettably, prompting Beth to give him another hug.
“Well, we’ll always have your back,” Beth said, feeling Rick’s arms encircle her waist.
“Always,” Yolanda agreed, joining the hug. “Two group hugs, minutes apart. I could get used to this.”
“You two really like ruining my reputation, don’t you?” Rick asked, exasperated as the three broke apart.
“Yeah.”
“Pretty much.”
Rick sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Thank you two, seriously…”
“Of course, Rick, you’re our best friend,” Yolanda said earnestly.
Beth nodded. “Yeah, we’ll always be here for you. Come on, let’s get some ice on those bruises,” Beth gently took Rick by the hand and led him inside. Yolanda found the kitchen and put some ice in a towel and brought it to Rick, who settled onto a couch with Beth. Yolanda handed the ice to Beth who pressed it to Rick’s exposed bruise on his arm.
“I could do this myself, you know,” Rick reminded his friends, but accepting their help nonetheless.
“We know, but it’s better with your friends,” Beth noted with a smile.
Rick couldn’t help but smile back at Beth, her warm smile was infectious even during a painful moment. “That goes both ways too. I meant what I said earlier, if you’re not feeling well, let me know and I’ll be there for you.”
Beth and Yolanda froze. The two girls exchanged a look and silently decided to tell Rick the truth.
“That’s really sweet, Rick, but… I lied,” Beth admitted sheepishly.
Rick looked at her, confused. “Lied about what?”
“I didn’t have a headache. We were never at the nurse’s office. We skipped class so we could plan to follow you home.” Beth explained.
“You two skipped class, just so you could decide to follow me home? And that took what, a minute?”
“Technically, we also looked up a map of Blue Valley so we could find good places to hide in case you realized we were following you,” Yolanda supplied helpfully.
Rick chuckled and shook his head. “You two are something else, I swear….” He was truly touched that his friends went to such lengths for him. “Wait, Beth, you skipped class for a non medical reason?!”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Yes, I did. Like Yolanda said, everyone should skip class at least once.”
“We’re bad influences on you,” Rick noted.
“Or maybe I’m a good influence on you!” Beth said cheerfully.
Rick rolled his eyes good-naturedly, clearly not admitting that Beth was right. He still didn’t know what he did to deserve two friends like Beth and Yolanda, but he wasn’t going to let them go.