Chapter 2

I officially hate the world today.

Actually, I hate the world everyday.

When I wake up, I yawn and put on a shirt before heading downstairs. I wipe the sleep away from my eyes, only to bump into my Mum.

Ah, yes. I think it's about time you met my parents.

My mum is a singer. World famous. Known for her scandals.

I like to think of her as Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton.

Only she's not a lesbian.

She's married to my step dad. My fourth one.

And I kinda hate my step dad. His name's Gary. He hates me.

And he accidentally killed my cat, Josephine.

"Accidentally."

More like he ran her over with the Hummer.

But, "accidentally" of course.

Mum looks at me and says, "Watch where you're going, asshole!" and then storms out of the house with Gary and her assistant Alexander.

Mum's latest and greatest scandal was the whole drinking thing. She and Gary went to a strip club.

And Mum got a little to into and started stripping.

Right in front of all the cameras and paparazzi.

And then slept with one of them.

It was the cover of People last week.

My real dad – the first one – lives in Canada. I have no idea where he lives in Canada, but I know he does.

I see my cat, Napoleon, running by, so I pick him up. No, I did not name him after Napoleon Dynamite; I named all my cats after French kings and queens.

Shut up.

I take Napoleon into the other room with me. I see Jason sitting on the couch next to Shane, who was passed out with his mouth attractively wide open and one leg off the side of the couch.

"Yo," I say, setting Napoleon down on the kitchen counter. I open the fridge and take out the orange juice.

Jason glares at me.

I turn around, juice carton in hand. "What?"

"You left last night. You didn't stay with Shane."

I shrug, taking a swig out of the juice. "So?"

"So!?" Jason blows up. "You're so lucky nothing bad happened!"

"Like Napoleon would ever let that happen," I say sarcastically, putting the juice back in the fridge.

"Nate!" Jason reprimands.

"What? What do you want from me?"

"I'm serious Nate, we're talking about our brother's safety here."

"Well it was self-inflicted, so why should I care or do anything about it? If he wants to kill himself then I say let him. Why are we stopping him?"

"NATE!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Go to my room." I pick up Napoleon. "Come on, Napoleon." I start walking away.

"No, Nate, you get back here right now!" Jason yells.

I audibly groan and turn around, walking right up to him. "What!?"

"Don't you dare say anything like that ever again, do you hear me?"

"You're not the boss of me!"

"Hell yes, I am!"

"Yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?"

Jason pulls his hand into a fist and punches me right in the stomach. I yelp and fold over, backing away from him.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"That was for being an ungrateful child!"

I go back up to him and punch him across the face. "That was for being an asshole!"

Jason growls and launches himself at me, pulling me into a headlock. "This is for being a stupid motherfucker!"

"And this is for being a gay bastard!" I kick him in the balls.

Jason cries out in pain and lets go of me.

I kick him in the leg and then grab my cat, running out of the house.

I hop in my car and start it, driving away quickly. I look back and see Jason trying to yell at me from the front lawn. But I don't stop. I keep driving until I turn onto the main street, and then I accelerate even more.

I am running away.

Yes, you heard me right.

Nate Gray is running away.

I am running away from my brothers. I am running away from my stupid fucking mum and Gary. I am running away from my problems.

But mostly, I am running away from Seattle.

Because Seattle is a fucker.

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit called Seattle and it's filled with people who are filled with shit. And the vermin of the world inhabit it. And they all deserve to die.

And what's fucking worse is that it's raining.

It's always fucking raining.

I get onto the highway and drive. I drive out of the city and eventually I make it out of the state. And where do I head?

Straight to California.

And what made it better is that the song, "California" came on the radio right as I crossed into California after driving through Oregon.

I sing along to the radio. "What do you say we leave for California? If we drive all night we can make it by the morning, and no one has to know if we decide to go. What do you say we leave for California? If we leave our friends then we can be together. We can leave this town if only for the weather…"

I look over at Napoleon. He's sleeping. So cute.

"But I'm still driving, just keep sleeping…" I continue.

It's a bit creepy how much this song relates to my life.

Have you noticed songs do that?

When the song's over, a different one comes on, and I turn to my cat. "Napoleon, what do you say? Should we leave for California?"

Napoleon lifts his little head and just looks at me. I reach my hand over and scratch him behind the ears just like he likes. He starts purring and I smile.

"It seems like a good idea, doesn't it?"

And that's when my phone starts ringing.

I open up that compartment thing in between the seats and dig through it to find my phone. It's Jason. I answer it. "What do you want?"

"Nate where did you go?" Jason asks, all worried. "You've been gone all day. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I bark.

"Where are you? Should I pick you up?"

"No! Jason I don't ever want to see you again. Okay? NEVER."

I close my phone and throw it out the window. I hear it break when it hits the highway.

Fuck him.

I don't need him. I don't need anyone. I am perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much.

I turn to my cat. "I guess it's just you and me, Napoleon."

Napoleon meows and stands up, hopping to the back seat. He looks out the back window.

I look in the rear view mirror at him. "Don't look back, Napoleon." I reach back and get my cat, putting him in my lap. "We don't need Seattle. We don't need anyone. Just never look back."

It starts to get dark, but I keep going.

I'm going to Los Angeles.

Why?

Because it's sunny. And bright. And happy. And it never fucking rains. And it's not Seattle.

I stop to eat dinner at a McDonald's in Sacramento and take it to go. I get some chicken nuggets for Napoleon and when I get in the car, he smells the food and has a spasm.

He starts clawing the seat so I toss some chicken to him and he gobbles it up.

Napoleon must have been really hungry because he downs all ten chicken nuggets in less than the time it took me to get them, and then he settles down to take a nap.

I end up driving through the night with Starbucks to keep me awake.

It's a good thing last night I nabbed my credit card and put it in the car.

When I finally make it to Los Angeles, it's four in the morning and I pull up to a hotel. I get a room and then get Napoleon and sneak him up to my room. Right as my head hits the pillow, I close my eyes and sleep.

I don't even bother to take off my socks.

And I always take off my socks.

A\N: FAN FAMILY? Fan FUCKING family. THAT WAS OUR HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DAY? I refreshed the page at least ten times and waited for a FAN FAMILY. Goddamn them. Once again, they have let me down.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check the Jonas Brother's MySpace.

Well on the bright side, I'm going to start giving people some cool adjectives for all who review. So if you review, I will make up an adjective for you!