Abused {ACM}

Chapter 23

"...I'll see you there?" I bit my lip, hoping I wouldn't have to sit alone at breakfast. Maybe I would need a friend here. Someone who knows what I've been going through. Someone who understands. Someone who could be a shoulder to cry on, something to look forward to every day instead of waking up to blank hope.

Parker hesitated, expressions I couldn't read flickering over his face. Finally, he smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll see you there, Acy."

"Abby."

"What?"

"Abby's my name."

Parker smirked, and for a heartbreaking moment he looked a lot like Austin. "See you at breakfast, Acy."

Abby's POV

"Hey. Hey, girl. Clary, do you know what this chick's name is?"

"No. I just saw Nicole bringing her up last night and setting up that little cot for her. She laid there for a while and then left for a couple hours. She collapsed there at dawn." A soft voice said.

Then I realized that somebody was shaking my shoulder, and I jumped away from the hand.

"Oh, hey. Sorry to scare you." The rough, gravelly voice - so different from Clary's - apologized. I slowly peeled my eyes out to the bright room and saw a bunch of girls shuffling around, dressing and folding their blankets up. I saw the calloused hand that was lingering near my shoulder and traced up its arm, to a face with the largest brown eyes I've ever seen in my life. Framed by thick lashes, with tan skin and thin lips, a small nose and dark hair in a boy-cut, which just accented her huge eyes even more.

"You okay...? I'm Zoe, that's Clary." The girl with large eyes - Zoe - pointed to herself and then to an adorable little girl that looked half-Asian.

Clary smiled sweetly at me and stuck her little hand out for me to shake. She looked about a year younger than Zoe and I, with long tresses of wavy hair framing her face, falling to the small of her back, with hazel eyes and full lips, a flat nose. I sat up and smiled at them, rubbing sleep from my eyes with my left hand and shaking Clary's with my right.

"My name is Abby, nice to meet you." I answered politely.

"It's time for breakfast!" Clary dimpled, taking the hand she never let go of and pulling me up. I was a full head taller than her. Dizziness took over my brain but I did my best to ignore it, smoothing out and folding my blanket like the other girls did.

"Clary loves breakfast." Zoe rolled her eyes. The way her eyelashes brushes the top of her eyelids mesmerized me, and I stared in jealousy at her face.

Clary nodded and pulled us out the door.

We chatted about random things - our birthdays, favorite colors, what we hoped was being served at breakfast today. But none of us even brushed the subject of why we were here. I guess it was just unwritten code here - what's past is past. We followed the gaggle of girls, which soon melted in with gaggles of guys, into the dining hall. I looked around for Parker's platinum blonde hair, a little disappointed when I didn't see him.

Not that I didn't like Clary and Zoe - I really liked them, actually. Zoe's serious, calm personality clashed so strongly to Clary's extremely adorable and bubbly one. I liked it. But the thing was - they were obviously best friends. They linked arms and giggled and spurted so many inside jokes I didn't understand half of the things they said.

Clary pulled me to the line of kids waiting for food - kids from four years old to seventeen - with trays sliding along counters like at schools. I grabbed a puke colored tray and slid along the counter, looking with half disgust and half mild interest as they poured slop and vegetables onto my tray. Suddenly, a whistle blew behind me and I jumped. I turned around, seeing an old nun charge gracefully down the room, grabbing two boys that were play-wrestling, and marched them out of the room. Nobody else even batted an eye.

Typical. Mean nuns, disgusting food - what next? Cleaning spiders out of the attic?

"Don't worry, that happens often. Just follow the rules and Sister Amelia won't get you." Zoe patted my back lightly.

"And you thought Sister Amelia wasn't real." A voice said behind me. I jumped again but turned around, a smile twitching at my lips.

"Oh? I doubt that that Sister Amelia was checking out your butt, Parker." I rolled my eyes. He already had his own tray of slop, and he twitched his head, telling me to follow him to a table. I looked back at Zoe and Clary, but they just had confused expressions on their faces.

"How do you know Parker?" Clary asked, stepping up and winding her skinny arms around Parker's waist. He smiled gently down at her and ruffled her hair, hugging her back.

He threw a nod at Zoe and she waved back.

"Acy was with me last night in a dark hallway." Parker winked.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Yes, it was all very romantic - with poetry and everything."

"I ship it." Zoe laughed.

My smile faded and I shook my head.

"No..." I cleared my throat and forced my lips back into a grin. "Nah. I have a boyfriend back home."

"Really?" Clary grinned. We all walked over to a table and sat down. "What's his name?"

I smiled genuinely then. "Austin. We've been best friends forever, but just recently started dating. I - he's waiting for me back home. I promised him I'd be back." Tears stung the back of my eyes again - I don't think I would ever be able to think about Austin again without crying until he was by my side.

Zoe and Clary nodded seriously. "You're sixteen, right? Two more years. That's not too bad."

I nodded vigorously, even though my heart was screaming, 'Too long! Two years too long!'

"There is no divinity, so inadequately she hopes. There is no divinity, so inadequately she dreams." Parker murmured. We all looked up at him, but he just smiled and dug into his slop.

"He does that a lot." Clary explained, picking up asparagus and dipping it into her mush, and then biting into it as if it were the greatest thing in the world. "Comes up with random lines of poetry that he never fits into an actual completed poem."

Parker shrugged. "Too much work. Hey, Dustin! Over here!"

A short boy walked over, with spiked black hair and skinny but toned arms. "Hey, Park. Clare-bear, Zo. Newcomer?"

"Yup, this is Abby." Clary introduced. "Abby, this is my big brother, Dustin."

I smiled and waved my asparagus at him. I could clearly see the resemblance now - their thick dark hair and brown eyes with noticeable flecks of green. He set his tray of food down next to Parker and smiled at me, his teeth scarily perfect and white.

I ate in silence for a while, listening to their conversations and giggling at their adorableness. Parker nudged me under the table and smiled at me, and I smiled back. But a deep, deep pang of grief hit my heart as I watched them interact. They were so comfortable with each other - throwing peas and tickling and poking fun. Clary reminded me too much of Macey - Dustin too much of Zach, Zoe too much like Zoey, Parker too much like half of a Alex and the other half of Austin.

"Two years, Abs." I muttered under my breath. "Two more years until Austin." I missed him like the moon misses the stars in the daytime. But this happens - this would just prove that our love was real. Being separated for two years and still being together - I think that's real love.

But I already knew what we had was real.

Liking somebody is knowing their good personality and their perfections and feeling butterflies. But being in love is knowing all of their inner demons and flaws and still - there are the butterflies. And right now, just thinking about him, the butterflies were in overdrive