Charlotte's Scars

Chapter 11 - Charlotte

Chapter Eleven

Charlotte

"Hurry up, Char!" Karla called out behind her. She was speed walking down the steps that lead to the harbour, and I was desperately trying to keep up with her. Her legs were much longer than mine, but apparently, she never took that into consideration.

I was walking a little slower than usual because my back still ached and every step I took, I could feel a sharp pain shoot up my spine. When I woke up this morning, I looked at my back in the mirror and, as I expected, there was a large black and purple bruise in the shape of a whiskey bottle.

My parents and their friends were still passed out when I left the house, which I counted as a blessing. I wasn't in the mood to hear my parents' apologies. That is if they even remembered what happened - sometimes they were too messed up to recall the night before. I actually preferred it that way, because the guilt they felt was usually so strong it would force them to drink even more.

"Where are we even going?" I asked.

She glanced back at me and she had that look in her eyes that I loathed so much - once again she was up to something, and I knew it wasn't good. "You said you were mine for the weekend, so just follow me and don't ask questions."

In all my years of friendship with Karla, I never told her about my parents. She knew I was neglected, but not abused. In all honesty, I never told anyone. Sure, everyone in Bridgewalk knew they liked to party, but no one knew about the violence except for my dad's friends and me. There were times when I wanted to confide in Karla, but I couldn't get the words out. I was afraid she would look down on them, and no matter how bad it got, I still loved my parents.

"I'm not getting on that," I said, pushing the thought of my parents to the back of my mind.

We were now standing at the end of a dock, and floating on the lake in front of us was a very expensive looking yacht. It was pearl white and had more windows then I was willing to count. From where I was standing it looked like it had about three separate floors, and on the second floor there was a big deck with a build in pool and Jacuzzi.

I didn't need to ask Karla whose yacht it was, because only one family in Bridgewalk was rich enough to afford a boat that nice, and it was her cousins. Karla and Christian's parents were well off, but their dad's brother was unbelievably wealthy. The Steele brothers, Kale, Adrian, and Nathaniel, were the very definition of trust fund kids. According to the rumors, their trust funds were so large that they could probably live very luxurious lives solely on them without ever having to work a day in their lives.

"Why not, it's my uncle's boat," Karla said dismissively and started to climb up the ladder that lead to the deck. "Remember what you said, Char - anything I want, now get up here before anyone sees us."

I almost took a step forward until her words made me falter. "What?" I looked around nervously. "You mean you don't even have permission to be up there?"

"Technically? No." She giggled and then said, "But it's okay, we - Crap! They're coming, hurry up." She reached down the ladder, grabbed my hand and forced me to climb up to the deck. It was either go up, or have my arm pulled out of the socket.

"Who's coming?" I looked over my shoulder and saw a group of people walking down the steps to the harbour. I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose, and from such a far distance I could recognize Christian. He had a very unique posture - his shoulders were squared and they were slightly raised because of his muscular frame. He also walked with confident strides and his strong chin held high.