One Lie at a Time

PROBLEM SOLVED

Two weeks after I got a cold because of Samantha tossing a bucket of water on me, I was officially semi-invisible again. A few days after the "incident", a sophomore boy named Lucas was the center of attention because Damon Seacrest had given him a swirly and now, Lucas was the Omega of the school. Apparently, Damon heard that Lucas was gay and he decided that Lucas deserved to have his head stuck in the toilet. Poor Lucas.  

I was sleeping peacefully in bed when two hands grabbed me roughly and threw me out of bed.  I fell and my head snapped against the wooden flooring hard.  My vision swirled for a second.  I could see the little trio of yellow birds circling my head. My head exploded with pain and I groaned miserably.

"Wake up, maggot,"  My dad snapped pulling me up and pushing me back down with extra force, "You have school."  Apparently, I got up too slowly, so Dad kicked me in the gut a few times, knocking the wind out of me.  I curled up into a ball and coughed miserably.  

"I said, get up,"  He roared, his foot connecting with my jaw.  I instinctively put my hands over my face, but that left my stomach unprotected.  He landed a few more blows to my stomach before dragging me up and throwing me angrily onto my bed.  He stormed out of my room and slammed the door shut.  Luna coward at the edge of my bed, shaking madly. When I looked into her terrified brown eyes, I made a plan. I would call Anthony and ask him to take Luna. I couldn't have her here with him.  My room was no longer a safe zone. I stood up and looked in my mirror. There was a tiny bit of blood coming from my nose, but I wiped it away with a tissue. I changed into my clothes for the day.  I tried to ignore the disgusting blue and purple bruises covering my stomach that had popped up the last two weeks.  I don't know what made him snap, but Dad's started taking all his anger and frustration out on me. The one thing that was keeping us grounded was my job at Espresso Cafe. If I didn't have that job, we would have been evicted by now.  

I pet Luna and whispered, "Don't worry, Luna, I'll get you out of here as soon as I can."  I gave her a kiss and walked out the door.

Zoe was waiting for me when I got to school. She was leaning against the bike rake, on her phone probably looking at her Instagram. Lucky for her, she had Instagram. Dad didn't let me have any social media. I have Tik Tok, though. How could I not? I need my daily dose of Jackson Passaglia.  The moment I stepped off my bike, I had a skull-splitting migraine. I sighed and pressed my hand to my forehead. It must have been because of my fall this morning. Hopefully drinking water would help.

Zoe walked up to me and asked, "Lily, are you okay?! You look a little out of it."

I laughed awkwardly and nodded, "I'm fine."

Zoe furrowed her eyebrows but didn't say anything else. She just nodded and walked into the school with me. We stopped at my locker to drop off my bag and grab some things. Zoe chatted with me the whole time. I enjoyed her company. A quiet person needs at least one talkative person in their life to balance things out. 

I texted Anthony to call me as soon as he could. Hopefully, I could get him to call me before the end of the day. Just thinking about Luna alone in that house with Dad broke my heart. My head throbbed painfully throughout the day, refusing to let me be even for a second.

--

I was in seventh period when Anthony called. I asked the teacher if I could answer and like the awesome teacher he was, he said I could. I stepped into the hallway and answered the phone.

"Hey, Anthony," I said cheerfully, pressing my free hand against my aching forehead and the other holding my phone to my ear.

"Hey, Lily. I just saw your text. What's up?"