The Beautiful One

Chapter 4

The whole ride over to Vic's house was silent. I just stared out of the passenger side window and he stared at the road. But occasionally out of the corner of my eye, I could see Vic glance at me. I paid no mind to that, but I glanced at him too. The tears had long since dried on my face and it was feeling stiff. I knew my eyes were swollen and red but honestly I didn't care at that moment. I scratched at my wrist from time to time, which Vic glanced at every time he saw me do it, so I just let it itch. It was better not to irritate it anyway. I didn't want Vic to get suspicious of it. When we pulled up to his house, only then did he break the silence.
"Say something Shay." He says pleading
I just turn and look at him with an empty expression.
"Please Shay come on. You haven't talked in an hour."
"I've stayed silent longer." I say quietly
I hear him sigh in relief.
"Look, I'm sorry what Audra did back there. It was totally uncalled for. I honestly thought that no one but us at our school knew where Burger Town was." He says quickly
"Don't."
"Don't what?" He says confused
"Don't apologize."
"But why?" He asks still confused
"Because I don't want to be anyone's pity party." I say looking down
"Shay don't say that. You are not a pity party to me or the guys."
I don't say anything and just nod my head.
"Come on, let's go get you a clean shirt. then we can just hang out or whatever."
"Okay sounds cool." I say quietly
Walking into his house, I look around in amazement. It's so quaint and comfortable. It makes me feel safe just to be in the living room. Vic leads me upstairs to his room. When I open the door I'm again hit by the sense of security. Vic sees my roaming eyes and smiles at me.
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'wow Vic actually lives here? I thought his room would be filled with posters of girls and skateboards and stuff.'" He says
"No that's not what I'm thinking. I'm just taking in the sense that I can be safe here." I say quietly as if not to disturb the serenity .
"Well you can be Shay. If you ever need a safe place to stay, just ask me. I know we haven't known each other long, but I would let you stay here if you wanted to."
"Thanks Vic." I say blushing a little
"Well let's get you a clean shirt. Then we can do anything you want to. We don't have to go back to school."
"Okay."

Vic throws me a simple white V-neck shirt.

"Umm where can I uh, change?" I ask sheepishly
"You can change in here or the bathroom. It's okay I'll step out."
"It's fine I'll just go to the bathroom."
"Okay. Well it's down the hall to your left."

As I clean myself off, I can't help but think about the day's events so far. I flipped off Audra the Barbie Bitch and in turn I got a soda down my shirt. But other than that, I was just having a good day. When I look at myself in the mirror, I grimace at my face. I look terrible. My eyes are swollen from crying, you can see dried white streaks of my tears, and my eyeliner is smudged. I really hope Vic didn't notice. What am saying? Of course he did.

I grab a towel off the towel rack and begin scrubbing my face. When I'm done with that I look at my face again. I don't look too terrible. Then I remember my wrist. It stopped bleeding a long time ago. I'm glad I have my jacket with me, because then Vic would see the ugly scars on my arm. I take my wrist gently in my other hand and clean it. It stings a little but I'm used to it. When I'm done with that I take a towel and pat dry it. Then I put on my jacket, take a deep breath and walk out of the bathroom.