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Chapter 5

Sophie

My entire body shook as we walked towards the school. Ben held my hand tight and pulled me towards him when we walked through the doors.

Almost instantly we felt a million eyes on us, it felt like everyone in the world was looking at us. Then the whispers started

'Are they together?'
'No he wouldn't like someone as ugly as her'
'She must be good in bed if he's with her'
'She's so fat what's he see in her'

The whispers got louder and louder and I just couldn't stand it so I let go of Benji and ran to the bathroom. I heard people laugh as I ran past them.

I think I heard Benji call my name but I didn't care. I burst into the bathroom and locked myself in a stall as I let everything out.

I slid down the wall and curled into a ball, I really shouldn't have come to school today.

Someone opened the door and walked over to my stall, I could tell it was Benji by his shoes.

'Go away Benji' I tried sounding confident, it didn't work so well.

'Darling please come out' He whispered to me. I just hummed a no in response.

'Okay then move over because I'm going to climb under this stall' It took me a second to register what he said but before I could answer his head slid under the door and he was pulling himself all the way into the stall.

As soon as he saw me his entire face dropped.

'Oh Darling, come here.' He sat next to me and pulled my onto his lap and into his arms, pulling me into a tight hug. I buried my face into his chest and just kept crying.

'Shh it's alright, I've got you.' He whispered into my hair while rubbing my back to calm me down. I moved my face so I was looking up at him to find he was already staring down at me.

'Can you take me home please?' I asked, my voice breaking with each word.

'Of course Darling' He shifted me slightly and then stood up with me still in his arms, he grabbed our bags and opened the stall door, we stayed there until the halls went silent then we walked out.

He double checked before leaving so we didn't get in trouble and we made our way out to the car, he placed me in the passenger seat and then went to the driver side, got in and started the car. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other in his lap so I grabbed it softly and pulled it towards me.

I played with his fingers while we drove home, music was playing quietly and my favourite song came on so I started humming along and when the guy's part came on Benji started to sing it softly. I looked at him in complete awe, he was incredible.

'I didn't know you could sing like that' I said.

'I learned for you. Also guitar because I know you love singing so I wanted to be able to sing and play together.' My face lit up and I blushed more than I ever have before, he looked at me and chuckled lightly at my face.

'That's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.' I mumbled looking away from him, he pulled into our driveway and used his two fingers to turn my face back to him.

'All I want to do is make you happy Darling, I will do anything and everything to do that for you.' My brain froze for a minute while I tried to process what he said and by the time I came back to reality I was in his arms again and we were going up to my room.

He pushed the door open with his foot and then walked over to my bed and placed me down. I landed on my arm which hadn't fully healed yet so I let out a pained cry.

'Shit, what happened? Are you okay? Did I hurt you?' Benji asked frantically.

*TW*

'Hey hey hey, It's okay. My arm isn't fully healed so if I put pressure on it, it kinda hurts' I replied trying to stay calm.

'I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Can I have a look?'

'It's not your fault and yeah sure' I said. I pushed myself up slowly with my good arm and moved my injured one towards him. He carefully held it and moved my sleeve up and gasped when he realised the bandages were red, covered in blood.

His face dropped and tears formed in his eyes.

'Why didn't you tell me it started bleeding?' He whispered

'I didn't want you to worry about me and I was just going to fix it when we got home this afternoon' I replied, ashamed that I disappointed him.

'Okay, let's get you fixed up' I smiled in response

Benji

She smiled at me but it didn't reach her eyes, I knew this hurt her like it hurt me.

I left the room and got the spare bandages and cleaning supplies the nurse gave to me before we left the hospital. She knows my family so she was kind enough to not ask any questions when I asked for them, I lied and said they were for a friend back home but still.

I came back in and Soph wasn't on her bed anymore.

'Soph?' I called out, I already started to panic and went straight to her bathroom. Locked. I knocked and called her name out again but there was no answer.

'I'm coming in, move away from the door!' I shoulder barged through the door to find Soph curled up in her empty bath. I walked over to her slowly and set the supplies on the edge of the bathtub

'Soph?' I whispered, she didn't move.

'Darling? Can you look at me please?' I whispered and she slowly lifted her head to look at me and when she did I saw her shirt stained with blood, her arms got worse and bled more and it must've scared her so she hid in here.

'I-I didn't know w-what to d-do' she sobbed.

'It's alright my Darling, I'm going to help you. Can you take off your shirt for me?' I asked carefully. she nodded in response and started pulling off her shirt, I turned on the bath as she threw her shirt into the hamper.

Once the water heated up I let the bath fill until it was to her waist, then I turned it off. I got a wash cloth and soaked it in the water while I slowly peeled her bandages off her arm. She winced as it rubbed against her cuts.

'I'm sorry Love but I've got to get them off' She just nodded once more.

I finally got the bandages off, so I squeezed the excess water out of the wash cloth and started to gently clean her arm, careful to not get any into her cuts or to close. Once I cleaned off most of the blood I got the cleaning supplies and did a more focused clean, making sure to get closer to the cuts and disinfect everything. Once everything was cleaned I grabbed more bandages and covered her arm again.

'How's that feel?' I asked

'Better' She whispered, I gave her a soft smile.

I went to pull the drain out of the tub but she stopped my hand before I could, I looked at her confused.

'Stay' She said

'In the bath?' I asked, she nodded. So I agreed

'I'll go grab a seat for me, I'll be right back' I started to stand up

'No, I want y-you to sit w-with me' She stuttered

'In the bath?' She nodded once more.

'Okay' I left my clothes on my took more shoes and socks off then slid in behind her, she sat between my legs and leaned back against my chest. She shifted a few times and then turned to look at me, she looked at my shirt then back to me.

'Want me to take it off?' She smiled slightly so I pulled my damp shirt over my head and threw it on the floor next to the bath. She leaned back again and smiled.

'You're warm' She whispered which made me blush, she wanted the shirt off just to feel my body heat. I kissed the top of her head as she drifted into a light sleep. I just looked down at her beautiful face and couldn't help but smile.

I'm so in love with this girl.