Am I Pretty Yet?

Chapter Eight

This chapter was edited 08/03/16.

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The following day at school, the entire hallway went dead silent as soon as Parker walked through the double doors. I sucked in a breath, surprised at how dark the mark was. I knew Harrison had hit him, but I hadn't thought he'd socked him that badly. Richel was nowhere in sight, but she at least had managed to send me a text message the previous night before. Her and Parker had managed to clean everything up, leaving no traces of evidence that a party had even occurred, much less a scuffle in the backyard. As for the bruise on Parker's face... well. You couldn't exactly hide that.

"He definitely got busted for that," Richel had told me through a quick phone call the night before. "But my dad will take care of it. Him and my mom already talked it out."

I had chosen to stay silent on the other end, unsure of what exactly to say in return. How long would Parker carry the burden of his parent's divorce alone? How long was I supposed to go along with it and leave Richel in the dark?

"Boo," a voice whispered from behind me.

They placed their hands on my shoulders, and I jumped, startled. I turned around, only to see Harrison, with bright eyes and a slightly less swollen lip. His eyes drifted past mine to Parker, who was still walking down the hallway with his head held high, his eyes looking straight ahead. The video was already running its course around school, a thirteen second clip of Harrison socking Parker near the swing set. They had both fallen down dramatically, but risen back up. I had even seen a blur of my face in it, too quick for anyone to truly recognize that it was me, but I knew. I had been there.

"This is not going to end well," I groaned into my locker. Harrison chuckled, pulling me out of it.

"This is going to blow over in a matter of one week, tops," he reassured. His hand was on my shoulder, and my arm was tingling. Then I spotted Leslie walking down the hall as well, heading straight towards us at a fast speed. Her heels were clacking against the floor, and her eyes seemed to be pinned on me. I gulped. By the time she reached us, she let out a breath, turning to Harrison.

"Someone just showed me a video on their cell phone of two boys punching each other, two boys that look a lot like you and Parker. Please tell me it's not real," she begged, her brows furrowed. Harrison turned around slowly, and Leslie slapped a palm against her forehead, gasping. "Christ, Harrison! After I drove you there to check on her -"

It dawned on me then that this meant Harrison had been with Leslie that night. He hadn't been properly dressed, which could only mean that Leslie had been at his house, which could only mean...

It could mean several things.

"Her mom called me," Harrison reasoned. I reeled backwards, almost as if I had been slapped. "What did you expect me to do?"

"I expected you to come out with her in less than five minutes, no fuss. But instead, you took your sweet time and got into a fight with a senior who is twice your size! I was waiting in the driveway for nearly twenty minutes! How did you two even get home?" she exclaimed, practically in hysterics. I slammed my locker door shut, slowly turning to Leslie. Something unexplainable was bubbling up inside of me, something that was dying to tear itself out. She narrowed her eyes at me. "What?"

I took a deep breath, swallowing. I wasn't the type of girl who yelled. I wasn't the type of girl to talk back, to stand up for myself or others. I was the type of girl to let things slide. But this time was inexcusable.

"It wasn't his fault," I said. "It was mine. Harrison just thought he was protecting me."

"Yeah, and now he's going to look horrible for our Spring Formal photos," she snapped, clearly irritated. My face fell.