Inseparable

• Chapter 11 •

"Stop! Stop this now!" A teacher shrieks, finally catching up on all the screams coming from here, and the chants from the crowd that had gathered to see what was happening. Four or five of the biggest male teachers get in the middle of the fight, physically separating the teenage boys.

"Clear! Nothing to see here!" A teacher shouts as I crawl towards Hope, not trusting my legs to work. My eyes fill up with tears as I see her slouched on the wall, her body as limp as a rag doll.

"This is my fault," I whisper as I gently cup her cheek where there is an angry red handprint where Kyle had hit her.

"Faith," Ashley shakes her head, "There wasn't anything you could have done. Don't blame yourself."

It only took the teachers two minutes to clear away the crowd with the threat of detention for those who decided to linger. It then took them another to realize that Hope was unconscious.

"She's unconscious!" One of the math teachers shouted, waiting for one of the stronger teachers to lift her limp body off of the floor and take her to the nurse. "All of you go to the nurse, we will deal with you all there." The teacher sighs, looking around the group of the twenty of us. Out of all of us, Ashley came out the best, with only a scratch on her knee from when she kneeled down too quickly to get to Hope.

We all shuffle in a line, me not looking up, afraid that if I see all the eyes staring at us as we pass that I'll have another anxiety attack in front of everyone. The teachers that had gone ahead had taken extra chairs for us to sit in on front of the nurse's office. I sat down, Ashley on one side and the other boy on the other.

"Thank you." I mumble, "For standing up for my sister like that."

"No problem, I mean that guy was being an ass right?" He replies with a smile. I looked up at him, because he was so much taller. He looked like he was a senior.

"Umm you know that guy is right here right?" Kyle asks, having the audacity to look offended.

"Shut up," We say simultaneously.

I take a closer look at him, and I realize just how bad he got it. He has a black eye, a cut in his forehead, another cut below the other eye, and a trail of blood going from his nose to his lip, though it looks dry and cracked now. As I take one more look at him, I realize how attractive he really is, I mean, under all the cuts and bruises and things.

"You done staring?" He chuckles, and I snap out of my thoughts, a deep blush creeping up my cheeks.

"Sorry. Umm, what's your name?" I ask cautiously. I didn't want him to think I was some stalker girl or I was like flirting with him or something.

"Oh, my name's Sean." He smiles kindly, "And what is your name?"

"Faith," I smile back, "And my sister's name is Hope." He's really nice, I really like him, just as a friend though, I'm not interested in boys after what happened today.

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"And that's all I know." I finish, looking at the principal with Ashley sitting in the plush chair beside me.

"Thank you girls, that's fine. You can go sit with Hope in the nurse's room. I press my lips together, wincing when I put pressure on my split lip. We both stand up and nervously walk to the nurses office. The next period had just ended and people were staring at us as we walk across the hallway. As it always seems to happen, the news of the fight had spread like wildfire.

We walked to the nurse's office, only to be seated outside, not allowed to even see Hope.

"Ugh. Why can't I even see my sister?" I complain, plopping down in the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

"I know, I mean, at least you should. You're her sister for Pete's sake!" Ashley agrees, groaning in pain as she sits down a little too emphatically.

"I'm going to try to finish my homework," I sigh, pulling out my notebook. I stares at the blank paper in front of me, barely paying attention to Ashley, who is playing a game on her phone.

The first thing I know is words pop into my head, the next thing I know I'm scribbling down random words, raw words, straight from my heart.

I was never good enough,
Never fit in with your crowd.
You need skinny, tall and pretty,
Gee, I hope you're proud.

I tried to be what you wanted,
What I thought you needed.
But you rejected me,
No matter how hard I pleaded.

I'm not good enough for anybody,
I'm not accepted anywhere.
I'm judged by my body, my face,
My voice, and even my hair.

I'm an outcast, a freak,
Someone who doesn't fit in.
Why can't I be pretty like her?
All I really want is to be thin.

But I can't change who I am,I
No matter what I do.
And no matter what, in the end,
I'll never be enough for you.

I blink, staring at the messy writing on the page in front of me. I shake my head, crumpling up the page before shoving it in my backpack.

"You okay?" Ashley asks, leaning forward slightly, "You looked pretty invested in what you're writing."

"Yeah, no I'm fine, I just didn't like the way the thesis was coming out." I frown, not thinking that my lie was nearly believable enough, but Ashley seemed to think otherwise.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Ugh, homework sucks." She laughs lightly.

Suddenly, we hear the click of the door opening, and we both snap our head s towards the nurse, who's sticking her head outside, and smiling encouragingly. "Come on in," She urged, "Shes waking up."