Unaccepted (1)

Swallowed Tears

Alexyss walked to Davids house. His house was maybe fifteen minutes away from hers.

She felt a little bit dizzy, and her head felt like it was about to explode. Her migraine returned by the stress of the past few days. It was weekend now, but she needed to survive a horrible week. Nobody actually talked to her after the incident with Miranda. The only one that sometmes asked her something was a teacher, or David.

Miranda sometimes looked at her, as she talked to Debbie and Mary, and Alexyss was sure there was some kind of gossip about her. Or at least a lie that was going around.

Alexyss sighed. Maybe it was good to be alone for a few weeks. Sometimes she was so done with Miranda, and sometimes everybody else.

Alexyss arrived at Davids house. She walked to the door and ringed the doorbell. For a moment, there was no reply, but quick after that the door opened and David let her in.

'Hey.' he said and Alexyss put her backpack down.

'Hey David. How are you?'

'Oh, I'm fine. Do you want to have a drink?' he asked. Alexyss nodded.

'Yes please.'

David walked to the kitchen, and Alexyss followed him.

Everything is so awkward, thought Alexyss, we never talked much, and David at all. 

David and Alexyss were busy, but Alexyss herself couldn't concentrate at all. Her eyes wandered of from her work to David. He was so quiet, he didn't look up, and if Alexyss asked him something, he answered as short as possible. Like he didn't want to talk to her. And if she asked him what was wrong, he said that nothing was wrong and looked at his homework again.

She just gave up after that. But something was wrong, she saw that, he showed no emotion at all, but Alexyss saw fear, sadness and pain.

She saw red stripes through his white shirt, and Alexyss wasn't  sure if those were cuts. At least, she begged that those were just an illusion.

Her hand slowly reached to his shirt, and pulled it up a bit.

They went all the way down.

'Oh my God... David...'

David angrily pulled down his shirt. 'Stay off!'

'What are those? And... why?' Alexyss' voice softly asked. Her heart was beating, so loudly that David almost could hear it himself.

'Scars.' he said. 'Why, you asked? Because this world is cruel. Everybody rejects me, rejects the fact that I'm different. They hurt me, but they don't see the damage they do to me. But I see it, I feel them, burning on my body, and sometimes, the blood washes the pain away.'

Alexyss saw the tears behind David's eyes, but he swallowed them.

'David... I'm sorry, I never, I...'

'Not your fault, Alexyss.'

'Don't you have anybody to talk to? A friend, your mom or your dad?' Alexyss asked.

'No, not really. My mom, she passed away when I was 13, and she was the only one where I could talk to, she's gone, just as the people I need. And my dad moved on, very quickly, like he didn't even miss her. Now he's gone, riding his new girlfriend.'

It almost sounded like he spit the words out.

'So he's never around. So I'm alone in this house. He calls, once a month, checking if I'm alright. Bet that he doesn't even remember how I look.'

'That's ridiculous! Leaving your 17 year old son. How do you even live on your own?' asked Alexyss.

David shrugged. 'I have a job. I work, I get money and my dad still pays the bills, the only thing what I need to do is cook- with the microwave.'

'Okay- but can't you post your problems on a- eh, website or some kind of stuff?'

David shook his head. 'I can do that, but it doesn't really gives you a feel. You told your story, but the people who post the comments don't look you in the eyes, they don't give you a feeling that you've been understood. Then you have advice, and then? You still need to do it on your own.'

Alexyss nodded, stood up, and pulled him up too. She hugged him.

'What are you-'

'You said you needed somebody to talk to. I'm here for you, and if you want you can call me, though the middle of the night, I don't  care, I will help you.'

Alexyss felt the arms of David around her, pressing her body to David's body.

'But the kids in our class- aren't they going to judge you?'

'Of course they will. But they do that anyway, so that doesn't matter.'

She looked up, to Davids bright blue eyes.

'We'll be rejects together then.' she said.

David smiled, and this one actually was happy. It showed affection, and that was beautiful. She closed her eyes, and felt the lips of David on her cheeck.. A kiss- from David... that was a good signal!

'Thank you so much.' was the only thing he said. There was a moment of silence, but that spoke volumes. And this one wasn't awkward, this one was worth the tutoring. It was worth everything.