Teachers Pet

33: Trapped

        "You're back." I was standing in my locker, staring at my books and the mess I never bothered to clean. I'd been lost in thought about the past two weeks. I was supposed to come back last Monday, but the bruises and the pain I had... I could hardly move. My mom had wanted to take me to go get checked up, but I had told her it was just the flu or some stomach bug. She let me stay home, telling the school we were out of town for a family reunion. If only we had any family. It was just me and her. "How are you feeling? Tired?"

       I closed my locker, seeing the bruises on my wrist show. I pulled down my sleeve as I nodded to her. I tried to wear clothes that covered all of me. A little makeup and some layers of clothes and I was good to go. Nolan had bought me a scarf to keep warm, but I knew it was because the bruises on my neck were visible.

       "I'm okay. Nolan was there to check on me most of the time." He'd had more than one angry outburst too. After the first night he hit me, he came back again and started fights with me I couldn't win. Jill looked at me confused, not understanding something.

       "What about Mr. Pierce? Jake I mean." She laughed, shaking her head. "I have to get used to calling him Jake." Hearing his name hurt more than I thought it would.

       "We broke up." She came closer to me, shocked and more confused. I hadn't told her before because I wasn't ready to talk about it.

       "What? Why?" I leaned against my locker door, trying not to acknowledge the ache in my shoulder.

       "Because we would have never worked out. At least with Nolan, I know it's possible to have a real relationship." She tried to understand what I was telling her, but she didn't seem to want to.

       "I thought he was just a cover-up. Is... is that really what you want?" No. I wanted Jake and I wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to be happy and not hurting right now. I wanted Nolan to see what he was doing was hurting me more than anything has hurt me before.

       "Yeah. Me and Jake were just... It was just an infatuation I had. That's over though. I wanna focus on Nolan. We have something." Jill looked down at the floor, solving some problem in her head it looked like. I knew she couldn't really understand, but she had to. When she looked up, she smiled a little.

      "Okay then. If this is what makes you happy, then I'm on board." I laughed, hurting my chest in the process.

       "Like I was on board for you and that couple you were stalking?" She rolled her eyes as she walked around me.

       "I'm gonna be late, but I'll see you at lunch." I smiled and waved at her, not wanting her to leave me alone. When she rounded the corner, I tried to hold it together. I couldn't lose it here. Not in school where the world was watching me.

       "Get it together," I told myself. I turned around and forced myself to ignore the pain in every step I took. As I reached art class, I froze not too far away. Jake was standing in the doorway, greeting students. He looked tired and a little out of it. I felt my stomach knot and my heart throb. This was too much, I couldn't be here.

        "Miss Harper, let's not be late." The way he spoke to me, he sounded distant. He watched me with eyes that burned through me. I had to ditch, I couldn't stay here and sit through his class. Turning around, I froze in place again. Nolan and a group of guys he knew were walking down the hall. I swore under my breath as I turned back around and walked towards Jake. I didn't even stop to acknowledge him in the doorway. He didn't say anything to me either. I just went straight to my seat in the back by Cassie.

       "You look like hell," she told me. She moved her stuff away from my side of the table quickly. I placed my books for other classes down and took a seat. I arched my back when a dull ache became not so dull. "Back hurt?" I nodded, not able to get comfortable. I yawned and winced at the soreness in my jaw. Cassie laughed, making me feel self-conscious.