Stay ✓

Chapter 2: first day

Mai stayed frozen, and she felt undeniably numb. Her big sister, the one who was always there for her and loved her endlessly, was now gone forever.

-

Present Day

Mai lazily sat up in her bed as the sound of her blue alarm clock started beeping loudly throughout her bedroom.

The blue haired girl groaned with pain as her cheek felt like it was burning and stinging. Her pale palm slightly graced over the marking her father had left there.

Today was unfortunately her first day in the academy, and yet she had to show up with a purple bruise on her cheek.

"So embarrassing," Mai mumbled to herself.

She groggily pushed herself off of her comfortable bed to make her way to the dresser across her room. Mai grabbed her usual attire, and then quickly got dressed.

Mai then walked over to her vanity to do her French braids so she could go downstairs before her dad wakes up. As her eyes scanned her face, she saw how her cheek was lightly bruised with a scabbed scratch directly on top of it. "Did I really deserve this, father?"

Unfortunately for the young girl, after her big sister Maiko died, her parents completely lost themselves and became horrible people. And, now, Mai had to live with two abusers while her sister is gone forever.

Mai wanted nothing more than her parents to return back to their old selves, but in order for that to happen she would have to bring back Maiko, which is impossible.

"Whatever. Sulking to myself won't fix anything." The young girl breathed out heavily, grabbing her tool pouch off of her vanity and walking down stairs to the kitchen.

To the girls surprise, her mother wasn't downstairs making any breakfast. But, Mai didn't care. She preferred her parents to stay away from her at all times.

Mai's attention then was pulled to the knock at her front door. Confused as to who could be here, the young girl hesitantly walked over to the door.

Opening it slowly, Mai instantly recognized the blonde haired girl who stood before her. Once she knew it was Ino, Mai opened the front door all the way.

The blonde warmly smiled, shutting her eyes. "Hi Mai, I was wondering if you'd like to walk to the academy with me?"

Ino's eyes opened as her friend took a long pause, and that's when she noticed the bruise and scratch on her friends cheek.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Ino asked, worried about the young girl.

Mai furrowed her eyebrows with confusion, but then remembered the mark on her face from her father. Her fingers lightly brushed over it, "Oh, this? It's nothing, I got it from training to hard."

Ino nodded, still unsure wether the blue haired girl was telling the truth or not. However, she decided to just stop prying and to drop it.

"But, um, sure I'll walk to the academy with you." Mai said finally answering the blonde's initial question.

Ino gave her a small smile and nodded. "Let's go then, don't want to be late the first day do we?!"