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I woke up pretty early because I had to make food for my father and get ready for school.
I started to make breakfast, I made scrambled eggs and bacon since that was all that was left in the fridge. I made it quickly so I didn't have to come across my father in the morning and get abused once again.
I placed the breakfast on a plate and put tin foil on top of it so it wouldn't get cold and left to go to the bathroom to get ready for school.
I quickly took a shower and put on my same old clothes again. I brushed my teeth with my finger as I didn't have a toothbrush. I was grateful to have a little bit of toothpaste left. I left the bathroom and went into my closet that was near the front of the house.
Since I didn't have a room and pretty much lived out of a closet, which I'm grateful for nonetheless, I only had another t-shirt to change into, so I just changed my top and left on my same bottoms. My jeans were ripped and had blood stains on them. I hoped nobody would notice. I ran my fingers in my hair to make it look presentable. I picked up my backpack and left out the front door.
I was glad I didn't have to come across my father in the morning, he was probably still blacked out from drinking so much and hopefully doesn't notice I left without greeting him.
I started to walk to my school which was around two miles away from my house. I also took note of any place that was hiring people so I can make money for my mother's treatment.
After, I reached school after thirty minutes because of my slow pace, since I couldn't walk properly because of the activities that went down yesterday. I walked to my locker and did my lock combination to get my book for my first period, AP Chemistry.
The bell rang just as I closed my locker. I walked to my class and sat by the far left window. I didn't have any friends, obviously. Who would want to be friends with me? Not even I would want to be friends with myself. However, school was now my only escape from my father.
The teacher was talking about the periodic table and the element presentation we had to do in replacement for a test. I picked Nitrogen for my element and started to work on my presentation. I had to complete any electronic work at school or the library since I had no access to them at home.
I was halfway done when the bell rang, signaling class was over and it was time for second period which was AP English Literature. I was pretty excited to go to class because English was easily my favorite subject. I was the first to arrive at the class, so I took the seat closest to the teacher's desk to understand the material she would be teaching. If I took a seat in the back, the students would push me off the chair and make fun of me. My English teacher, Mrs. Anderson, arrived and she looked to be in the ideal mood today.
After she came, everyone started rolling in. Mrs. Anderson started to discuss the studies of different texts. I already knew all this because I had already gone over the material at home. While she was talking, the door opened and revealed Chase.
He was wearing a black t-shirt with ripped jeans and some type of Air Jordan's. His hair was black and curly but not too curly. Just right. Tan skin, gray eyes, tall, muscular, very muscular. If you look at him closely, you can see he has dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days.
"Thank you for blessing us with your presence, Mr. Knight." Mrs. Anderson remarked.
"Of course, would you like me to enter the class again and bless you again? Clearly, you need it." Chase snapped back.
Everyone started to laugh at his response. I wonder what got him in a grumpy mood.
"Take a seat, right there by Ms. Martinez." She pointed to the chair beside me.
My heart started picking up its pace as I saw Chase's eyes scan over the classroom, before connecting with mine. I averted my eyes as I started fiddling with my fingers.
Calm down, Jasmin. Don't make a fool out of yourself.
He looked at Mrs. Anderson, giving her a look before walking towards the seat beside me. "Continue with the fucking lesson." He ordered. He sat down, on the chair beside me. I bit my lip as I tried to control my breathing.
I wasn't good with human interaction. I usually stay away from everyone. And, the guy sitting beside me was the one guy I thought I would never have the chance to sit beside.
Why does this always have to happen to me? Of course, the one guy I have a crush on, well had. Ever since he got a girlfriend, Olivia. I stopped and haven't looked at him since then till now. They have been in a relationship for about two years now, as far as I know. But whatever, not my business.
Jasmin, focus.
I started to doodle on my paper so I could stay distracted and not look at Chase. He didn't bother looking in my direction and I couldn't be more grateful.
The class ended and I was about to get up when my elbow hit Chase and I hissed because the bruises started to hurt again. I closed my eyes as I felt the pain go through my body.
"What the fuck?"
I didn't respond, I didn't know what to say. I just continue packing my stuff from the desk into my ripped backpack.
"You can't even apologize?" He questioned. "Fucking mannerless students."
I put my hair behind my ear and looked at him. He looked back at me before raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry," I muttered.
"What's that?" He pointed to the cut above my eyebrow.
I didn't respond and put my backpack on my shoulders. "Are you deaf or something?"
"It's nothing."
"Clearly it is something."
"A cut."
"How'd you get it?" I pushed in my chair and tried to walk away but he stepped in front of me.
"Can you please move out of my way? I'm getting late for my next class." I asked, trying to slow my breathing and prevent my stuttering.
"Answer me."
"Tried to thread my eyebrows." I lied.
"Liar," He stated. I looked back at his gray eyes and shook my head. "Who are you?"
"A student."
"No shit," His jaw ticked. "Why can't you just give a clear answer?"
"Why can't you stop asking questions?" I blurted.
My eyes widen in shock at what just escaped my lips. I don't know how that happened and the way he clenched his jaw told me I had dug a deeper hole for myself.
"Talk to me again like that and see what happens." He challenged. His hands were formed into a fist and I could see the anger in his eyes. To say the least, I was terrified.
My father uses the same terminology with me. He beats the living crap out of me if I talk back. I don't talk to many people which makes me question will he do the same to me?
The way his jaw is clenched, his hand is formed into a fist, and his eyes showing nothing but angry is more than convincing he can be abusive as well.
I tried to hide how scared I was of him right now. I looked away from him and took a step back. In this school, many rumors fly up. One of them is Chase's uncontrollable anger issues.
At this moment, I was scared of him.
"I'm so-sorry," I murmured. "Please don't hurt me." My voice wasn't hearable and I hoped he didn't hear me.
It was almost like instinctively those words slipped out of my mouth. Whenever my father is angry, those are the three things I notice before he starts hitting me nonstop.
"What did you say?"
I didn't reply and went around to leave for my third period. I stole a glance back to see him still dumbfounded where I left him. I left the classroom and my next class was government which I find quite boring. During class, all I thought about was going into the library and picking out a nice romance novel to divert my mind.
After class, it was time for lunch. Lunch wasn't my favorite because I was always alone. I'm used to it now. I don't eat during lunch because my father believes that food is for those who deserve it and I'm not one of those people. I usually have to find any crumbs around the kitchen that I can eat. Most of the food, if not all was for him to eat.
I decided to go to the library. I was about to turn the corner when one of my occasional bullies called out my name. I knew what was going to happen. I decided to keep walking and ignore him.
He caught up to me and pulled my arm to turn me around. I hissed from the pain as I faced him, Connor. He's a part of the basketball team and occasionally decides to bully me. Most of the time it's usually his friends who bully me.
"Where you going, Jasmin?" He asked.
"Nowhere special," I muttered.
His friends started to come as well and form a circle around me. They were all circling me now. His friends started to eye my body up, down, left, and right. I felt uncomfortable under their stare and I started fiddling with my fingers as I let my hair cover my face.
"Talking back, are we?" Connor remarked.
I looked up to meet his blue irises. I wondered why he was bullying me. I have noticed that whenever he would try to bully me that it seemed forced. I knew deep down inside of him, he didn't want to bully me. Yet he continued doing it.
I lightly shook my head as I saw Chase heading towards our way. The people who circled me moved away and he stood in front of me.
"Who the fuck is she?" Chase questioned, keeping eye contact with me.
"The one I was talking about," Connor revealed. "The weirdo." I didn't like the fact that they were talking about me behind my back. I looked away trying to blink away the tears. I didn't like attention on me. Especially not with people who want to bring me down.
The first interaction I had with Chase was today. He usually doesn't attend school and if he does he's always with his girlfriend. Seeing him a part of this group of people makes me more nervous.
"That's her?" Chase questioned.
"Duh, who else is would it be?" Connor answered.
Why are they talking about me as if I'm not standing in front of them?
I tried to get around them but Connor took my forearm into his grip and pulled me back. "You are not going anywhere." He stated. His grip got tighter and it hurt. I couldn't keep my tears in and I felt some of them rolling down my face.
I tried to get my forearm out of his grip but it was tightly held. I could feel another bruise in the making. I tried again, but he just held on to it tightly. The placement of his hand was where my father whipped his belt and it hurt.
"Le-let go, please." I pleaded as I looked at him. His blue eyes looking back at mine. I almost saw empathy in his eyes until he masked it up again. He was taller than me and had blond hair. Chase tapped his shoulder and he loosen the grip on my forearm.
"Dumbasses, let her go." I looked away from Connor to see one of their friends, Anthony speak up. He was standing a little bit away from everyone, telling me he had just arrived.
Anthony was always sweet to me for some reason. He never tried to bully me or anything. He always made an effort to talk to me, sometimes. He was kind of my brother in a sense. He always stood up for me. He had beautiful brown eyes and brown hair, just like me. He was also on the basketball team, but he was a shooting guard.
Connor let go of me and I started to rub the spot where he held on as it started to cause pain. It wasn't as bad. I have gotten into worse situations, this was nothing compared to that. I probably deserved it, anyway.
I was basically everyone's a free punching bag, just unfortunately human.
Connor left with most of his friends leaving behind Anthony and Chase. Anthony made his way to me and asked if I was okay and if I needed to go see the nurse's office since the bruise was already forming. I told him it's fine and not to worry about it.
"Are you sure? I can take you." Anthony insisted.
I would've gone, but the school's nurses always notify the student's guardians and I really didn't want to go through that again. I understand they are doing it to ensure our safety but sometimes I wished they wouldn't.
If my father found out, he would hit me again. He would assure me that I deserve the bullying. And, I believe him.
"I'm okay, Anthony. Thank you for helping me out." I thanked him.
"Ah, don't worry about that douchebag. He's always trying dumb shit as if it's going to make him appear cool or something." He shook his head and I hesitantly nodded my head.
"Okay, I will see you later," I mumbled and made my way to the library. I picked out a random romance book and started reading. But, lunch came to an end sooner than I expected and it was time for fourth period.
I had P.E and I hate P.E. The only good thing about P.E was that I had it with Anthony and sometimes he would come to do the activities with me. I am very grateful to have Anthony in my life because he always knows how to uplift my mood.
Today, we just had to walk the track until class was over. I went into the locker rooms and put my backpack in my locker and made my way to the track. Anthony was already there standing with Chase. Chase and Anthony are best friends as far as I know. They have been friends ever since they were little. I was a little jealous of their friendship because I always wanted to know what it's like to have a friend.
I started to walk the track when Anthony called me and told me we should walk together. "What have you been up to, Munchkin?" Anthony tried to start a conversation.
"Munchkin really dude, what are you five?" Chase asked as we started to walk the track together.
"In my heart, I am." He replied. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Watch who the fuck you are talking to?" Chase warned.
"Chill, Capo." He put his hands in surrender form. "How old are you, Jasmin?" Anthony asked.
"Uhm, I'm seventeen?" I answered.
"When's your birthday?"
"December seventh," I replied. "Yours?"
"Just passed, July nineteen." I nodded my head.
"Belated happy birthday." I honestly didn't know how to continue a conversation. This was the first time in a long time I was actually conversing with someone.
"I heard wishing someone a late birthday wish is bad."
"Oh, I'm sorry," I muttered. "I take it back."
Anthony started laughing, "I was just joking."
I tried to laugh to reduce the embarrassment I was feeling but failed to do so. I just closed my mouth and fiddled with my fingers. Chase noticed my fiddling but didn't say anything.
"Shut up," Chase stated.
"Let me joke with my friend." My eyes widen and I looked at Anthony. I'm not sure if I'm hallucinating or what but it couldn't be right.
I always thought nobody wanted to be my friend.
I was so happy, beyond happy. A faint smile appeared on my face at the thought of him calling me his friend. I don't know if he meant it or not but to me this meant more than anything.
The thought of having a friend made me want to jump up and down.
This is the best day ever.
I smiled as I looked at Anthony and he put his arm around my shoulder because I stopped walking when he said 'friend'. He was basically dragging me around the track.
I started to walk after I came back to reality. I was still questioning if what he said was true or not.
I didn't talk much afterward and Chase decided to leave early. I talked with Anthony a little bit and he dropped me off at my last class, AP Calculus. School ended fairly quickly afterward. I walked back home as I prayed that my father wasn't home therefore I wouldn't have to go endure the same pain again.
I don't know how much I can take any longer.
I arrived home and saw...
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