Chapter 52
I rested my clammy forehead against the cool wall. With shaky fingers I wiped at my mouth with a waded up tissue, and threw it into the toilet. After a few deep breaths to relax my nerves, I stood up from my kneeled position. I flushed away the vomit, rinsed my shaking hands off, and splashed my face with the cold water.
I had woken early in the morning by the warmth swelling in my throat trying to suffocate me, and my stomach twisting with nausea. Luckily I had made it to the bathroom before I threw up. I knew it was the rejection taking it's tole on my body, but never to this extent yet. My head just hurt thinking about it, adding to the pressure that was threatening to split my skull.
I returned to my bed, feeling slightly relieved that the nausea had lessened. The rest of my roommates were sleeping peacefully, but I could hear shrieking and the pitter patter of small feet in the rooms down the hall. I buried my face in my pillow, trying to block out the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the curtains, and the shrieks of the younger girls. It wasn't long before my weak body stopped shaking, and I fell into a deep realm of sleep.
"Get up!" Somebody shouted, shaking my body.
"Geroff," I mumbled, rolling over to block her out.
"It's past noon. C'mon we're going out today," Liz said.
All the warm comfort suddenly left my body, as the blanket was ripped off my body. I sat up glaring at the smirking Hailey at the foot of my bed, with my blanket in her clutches. I was faintly aware of the bitter taste in my mouth, which reminded me of this mornings incident.
Now I felt as good as I had yesterday, which was better than this morning, but wasn't all that great.
I must be getting worse than ever, now that my body is literally rejecting it's insides. How much longer would it take until I can't even stand up? Does this mean I'm going to have to meet up with Jace? My stomach turned even more at that idea. I knew one thing for sure. It was time to call up John.
"You ok?" Liz asked from besides me, questioning the thoughtful look on my face.
"Hm? Oh, Yeah. Don't worry. Where are we going?" I asked, my throat scratchy from the acid that had just passed through it.
"I don't know, but you look like you could use some sun on your skin," Hailey answered, tossing my blanket back to me. It hit my face, knocking me back a bit. I spluttered, shoving it onto my lap, and sending a glare in her direction.
After I was satisfied with my glaring, I curled up on my bed fully prepared to fall back asleep. Liz yanked on the curtains, and slipped the window open. Fresh clean air teased my senses, so I knew any hope I had of falling asleep vanished. I groaned getting back up.
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I leaped up, and snatched the plastic Frisbee out of the air as it soared past me. I felt my tank top ride up, revealing some of my pale stomach. When I landed back down on the grass, I pulled my green tank top down over the hem of my shorts. It was too hot today to walk out in jeans and long-sleeve shirts. So I settled for some shorts, a tank top, and a pair of black flip flops. Besides I wanted to get a bit of color back to my skin.
"Heads up!" I shouted as I tossed it to Chloe.
We had all ended up at the park, where a handful of middle school girls from our home were. Liz and Abby were laying on the soft lush grass while Hailey, Chloe, and I were playing Frisbee.
"I need a break," I called out, feeling slight tremor start in my legs. I was too weak from jumping up and down.
Chloe and Hailey continued on with their game while I went to go lounge on the grass by the party- poopers. They were having some conversation about some boys from our school. I blanked out on the conversation, plucking off the pieces of a dandelion. That was until I heard Jace's name.
"What?" I asked.
They both looked surprised.
"What did you just say?" I asked again.
"Uh... Just that I ran into Jace and his group the other day. That boy, John, you always hung out with was there of course," Abby answered.
"How are they all?" I asked, trying to act casual about the whole thing.
"They looked... tense. Jace didn't look too good. Kind of like he was sick. John asked about how you were doing. Jace got all upset for some reason, and stormed off."
"What did you tell John?" I asked.
Both girls looked at each other.
"What?"
"Well I just told him the truth," Abby said.
"What's the truth?" I asked.
"That aren't doing too good. That you're sick and it's getting pretty bad. You should go to the doctor or something."
"Don't worry about it. The doctor can't help me anyways."
"What can then?" Liz asked.
"So Jace stormed off. Why?" I asked, trying to change the conversation.
"I don't know. Just kind off stormed off after I told John how you were doing," Abby said.
I nodded my head, and then stood up.
"I'm gonna continue to play. You wanna join?" I asked them, kicking off my flip flops.
They shook their heads. I shrugged and ran over to Hailey and Chloe, tossing the ruined dandelion into the grass. We continued to play for a while, before we joined the others on the grass. Luckily Abby was smart enough to bring a few water bottles, and some snacks in her freakishly huge purse.
"I'm telling you! Girls should learn self-defence. I mean, after what happen to me, I want to start classes. It should seriously be a requirement to graduate, or something. Kind of like CPR," Liz said.
"Why because some guy who was reading the newspaper on the city bus got off at the same stop as you, and happened to be walking in the same direction as you?" Hailey questioned sarcastically.
"A, He was pretending to read the newspaper. He kept looking at me every three minutes. And B, if I hadn't gone into that store he would have cornered me in an alley and raped me or something."
Everyone started laughing at that. I quickly swallowed the gulp of water I had been drinking, before I spluttered it all over everyone. Though some had managed it's way out.
"Even though her reasons are a bit stupid, I agree with her. Girls should be forced to learn self-defence. Hell even I was learning how to defend myself," I said, slipping my cool waterbottle between my crossed legs.
"Well that's because you happen to be a magnet for danger," Hailey said.
"Hey!" I protested, popping a dorito chip into my mouth.
"What? From all the times you come home hurt, and from all the scars on you- I'm surprised you haven't been to the hospital once this year."
I glowered at the seasoned goodness in my hand. She did have a point
"Anyways my point is that I could have died last night," Liz said dramatically.
*Cough* "Drama queen," Chloe coughed, though epicly failing at covering over the drama queen bit.
"Whate..." Liz trailed off, looking at something over my shoulder with a puzzled expression.
I was just about to turn around to see what it was, but I was suddenly grabbed around the waist. I let out the most pitiful girly scream that had probably ever come out of me as I was tossed up into the air. Strong arms caught me, and hoisted me over the person's shoulder.
I yanked back my fist, about ready to punch the person holding me, but halted when I heard the deep chuckle that let me know who it was. After an instant thought though, I shrugged, and punched anyways. Not as hard as I would if it was a stranger though. It made contact, but since I didn't really have much strength to put behind the punch, it didn't even seem to hurt.
"You hit like a girl," Deon said matter-of-fact.
I stuck my tongue out, even though he couldn't really see it.
"Damn girl, you sure got a set of lungs on you," Joe complimented.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly, resting my elbows deep into Deon's back and holding up my head so I could see what was going on around me. I heard a grunt of pain from Deon, but I didn't really care. Payback for nearly giving me a heart attack.
Behind the two brothers were Aden and Drake, the scary yet friendly bouncer from the club.
"Hey," I said, waving to the two.
"Wassup?" Drake asked with a smirk.
"You know. Just hanging in there. Lliterally." I sent another harsh jab with my elbow into Deon.
"Ouch! Will you quite with the damn elbows?"
"Will you put me down then?" I asked.
"Well you could have just asked like a normal human being you know," Deon said, as he set me back down to my feet.
"What's the fun in that?" I asked with a cheeky smirk.
I looked around, and saw Aden and Joe made themselves at home on the grass with my roommates. The girls looked slightly freaked out. I don't blame them.
Drake and Deon were both covered in tattoos, and gave off this "don't look at me or I'll kill you" vibe to anyone they didn't know. Joe and Aden also looked intimidating with their large size and a few tattoos. They all gave off the an overall gang-like appearance. If you were to see them hanging out at a corner, you would make sure to cross to the other side of the street.
Aden reached for the bag of Doritos, but I smacked his hand away.
"Did I say you could have any?" I asked.
"No, but you always steal all of our food."
"So? This isn't my food, it's the girls food."
"Fine! Hey do you girls mind if I have a few chips?" Aden asked.
They all just shook their heads, still looking rather scared. I rolled my eyes, but let Aden eat some of our Doritos.
"What are you guys doing here? Are you my own personal stalkers now?" I asked.
"No, you have enough of those already," Joe teased. "We had a free day and figured we hadn't been to the park in a long time, so why not go."
"You guys have free days?" I asked.
"Well, you know what he means. Just nothing lined up for that day," Aden said, tossing up and down a football in his hands.
"Where's Cole?" I asked.
"He and Nate didn't have a free day," Deon said.
"Oh..." I grumbled.
"So what you girlies talking about before my brother so rudely interrupted you?" Joe asked.
"Self-defense. Necessity for girls to know or not?" I asked.
"Uh...?"
"Kind of figured as much from you," I muttered.
"What's that mean?"
"Well you probably love it when girls can't defend themselves. You all get to be the knight in shining armor, and you don't get your asses whooped by a bunch of girls," I explained.
"I taught my little sister a bit of self-defence," Drake the bouncer said.
"You have a sister?" I asked.
He nodded his head. After a moment I realized the girls didn't know who the boys were, and vise versa. I introduced everyone, and after a while Hailey started talking with them. Soon after the rest of the girls joined in. The sun continued to make it's way across the sky, and next thing I knew we had to go home for dinner.
"See ya around," Aden yelled out at us as we left the boys behind.
"Tell Cole he's busted if we don't hang out sometime. Its been over a week since I last saw him," I yelled back.
Aden chuckled, and then hurried off to follow after the rest of the boys who were tossing the football back and forth.
"Told ya you're a magnet for danger," Hailey said, as we got further away.
Soooo... what did u guys think? She's moving on from Jace, and starting to lead a normal life. What do u think about that?
Please Comment and Vote!!! I love to hear what u guys have to say