Chapter 10
It was about 6 p.m. when I got home. I had gotten Marcus to come pick me up from the airport and he was shocked at my new look. He demanded to know what had happened, or if I was "still a virgin". I wasn't, because of his goddamn friends, but I told him I was anyways... and then I told him to blame Mom for the make over.
Tonight, I was going to try to stay at my house. If my father even once started yelling at me, I'd leave and go to Evan's house.
I felt safe at his house. It was like my own sanctuary, a place to go to get away. I loved it there. Well, at least when Ruby wasn't there.
Thinking Ruby's name just got me pissed. I wanted to punch a hoe in the solar plexus, and then start wailing on her face.
Why am I such a violent person??
Whatever. Right now I was texting Stranger. I was laughing at one of his jokes, a lame, corny joke, when my dad came into the room.
"Where the fuck have you been?!" He demanded.
"I was in Florida... With my mother."
"Were you given permission to go there, Bitch?"
"I don't need your fucking permission. It isn't like you actually care about what happens to me or anything. So please, do me a favor and go fuck yourself instead of me this time." This was the first time that I actually ever stood up to him. I was proud of myself.
I figured that he would be shocked and go jack off. But no. His face got angry, and he slapped me right in the face.
I should have known better. I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have just gone to Evan's house right when I got back.
If I had done any of those, I wouldn't have had a black eye, bruises on my face, and burn marks up my arms.
Should have fucking known better, was the only thought I could think when I was stumbling over to Evans. I knocked patiently on the door and waited until Evan answered the door. Except it wasn't Evan. It was Ford. Just my luck.
He opened the door, and the first thing I noticed were the hickies on his neck. He was smiling, and then his face turned into a frown. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"None of your business. Where's Evan?"
"He.... He's on a date. Come inside, I'm going to clean up your face." He ignored my protests and practically carried me into the bathroom. Once we into the bathroom, he picked me up and sat me on the sink. I was shocked that he touched me on the hips... It gave me an unfamiliar feeling.
He took some cleaning alcohol out of the cabinet under the sink, along with some cotton balls. He dabbed my face with the cotton ball after putting the alcohol on it. It stung the cuts on my face and I gasped in pain.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. It just... stung a little bit." I informed him. He nodded.
"So… Are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked, still dabbing my face.
"No." I didn't have a problem with Ford, but that didn't mean that I trusted him.
He touched my arm. "I won't tell." He gave my arm a little squeeze and I bent over in pain. I snatched my arm away from him and almost started crying. I never knew that burns could hurt so much.
He gave me a shocked look and then gently took my arm back. He pulled the sleeve of my hoodie up and examined the burns on my arm.
"Oh, God..."
I clenched my teeth, waiting for the questions, the judgment. But it never came. And the next thing I knew, Ford was hugging me. I sobbed into his shoulder, and was still holding onto him when he let go of me.
And then Ruby came into the room.
No wonder Ford had hickies on his neck. They had probably just got done doing the dirty.
"Just because you're fucking Ford's brother doesn't mean you have to fuck him, you stupid skank!" The bitch yelled, and clawed at me so she could get me away from Ford.
"What the fuck? First of all, I'm not screwing Evan. And second of all, I'm not screwing Ford either! I wouldn't even think of it!" I yelled at her.
"Yeah, that's why you were sucking on his neck! Haaa!"
"If you must know, Bitch, I was crying. Even ask your boyfriend!"
"What was she doing, Baby?" She asked him.
Ford hesitated before saying, "She started kissing me. I thought she was going to rape me tonight." He gave me a guilty look before laughing with Ruby and walking into the other room.
Asshole. I should have known that it would happen again. You just can't trust that boy. Damn...
I shuffled through the cabinet and found some gauze. I put padding on the burns, and then wrapped the gauze around it.
I noticed that I haven't eaten in like, 12 hours. Of course, I had a little bag of pretzels on the plane, but that was it. For the whole day. So, I went into the kitchen and found something to eat. Well, tried to. There wasn't much in the refrigerator. Only some lunch meat, mustard, and countless vegetables. I took out a large tomato and ate it while adding salt to it on every bite. Then I felt my phone vibrate. Damn! I forgot all about Stranger!
I set the tomato on the table and read the two texts he sent me.
From: Stranger
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Hey. you stopped texting me. Whats up?
I replied back quickly.
From: You
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Hey, and yeah, sorry. I was being burned. It the actual fire way, and the diss way. And nothing, eating. you?
From: Stranger
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Wow. Whoever burned you, (both ways) are dicks. Fuck them. And nothing, thinking about how im a bad person.
From: You
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Why are you a bad person
From: Stranger
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Becaues she's a good person, and I'm just an asshole to her. I keep making things up... I just am.
From: You
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Tell her that you're sorry. But don't do it again.
From: Stranger
Date: Monday, March 2, 2008
Body: Alright. I will later.
I didn't reply back because it was getting boring. I finished my tomato, and then washed the juice from my hands.
While I was washing my hands, Ruby and Ford waltzed out of Fords room. Ruby fixed her shirt and looked at me. She pointed to the hickey on her neck and winked. Wow. I love how she thinks I like him.
Then she kissed Ford on the lips and walked out of the house. I got a paper towel and wiped off my hands of. I turned to go into the computer room so I could sleep on the floor, when I bumped into Ford.
"Look..." He started, but I interrupted him.
"No. You look. You've done that to me more that a couple of times. I don't like it. You're a two-faced asshole. When you're around me, you're sweet, sort of. And then when you're around the skank, you act like you hate me, and that nothing ever happened. So if you're going to do that again, just don't fucking speak to me." Wow. Three times standing up for myself in a two day period. Hell yeah, I'm even more proud of myself. "So are you going to do that again?"
He was silent for a minute. "I... I only do it because I panic. I want to be friends with you... but it's just my reputation, and nobody likes you... Shit. Sorry. But I want to stick up for you, but I just don't want my reputation to go to shit."
"If you truly wanted to be friends with me, you wouldn't care about your reputation." I said stubbornly.
"You don't understand. But... I might be able to make you understand if you just let me..."
Then, he lifted my chin and kissed me.