I was walking with Dylan to school wearing some tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie - I couldn't be bothered today.
Dylan let go of my hand to run to Faith, I ran after him but a pain shot up my ribs. I brushed it off and carried on running as normally as I could, hoping no one noticed.
When I got there I noticed Zach was here, what was he doing here?
"Hi Skylar," he greeted me. I noticed some of the parents weren't around us, in fact those parents seemed to be protecting them from something. What? I don't know. I mentally shrugged.
"Hey," I looked up at him, "What are you doing here?"
He looked straight at me, his blue eyes showing his concern before they soon turned to anger.
"What happened to your eye? Did you get hit? Who hit you? When di-" He interrogated me with all these questions before I interrupted him. I was starting to get angry at his prying. It was getting annoying and he has no right to do this. Why is he doing this?
"Why do you care? It's none of your business. Just shut up and go away," I snapped.
He looked at me in shock before anger once again took over.
"I'm just trying to help. You're obviously hiding something and now you show up with a black eye."
He grabbed my arm and I tried yanking it away.
"Let go!" He didn't.
After struggling for a while in his strong arms, I successfully pulled it out of his grip. He looked at me in surprise before it turned into worry as another shot of pain ran through my ribs making me clutch them.
He stepped forward and before I could react, he took my hands away from my stomach and lifted my hoodie and top up. He let out a barely audible gasp, horror filling his eyes. His fingers traced the dark green and purple flesh that covered most of my stomach.
I clenched my teeth, trying to make it seem like didn't hurt and made sure not to make a noise. I stepped back before he could put any pressure on it. Looking around, I noticed we were the only ones in the children's playground. Dylan and Faith inside as well.
He lifted my chin and his blue eyes bore into mine.
"Why won't you let me help you? You're in pain and someone has hurt you. So why?" His voice held concern and a hint of anger.
"I don't need help and I'm perfectly fine. Just leave me alone and keep your big ass fucking nose out of my business."
He seemed like he was having an inner battle inside him before he shook his head and sighed.
"I will find out what you're hiding. If you don't want me to help, I won't. Just make sure you stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours. That includes my boys as well, we don't want little girls messing up our little group." He snapped, but I didn't miss the pained look that flickered behind his eyes.
"I am not. Hiding. Anything." I seethed. "I am not some little girl and I don't care about your friends. I don't want, nor do I need friends. So tell them to back off as well," I bit back.
"Do you know who you're talking to? I'm the gan-" He stopped suddenly before he rephrased his sentence. "And we don't need you either, for all we care you could fuck off down a little hole and we wouldn't notice. We don't care about you." He walked away.
I sighed in relief too thankful that he left it at that to realise what he said previously before he reworded his sentence.
When I got to school I saw the boys and Zach sitting in the front of the school by their cars and motorbikes. Zach glared at me as he lit his cigarette. The other boys just smiled, oblivious to the dirty look Zach was giving me.
I passed them without a word but not before I saw their hurt faces.
~~~~Lunch Time~~~~
By the time lunch rolled around, I was itching to get to the cafeteria. I brought some money with me today.
I had ignored the boys the whole day and they must have got the message because they ignored me too.
I walked to the food line getting a burger and chips before paying the lady. I went outside with my food and sat under my tree.
Carefully, I unwrapped the warm burger and bit into it. I had finished my lunch within a couple of minutes.
Only having half of my battery on my phone, I didn't listen to any music. Instead I went to the fence that I saw Dylan in once.
Seeing him playing put a smile on my face but also made my heart ache. He was having so much fun with his friends and I didn't want to see him get taken away from them again when we move towns.
Dylan caught me looking at him and he grinned and waved at me. I waved back, letting out a laugh. He's such a good kid and I couldn't have asked for a better brother.
_____
It was English and so far the boys would either glare at me or ignore me and to make matters worse, Zach and Tyler were in this class.
I sat at the back and they sat on the other side of the classroom at the back.
I could feel them glancing at me every so often but just ignored them. Halfway through the class miss called my name.
"Skylar and Tyler," before carrying on.
"Millie and Adam."
"Maddie and Zach."
I looked over at Tyler to find him and Zach whispering to each other.
"I can't, she already heard my name," Tyler whisper shouted before he stormed over to me.
He slumped down into the chair next to me and turned to face me.
"So, what's this project on?" I asked.
"Your view on love and what it is to you," he answers. I roll my eyes.
Love. What is love?
Love is bullshit. What's the point in loving if we are all going to get hurt anyway?
In a relationship, either somebody cheats on the other or the other dies. Either way, we are left heartbroken, crying and trying to pick up the pieces of our broken, shattered hearts. Failing to fill in the hole left in our heart.
It's pointless in finding true love, it never ends well.
I only love for my friends and family and that's pretty much just Dylan.
I nodded at him.
"For this project you will need to arrange times to do this out of school hours." The teacher informed us.
"So whose house do you want to do it at?" Tyler asked.
"Yours," I answered instantly.
He raised his eyebrows at me before responding, "Okay."
The bell went a few minutes after and I left the classroom, going outside to pick Dylan up.
On the way there, Tyler caught up to me.
"Hey, why don't we start working on that project tomorrow after school? I'll text you the address."
As I was getting my phone out to exchange numbers I spoke, "Oh, so now you can talk to me. What made you become nice all of a sudden?"
He kept quiet. That's what I thought.
I gave the phone to him and he typed his number into the phone. Despite the phone being old, it was good and only glitches once in a while.
He passed the phone back before saying bye and leaving.
Dylan was already waiting for me by the time I got to his school.
"Hey baby boy," I kissed his cheek.
He jumped up and down. "Sky, guess what? Guess what? "-He didn't give me time to answer- "Today I learnt how to spell my name. It's D-Y-L-A-N and I can write it too. How amazing is that?" His excited self exclaimed.
I picked him up, twirled him around and kissed his forehead.
"Wow Dylan. That's great, you'll have to show me when we get home."
"Let's go then. Hurry up," he dragged me by the hand to my school's parking lot where the bike was.
_____
I put my shoes on.
"Dylan come on, we need to buy some food."
He came running to the door and sat down in front of it. I watched as he put on his shoes but struggled to do his laces.
I undid my laces showing him what to do and he copied. They were a bit sloppy but he looked up to show me his proud smile.
We walked to the supermarket, the doors slid open inviting us inside the cool building.
I put everything we needed for him in the basket with Dylan's help. Knowing this was one of the rare times I made a lot of money, I bought some chocolate and pancake mix for Dylan.
We went to the till to check out.
Ding!
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.
Ding!
I had 2 text messages. One from 'Tyler Cole My Sex Bomb', that must be Tyler. The other was from Shaun.
I opened Tyler's first,
The address is 164 Harrison Drive. See you there tmrw. Xx
I texted back,
Okay, see you there. Xxx
After, I opened Shaun's message,
Hey Sky, how are you settling in? You better not have gotten into a fight at school already. You're supposed to be laying low. Might visit, I miss you and Dylan. Keep in touch, Shaun. X
Aww. He's so sweet, he loves Dylan and is one of the only people I can trust.
You better come and visit, Dylan's been asking for you. And you'll be happy to hear that I haven't gotten into any fights. Apart from, you know. Love Sky Xxx
I text but a cough interrupts me. I look up to see the cash register lady looking at me with an annoyed look. I quickly press the send button and pay.
I grab the shopping bags, Dylan being helpful by carrying a small, light one and we leave the shop.
When we arrive to the rundown area, I transfer all the shopping bags onto one arm and hold onto Dylan's hand.
Every so often, I peer over my shoulder to see if anybody is following. I stop, pick Dylan up and settle him on my hip, worried for his safety.
It's like a lion, when attacking they don't go for the oldest, strongest ones. No, they go for the youngest, weakest members of the herd. And that's exactly what an attacker would do.
I think I worry too much.
When I worry too much, my paranoia gets the better of me. And I start worrying that something could happen to Dylan. But that doesn't usually happen.
Unfortunately though, this was one of the times that it did happen.
We got home safely and I unpacked the bags whilst Dylan watched some TV.
I started cooking dinner, some chicken with penne and broccoli.
I checked on Dylan, to see him playing. His hands were shaped like a gun and he was facing away from me.
I walked into the living room, the noise of my feet bringing to his attention that someone was there. Without delay, he turned around and pulled his fake trigger, the sound of a gunshot exiting his mouth.
I watched him closely as I crumpled to the ground, a slight smile on my face that wasn't very noticeable.
His eyes widened before he ran over to me.
"Oh no, I thought you were a baddie, I didn't mean to shoot you." He cried over dramatically.
"It's okay. Dylan. I. Forgiv..." My voice trailed off as I played along.
I opened one eyelid to see him still staring at me with a smile on his face. At this, he giggled slightly before poking my stomach. I wiggled away from him subtly but he noticed.
Suddenly I sprung up, and he let out a scream.
"Oh look, turns out you didn't kill me, you must have missed." I said. His eyes widened.
I started chasing him around the living room, I caught him and put him on my shoulders.
"How about after I've finished cooking dinner and we've eaten, we can catch those baddies together? Yeah?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he screamed enthusiastically.
I put him down and went back to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner.
Once done, I put some on mine and Dylan's plates.
I brought them into the living room and put them on the small table. He hurried over and looked at me, silently asking if he could start eating. I smiled at him and nodded my head in confirmation.
I stood up to get us some drinks and came back with them to see Dylan trying to fit another forkful into his already full mouth.
"Slow down Dylan, I know my food tastes amazing but it's not going to run off your plate." I joked.
He looked up at me.
"I-mow-wut-I-id-u-arry-o-I-an-ay-igg-u," his voice came out muffled due to his mouth being full with food.
I gave him a pointed look. As hard as it was, I also had to be strict at times.
After finishing the food in his mouth, he repeated what he had previously said, "I know but I need to hurry so I can play with you."
"Dylan, you'll get a tummy ache if you eat too quickly and you'd have to wait for me to finish anyway." I said softy.
He nodded then carried on eating, slower than before but I still noticed his eyes looking up every couple of seconds when he attempted stuffing a forkful of food in his mouth, scared that he would be caught.
When we had finished, I took the plates to the kitchen, despite Dylan's protesting and telling me we could do it later.
I put them in the sink and left them there, not wanting to leave Dylan waiting any longer.
My hands formed a gun shape and so did Dylan's. We nodded at each other before firing fake bullets everywhere.
_____
I picked Dylan's sleeping form up from the sofa and carried him to the bedroom where I tucked him in.
After playing, we just lay on the floor smiling. Then I gave him a bath and afterwards I had one. He was in the living room watching TV and I soon joined him. From there he fell asleep in my arms.
Which was why I was now tucking him in bed.
I was too tired to go out and fight today and wanted my body to rest.
I laid in bed. I plugged my charger into my phone and noticed an unread text message from Shaun.
Just make sure you and Dylan stay safe. I might take that offer and come visit for a while. I've been meaning to go somewhere new and what better way to start than living with you for a bit. And yes I will help you look after Dylan, Shaun. X
I'm so grateful he'll be coming. He could help a lot and he's a great, trustworthy friend. But of course, that doesn't mean I've told him everything.
I'm just not ready to tell anyone really.
I sent him a quick reply saying it was fine with my address attached.
I snuggled closer into my pillow and sighed.
That night I promised myself two things.
1. I wouldn't leave this town for the sake of Dylan.
2. I would not fall in love.
With that I fell asleep, oblivious to the fact that in a couple of months I would have broken one of my promises.