"He's coming to kill me." I stated to Maggie as she told me the important news.
Apparently, there was a breach at the prison where my mom's boyfriend was held and he escaped. Everything was falling into place and then a truck falls out of the sky, I am unknowingly standing in the crash zone and I'm going to get crushed.
"No, no. He's in Atlanta and the officer said that they'll find him. He won't get anywhere near you." She tried to reassure me.
"He's coming to finish the plan, Maggie. He's coming to kill me. I'm going to die." I mumbled peeling fingernail polis from my thumb.
"Artura, don't say that." She said patting my thigh.
I didn't say anything after that, I just sat there, staring at my legs until Maggie placed my dinner in front of me, I couldn't eat it. I moved the peas around on the plate and pushed it away.
"I'm sorry Maggie, I'm not very hungry tonight." I sighed.
"It's fine dear, just leave it there and I'll wrap it up for you." She said turning her attention back towards the news.
With that I stood and walked up to my room, my shower didn't take long because I really wanted to lie down. Dressing in an over sized tee and cotton shorts, I made my way to my nightstand and connected my phone to my Bluetooth speaker, allowing Alt-J's album "This is Yours" to fill every corner of my room.
She only ever walks to count her steps,
Eighteen strides and she stops to abide
By the law that she herself has set -
That eighteen steps is one complete set,
And before the next nine right and nine left
She looks up at the blue
And whispers to all of the above:
'Don't let me drown, don't breath alone,
No kicks no pangs no broken bones.
Never let me sink, always feel at home,
No sticks no shanks and no stones.
Never leave it too late, always enjoy the taste
Of the great grey world of hearts.'
I kept interlude 1 on repeat until I fell asleep that night, it was the only thing that kept me composed. Trust me if you knew that there was a guy who escaped out if prison obviously on his way to kill you, you'd want to cry and cower. Possibly hide for the rest of your life, but I didn't want to chose either. I couldn't.
As the last note sounded from my alarm I rose out of my bed, tossing the covers to the side to begin getting dressed for school. After all of the necessary stuff, I threw on a grey hoodie, black skinny jeans and combat boots. Carelessly tossing my hair in a bun, I grabbed my backpack and headed out.
Getting to first period I just sat there, staring at the whiteboard. I was the first person to class, I should've waited for Nate but I couldn't just stand around, sooner or later Nate came. We were the only two people in class, the bell wouldn't ring for another fifteen minutes.
"Where were you, little- What's wrong?" He asked
I looked up at him and saw that he looked concerned, I sat up straight and shook my head. I couldn't tell him, it'd be better if he didn't know. No one here could know.
"No. You can't do that to me." He said.
"What?" I asked looking at him as he sat beside me.
"You can't pry into my life and make me tell you everything about my family conflicts and shut me out when I try to be a friend and return the favor. Hell, I didn't want to tell you anything g about me but I trusted you, even if I've only known you for like a month." He said sounding hurt.
"I'm not-"
"Yes you are, obviously there's something wrong and you're not telling me. I want to help you, like you helped me, even if all you did was hit a guy over the head with a book. You trusted me enough to take up for me your first day here when you knew dirt shit about me. What's so different now?" He said.
" It's not that I don't trust you, Nate." I mumbled.
"That's exactly what it is, but you know what it's fine don't tell me. If it's so bad then forget about it." He turned his attention to the window.
" A few weeks before I moved here, my mom got killed, by her boyfriend...."
As I told him everything, I saw all of the life drain out of Nate's face, he put his hand over his mouth and kept it there until the end. He was ted to know the truth, well here it is, all out on a platter.
"Oh my God. Artura- I-- This is just--" he sighed not knowing what to say.
"Maggie keeps telling me not to worry but, I'm scared. He's going to come here and he's going to kill me, just like they planned." I kept my attention on my fingers.
All he could do was hug me and that's what he did, it felt good to have someone to tell other than Alex and Maggie. Before students came in we released each, and acted as if the situation didn't happen, just as Brittany walked in with...... Marco?
He had his arm around her waist and it looked like he made her neck into an all you can eat buffet. I guess she knew I was looking she walked right over to my desk with Marco still connected to her. As she approached my desk she plastered a fake pout on her face.
"Aw don't cry. You're not the only girl who tried to sleep with My Marco." She said throwing me a fake smile.
"What?" I said raising an eyebrow.
"Yesterday at my house? You trying to sleep with me? Remember that?" Marco said smirking.
"And?" I asked.
He told her what happened. But he tried to make it seem as though I was the one who came onto him. Was this his plan? To sleep with me and then try to make me jealous with Brittany? I don't have time for this today.
"And, you tried to walk around here like you didn't like Marco, but threw your underwear at him as soon as you broke into his house." Brittany folded her arms across her chest.
I scoffed and looked at Marco,
"So that's the lie you're sticking to? Just let me know what we're telling people, so that I don't lie and say something stupid like you invited me over and kissed me." I peered up at him.
What he didn't understand was, I didn't hesitate to discard people who crossed me, I'd done it plenty of times with no remorse or hard feelings. He wasn't any different.
"We both know that it's the truth, you're a little horny bitch. Just admit to it and apologize for breaking into my house." He said.
"Alright. I'm a horny bitch and I apologize for breaking into your house." I said throwing my hands up in fake surrender.
"I knew it." Brittany said smiling as the smirk fell from Marco's face.
"Is that all? Do you guys want to call a truce? Settle it over some ice cream? Watch a movie together? Kiss a little?" I asked smiling at Marco who looked upset because I'm guessing he didn't get the reaction that he was hoping for.
He suddenly let go of Brittany's waist and stormed out of the classroom almost knocking over some poor kid, I completely ignored her and turned back around to Nate who just had to be filled in on the missing details.
I guess that this was his plan to to emotionally and mentally break me? It wasn't working, didn't feel hurt, not by him anyways. Southern boys are harsher and harder than three Marco"s combined and he's supposed to be in a mob.
He was being messy and honestly if he wanted to play this game, I'd be a willing and active participant. If he thinks that me and him fooling around once would somehow make me fall head over heels for him, boy did he have the wrong girl!
"I gotta go pee." I told Nate as I sat my lunch tray down.
"Dont get long stroked on your way there." He teased.
I only mocked him and slid him my tater tots to silence him and it worked.
I walked to through the cafeteria as everyone stared at me, no doubt that they knew about what happened between me and Marco. No doubt that Brittany and her friends took that little lie and stomped my name into the dirt. Yet, I'm not phased. This wouldn't be my first time being subjected to rumors about having sex with a guy.
The restroom was completely empty when I walked in, usually there was a crowd of girls fixing their makeup in preparation for the second half of the day, hogging the mirrors and sinks, but praise the lord.
As soon as I locked the stall I heard someone come in and my victory was short lived. I had to hurry and pee before I wasn't able to wash my hands. I quickly used my foot to flush the toilet and stumbled out of the stall, but the sinks and mirrors were empty. Then I heard the door lock, I turned to see Marco staring at me, leaning on the wall.
"Hmm, if someone broke into my house, the last thing that I would do is lock myself in the bathroom with them." I said turning my back to him going to the soap dispenser.
He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the sink next to me, I didn't look up at him, just paid attention to getting my fingers cleaned.
"So, what? You're upset that I only used you for sex? You thought I meant all of that bullshit about you being beautiful? I was only trying to get in your pants. All of that, the ice cream bit, part of my elaborate scheme to get you in my bed. Which wasn't hard." He leaned over the sink smirking.
I got choked up a little so it made it hard for me to respond, I tried to make my way to the hand drier with my head down, but he stepped back into my way.
" Are you crying? You had to know that I couldn't be attracted to someone like you. I mean look at yourself, you're a freak." He lifted my arm revealing my tattoos and let it fall back down to my side.
Now, I couldn't hold it in, I looked him dead in the eyes and let it out. That laugh that I'd been holding in since he started running his mouth at the sink, the fact that he thought that he'd actually hurt my feelings was probably the funniest part. When I finished laughing I wiped the tears that had been collecting at the corner of my eyes and walked around him to dry my hands.
He stood there staring at me, trying to figure me out, like he was trying to figure out if I was kidding or not. When the dryer shut off I began to leave the restroom. But he grabbed my wrist and I rolled my eyes and turned back towards him.
"What?" I asked
"You know you're hurt. You're just trying to keep up this little charade pretending like you're some sort if macho woman, but I see straight through you Artura." He said glaring at me.
"OK, Ghost Buster. Keep seeing through me, but let me ask you this, if I'm so "transparent", why couldn't you see that I was actually trying to be nice to you yesterday because maybe I truly did feel sorry for punching you in the face and you seemed like a decent guy, we could've been friends." I said crossing my arms over my chest.
" I don't need anyone like you to be my friend. We will never be friends. Anything remotely nice that I've ever said to you, was to get into your pants." He spat squeezing my wrist.
"You keep that attitude until graduation and I promise that I won't get in your way anymore. I'll be so transparent that you won't even remember my name. I won't even look at you since I'm so revolting. You just stay the hell away from me, seeing as every time we have an encounter, its because you're approaching me. Not the other way around you have a nice life, Marco." I said snatching my wrist free, finally getting out of the restroom.
"Artura!" Marco called as I approached the cafeteria.
Before I got to the door, I was snatched back and pushed into the wall. Passing students stared and whispered, taking a mental note at the closeness of me and Marco's faces. He had both of his arms on each side of my head and he was shooting daggers into my eyes with his own.
"You don't threaten me, Artura. I'm the only one making the threats around here." He growled.
"I never threatened you Marco." I said with no emotion in my voice.
"Oh yeah? Then what did you call that back in the restroom then?" He asked.
"A promise. And I never break my promises." I said looking him up and down before slipping from under his arms into and returning to the cafeteria.
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So, would you guys like for me to give Nate his own POV, so that we could see things from his perspective for a change?