Super unedited.
Enjoy.
~*~*~*~
"Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" Tara yelled as she came hurtling towards our table in the cafeteria.
"What?"
"Kyle asked me to prom!" She squealed.
"Prom?" I asked.
"You know that dance you get asked to every year and never go to?" She asked impatiently.
"I know what prom is," I said, rolling my eyes. "I just didn't know when it was."
"Well, it's our senior year, you have to go."
"You've never been asked to prom?" Ryan asked, sitting down.
"Oh, she's been asked, she just rejects them all," Tara snorted.
"It's not personal, it's just not my scene," I defended.
"Well maybe the right person will ask you this year," Ryan said, causing Tara to grin.
I stuck my to tongue out at her childishly.
The rest of the day continued as normal. It was boring actually, so when the bell rung I almost leapt out of my seat. Tara was riding with Kyle so I was on my own. It was good to have a little time to myself, in fact it would have been great if I hadn't bumped into Erika on the way to the parking lot.
She purposely shoved me, narrowly avoiding my toes with her six inch heels.
"What's your problem?" I hissed, grabbing her arm spin her towards me.
"You broke my nose, that's my
problem," she spat.
"That was your own fault. Maybe you should learn not to but your head into other people's lives," I suggested.
"Maybe you should learn not to steal other people's boyfriends," she challenged.
For the love of god.
"I didn't steal your boyfriend, you cheated on him, there's a difference. Why can't you get it through your thick skull that Ryan and I are friends. I don't care who he dates as long as he's happy, and if you really liked him, you'd want him to be happy too. The world doesn't revolve around you and I don't want to get caught in your drama." I turned to walk away but she caught my arm. It took all of the strength I had to not punch her in the face. Again.
"What?" I growled.
"I'm not done talking to you."
"I would think very long and hard about your next decision if I were you Erika. Remember what happened last time you pissed me off?"
"That punch was a fluke."
Honestly, lying to yourself isn't healthy.
"Was it now?" I asked raising my right fist. She flinched ducking down and covering her head. It's not like I was actually going to punch her, but it was a good way to prove a point.
"That's what I thought."
I walked over to my jeep and drove away like a boss. I didn't want to hurt her, well not all the time, but if she kept pressing my buttons I was going to snap, and next time I'd aim for her teeth.
I also thought that when I got home I would be left alone, but I soon realised I was doomed when I saw several cars parked outside our house.
I tried to enter the house quietly too, to avoid unwanted attention, but a sudden gust of wind grabbed the door, throwing it closed.
My mother marched to the door grabbing my shoulder with her boney fingers.
"You're late!" she angrily whispered, as if not to let the guests see her true self.
"For what?" I retorted, mimicking her tone.
"The surprise baby announcement to our family," she glared.
"Bet I never got one of those," I muttered.
"What did you say?!"
"I said, you have lipstick on your teeth!" I yelled, silencing my mother and the chattering people in the next room.
I marched through the living room, watching as my aunts, uncles and grandparents mumbled in hushed tones about how disgraceful I was.
"Oh come on, just because you all hate me doesn't mean I can't hear you! Why don't you just say it to my face? Huh?" Their mouths opened and closed like goldfish, in shock that I actually spoke up instead of staying quiet as I was told to.
Just as I was about to leave, a voice piped up. "She always had such a terrible skin tone."
I rolled my eyes. Is that the best you can do?
"Shut up grandma, just because you're the same colour as frosty the snowman, doesn't mean that I'm black."
I glared, hoping that the ground would swallow them all up so I'd never have to see them again. Unfortunately my mind powers are still a work in progress.
I started making my way upstairs but my arm was violently ripped from my side and I almost tripped.
My mother shoved me back into the living room.
"Apologise," she hissed in my ear.
"I'm sorry that none of you like me," I turned to the woman standing next to me. "There, is that what you wanted?"
She held onto my arm, digging her fingernails into my flesh. "Try again," she said through clenched teeth.
"I'm sorry that none of you can see through my mothers facade. I'm sorry that she's deceived all of you. I'm sorry that I was even born. I'm sorry for everything."
I turned to my mother, the instigator of all of my problems. "Are you happy now?"
She definitely wasn't happy. Her whole face was redder than a tomato and a bulging vein was protruding from her forehead. I watched as she tucked her hands into fists.
"You little bitch," she hissed.
I knew what would happen next, but the punch was clumsy. It hurt more than it should've because she was wearing rings. Sure, I could've defended myself but it wouldn't have made a much of a difference with the mind set she had. She wanted to hit me, so she hit me.
I couldn't bring myself to retaliate. I couldn't hurt her, she was my mother after all.
I licked my lip which felt like it had its own pulse. The metallic taste told me that I was bleeding and I probably had a split lip.
I looked around the room for someone who was willing to help me. Everyone remained seated, watching my mother with wide eyes. Jasmine seemed oblivious to the fact that what our mother did was wrong, which was a worry. What kind of example was she setting for a nine year old? Dad was still at work, seeing as mom usually left him out of family functions.
I saw the venom in her eyes and I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes tightly and waited for the blow. It never came.
I cracked my eyes open. A blonde haired guy was restraining my mother. Tara was shouting at my family, Kyle was ushering people out the door, while Justin and Lee tried to control an out of control Jasmine.
I let out a sigh of relief, sagging onto a nearby armchair.
~*~*~*~*~
The five of us stared at my mother, who sat smugly on the couch, filing her fingernails. Jasmine was preoccupied with Justin upstairs, they were playing barbies.
"So you're her," Ryan said, projecting his disgust across the room.
She smiled sadistically. "So she told you her little sob story huh?"
He glared at her. "I don't know how you can even speak about your own daughter like that."
"She's not my daughter, shes the spawn of satan!" She let loose an evil cackle.
I rolled my eyes. Like I haven't heard that one before.
"You're wrong," he said, looking in my direction. "She's the closest thing to an angel I've ever seen."
My heart fluttered, but I had to tell it to calm down because this wasn't the time.
"You're delusional. You're all delusional. That girl is a liar. I will not allow liars into my home."
"I guess you'll just have to leave then," I spoke emotionlessly.
"Fine," she said. "But I can promise that you'll never see me again."
She headed out of the living room, but Lee tried to stop her.
"Let her go, we're all better off without her."
She kept her promise and that was the last time I ever saw my mother.
~*~*~*~*~
"Sunshine, are you okay?" Ryan asked softly, crouching beside me as the others watched on.
"I-I..I don't know," I stuttered. He gently placed a hand on my forearm, which I knew was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but I winced.
Ryan noticed, flipping my arm over to reveal finger sized welts, that were bruising.
"She did this to you?" He asked in disgust.
I shrugged in reply.
"What else did she do?" He asked wearily.
I shrugged again, but I knew he could tell by the way I was putting my weight on my right side.
He planted one of his large hands on my shoulder, causing me to yelp.
He sighed, pulling back my shirt so he could see the damage.
"Jesus, you should really get all of that looked at," he recommended.
I shook my head. "I'm fine."
He shook his head in disbelief. "You're amazing, you know that?"
"At least let me help you," he offered.
I nodded.
He turned to the others. "You guys can leave if you want, but I'm probably just going to stay."
"You can't kick us out," Tara grinned, "it's not your house. I'm staying."
"Me too," Kyle said quickly, clearly wanting to spend as much time with Tara as possible.
"I guess I could hang out here," Lee added.
"Fair enough," Ryan concluded.
He scooped me up off the armchair and carried me bridal style.
"I have legs you know."
"Me too."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know."
He sat me down on the counter in the bathroom, next to the sink and started rummaging through the medicine cabinet. How he knew where the bathroom was, I don't have a clue.
He pulled out a tube of some sort of cream and started rubbing it over the bruises.
I hissed as he touched a tender spot, clamping my hand over his. He looked up at me.
"Sorry," I apologised, removing my hand.
"What did I say about apologising?"
I was going to say sorry again, but kept my mouth shut.
He moved on to my shoulder, which was a little bit awkward because my shirt kept sticking to my skin, making it difficult for him to cover the entire area.
His hands moved to the buttons of my shirt. "Can I? Just so I can-"
"Yeah," I smiled reassuringly.
He undid each button at a steady pace, his breath catching a little as he got closer to my cleavage. Eventually my shirt was removed, leaving me in my sports bra. I didn't mind, I wasn't terribly self conscious and his gaze was far from scrutinising.
He rubbed my shoulder, massaging it lightly with his fingertips. I almost forgot about how much it hurt because of his close proximity. That boy did dangerous things to my heart, and my lungs. Sometimes, when I was around him, they just seemed to stop working. I mean honestly, couldn't they pull themselves together?
He helped me back into my shirt. Wordlessly he studied my face, taking my chin in one hand and surveying my lip.
"Your bruises shouldn't hurt too much anymore, but there's not much I can do for that lip."
I smiled. "Thanks doc."
He winked. "All in a days work."
We headed to the kitchen where Tara was raiding the cupboards and everyone else was sitting around watching her. Justin had emerged from upstairs and returned the same way everything did from Jasmines room. Bedazzled. He had pink bows in his hair, pink lipstick, and vibrant blue eyeshadow.
"Justin, you look fabulous," I commented as I walked past.
"Thanks," he said dryly.
"Ahh, just the girl I was looking for," Tara said, patting me on the head. "So, I was just going to make-"
"Everyone good for pizza?" I asked.
"Hey!" Tara exclaimed.
"No offence, but your cooking sucks."
She threw her hands in the air. "Why do people say no offence when it's obviously offensive?"
I shrugged. "To soften the blow?"
"It doesn't work," she huffed.
I ordered the pizza, and about five minutes later I heard the door open.
I frowned, damn he was quick.
I walked to the door, I was rather suspicious, I mean what kind of pizza guy just lets himself in. That's rude, he could've at least knocked.
I walked around the corner to find... my dad. Oh. Not nearly as exciting as a burglar.
"Hey dad."
"Hey daughter- oh my god, what happened to your face?"
"Mom happened."
"She did this to you? Where is she?"
"She left dad, she said she wasn't coming back."
He sighed, massaging his forehead. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. She's talked about leaving a few times before, I never thought she'd actually go through with it."
"What do we tell Jasmine?"
"The truth I guess."
"What about the baby?"
He sighed. "I don't know."
~*~*~*~*~
Tap.
I cracked one bleary eye open. How dare some stupid sound wake me up. I grumpily closed my eyes again.
Tap, tap, tap.
I sat up, glaring in the direction of the noise.
Stupid birds, I thought to myself. Because of course a strange tapping noise on your window in the middle of the night is being caused by birds. So don't worry kids, if you think it's a burglar, it's probably just birds. Oh, well done Hazel, fantastic logic, you should sell that idea in the black market.
I mentally slapped myself. What kind of bird purposely taps on the window? Obviously it was someone trying to get my attention.
Really Hazel? Haven't you seen enough cheesy, poorly funded movies, where the hot guy throws pebbles at the girl's window and they run off into the sunset? You're missing your chance!
I stumbled out of bed, taking short sharp steps to avoid getting cold toes. I unlocked the French doors that lead to my small balcony.
"It's about time you showed up, I'm freezing my ass off out here sunshine."
So much for Prince Charming.
He pushed past me, entering my room.
I shut the door, flipping the light on. I crossed up arms over my chest.
"What are you doing here?"
"Couldn't sleep."
"So you climb onto my balcony and wake me up at," I paused to look at the clock, "three in the morning?"
"Yes. By the way, your room looks even better up close," He said, surveying the area.
I shook my head, not believing what I was seeing. "Okay, well I'm going to bed," I said, pulling the blankets over me and flipping the light switch off again.
"Me too," he said, which made me think he was leaving. "Move over."
The bed dipped and the blankets moved. His feet swiped past my legs.
"Holy shit, your feet are cold."
"I was standing out there for a while."
I sighed. "You're not leaving are you?"
"Negatory."
I groaned, shifting over to give him some space. There was really no point though, seeing as he shuffled as close as he could to me.
"I actually came to ask you something."
"Shoot."
"Do you wanna-"
"Build a snowman? No thanks, I don't like having cold hands."
"Thanks for than unnecessary information."
"Your welcome."
"Do you wanna do that prom thing?" When I didn't say anything he added, "with me?"
I pretended to play it cool, when really I wanted to tell the whole world.
"Why the hell not?"
~*~*~*~
Don't worry if you feel out of the loop here, so do I. I wish someone would tell me what was going to happen to my characters before I start writing these chapters. I mean, talk about unexpected.
So prom huh? No kissing at prom, sorry to disappoint. I've already got the first kiss scene down, it sounds great in my head, hopefully that translates to words.
Sorry for the wait, remember to please, please, please, vote, comment, follow.
Byeeeee.
Until next time.