Jodie's POV
I walk out of my house in the morning and I see Harry also walking out of his house, to his car. I gasp a little when he turns his head and there is a huge purple and blue bruise covering his cheek and just under his eye. That poor boy, he has done wrong nothing to anybody but people constantly beat him up. I sigh and get in my car, driving to school.
I had to stop and get gas on the way, so I'm a little later then usual but I get here early anyways so I won't be late for classes. While I walk in there seems to be a crowd by the cafeteria, unusual. I walk over and I hear cries of pain, and when I get closer I see Harry getting beat up by Jack and his buddies. His eyes meet mine and I look away when they do, I turn straight away and walk down the hall. I can't watch that happen, I can't. Why does Jack have to do that to him? That is horrible, besides, Harry's a good kid, he never gets in trouble. I just shake the thought out of my head. I wanted to help him, but I couldn't, I'd become the next Marcel and I just can't risk it.
Harry's POV
"Marcel! That letter was trash, I got rejected. What's your problem, that was such a simple request and you couldn't even do that. How pathetic are you"
Jack yells at me when I walk in. He punches me in the eye and I fall backwards. Ow, I hold a hand over my eye and stand up, only to be met with another punch from him, this time to my chest. I bend forward in pain, trying to cover myself up the most so he can't punch me in places that hurt. I look up and Jodie is standing there, right in the front of the crowd. She looks at me the same time I look at her, and then she's quick to flee from the situation.
Again, why'd I have that little sliver of hope that she'd help me? Just because I've known her for a long time doesn't mean she wants to be friends with me any more than any of the other people do.
Jack finishes me off and I lay there on the ground, while everybody leaves, laughing with each other. I don't even bother getting up, I just let the blood drip from my lip onto the floor, the tears run down my face.
I am useless, just a punching bag for Jack. I understand he needs to take his anger out on something, but not me. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and just get everything out, punch the punching bag for hours, I never get tired. I have nobody, just me and my mom. She's the only person that actually cares about me so the gym is where I get out all my anger towards everybody else.
I lie on the floor of the hallway, not having the energy to get up. I just lie there, thinking about my life. I am nobody's friend, nobody needs me. Nobody would care if I disappeared one day, never to come back. I pull my shirt away from my chest, the blood dripping from my mouth has fallen onto my shirt and seeping through it, causing it to stick to my chest. I slowly move backwards towards the wall, and use it best to my advantage to try and stand up. I don't care if I miss class, they know I'm the smartest kid here, my mom won't be mad, just worried for me. I grab all my books and slowly, very slowly, walk out to my car. After about 10 minutes and 2 falls I get there, and collapse down into the front seat. It doesn't take long for the tears to spill out of my eyes, soaking my shirt, as if it wasn't bad enough there was blood on it. I'm so sick of this. I can't keep living this way. I make my way home, and when I push open the door I hear a sound, but it immediately stops.
"Who's there?" My mom yells, I'm never home this early, she probably thinks somebody is trying to break in.
"It's just me mom."
I hear her running and when she sees me her eyes start to tear up
"Oh my god Harry, what happened?" She wraps her arms around me and I wince, making her loosen her grip
"Jack got called out by Mr. Jackson for being a jerk and he took it out on me. At least that's what I think, he said the letter was horrible so I guess Mr. Jackson sensed that yesterday I was forced to get it."
"Yesterday? Letter? I'm lost."
"Yesterday after class Jack made me get him a reference letter for his football scholarship. He thought Mr. Jackson wouldn't give him one if he asked, so he made me do it for him."
"Oh, baby. Come here, let's get you cleaned up. Why has the school not done anything yet? I keep calling them to try and get this fixed but it doesn't seem to be working." She leads me to the bathroom and sits me down on the counter, cleaning up the blood and cuts all over my face and rest of my body.
20 minutes later she's done, I'm all bandaged up and I have a sufficient bruise on my eye, which is already looking bad even though its just starting to form. I still have the huge bruise on the side of my face under my eye from yesterday, making me look kind of scary. My lip is busted, and I still have blood on my shirt. "You should probably go up and change, do you have enough clothes?" I nod.
"Yes, you just bought me some more remember?"
"No not those ones, you can't wear dress pants and sweater vests all the time, you have to dress normally sometimes. Now is one of those times."
I sigh and make my way upstairs with the support from the railing and wall. I pull my shirt over my head, and stare at my reflection in the mirror. There is a light bruise on my stomach, you can't see it much since I've been working out alot lately and the muscles in my chest absorb the punch more than my face does. It hurts more than my face though, my abdomen. I take off the dark grey pants I wore to school today and pull a pair of light grey sweatpants on, then go into the bathroom to deal with my hair. I'm not going back out today, no way. I decide to just brush it back off of my forehead and leave it natural, not bothering to straighten or gel it back. I don't think I have the energy to anyways.
"Harry, I'm just going to the store for a bit! Do you need anything?"
"No I'm good thanks" I tell my mom and then I hear the door close, and her car leave the driveway. I go downstairs since I'm alone now and don't bother with a shirt. It'll be uncomfortable anyways and I'm not sure where a t-shirt even it right now, I only had dress shirts upstairs.
I plop down onto the couch and turn on the t.v. to pass time.
About 45 minutes later there is a knock on the door, so I get up and unlock the door, then open it up. "Ha-..." Jodie stands outside my door and she looks like she was about to say something, but her eyes are glued to my chest. That's when I realize I don't have a shirt on, and i'm standing right infront of this girl I've known forever, but never said anything to. Her eyes move up to mine "Sorry I'm looking for Harry..I thought he came home for lunch every day?"
She does not recognize me? Thank god. I almost slammed the door on her face and I know for a fact my cheeks are a dark red colour.
"Harry is not here right now, sorry/" I reply, hoping she believes me. She looks down, almost disappointed. "Well can you tell him I said I'm sorry, for not helping him today at school.."
I nod "Yeah, for sure."
Her not knowing who I am seems to be giving me a confidence boost, I don't do well around other people.
"Okay, thank you. You don't happen to have his phone number do you?" Phone number? Why in the world would she want my phone number. I am the geek, the loser, nerd of the school. But its an opportunity to maybe get out of this horrible beat up cycle every day and I'm not wasting it
"Uhhh yeah, do you want me to put it in your phone for you?" She nods and hands me her phone. How weird is it that she's the nervous one here. If anything I should be the nervous one, she's too pretty to be friends with me, why is she even bothering to act like she cares. I hand it back to her and she smiles a little "Thank you..sorry what was your name?"
"Ha..yden..." I can't believe I almost told her Harry..she would surely recognize me then. "Oh, well thank you Hayden. I will see you around"
She turns to walk aay back to her house, just next door.
Ohhhh she's gonna be disappointed if she wastes any of her time on me. She's only going to lose friends. I sigh and close the door, flopping back on the couch. Did that just happen? She actually wanted to talk to me, as Marcel. The nerd, loser, geek. Not Harry, how I am now without my hair gelled back and my nice proper ironed clothes. I like who I am here at home but I know for sure that I'd get bullied more if I went to school like this, especially after 6 years of proper clothing every day. I don't understand how she didn't recognize me because of my bruises though, who else would have as many as me? I feel my phone buzz, interupting my thoughts about her.
From: Unknown
Hey Harry, it's Jodie from next door, I just wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened this morning. I'm sorry, I should've tried to help, I don't know why I didn't.
Yes you do, you didn't want to be the one to help Marcel, the loser. I do appreciate it though, her making sure I'm okay . It's more than anybody else has ever done.
To: Jodie
I'm fine thanks.
Since it's just over text, I have alot more confidence than if it was face to face.
From: Jodie
Okay, cool. See you at school tomorrow :)
She actually wants to see me at school? What kind of sick game is she playing here, cause I'm not up for it.
To: Jodie
Yeah.
I don't want to be rude though, so I just reply agreeing with her.