If Joe hadn't mentioned it to me I probably wouldn't have even noticed that next week Monday would be my final chance to seduce Robin. Not that I was going to have a problem with that; I was so smitten by her I doubted I would give her a single day off. I was dying to go out with her again as soon as possible.
As it was Wednesday once more, we had gym today. But because Robin wasn't allowed to exert herself to any physical activities just yet, I ditched it. I went over to the library as if it had turned into an instant meeting point with Robin.
It felt so unusual to be in love. My heart raced whenever I thought of her. Her happiness meant everything to me, so I would do anything to keep her happy. But on the other hand I simply couldn't imagine her being in someone else's arms. The fear of rejection before my confession haunted me. What if she didn't like me at all? Was that possible?
The confidence I grew up with shattered like a mere mirror. Oh, but I wasn't going to confess to her now, was I? In that case there wouldn't have to be a problem, right? I frowned at my lack of confidence all of a sudden.
The library was absolutely empty. Even the librarian had vanished. Well, it was empty except for Heart sitting in her lonesome little corner. She looked up when I opened the door. She snuggled even more into her jacket and smiled at me. I walked over to her and plopped down onto the chair beside her.
"Shouldn't you be doing gym?" she mocked.
I stretched myself onto the table and looked up at her. "Perhaps..."
She zipped her jacket closed. "M-hmm..."
"Are you that cold?" It wasn't even that cold in here.
She continued reading her book. "Kinda."
I didn't want to pry into her business any further, so I dropped the subject. "So how was your day? You know, after the waterpark."
"It was alright I guess." Didn't sound that convincing though... She gazed back at me. "You seemed a bit out of it yesterday. Are you sure nothing happened?"
I sighed. "I just saw someone I really didn't want to see, that's all."
"Oh, okay." She seemed uncomfortable and didn't know what to say.
"It's okay, really," I tried to reassure her with a smile, "It's not like I'll be seeing her again."
She nodded and smiled as well.
My eyes slowly fell on her fingers. "Have you been practicing at home?"
Her smile dropped. "Not much, no. Dad doesn't like the sound of it."
I thought it over for a while. "Then you should just come over to my house and you can play as much as you want there."
"Dad wouldn't like that," she said quickly, suddenly panic-stricken.
I sat up straight, alarmed at her reaction. There really was something more going on with that guy. I just knew it. "Robin, in what sense is he worse than my mother exactly?"
I promised myself I wouldn't ask her anything about it but I couldn't avoid it any longer.
Robin dropped her book at the question. I had a feeling she wasn't going to answer me due to the silence that stretched on. But I was wrong. She tapped her fingers nervously onto the table but eventually spoke, her voice in a mere whisper, as if the library's walls had ears.
"Uhmm... Well, you remember I told you he gets drunk often, right?" I nodded. "Well..." She glanced at her fingers, which slowly crawled their way into her jacket. "Whenever he comes home drunk, he hits me."
My eyes widened. I tried to calm myself down by closing my eyes. It didn't help with shit.
"I have a long history with him," she continued, "I even lost my virginity because of him. The day I heard I was pregnant he told me he'd make sure I didn't have to go through with the pain of conceiving the child. I thought he meant I would do an abortion. He literally beat the poor thing to death and almost killed me along with him."
"And you stay with that bastard why exactly?" Venom oozed with every word I pronounced.
"I don't want him to do anything stupid if I were to up and leave one day. It already happened once."
I gave her a serious look. She glanced away. "Look at me," I told her. She did as she was told. "You can't stay with someone like him, do you hear me?"
"I have no other choice," she muttered grimacing.
"You always have a choice."
"But—"
"Robin, if you stay with him and he does anything to—" But before I could finish my sentence I spotted a blue mark at her neck. "Unzip your jacket."
"What? No!" she exclaimed.
I leaned towards her and did it myself. She struggled, but it was in vain. I stared perplexed at the bruises scattered throughout her body. "What did... he do to you...?" I brought out slowly.
Robin stood up and zipped her jacket once more. "It's no big deal."
I stood up abruptly, letting the chair fall over. "How is that not a big deal?!"
She grabbed her book and shoved it in her bag. She didn't say a word.
"Robin," I said, a tiny bit calmer now, "What did he do to you?"
She shook her head and didn't answer.
"Robin!"
She slammed her fist against the table, making me flinch. "It's none of your damn business!" She snatched her bag and left the library. I wasn't sure, but I think she was about to cry.
I hid my face in my one hand and took a deep breath. How could she allow him to mistreat her like that? Didn't Heart have a mother? Why wasn't she doing anything? Damn it, if only I had known this sooner!
During recess Kevin decided he wanted Robin to have lunch with us today. So we went to search for her. She was nowhere to be found.
"Zack, do you have any idea where she could be?" Joe asked me.
I shrugged, but I had a feeling if she wasn't in the library she was probably in the music room. There was no need to tell them. A few girls ran past and spoke of a person playing the piano in the music room. I was right.
"Do you guys think she could be...?" Kevin started.
"Nah," John replied, "As if Heart could play the piano."
"You'd never know," Joe said.
"Oh yeah! Zack brought her her keyboard the other day," Kevin finally remembered.
They looked at me. I sighed.
"Just leave her alone already, I'm starving," I said to try and avoid them from finding her.
"You do know that you have only a few days before—" Kevin started, but I cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah, but that doesn't have anything to do with this. Maybe she wants to eat on her own."
"Well, we won't know that if we don't ask her about it, right?"
And so we went to the music room against my will. There was a whole crowd standing at the windows staring at her, whispering all types of crap to each other. Some were obviously jealous of her and told each other how something as pure as the piano didn't fit her.
I purposefully pushed past them and pressed my hand onto the glass. They mumbled something in the back but I couldn't care less what it was.
"Woah hey, she's pretty good," Kevin whistled.
"The song she's playing sounds kind of scary though," John remarked, laughing.
I nodded absentmindedly. It expressed how she was feeling on the inside; sad, disappointed at herself, possibly mad at me for reacting that way to her. Whatever it was, it showed she needed some privacy.
"Let's leave her alone," I told the guys.
They agreed. We turned and left. Soon enough more people left as well.
She didn't go to her classes at all. Teachers asked for her and my classmates got excited all over again and told them how well she played the piano. Eventually I just left the classroom. It just seemed like they wouldn't stop talking about it so what was the point in staying?
I turned a corner and almost bumped into her. She quickly turned her back to me and started walking away. But I had already seen her tears. I grabbed her by her arm.
"Come over to my house today," I told her, "Please."
She shook her head slowly. "I can't."
"Does he hurt you when you go out?"
"Yes..."
"Then we'll tell him about it before going." I pulled her towards me and threw my arms around her. Embracing her would have made me smile if I wasn't so distracted right about now. "Please, don't go there. Just for today, okay?"
Her shoulders shook violently. Her voice cracked when she spoke. "I can't go with you."
"Robin, I'm begging you," I whispered.
She broke free from my grip, turned around to face me and forced a smile. "I'm sorry." She gulped. "I've been living with him for as long as I can remember. I've gotten immune to his strength, so don't worry."
"How can I not worry?"
"I'll be fine, Zack, I swear."
"That's not for you to decide. He does as he pleases with you. Isn't that what you told me yesterday?"
Robin nodded. I was dying to ask her if he still touched her inappropriately, but I suppressed the urge to. She probably wouldn't have given me an answer anyway.
Robin leaned forward to me and suddenly embraced me back, with her soft arms wrapping around my waist. I felt all of my strength perish into thin air. Tears escaped my eyes unwillingly. She then smiled at me and left.
How could such a sweet person have to go through so much anguish on her own? Was there really nothing I could do for her?