The obnoxious sound my morning alarm blares right in my ear. I shot my hand out and slapped the button to shut it off and almost immediately, there's a terrible, irresistible itch on my arm. Especially around my wrist. With my other hand, I bring it up to my arm, not to scratch it but to feel it. And all I felt, were bumps. Big ones too. I spring out of my bed and head straight towards my bathroom.
Ignoring my red puffy eyes from crying last night, I took off my sweatshirt and examined my arm. My eyes widened at the sight. My arm is filled with red, puffy hives. But my wrist is the worst. And that's when I noticed it. The silver bracelet. The exact same one Daniel gave me yesterday. I must have forgotten to take it off after the rose bouquet incident.
After I got home yesterday, I had to tell Coach Jenifer I wasn't able to go practice. I was in no mood to do so. But I didn't tell her that. I just told her I wasn't feeling good and thankfully she believed me. After ending that call with her, I just remember dumping myself onto my bed and balled. I must have balled until I fell asleep because I don't remember doing anything after that.
The itch on my arm is so excruciating! I ripped the bracelet off and before throwing it into the trash, I took a more closer look at it. The bracelet is fake. The silver on the bracelet is fake. He did all this on purpose. He knew about my highly sensitive skin and used it towards his advantage. Telling my utmost important secret wasn't enough for him. He just had to not only give me rigged roses, but also give me fake jewelry. A mixture of rage and sadness is filled within me.
Taking off my other clothes, I take a cold shower to try to calm the hives on my arm. It takes all the strength in me to not scratch. There's no words to explain how itchy they are.
Letting the cold water run down my arm felt relieving. The feeling didn't last long and the unbearable itch around my whole arm and wrist came back.
After finishing washing in the shower, I headed to my closet to change. Not wanting my parents to see my arm, I put on my black bralette and pink sweater over with black leggings.
As much as I want to get to Lilly's office, I can't get my parents more worried than they already are. They've noticed how introverted I've become these past couple of weeks. Or at least that's what I've over heard them talking about. Grabbing all of the things I need for school, I head down the stairs to where my parents are waiting for me to eat breakfast.
"Morning El" my parents say unison.
"Morning" I say offering a small tight smile.
With all the will power I'm trying not to scratch, my arm starts shaking. So, with my other hand, I grab my elbow pulling my arm with the hives closer to my body.
"You should eat, your food is going to get cold" my dad says.
I give him a stiff nod and started to eat with my "good" arm. Throughout breakfast, my parents kept giving each other worried looks but didn't didn't say anything. Something I'm glad they hadn't. I have to concentrate on not scratching.
My dad opens our spice and medicine cabinet giving me a perfect view of the Benadryl medicine that I need for my arm. Just looking at it makes my arm impossibly more itchy than it already is. Like they're taunting me that I can't reach it with my parents here.
"Ok well, we'll see you later El" my dad says kissing my head and my mother's.
I offer them a small smile and nod. They both leave into the garage and once they were out of sight, I shot off my seat to grab the Benadryl. I squeezed out some of the lotion onto the palm of my hand and rubbed it onto my wrist and then onto the rest of my arm. Rolling down my sleeve, and grabbing my things, I headed to my car and straight for school.
Arriving to school was the most nerve wracking out of everything that happened to me by far. It's because I know for sure that the humiliation to me have gotten worse.
Grabbing my bag, I make a quick beeline to Lilly's office. With my arm held closely to my body and my head down, I ignored all of the comments and stares that were thrown my way.
"El! You won't believe what I-" Lilly starts as I came into the room. "What's wrong?" She says when she noticed a stray tear roll down my cheek.
I wiped the tear with the back of my hand and rolled up my sleeve. A gasp escapes her lips and rushes to examine my arm, especially my wrist area.
"How'd this happen?" She asks in a gentle voice.
"You remember what happened yesterday right? With the flowers?" I ask, my voice raspy.
She nods in response. "Well, before he gave me the bouquet, he gave me a bracelet. With everything that happened after that, I forgot to take off the bracelet and ended up falling asleep with it on. And by this morning, it was too late to realize the bracelet was fake" I explain as more tears roll down my cheek. "I already put on Benadryl before I left" I add.
"I can't believe he'd do something like that" she says, shaking her head. "The ones on your arm, will heal normally, but the big puff around your wrist will be scared for a little while. The itch and raised skin will die down but the red splotches would be there for a while until they disappear" she adds.
"Thanks Lilly" I thank her. I bring my hand up to my arm about to scratch but brought it back down "They're so itchy" I complain.
"It will be for a while" she says. "At least for the rest of the day".
The bell rings signaling the first period of the day is going to start soon. I thank Lilly again and went straight for my fist class.
This was not the way I hoped my last year in high school would go.
*******
Each dreadful second of every minute and every minute of every hour of the day that passed by was excruciating. Not only were the hives on my case, but also everyone that stepped passed me were also. There was nothing more than I wanted this torture could end so I could go home.
As I was putting a text book into my locker, a hand was laid upon my shoulder. Afraid that someone was trying to try something on me, I flinched away and threw the hand off my shoulder.
"It's ok Elise! It's just me"
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. I know that voice...I've never heard it in a while though. Turning around, I come face to face with Ky. Although he's never done anything to me, I still keep my guard up just in case something might happen. But now that I really think about it, I've never heard or seen of Ky since the last day of school. What if he doesn't know what happened? Maybe that's why he's talking me.
"I was looking all over for you! As soon as I heard what happened, I needed to find you" he says hurriedly.
So he does know. I wonder what he's going to do to me. I mean, things happened to me that I wasn't even sure could happen to anyone.
He notices I'm hesitant to say anything but patiently waits. But after awhile, I notice he's not here to do anything to me. "Why are you talking to me if you know what happened?" I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders. "I mean, I would like to think I know you. And if what I think of you is true, I believe you" he explains. "Not what everyone else is saying".
At first I look at him in disbelief. No one believes me except Lilly. But I look more closely at his facial features to see if they altered. Like always though, I can't read him. He has the same facial expression he always has. That was until he flashed a reassuring smile. And somehow, I knew I could trust him.
"Thank you" I say smiling back at him.
That was when the unexpected happened. Ky pulled me into a hug. Something I never saw him do.
"So, where have you been if you just heard what happened now?" I ask as we pull away.
"On a trip" he answers. "I would have gone to the resort but I needed to visit family"
I shake my head. "Trust me, going to the resort is the last place you want to go. I just wish I knew that earlier"
"Elise...it's not you're fault for what happened to you. You were just trying to do the right thing and I see that" he says.
Another small smile spreads across my face, followed by a light chuckle.
"What?" He asks.
"I've never heard you talk so much in one day" I laugh again.
He shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. But I can't help but notice the slight smile on his face. The Ky everyone knows, the one that I know, is back. And for once, I don't mind his silence.
A/N: Hey!
Early update! Now many of you are asking me when Daniel will find out what happened and it's closer than you think. I apologize if you thought it was in this chapter. But he will find out. And it's soon *wink, wink*. Anyways, thank you for continuing on reading my book!
Until the next chapter,
- Gia