***Connor’s POV***
“Jenny?” I said through the door to the bathroom. She ran in here a few minutes ago, and I knew that I needed to apologise to her. After I called her all of those names, I realised that I was being just as cruel to her as she was being to Grace and Kara.
“Jennifer, please come out, I want to talk to you,” I said, knocking lightly on the door again.
When it still didn’t budge, I sat down on the carpet with by back against the wall. From where I was, I could hear her sobs clearly, and it just made me feel worse. I just wished that I could make her smile again, because hearing her so upset was killing me.
“Jenny come back!” I started to sing at the top of my lungs. “You can blame it all on meeee!”
As I was beginning the next verse, I saw the handle of the door slowly move, and Jennifer emerged from it seconds later.
“You’re a terrible singer,” She said with a small smile before turning and walking down the hallway in the direction of my room.
“Well that wasn’t very nice, was it?” I tried to joke with her. All I got was a small chuckle, not good enough for me.
“Come on Jenny, Santa’s listening. If he heard that, he might not come to this house tonight,” This time a got a good laugh out of her.
When I made it to my room, I shut the door behind me, something I normally wasn’t very comfortable with when it was just me and Jennifer, but I was beginning to trust her more. And I just wanted to be nice to her, she deserved that much.
She may be a real bitch sometimes, but it doesn’t give me the right to treat her like one. I’ve been trying to work on being nicer to people lately, and I think that I was getting pretty good at it.
“I’m sorry for being a dick,” I said once she was settled on my bed.
“You were a dick, weren’t you?” She smiled, and I swatted her arm lightly.
“Hey, you weren’t all that great either,” I reminded her, and her smile vanished.
She looked down at her hands, thinking over what she was going to say. I couldn’t tell if she felt guilty or mad, but the silence was worse than both.
“I’m sorry, I guess. I just don’t know how to control myself, you know? I’m so used to picking on people all the time that it’s become second-nature, and that’s really not a good thing. Sometimes I really wish that I was a better person, and that I made different decisions,” She confessed to me.
I really hadn’t expected her to say anything like that. It shocked me to hear those words come out of her mouth, because I thought that she honestly didn’t care. It was nice to know that she wanted to change from who she used to be, and who she is now.
“If you want me to be completely honest, yeah you can be a real bitch sometimes,” She looked as if she was about to slap me, and I wouldn’t blame her, but she let me continue.
“But I know who you were before all of this shit happened to you. You used to be a great person, and I know that you can be that girl again. I really liked that girl, Jenny, and I know that you did too.” I finished, and her eyes were getting glossy again.
Her expression changed from mad to sad, and I was relieved, as terrible as that sounds, because she is so much easier to deal with when she’s just upset, and maybe I could get to know the real her a little bit better.
“I just wish that people wouldn’t automatically think ‘slut’ when they saw me walking by. I know that I made some really terrible decisions, but I haven’t done that in a while. The worst part is that sometimes I agree with them. I really am a whore, aren’t I?” She choked the last few words out, and now she was full-on crying.
I leaned closer to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her head close to my chest. I rubbed her back as her body shook, her tears staining my shirt.
“You’re not a whore Jenny. I know that I may have said that, but I was just mad. Please don’t think that,” I tried to console her.
She backed away for a moment and wiped her mascara away from her face.
“I’m a mess,” She said between sobs.
“Come on,” I responded before putting my hand on her back and leading her out of my room again.
I turned and went back towards the bathroom, where she just was moments ago. I looked around for moment to see if my father was home yet, but I didn’t see him anywhere.Turning back to Jenny, I guided her towards the bathroom door and turned her around to face me.
I put my hands on her waist and squeezed slightly, getting a giggle to escape from her lips. With my hands still on her sides, I lifted her up to sit on the counter. I grabbed a towel from under the sink and wet it with cold water, beginning to wipe off her face, striped with mascara and cheeks red.
“Wow, you really are a mess,” I said after a few moments with mock seriousness.
“Shut the hell up Franta,” She said in an angry tone, but she had a giant grin on her face.
We went on for a few minutes like this, and I was happy to see that she was laughing again. As I continued to wash off her face, I noticed how beautiful she was without all of her makeup on.
Even when we were dating, I had never seen her like this, and I wondered why she wore so much of the shit when she looked fine without. I was just about to ask her about it when I heard the front door slam shut.
“Connor!” My dad yelled from the front room of the house. He sounded mad, and I quickly ran through my mind to see if I had done anything recently that would’ve upset him, but I came up with nothing.
“I’m in here, what do you want?” I yelled back, hoping that it was just nothing.
He didn’t respond, so I turned back to Jennifer and moved closer to get the last smudge off of her cheek. She looked so content, I just wished I could savor every moment like this, all the ones where no one was yelling, or mad, we were just in each other's company, and it was ok.
The door flung open and hit my casted arm, hard.
“What the hell?” I said, jumping back and staring at my father, who smelled highly of cigarette smoke and alcohol.
“Don’t you speak to your dad that way, boy!” He yelled at me, then turned to Jennifer. “What is this pretty little girl doing in a bathroom with you? Honey, he’s not a prize, you might as well leave now.”
Was he completely out of his mind? He was obviously drunk out of his mind, but did he really forget who his own stepdaughter was? I wouldn’t put it past him.
“Get out of here before you hurt someone,” I said as calmly as I possibly could.
He lunged toward me and pushed me into the shower. I hit the curtain and fell into the tub, bringing the pole down on top of me. I struggled to get up and retaliate.
“Daniel, you’re drunk. You need to leave this room and calm down,” Jennifer said. She was surprisingly calm, I guess she dealt with this a lot at all of the parties that she went to.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, sweetheart,” He slurred.
He brought his hand up and slapped her right in the jaw. Quickly after, he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him. He put his other hand on her thigh, making it’s way under her dress.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” I yelled, finally getting up, and punched him in the nose with my free hand.
He let go of Jennifer to bring his hands to his face, and I ran out the door with her at my heels. We ran all the way out to the car, where I drove us all the way to my mom’s house in silence.
Standing in the middle of the street were Jc and Veronica, yelling at eachother.
At least I wasn’t the only terrible person tonight.
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AHHHHH WHO ELSE HATES DANIEL? I DO.
This update has been killing me. I wrote like three sentences everyday until I finally sat down and just forced myself to write so sorry if it’s bad, I didn't even edit it.
Also I’m like really pissed off at my “friend” right now, so if anyone wants to inbox me I have a rant prepared.
Or not. Because I don’t have any friends :(
Love Always,
~shelbigrace