~Anna's POV~
I shut the front door behind me, and climbed the stairs, going straight into my room. I collapsed onto the bed. I had almost made it through the second week of school. Tomorrow was Friday, September 15th. Oh yeah, it was also my birthday too. I didn't really want Pete or anyone of my friends to find out. They might make a big deal about it, and I didn't want them to go to any trouble. I was still very excited, nonetheless. 16 meant I could get my license soon.
I lifted up my long sleeve on my left wrist. Why was the scar still so obvious? Good thing nobody had noticed. Okay, stop being depressing. I told myself, and turned on some FOB.
"WE'RE THE THERAPISTS
PUMPING THROUGH
YOUR SPEAKERS
DELIVERING JUST
WHAT YOU NEED"
I yelled at the top of my lungs.
"Anna, quiet down!" My mom yelled from downstairs.
Uggggggggghhh. Whatever. I shut up, and started on my homework. After what seemed like 4 hours I finally finished. The first thing I did was scroll through my Instagram feed, instantly regretting it. It was a picture of my two old best friends from my old school, Zoey and Callie. I smiled sadly. They were in their bathing suits, smiling by Zoey's pool. But somthing very small, that no one else would have noticed besides me, caught my eye. A small bruise Callie's right leg. No, this couldn't be happening. I searched her holy body more, and somehow I saw that she had used makeup to cover a black eye. Callie's mom's boyfriend was abusive to her. I instantly felt a lot of guilt and a longing to hug her tight. I dialed her number, as quickly as I could.
"Anna? Hi!" Said her quiet voice.
"Hey Cal! I miss you so much... You don't even know." I told her.
"I miss you more!" She said, laughing sadly.
"Listen.. I saw you're Instagram post, you know with you and Zo by the pool? And I saw the bruises.. Im so worried about you, Callie." I said, my voice slightly cracking at her name. She went silent for a minute and then whispered. "Im scared, Anna."
"Please promise me you'll get help soon. I thought he stopped? You promised me you would get help, remember?" I whimpered.
"Yeah I know... And I will, I promise. Tomorrow, okay? Well I gotta go because he might hear me. Bye, I love you so much." She said, and the line went dead.
How the heck was I supposed to sleep after that? One of my best friends, constantly being hurt. And she was only now getting help. Thoughts swarmed my head, and a sudden headache came. I groaned, realizing how tired I was. I closed my eyes and drifted off instantly.
"BEEP. BEEP. BEEP." Went my alarm.
"Gaaaaaaaaah whyyyy?" I mumbled, sitting up. I turned on my phone and saw that I had a new voicemail. Unknown caller? I turned up my volume and listened.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA BANANA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUU!"
I immediately recognized Zoey and Callie's voices. I smiled, happy tears threatening to spill out.
"Anna we miss you too much and love you even more! Have a seriously chill day, dude!" They laughed, and then it was done. The happy tears managed to slip out. I replayed the message about 10 times, and then finally headed downstairs for breakfast.
"Happy birthday sweetie!" My mom greeted me, kissing my cheek.
"Thanks, mom." I smiled.
"Happy birthday! Wow, the magical 1-6! You're getting older than me." My dad teased.
"Sure dad. Thanks!" I laughed.
"HEYY GUESS WHAT I GOT YOU A BALLOON" Becca somewhat yelled, handing me a black balloon. I laughed, she knew me so well.
"Thanks Bec." I said giggling. I ate my pancakes, and then ran upstairs to get ready. I put on my favorite blink shirt (which was also long sleeve) and blue. I slipped on dark skinny jeans and black converse and was out the door. Becca had finally got a car, so I hopped in and we sped of to school, blaring Green Day. Having an older sister was cool. We arrived at school and she parked the car. She walked right by my side, and we stopped once we got into the little courtyard where everyone waited for the bell. We had gotten a lot closer ever since.. Well you know. She didn't ever leave me alone, unless she had to. It made me feel safe. Speaking of feeling safe... There he was.
He walked up to me, flashing that perfect grin of his, and then spread his arms wide. I leaped up into them and wrapped my legs around his stomach like in those cheesy romance movies.
"Hey you." He said into my hair.
"Hey youuuu!" I replied, laughing and getting off of him. I looked into his perfect brown eyes. I saw them go to Becca and fill with discomfort. Oh right.. Becca was still convinced that he had caused the scar on my wrist. Well it wasn't his fault, and I had tried to explain that a million times. She said she understood but she still had that protective look in her eyes.
Pete turned back to me. "Can we go somewhere alone for a little bit?"
"Sure. Hang on." I replied, going to where becca was standing.
"Hey Bec.. You know you don't have to stay with me right? I mean its probably annoying, you have your friends too." I told her.
"Well I mean.. Will you be alright?" She asked, glancing at Pete. He turned away uncomfortably.
"Yes, I promise." I said.
"Okay.. Bye I guess." She walked away, and dissapeared into a group of kids. I walked back over to Pete.
"Why does your sister hate me?" He asked, looking slightly confused.
"She doesn't hate you.." I replied.
"Well then why does she always look at me like I did something wrong?" He whined. Ahh, he was too cute. But I didn't know how to reply.
"Uhm well she doesn't trust people easily.." I said, more like a question though.
"Nice try, but she dated that guy after a day remember? Now whats the real reason?" He grinned at me, pleading. Dang he was good.
"You didn't do anything I swear." I said a little too desperately. I felt a cool breeze on my face, and on my left wrist. Wait a sec, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, right? I looked down.
SHOOT! My sleeve had gotten rolled up, revealing a tiny sliver of a scar. I quickly pulled it up. His eyes widened in suspicion, and I could tell his next move was to grab me and pull my sleeve down.
DIIIIIIIINGGG!!!
Saved by the bell.
"Uhhh we gotta go now!" I said quickly dodging in between random kids who I didn't recognize, and entering the school.
"WAIT!" Pete yelled, trying to keep up with me. I felt bad for kinda ditching him, but believe me it was better off this way. He would be terrified of me if he had seen what I did. Maybe he would forget by the end of the day. He probably would. Maybe he didn't even notice it. I was probably just overreacting like always...
~Pete's POV~
Maybe her arm was just cold. Maybe that was why she pulled her sleeve up. Maybe... But that wouldn't make sense, considering she was now obviously avoiding me. I dashed through the hallway, quickly shoving my way into homeroom. She was already sitting down, but in the very back of the class. Yup, something was definitely up. I quickly walked over to the desk next to her, and dropped my backpack on the floor. I looked at her, and she looked away, obviously frightened.
I let out a breath and then said: "Care to explain why you're acting like I'm a serial killer?"
"I'm not acting like that." She laughed nervously.
"Yes you are! You completely ran away from me and now you cant even look at me?" I said, a tiny bit too loud.
Courtney and Elyse turned around, snickering at us. This was just what Courtney wanted.. And we couldn't have that, could we?
"Heyyy babyyy did you know that I love you?" I told Anna, hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek.
Her eyes widened at the words. She grinned her beautiful grin and laughed once she realized what I was doing. I hope she knew that it wasn't just for show.
"I love you moooreee!" She she said, hugging me back harder. Courtney and Elyse exchanged a sour look. And then the teacher walked in at the absolute wrong time.
"NO PDA!" Mr. Green shouted, pointing at us. I quickly sat back in my own desk, and looked back at Anna. Her face was bright red, and she was biting her lip. But you could tell she would burst into laughter at any second.
"Sorry!" I called to Mr. Green.
"Yeah, yeah." He shrugged me off and then grabbed his clipboard with the attendance sheet. He read off the first couple names, but stopped at Anna's.
"It seems at though we have a birthday today. Happy birthday Miss DeLonge!" Anna's face turned even redder than before. It was the cutest thing. But then the realization hit me. It was her birthday today! And I didn't even say happy birthday to her? Its not like she told me before, but I still felt bad. She gave me a half apologetic and a half please don't make a big deal out of it look. I planned to do the exact opposite of that.
~Anna's POV~
I took my seat at the lunch table. Everyone else was here... Except Pete. I looked around nervously. It wasn't like him to not be here. I suddenly felt very alone... And I didn't like it.
Authors note: GUYS I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING OMG PLEASE DONT HATE MEEE! But im gonna update more often, just with shorter chapters. <3