B e l l a ♣ A l b y
I woke up as soon as I felt some sticky substance on my face. I opened my eyes only to be greeted by my father's face. I touched cheek before I smelled my fingers. Eww! It smelled like a rotten tomato. I heard my father darkly chuckle. "Bitch," he said. I don't think he remembered my actual name. "Wake up and go to school. I don't want any complaints coming like 'your daughter is tardy'. If I hear any negative comment from the teachers about you, then I'll make sure you'll receive deadly punishments."
I swallowed audibly. I understood what he meant by deadly punishments.
Weakly nodding my head, I sighed. I can't do anything against him. He slapped me on my face before he turned and walked away. Wincing loudly, I got up and closed my room door which he left ajar open while he went away.
I made my way to the adjacent bathroom and did my regular activities. I went to my closet and saw mostly all the dresses were the same but different in colour which made me laugh humourlessly. At least I was getting something to wear.
I wore a greenish-blue t-shirt and leggings before sauntering to the kitchen
"Sir," I said it in a small voice. He turned around to look at me. "Could you drop me to-"
"Oh! I have to go out," he interrupted before grabbing the keys of the car. He didn't give me a second glance and opened the main door. "Bye, bi!" He kicked the door shut.
He purposely left me behind. Walking back to my room, I packed my backpack.
I made my way to the front door and for the house keys but I ended empty-handed. I sighed thinking about the consequences I was going to face for not locking the door. My father wouldn't listen to what I would have to say.
Stepping out of the house, I closed the door.
Now, how in the world will I go to school? By walking? I let out a breath and puffed out my chest. "Ok Bella, I know you can walk for umm..." how many kilometres it would be from here? Maybe six kilometres. It took around fifteen minutes to reach by car. "Bella, I know you can walk six kilometres. It'll take only one and a half hours."
I began striding while encouraging myself.
After a few minutes, I started giving up. It was so difficult to walk for a long time, that too non-stop.
I huffed. I was not at all healthy.
"Come on, Bella you can walk to school. Come on... Come on--" I stopped talking to myself when I saw people staring at me as if I was some crazy patient roaming around.
I halted walking and leaned against the tree to my left. My breathings were ragged.
I was malnourished as I didn't really get much to eat. I shouldn't get greedy for food now because I had my lunch yesterday. My father always told me that I deserved a little. Otherwise, I would become more selfish than I already was. I agreed with it, I was an unnecessary being wandering on the surface of the earth. As my stepmother quoted, 'I was scum.'
I heard someone clearing their throat. I opened my eyes. When did I close my eyes?
I peered at the direction where the sound came from. I was surprised when I saw it was Xanthos. He was wearing a black leather jacket on top of his sweatshirt. It was paired with ripped black jeans. He was seriously looking like a Greek god in my eyes right now.
As people passed by us, they bowed their head to Xanthos. I too felt the dark aura around him. I glimpsed at the people again, they kept their head low while walking.
Was I supposed to bow? I bowed my head to him too. Was I blocking his way? Why was he standing here? I closed my eyes as many questions popped in my head.
After a few seconds, I opened my eyes again and peeked through my eyelashes, thinking he was no longer there but I was wrong.
When my eyes connected with his, I felt as though the entire world had disappeared around me. His brown eyes were so mesmerizing that they captured my entire attention. I noticed he looked down at me with an unreadable expression.
"Hi!" I squeaked with a high pitch. So, I cleared my throat. "Hi," I greeted with a normal voice.
"I told you to not bow your head to me," He frowned.
"I-I forgot, I'll try to keep that in my mind," I stuttered a little. "It's just people always bow around you, like why do they do that?"
He smirked at me. However, his smirk disappeared as if he remembered something. "Why are you sweating heavily? I saw you panting while I was passing." He looked around, searching for something. He turned back and looked at me confused. "Where's your car?"
"Why a car? Morning walk is good for health." I did jumping jacks twice to make him believe. "My father demanded that he'll give me a ride to school but I refused him. I want to be fit." I beamed as I successfully told a lie.
"You don't seem well," he said extending his right hand for me to take. "Now come with me."
"Thank you, but it's okay, I'll continue walking." I gave him a soft smile before turning and walking in the direction of the school.
I knew I was smelling bad as I was sweating buckets of water. I didn't want to be a burden either.
He caught up with me. "You have to walk around four more kilometres."
"As I told you morning walk is good for health," I said while continuing to walk, though my legs were now hurting. Out of no where, two hands wrapped around my body, scooping me; away from the ground. "What in the world are you doing? Put me down-"
"Shh, what type of mate would I be to see my mate suffering," he said whilst putting me down, near the car door which opened by itself. "Now, get in."
I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable but now that he took me as his mate, I'll get along with him I guess, plus my legs were really hurting. You came at the right time.
"Okay, Xan." Xan? "I mean- Xanthos-"
"Xan? Nice nickname, little one."
"Little one?"
"You get to call me Xan and I'll call you little one. That's what mates do, use nicknames.".
"So do you really consider me as your friend?" I asked Xanthos, not really sure if I could get close to him.
"We can be more than if you agree." He winked.
I tried not to smile but I did anyway.
He raised his hand to ruffle my hair, but my stupid brain had to think he was going to hurt me, So, I did what I usually do: Flinch away.
He dropped his hands with a frown forming on his face. "This isn't your first time flinching away," he said walking towards the car.
The car drive was silent, none of us shared any word with each other. I peeked at him.
He was looking angry and looked as though he was thinking about something that stressed him out. He concentrated on the road though. All the expressions of playfulness were gone from his face. I didn't want to disturb him. Was he doubting something about me perhaps?
We stopped in front of the school after a good two minutes. He and I both got out of the car. When we entered the school gate people made way for us. I was all of a sudden pushed which led to me stepping on Xanthos feet. He turned around looking livid. When his eyes landed on me, his face softened.
"Oops! sorry, Xan," I said using the nickname as I wanted to feel normal than the girl who used to get bullied before and had no friends to whom she could talk casually with.
"Not forgiven, little one."
A smile formed on my face. Can I trust him enough to tell him about my life though?
Let the time decide then.