Chapter 11 | Lovers
"We're closed." "I know, but I left my lip gloss here earlier. I was just coming back for it." I pointed to the lost and found and she walked over while looking at the both of us. "I got it." She walked out and I sighed, now I only had one problem to deal with. "Give me the money." He said and held out his hand. I stood by the cash register and shook my head. "No, you do this all the time, I won't give you the money."
Fine, then I'll beat it out of you. That's what he'll say next
"Fine, then I'll beat it out of you."
Called it
He beat me and kicked me until I was too weak to stand up. The more I pleaded and cried and begged him to stop the more ammo he got. Then he left me sitting and sobbing on the cold hard floor. I pulled my knees up to my chest and cried. I sat there for I don't know how long before the familiar feeling of an anxiety attack, the shallow breaths and soon after, the dizziness then blackness.
-
I groaned, my head was pounding and I was shivering. I slowly lifted myself off the floor and looked around. Confused, I stood up and looked at my surroundings.
Why am I at the cafe?
It was then that the previous night's events hit me. I cussed under my breath and got out the mop to clean up. Afterwards, I checked and was relieved to see the money still there.
I changed out of my uniform and locked up. I put the key in the key slot outside the cafe then I walked to my car. It was 5 in the morning which meant the diner would open soon. I decided to go home, get ready then come to order a drink.
I pulled up in the driveway and walked stiffly inside. My body was sore and I had dried up blood on me. I slowly closed the door and tiptoed up to my room and froze nearly falling over in the process. There he was, passed out on my bed.
What the fu-? Again?! I'm so freaking tired of this man getting into my bed because he's too wasted!!
I got my clothes and froze each time he moved, I felt like James Bond with all the tiptoeing and crawling I had to do. Eventually, I made it out of the room and decided to go use the guest washroom. I took a long shower then dressed up. Then proceeded to do my makeup.
-
With a caramel frappe in hand, I walked through the empty school halls. No doubt I was late. I stopped at my locker to put my things away then walked into English class and all eyes were immediately on me.
High school kids are so nosy, I swear. Y'all never saw a girl before or what?
"You're late Isabella." I cringed at the name "I know I'm sorry and It's Bella." She apologized and I went to sit down. A wince escaped from under my breath and I nearly screamed in pain when I sat down but I kept my breathing even.
I looked at Tyler and saw him staring at me with a quizzical look. I shot him a faint smile and turned away from him.
After an hour and 20 minutes of sitting in class reading Shakespeare and almost falling asleep, the bell rang and I slowly stood up while clenching my teeth. "Are you okay?" Tyler asked. I hadn't even noticed he'd been waiting for me. "Yea I'm fine I just had a rough aikido practice," I said and walked past him. He walked up to me with his bag slung over his shoulder "you do aikido?" I nodded "what else?" "Karate, judo, jiu-jitsu and taekwondo." He whistled.
You're probably wondering if I know all these different martial arts why don't I use it on my dad. If I did, I'd get beatings worse than the one he gave me yesterday.
"Why did you learn all those fighting styles?"
'Cause I get beat daily and I learned it to protect myself for the day I need protection
I shrugged "I figured it'd be fun." We arrived at the cafeteria and my mood instantly changed when I saw Ali and Tess in a face-off against dumb and dumber, dumbest was nowhere to be seen.
Ugh, not again, I was in no condition to fight.
Tyler and I exchanged looks before rushing to the scene. As we neared, I could hear the numerous profanities being thrown around mostly by Alison who looked like she was going to erupt like a volcano.
"What's going on?" I asked Tessa "What else? They came here whilst we were minding our own business then outta nowhere, they took Ali's phone and smashed it!" I raised my brow and turned to face them. Ethan and Dylan appeared just as I was about to put them in their place.
"Listen" I began "If you don't leave me and my friends alone I will make sure I send you back to whatever planet you came from. I don't tolerate bullsh*t from anyone got it?" They visibly gulped and slowly stepped back and just as I thought I was done with this Bitchanca made an appearance "now Bella, no need to get your panties in a twist besides we were just having fun."
Now it was Ali who spoke up "fun? You call smashing my phone with your stupid flamingo looking stilettos fun? Oh this bi-" before Ali had the chance to do anything I stepped in her path. "Look as much as I'd love to watch you take them down, I don't want another detention so please let's just sit down okay?"
Tyler looked surprised and I simply shrugged and moved to sit down. My body was still sore but nothing out of the ordinary. I noticed Bianca staring at me out of the corner of her eye but I paid no mind until she called my name.
"So Bella, how did you cover those bruises so well? I mean even I couldn't, do you have some experience with covering up bruises?" I choke on my water and all eyes fell on me.
What the hell was she playing at?
"I don't know really, YouTube I guess." "Mhm, you guess huh? Okay. Hey, how is your father doing I mean he looked pretty dru-"
"Shut the hell up." "Aw, they don't know about you dad's drinking pro-"
I stood up abruptly, picked up my bags and stormed off. Before I walked out I heard Tyler saying "what the hell Bianca" before following me
"Bella! C'mon I know you can hear me!"
I was too embarrassed to answer him so I picked up the pace.
"Bella," Tyler said, then grabbed my wrist to pull me back. I stopped but I didn't meet him in the eye. "It's okay, my dad had a drinking problem too."
I still kept my gaze down and my eyebrows furrowed
His dad had a drinking problem too.
It then dawned on me that we'd been enemies but didn't know the first thing about each other.
"I know why you feel embarrassed, trust me I get it but you don't want Bianca to win do you?"
I smiled slightly. I knew what he was trying to do and it worked "hell no let's go!"
He smiled and we walked back in and sat down at the table. Bianca's smile turned to a frown when I sat down and I met her dead in the eye.
I'm back b*tch
-
Friday.
Party day.
I was currently in my room getting dressed for today. Our group had decided that we'd dress up as After characters. Ethan's idea and unfortunately for me I'm Tessa. Can you guess who Hardin is?
If you guessed Tyler then you are correct! Fudge my life. We're supposed to play lovers! There I said it! Me! And Tyler Mc-freaking Adams playing lovers! I feel like puking. Sure Tyler and I were getting better at resisting the urge to strangle each other but still and the girls were all too happy about this. I still remember when we were talking about it
It was lunchtime and I was sitting peacefully watching After when my phone was plucked out of my hand. "Oh, you're watching After scoot aside!" Ethan said and sat down next to me. "Yo I got a sick idea for our group costume!" Ethan exclaimed excitedly "we're doing a group costume? Since when?" Dylan asked "Since now, we should do..drumroll please," Ethan said and looked at Tyler who rolled his eyes before drum rolling on the table "after!!" he exclaimed finally. "No, absolutely not." Tyler said, "why not?" Ethan whined, "You could be Hardin and Bella could be Tessa!" Tessa squealed and I choked on my drink. Tyler and I shared a look before exclaiming at the top of our lungs "Hell no!!"
"Yea hell no besides I would be a better Tessa" Bianca protested
"But Bella and Tyler have chemistry and Tyler hates you," Ethan said "you can be Molly since you're a b*tch and so desperate for him," Tessa said causing Bianca to glare at her.
"Chemistry my foot we don't have chemistry we are barely even friends!" I protested but it was futile
"Hardin and Tessa started off disliking each other and look at them from haters to lovers! Case closed!"
There was no point protesting. We exchanged a look and went back to sipping on our drinks. Tomorrow we are lovers.
I looked at the outfit I'd picked out. It looked similar to the one she wore in the movie which was why I bought it. It was a grey tank top with blue overalls and white air forces. The alarm I had set and indicated it was time to wash out the dye.
When I was done I looked in the mirror and my breath hitched. My once black hair was now blonde. I hadn't seen it like this for a while. After she passed I dyed it. I always had a mix of both their hair, dirty blonde and he had the most beautiful brown hair. He looked just like my dad.
A tear trickled down my face as I had flashbacks. I touched my hair again. It was so weird seeing it like this. It looked like my old hair. The dirty blonde one. The one I so desperately hated because it reminded me of her. I wiped furiously at my tears but it was no use. I sat at the edge of the tub and cried. I missed them so much. I gripped the edge of the bathtub as my body shook. It was so hard without them. I long to see them one last time just to say I love you. That's all I want.
After wiping my tears and re-applying my makeup, I did my finishing touches then put on the outfit I'd selected.
-
"Oh, em gee Bella you dyed your hair!?" Alison screamed as she entered the class "It looks amazing Izzy!" "Thanks! It's my favourite movie I had to do it justice"
"Okay class settle down, please turn to page 5 in your textbook."
Everyone did as instructed, "now turn to page 25 of your textbook." Pages rustled while I was searching for my textbook. "Now read from pages 5 to 25 then answer the questions on page 26." A series of groans went around the class as people took out their pens and notebooks.
I walked to my teacher and asked him to go get my textbook. Walking down the halls of the school I saw the music room. I peered inside and saw the music teacher was in the middle of class so I kept on walking until I reached my locker.
"Don't go to the party." Rachel said and I slammed my locker shut and turned around to face her "and why not? Last I checked I'm free to do whatever I want." "If you go, you'll regret it, trust me."
It's officially official. She's on crack.
All through class, I couldn't stop thinking about what Rachel said. It wasn't mean like a threat, it was more like she was warning me. I didn't know what to make of the whole situation so I decided to let it go.
Besides what's the worst that could happen?