• If Tears Left Scars •
After feeding Daisy a treat, I headed outside and made my way towards my car. Looking up at the sky, I noticed how cloudy it was. Cloudy days were my joy, for those passing white blossoms of the sky in a temporary, dark shade that I was fond of.
What could be better than the wind that blows my hair into artistic swirls like those scenes in movies?
A raindrop landed on my cheek, followed by another two. This wasn't the day to be caught in a downpour, so I quickened my pace. I spent so much time getting dressed and I didn't want it to go to waste.
Right down the street, Liam was waiting fo me to catch up with him. I had to tell him the truth about my car since he couldn't stop blurting out questions about why we were walking to school.
Once I reached him and started walking with him side by side, I could feel his gaze burning at the side of my head. "What took you so long?" He huffed, irritation clear in his voice.
It was so unlike myself to be late for school, but last night, pangs of guilt kept me awake. Therefore, it led me to wake up behind time.
The rain became more ferocious with each second that passed by. My hair that took me time to curl was slowly getting wet.
"It's my first time being late, Liam. It won't happen again." I responded, ruffling his hair, which caused it to get disheveled.
He rolled his eyes, running his fingers through his hair as though it would get back to the way it was before. "I spent hours doing my hair, Quartz."
His hair was about to get messy from the rain anyway.
"Why, is there a girl?" I teased him.
"Uh, no!" He answered, a little too hasty. I scoffed, unconvinced of his words.
"Are you going to tell me what happened at Saturday night?" Liam questioned. It was all he was thinking about lately.
"I'll tell you once we're back home," I replied. I trusted him with all I had. He was my dear little brother, and I knew that if I would keep a secret from him, he would get offended.
Heavy rain washed over me, causing me to gasp and run as fast as I could. Liam followed me behind.
I was grateful for having our school nearby our house. Although, we still missed a class or two.
When we reached the school building, which was also known as hell, I put on my fakest smile and shouted with even faker and loud enthusiasm. "Are you ready for school and get tortured by monsters?"
He grumbled something underneath his breath, cupping his ears with his hands to block my shout.
My fake smile instantly faded and I pressed my lips together in a firm line.
That school building was the same one that I used to think of as a prison when I was younger. I could still see why I used to think of it that way.
Reaching the doors, I swung them open and stepped inside. The hallways were deserted, which indicated to me that the students were still in their class.
My clothes were wet, clinging onto my skin and dripping on the school's floor. I fast-walked to the bathroom and grabbed the blow dryer, which we were lucky to have in school. I set it on medium heat and started drying my clothes. I hated being in a situation like this, I would miss another class since my clothes would be taking long to get dry.
After fifteen minutes of blow-drying, the bell ring echoed through the halls and I cursed in a hushed tone. My clothes were still slightly wet, but I didn't want to spend another class blow-drying my clothes. As I placed the blow-dryer back at its place, I held the strap of my bag tightly and made my way to the exit.
Just as I reached the door, it suddenly swung open, slamming the wall in a loud bang. I flinched from the harsh, abrupt movement.
A senior girl stepped inside, her heels clicking against the floor. She had blonde hair, upturned dark ocean eyes, perfectly arched eyebrows, and tanned skin.
She was known as the attention seeker and the one who chases after guys nonstop. As for her body, she didn't appear to have a small percentage of fat. Her large ego seemed to weigh more than she did.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust, her eyes scanning around in search of something, then her narrowed eyes landed on me. "What's that smell?" She brought up her fingers to her nose, her pinky straightening upwards. "You smell like trash."
I definitely took care of my hygiene well, so it must be from the rain. Besides, rain never smelled bad. She must be trying to pick out a fight.
Crossing my arms against my chest, I took a step towards her and connected my amber eyes to her blue ones. "I guess we have something in common."
She glared at me deeply, irritation was practically radiating off of her. She parted her lips to speak up, but I interrupted her with, "I don't have time for your trash-talk, I need to go now." She grumbled something in a hushed tone that was laced with vexation. I ignored her and made my exit, rushing towards my class.
♡ ♡ ♡
Damping the end of the paintbrush in navy blue, I brought it up towards my canvas and lightly stroke it against the white hardboard.
Art class was my best-loved class out of all. Who wouldn't want to sit down and paint without having a teacher that lets out ear-piercing screams every now and then?
No one.
The art teacher was calm and fun to be around with.
I scanned around the classroom in search of Brenda Danton, my amiable friend. My shoulder slumped in disappointment when I didn't catch any sight of her. I don't know how I will spend the rest of the day without her.
"How are you so good at this?" I heard a deep voice muttering to me. I whipped my head to take a look at the owner of the voice. Sitting right beside me was the same guy whose house I ended up in after the terrible incident. His olive-green eyes were fixated on my canvas, studying every inch of it.
The sunlight was dancing against his perfectly chiseled face, shadowing his long eyelashes underneath his eyes. He was wearing a gray turtleneck that hugged his broad shoulders. With his right wrist, he had a black beaded bracelet that was in no way feminine.
"I've never thought that I know how to paint." I murmured, eyeing my hard work.
"I'll let you know every day." I received a smile from him, which I didn't return back; I kept my expression bored and uninterested.
"I'm sorry. What's your name?" I asked, adding a few strokes to my painting. My voice was loud for the girl, who was next to me, to hear.
"You seriously don't know Aaron Waljer! He is the most popular guy in this school." She snickered along with her group of friends.
I mentally slapped myself. I felt shameful that I couldn't remember the name of the guy that saved me.
But, what can I say? I'm always bad at memorizing names.
Not bothering to look at the girl, I shot back, "If he is the most popular, then I would've known him in the first place." I received wide eyes from across the room as if no one expected these words to come out of my mouth. Switching my gaze from the painting to Aaron, I waved my hand hastily. "I'm sorry, this girl just got on my nerves."
I expected him to get offended, but turned out, his eyes were held with amusement. "That's alright. I didn't know that you had that in you." He shrugged it off, his lips tugging upwards. "Would you mind if you tell me what's your painting about?"
"How about you guess it yourself?" I smiled.
I got the picture of the painting from one of my favorite artists, Destiny Blue. The painting was of a girl with scars that reached from underneath her eyes down to her cheeks. They looked more like tears.
Aaron slightly tilted his head, taking in the painting once again. "If tears left scars. No one could get to see your tears, unless if they left scars. That's beautiful." His eyes averted to me and he mumbled, "Is that the way you feel? You feel like you want your tears to leave scars behind because you want someone to know that you're not okay?" His gaze was burning through my soul.
I quickly faced forward, trying to cover my face with the help of my hair. Thankfully, the bell saved the day. I immediately gathered my belongings and scurried towards my locker. Opening it, I switched my books.
Next up was Algebra, the one nobody could handle. I was an exception. There wasn't a subject that I disliked.
A hand slammed against my locker forcefully, shutting it closed. It was close to shutting on my fingers. That was the last thing that I wanted to deal with today.
With a deep scowl etched on my face, I whirled around to face the jerk with dark brown eyes and spikey brown hair.
Meet Andrew Melvin, a cruel bully and a pervert... You name it.
"What do you want, Andrew?" I hissed through gritted teeth.
His eyes brightened with amusement and a smirk formed on his lips. He obviously enjoyed watching me get angry. "Just want to tell you that your friend is found dead."
I raised an eyebrow at him, disbelief written all over my face. "And how do you know?"
"My dad is a cop, he found her body in the middle of the woods this morning." I caught a change in his eyes; they slightly widened in surprise, but he quickly recomposed himself and replaced it with a questioning look. "Didn't her parents tell you that the funeral is tomorrow?"
No, they didn't.
Backing away, my mouth hung open. My gaze was unfocused as I blinked rapidly. I suddenly felt as though someone was wrapping their fingers around my neck and choking me vigorously. Burning tears were threatening to escape my eyes. I felt my legs wavering underneath me, giving up on me.
Just when I was about to come face-first to the ground, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist, bringing me back to reality. His warm breath was radiating across my neck.
I realized that the students in the hallway were watching me as if they were waiting for something entertaining to happen. Ignoring the looks that I was receiving, I sluggishly looked over my shoulder and my eyes met with alluring green ones.
Aaron's face was only inches away from mine, his eyes holding mine captive.
I wanted to see Robert and Olivia and have a talk with them at the moment, so I unwrapped his arms from myself, not meaning to seem rude.
His eyebrows were drawn together in confusion as I began striding away, the crowd of students parting for me to pass. Reaching the doubled-doors, one of my teachers called out to me, "Mrs. Davis, where are you going?"
Before I was about to get prisoned and banned from leaving by the teacher, I quickly stepped outside and hurried towards my car.
I was on my way to Veronica's house.