She is not bad

Chapter 10 : The lie

The yells were filling the house. The girl was trying to cover her ears with her pillow, but she could still hear them. Why did they have to fight at night!? They could have fought when she was at school! Max began to cry of tiredness. She hated being here, and she was scared that, one day, her stepfather would become more violent toward her. He was already abusing toward her, but she knew he could be worse. The yells stopped. She knew it wasn't a good thing. Her stepbrother was probably unconscious now. She heard heavy steps getting louder and felt her heart stopping. Her stepfather burst in her bedroom, grabbed her by her hair, and dragged her out of her room. She screamed of pain and tried to get out of his grip, but it was impossible. She begged him to stop, but he didn't care. He was angry, and he needed to evacuate his anger on someone. He threw her on the floor of the living-room. It was dark, but she saw the shape of her stepbrother laying on the ground.

- "Billy? Billy! Wake up!"

She tried to shake him, but Neil, her stepfather, crushed her hand with his foot. She cried of pain and tried to push his foot, but the man crushed more her hand.

- "Stop, ple-ease, st-stop," Max begged. "My hand...It hurts..."

- "Don't you dare talking to me!" Neil angrily said. "You're a piece of shit! I can't believe your mother kept you with her! If it was me, I would have abandoned you on the road! Ugly baby!"

Neil completely lost control of himself and hit Max in every way possible while the girl was crying and begging him to stop.

When Max woke up the other day, she thought it was a dream. But when she felt the pain in her entire body when she tried to move, she knew it was more than real. She stood to see the damage. Her right knee was hurting, same for her stomach, her left shoulder and arm, her neck, and her face. When she looked at her mirror, she saw that her bottom lip was swollen, same for her left eye; and she had bruises and cuts. She wasn't discouraged and went to her bathroom. On her way, she noticed that Billy woke up and went to his bed. She felt a weight leaving her body, she didn't know what her life would be if he was dead. She put some ice on her face, put some bandages on her cuts and around her fingers to stabilize them, placed a splint around her knee, and tried to hide the bruises with some make-up. Everybody would see her wounds. But she couldn't do better. She got ready, took something to eat, and left the house as fast as possible, avoiding everyone.

When she arrived at school, she saw Beverly and Gary talking together. She approached them like if everything was normal, but they lost their smiles when they saw her.

- "What happened to you!?" Gary asked with a worried tone.

Max hesitated. Maybe she could tell them the truth. No. She wasn't ready. She tried to find a lie. She was about to tell them that she got hit by a car, but she saw someone a bit farther and got an idea. Why not turning the situation to her advantage?

- "I got into a fight...with Jane," Max affirmed with a shaking voice.

The redhead wasn't completely proud of that, but Jane was a dick, and she was sure the brunette could have hit her like that too. It was just a matter of time. The three friends watched in direction of Jane who frowned and showed them her middle finger as an answer before continuing her way. But Gary had something else in his mind. He noticed the bandage around her hands and felt the anger growing. This girl was hurt only at her hands, meaning she didn't let a chance to Max. It was weak.

- "Gary? Where are you going? Gary!" Max called.

The boy didn't need to think twice. Jane had to pay. Bev and Max looked at each together with the same worried expression before following him. Gary whistled to get her attention and hit her head with his skateboard. Jane felt on the ground, completely dazed. She barely had the time to realize what was happening that she felt two hands grabbing her jacket and raising her in the air before brutally blocking her against the wall.