To Keep You Off My Mind

Chapter 14

Lily's POV

I stood up and jumped on Chris. I have no idea how I managed to get him off of Locke, but I did. We rolled on the ground until I was on top of him. I started punching him with all my might. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and yelling at him.

"What makes you think you have the right to do that to him?! Just because I don't like you doesn't mean you have to hurt my friends! I hate you so much!" I kept punching and he just laid there smiling, obviously drunk. Tears filled my vision, but I kept punching. I felt Locke pull me off of Chris and set me down on the ground as I cried into my knees.

"Get out of here, Chris." Locke's voice was firm, but calming. Chris got up and started stumbling down the street, but turned around.

"You're wasting your time with her, man. No matter how much you try, she keeps her little 'chastity belt' on. She's just a waste of everyone's time." He laughed and turned around to stumble off. Locke stood up and started walking towards him.

"Hey! Don't talk about her like that!" I stood up and grabbed Locke's shoulder.

"No, Locke. It's not worth it, he's right." I felt more tears stream down my face as Locke turned around to look at me, grabbing my shoulders.

"No, Lily, he's wrong! He's so wrong! You are not a waste of time! Lily promise me you don't actually believe him!" I saw the terror in his eyes. I reached my hand up to my forehead, exposing my scars. He saw them and grabbed my wrists. "Lils, no!" I lost control of my tears and fell into his embrace. "Lily. Why didn't you tell me?" I thought about all the times he could have seen them, but I was very careful to make sure he didn't see them, so there really wasn't a time he had.

"I didn't want you to think I was weak, but now you do." I pulled out of his arms and backed up, embarrassed. I turned around and ran to my front door. "Bye Locke." My vision was blurry from all the tears, but I still ran at full speed.

"Lily! Wait!" I ignored him and ran inside. I ran to my room and shut the door before collapsing on my bed. I cried until I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I cried some more. I hated crying, but recently I'd been doing a lot of it.

When I finally got out of bed, it was time for school, so I quickly got ready and ran upstairs to drive Lincoln and myself to school. When I reached the top of the stairs I saw Lincoln and Locke sitting in the kitchen. My eyes widened and I stepped back, almost falling down the stairs. Why was he here? I didn't know if I could face him, last night was so embarrassing.

I walked into the kitchen, trying my best to seem normal. "Hey boys. What are you doing here Locke?"

"I just thought I'd come over this morning and see how everyone was feeling." He looked at me with sympathy, trying to get me to tell him about last night.

"I'm sure we're all fine. Anybody want some cereal?" I turned around and opened a cupboard to get some frosted flakes.

"No thanks." They said in unison. I grabbed a bowl and some milk from the fridge. I poured the cereal and milk into the bowl and grabbed a spoon before I sat down at the dining room table. I began eating when Locke sat down next to me. I turned to look at him and noticed Lincoln had left.

"Where'd Lincoln go?" I asked.

"He, uh, went downstairs for something." I could tell he was hiding something, but I just ignored it.

"So what's up?" I tried acting as if nothing were wrong.

"So, we aren't even gonna talk about last night," his tone changed to a concerned whisper, "about Chris, or about your-" he looked down at my wrists, "-you know, scars?" I didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to forget about that night completely, never discussing it.