Caring for the Poor Girl?

Chapter 10

~Crystal's POV~

I see Zachary's face go pale as he sees all the clothes that I own. I look and realize why he wanted me to get rid of them. I never noticed before how much of a horrible condition my clothes were in before. There were multiple faded spots on all of my shirts and my jeans were ripped so that a tiny layer of fabric could hold it together. My shoes were so worn out that pieces of it were ripped from he once perfect structure. All of my bags were filthy and broken, so far that it was unfixable. I can't believe that I never noticed this before, it was completely ridiculous, but what could I do? I didn't have the money to buy anything new and when I did I tried to save it until I had to pay for my necessities. To pay for all the clothes I originally had would be a fortune. I would have to go to all the clearance aisles as to not max out my money, but I know that Zachary wants to pay, so that makes me want to go to the clearance aisle even more. It costs from $12 to $25 for a good shirt and I am pretty sure that I have about 40 from over the years of my pathetic life. I remembered how my parents would always give me a certain amount of money for going shopping, I think they gave me about $100 to buy some new sets of clothes. The only thing they didn't realize that I could probably an outfit and maybe another t-shirt along with it. I always paid attention to the prices as to not go over and have to put something back down. The idea of going to the clearance aisles came to mind and I have been doing that ever since. I would buy all of my clothes from there, so that I could get more with the money I had from my parents, until I was cut-off. 

Tears fill up in my eyes as the horrible memories come back. Pearl would always get the best of the best of clothes and they would dress up Jasper in the cutest clothes, that were also the most expensive. All I got was the cheapest of the cheap, making me a huge target for bullying, which made my self-esteem lower and let me begin to cut myself. I remember how relieving it was to have the pain of the blade instead of the pain of the words that were said about me, and I remember every single one.

What is she still doing here?

Doesn't she know that we don't want her here?

She is so ugly and fat it's insulting to fugly people.

Where did she get the clothes, from the trash or the lost and found?

No one will ever like her, she is so idiotic for not knowing that.

Why doesn't she go kill herself?

Go die.

The tears overflow so that they fall down each cheek. The most harshest memory I had was when I actually did try to kill myself. I locked my self in my bathroom and grabbed the razor from the sink and began to cut deep lines into my skin. Today, there are still the three deep scars that I cut into myself, forever to be in my skin. I blacked out after the third cut and woke up in bed, with bandages on my wrist. My parents came in and told me to not do it again, and left. That told me that truly no one cared for me, yet I still tried to live life as best as I could. Once I went off to college I was able to build up my self confidence, but that bullied girl always rose back to the surface sometimes. I don't want anyone to see me as that pathetic girl anymore, I want to be a new better girl. I want to be more confident and let people know that I am not a needy case, but a strong woman. I especially don't want Zachary to see me as a worthless burden that everyone else sees me as. 

Zachary was still looking at the closet, so I was able to wipe away the tears before he turned back around looking  a little worried. He then says, "We have to throw away all of your clothes. Don't give me that look, do you see the clothes? They are worn out, ripped, torn, broken or all of above. You need knew cloths and I refuse for you to pay with your own money. You can try all you want, but you need better clothes instead of cheap quality ones."

I stare into his eyes and all I see is determination in them. I sigh and muttered, "Fine," before he went through his closet. He grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a hot pink top.

They looked to be more for a woman, so I gave him a questioning look before he said, "It was a practical joke with my friend. On April 1st we decided to get each other a present because we both enjoyed surprising each other. I gave him a little black dress with the word badass in red on the butt and he got me this with a note that said, for my prettiest friend. It was the best April 1st in the world. I kept this because it always reminded me of the fun times we had with each other on that day. We went to the mall, movies and an amusement park, man it was fun. We messed around the whole time and decided that that was when we truly knew our friendship would last. Please put it on, so that we can go shopping for more of your clothes. 

I sigh and put on the clothes, we then went off to the car and headed to the shopping center. After he parked the car, we get out and head inside. I look around and see different stores like Gap, Old Navy, Kohl's, and many more. Zachary takes my hand and leads me into this intricate store with a name I never heard of, much less pronounce it. He takes me to the woman's section and we began to look around. He grabbed some items and fooled around with me by placing on weird hats and glasses in interesting orders. I laughed, but then got back to looking at the clothes. There was this adorable black shirt with a silver wing design on the back that looked amazing. I looked at the price and I felt my eyes bulge out at how expensive it was. I placed it back and walked away. I went to the clearance aisle and picked out some shirts that I really liked. After I got enough shirts to last me a year, they were from sleeveless to short sleeve to long sleeve to anything else you could think of, and I went to the pants aisle. I did the same thing with the pants that I did with the shirts, before I picked out a couple pairs of shoes and 3 bags. We headed to the checkout and when I saw the final price I almost cried. I looked at Zachary in amazement, but he didn't change his expression, but instead paid for it with his credit card. 

We walked out of the store and Zachary grabbed my hand again, leading me towards another expensive looking store before saying, "We need to find some fancy looking work clothes for you. You just need 8 sets of nice clothing, incase something happens to one of them, and a few nice flats or heels." I nod my head as we enter the store.

One look at the prices and I knew that he was going to lose a good portion of his money in his bank account. I look at him before saying quietly, "I can't buy things here and if you do, you would be wasting money on me. Let's just go somewhere else less expensive for my clothes."

He looked down and smiled before saying, "This will be our last stop and if you won't want to pick anything out from here then I will for you. Remember, don't hold back I will buy you what ever you want."

I sigh and walked around looking for any type of clearance section. When I didn't see a clearance section I went down a dress aisle and saw a cute looking dress. It wasn't for work, but would be amazing for a date. It was light pink with twirls and curves with a dark blue design. I looked at the price and saw it was more expensive than the other shirt that looked amazing. I placed back before I walked off. I reluctantly picked out some dresses and mixed in blouses and nice black pants. We got even less clothes here, but the price, at the end, was more than the other store. I swear I was going to faint with all the money that was being spent on me.

We exited the store and I heard my stomach growl, while feeling the slight pain of me being hungry. I ignored it and continued to walk with Zachary, who had his hand in mine. Zachary steered me towards the food court as my stomach got louder and louder, while the pain hurt worse. It was insanely hard to keep a straight face, but I was able to as he brought me towards an Olive Garden. He asks for a table for two, ignoring the slut at the front, and headed towards our table, still holding my hand. We ordered our drinks and food, while I tried to ignore the waitress, who was trying to flirt with Zachary.

Zachary and I talked for a while before he said, "So, I saw you look at this dress and shirt at the stores we were at today. What would you say if I bought both of those things?"

"You didn't."

He smiled bigger before he grabbed a bag and took out the dress and the shirt that I wanted. I smiled back as small tears came to my eyes. Zachary smiled and wiped away the tears before saying, "You can't fool me princess. Never think that you can."

I smiled even bigger as he leaned forward and placed a gently kiss on my lips. We pulled away and I looked down blushing. 

I heard a sarcastic, "Oops," before I got hit on the head and blacked out.