Rules and Roses (Gal Gadot)

Chapter 9

Tw: sexual assault and mentions of rape and attempted suicide

It was now a week and a half later and I haven't had a complete conversation with anyone. I have also been cutting myself almost every day and my arms and thighs are covered. I can tell everyone around me is worried. They keep trying to get me to talk or do anything really but I just won't. The person who seems the most worried is Gal. She is always trying to get me to talk to her or just interact but I can't. I know that if she tried hard enough to get me to open up, I will and I can't burden her with all my problems.

It was Friday and I was glad that it was about to be the weekend because then I don't have to see Nathan's face in the hallway or see the guilty looks of my friends. When I walked into Gal's room, I went straight to my desk since the bell was about to ring. I then remembered that we have a test today, which I was not ready for at all. Every day that she has been teaching, I haven't been paying attention. What if I fail the test or wha-. My thoughts were cut off by my Gal talking. 

"Alright class, today I decided to be generous and give you guys an extra day to study as well as the weekend."

Oh, thank god. I was for sure going to fail that test. I pulled out all my class stuff and decided it would be best to look over all the material. As I was skimming through everything I felt eyes on me so I looked up. Of course, they were Gal's, she has been doing this every day but this time I actually looked back. I took in her appearance and she seemed tired. She had bags under her eyes and she didn't have her usual smile on her face. It seemed as though my ignorance was affecting her. A wave of guilt washed over me realizing that I was the reason for her unusual appearance. I then started to feel my chest heave up and down and I knew what was coming by my sweaty and shaky hands. I knew I had to get out of the school, so that is exactly what I did. I put everything in my bag and just ran out of the classroom and straight to my car. Once I got home, I went straight to my bed and took a nap.

When I opened my eyes, I saw someone on top. I then noticed the pain in my lower region and when I looked down I saw that he was inside me. When I tried to scream, he clasped a hand over my mouth. I then started to thrash under him to get him to stop but this caused him to hit me until I stopped. I just laid there and waited for him to finish. When he started groaning, I knew he was about to cum. Then I felt a warm liquid fill up inside of me and that caused my eyes to widen and I freaked out. He didn't use a condom. When he was finally done, he put his clothes back on and just left without a word while I just laid there numb to everything. I looked to the side and saw a bottle of pills and without a second thought, I took them all. Everything started to slow down and my eyes grew heavy. When I was about to pass out, I heard Ivy scream and come over and vigorously shake me.

I shot my eyes open and sat up on my bed. I could feel my body coated in sweat and my heart beating fast in my chest. This nightmare has continued to haunt me night after night and it seemed as though nothing would stop it. I decided that I should go to the local diner and get some food to hopefully try and clear my mind. As I was getting dressed, I saw that it was 11 o'clock. I didn't realize that I would sleep for that long.

When I got to the diner, I sat in an empty booth and ordered a small thing of fries and a water. I came here often when I would need to clear my head and it was late at night. As I was eating, I heard a familiar voice, and then I felt someone slide into the booth right beside me and put an arm over my shoulder. When I looked to my right, my heart dropped. It was Nathan. As I tried to scoot away, he tightened his arm around me.

"Stop trying to leave." I then started to stop resisting.

"Good. Now I'm going to need you to keep quiet or else you won't like how this ends."

As I looked down, I saw a knife pointed straight at my abdomen. My eyes filled with horror. I then felt his arm that was wrapped around me trailed down my abdomen and to my pants. I felt tears start to roll down my cheeks at the realization of what is about to happen. He untied the string to my sweatpants and stuck his hand in my pants. He started to rub me outside of my panties and when he started to move them to the side a voice halted his movements.

"What is going on here?" 

It was Gal's voice. When I looked up at her, her jaw clenched and so did her fists. She grabbed Nathan by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out of the booth and onto the ground. She then got on top of him and started to repeatedly throw punches at his face. When blood started to gush out of his face, I put my hand on Gal's shoulder. When she looked up at me, her eyes softened and she got off of him and came towards me but before she could reach me, I ran out of the diner. When I was out of the diner, I instantly started to get soaked because it had recently started to rain. I ran down the street as I heard Gal call for me. With her long legs, she easily caught up to me and grabbed my wrist to stop me causing me to yelp in pain due to the cuts from earlier this morning. She let go of my wrist but kept me close just in case I tried to run again.

"Skylar I'm tired of you running from me, you need to tell me what's wrong."

"There is nothing wrong. I'm fine."

"That's bullshit and you and I both know that. Now please tell me what's wrong. I hate seeing you like this." 

I just shook my head in response and tried to walk away but Gal snaked an arm around my waist and held me against her.

"Please just tell me what is wrong."

When I looked into her eyes, I could tell she was pleading for me to say anything. I could see the worry she had for me. I knew I had to let her in and tell her everything.

"Everything hurts and I don't want to be here anymore. Life is so unfair. So fucking unfair!"

As I started to cry she pushed my head into her chest and let me sob, holding me tightly.

"Shh angel. You need to breathe or you are going to make yourself sick"

When I was able to control my sobs, she pulled my head back and stared into my eyes.

"Listen I understand that you are in pain and you need help but I can't help you unless you tell me what is causing your pain. I can't lose you and I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt you again."

A small smile came to my lips and the thought of Gal wanting to protect me and be there for me. I started to lean in to kiss her and so did she. Once our lips touched, I felt a spark of light inside of me. Our lips started to move against each other and all I could focus on was the softness of her lips. I then reached my hands up to cup her wet face and then moved them towards the back of her neck as she wrapped her arms around my waist. When breathing became a problem, we pulled away and just stared into each other's eyes.

"I'm taking you to my place and you are going to tell me everything."