tortured tutor (edited)

chapter twenty-three

new life

skylers pov:
a sweet smell of pancakes woke me up so i knew i couldn't be home. as i opened my eyes the grey room filled by rock posters surrounded me. last night came back to me, i'm living with ethan now? he knows everything and still wants me to live with him?
suddenly a loud bang came from downstairs so i used all my strength to get my weak body up and walking. i had to make sure ethan was okay. clutching onto my stomach, i cautiously made my way down the stairs. it was quiet until i heard scraping in the kitchen so i slowly looked around the corner to see.... ethan on the floor cleaning pancake batter off the floor.

~ "really?" he looked up fast with a nervous expression. there was flour on his cheeks too which made me giggle.
"skyler you're up"
~ "yeah cuz you scared the crap out of me"
"sorry about that.... truce pancake?" he scratched the back of his neck
~ "yeah sure after we clean up.... this" i said looking around the kitchen
"no we, you sit up here and can awkwardly 'gaze' at me"
i smiled and shrugged, i wouldn't mind watching him clean up a floor covered in batter while i get to sit down.

after 5 minutes of sitting down watching him try to clean i stood up and helped him.
"i told you to sit down"
~ "you're slow."
"gee thanks" he gave me a fake smile so i smiled back
~ "no problem"

in another 5 minutes we finished and he started to attempt making the pancakes again. it made me think of the first time he made me pancakes and he got batter on his fingers... my heart fluttered. i feel tempted to do it again but i know this time itd lead to more. luckily i was brought out of my thoughts by a stack of pancakes being shoved in front of me. shocked, i looked at ethan like he was crazy.
~ "there's no way anyone could eat that many pancakes!"
"eat as much as you can" he said handing me a fork.
i rolled my eyes and took one bite and then placed my fork back down.
~ "where's YOUR pancakes hmm"
he raised his eye brow and quickly took my fork stealing a bite off my plate.

~ "have as much as you want" i smiled, pushing the plate towards him.
"ha ha very funny. eat." he pushed the plate back. he smiled in delight as i groaned and shoved another piece in my mouth.

since it was my first day trying to eat more he only made me eat two pancakes. ethan ended up finishing the rest of the stack and i felt like barfing just watching him basically inhale the sugary breakfast but i managed to keep it down.

by the time he finished eating and cleaning up it was time to get ready for school.
~ "carry me" i grabbed his hand
"does something hurt?" he asked worriedly
~ "no"
"then why do you want me to carry you?"
~ "cuz." he laughed "okay sky." he picked me up and ran upstairs.

once we were both ready ethan drove us to school. people stared as we walked in together. i don't know why. they've all seen us have lunch together so what's so different about showing up with him?
only then did the small squeeze of comfort make me realize ethans arm had been around my waist. i guess i forgot we hadn't been this "close" at school before.

as we parted to go to class, my eyes found elle roaming the busy hall. when her eyes found mine she smiled and ran to hug me. she squeezed me tightly and i felt all the wounds on my torso sting.
only ethan knew about the lingering bruises under all the clothes and makeup. i inhaled sharply as she squeezed the life out of me.

"ahhhh i missed you, we need to hang out this weekend" she finally let go of me. we only went three days without seeing each other but i guess it'd be nice to have more of her positive spirit around. though it does feel draining to make plans at eight o' clock in the morning. so i simple nodded and we both made our way to class.

during class imagines of i guess you could say my 'old life' appeared in my head. what were my parents were thinking? they clearly would noticed i'm gone and that they have nothing to abuse now. they say they want me dead but they enjoy having someone to do everything for them. what if they come looking for me just to own me again? in their heads my only purpose is to be their little toy they can break over and over again.

would ethan be able to protect me if they came? i would hate if something happened to him for trying to protect me. he already almost broke his fist, fighting my parents friends. i remember from that night, as i started to black out, i heard punches after punches until it faded away along with everything else. he never told me he was hurt but i saw his bruised knuckles and from what i can remember those punches sounded hard.

it felt like i had only been thinking for ten minutes at most but when the bell startled me back to reality it had actually been forty. one class down four more to go. ugh. i cant let my thoughts get the best of me. i need to try to stay positive. for ethan.