Inferno Part 3

~87~ Not Smart, Mason

Josie's POV

I'm lying over the bed, feeling sorry for myself, as Mason sits next to me and rubs my back gently. I move to the side, and push his hand off of me.

"Jos..."

"Just get out," I hiccup

"That's not how this works, young lady. I'm not done discussing this."

"Please just leave," I cry, turning to the side and putting my knees up to my chest.

I hear him sigh, and then feel him kiss my head.

"If you wanna talk, come to our room. Otherwise, stay in here the rest of the night. We need to leave by 7 tomorrow. Ok?"

The only response he gets from me is a snotty sniff.

The next thing I hear is my door shutting, and I start crying even harder.

All I did was skip school. I didn't deserve this. I remember once when Mason skipped school and got caught. Dad was mad and screamed, but he never got the belt. I don't even know if he got grounded...I was too little.

My butt is throbbing so bad, I'm almost afraid to look at it in the mirror. I love my butt...what if it's now deformed?

I gingerly take down my leggings and look at myself in the mirror. I'm stunned to see that it's red, but that's it. There's not a single belt mark on me. How is that even possible with the way that he was whacking me?

I climb in bed and fall asleep quickly, dreaming about all the ways that Mason is ruining my life.

The next morning I must have overslept, because Mason comes in and sharply smacks my still throbbing butt.

"Ahhh!" I cry as I sit up, feeling the fire reignite and making me get teary-eyed again.

"You have 20 minutes young lady, so you better hurry up," he says darkly as he leaves my room.

20 minutes?!? I can't do anything in 20 minutes. It always takes me a MINIMUM of 60 to get ready in the morning.

I take a shower as fast as I can and hop out, throwing on clothes quickly. Once that's done and I look at my hair, I wanna cry. It's going to be frizzy today, I can already tell.

I decide to braid it at the side, in a thick and pretty braid. I don't have time to wear it how I normally do, so this will have to work.

By the time that's done, Mason is already pounding on the door, and I haven't even started on my makeup. I decide to just take my makeup bag with me...Hopefully he's not so mad at me, that he slams on the brakes and pokes my eye out when I'm putting on mascara.

When I get out of the bathroom with my makeup bag, Mason says nothing as he glares at me. I rush into my room and get my book bag, putting on my shoes on the way down the steps.

"Jocelyn, slow down and put your shoes on before going down the steps. If you break your leg, it will just take longer to get to school."

"Classic dad joke," I mutter under my breath as I finish going down the stairs.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," I say as I go out the door and into Mason's car.

When we get in, I quickly start putting on my makeup.

"I'm gonna be mad if you get that all over my car," he says darkly as he pulls out of the driveway.

"Then drive carefully," I snap as I start with my foundation.

As I'm applying blush, Mason takes a corner faster than I was expecting, and I drop the powder in his lap. Unfortunately for him, he's wearing black dress pants today.