Strong

Chapter Seven

Maria wakes up with a start.

She had fallen asleep against the door, in her same pajamas as yesterday. Her makeup is smeared all across her face, for she hadn't washed her makeup off since the day her mother died. Maria knew her skin would not thank her for that.

She grabs her phone and sees that she has eighteen missed calls from her friends.

The clock on her phone says 5:00 AM.

"If I'm going to school today, I have plenty of time to get ready," Maria thinks, "but do I really want to go?"

She knows her other option is to stay at home with her drunk father, so Maria decides she'd rather go to school.

Maria struggles to stand up at first, but eventually makes it over to her bathroom.

She turns the light on and grabs her makeup wipes. At first, her old makeup is hard to take off, but after a while her face is clean.

Maria grabs her makeup bag, and goes through the usual steps.

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The early sun's rays didn't feel warm enough on Maria's back, but she didn't expect them to be that warm. After all, she had left the house as early as possible, because she didn't want to take a chance and assume her father wouldn't wake up from where he was sleeping on the couch downstairs. She had left at exactly 6:25 AM. Her plan is to hang out in the school's front lawn until school actually begins.

All she remembers from last night is her father yelling at her and the piece of glass that had gotten stuck in her left hand. She didn't enjoy having to slowly pull it out of her skin that morning. All that is left of it is a little dried blood and a two inch wide scar on the palm of her hand. It still stings whenever she touches something with that hand.

Maria arrives at the school, and finds a wooden bench to sit on. The bench is placed right under the only oak tree in the school's front lawn. She lies down on her side and shuts her eyes, letting the shade of the oak tree consume her.

Several minutes after Maria began resting her eyes, she hears a voice.

"What are you even doing?" A male voice asks.

Maria shoots up to a sitting position and sees the boy from the picture Lexi had sent her.

"Are you the new transfer student?" She asks.

"Yea and who are you?" He questions staring at her.

"Um, I'm Maria Lake," she answers meeting his gaze.

"Do you sleep on school property often?"

"No, just today."

"Why?"

"That's not your business," Maria says defiantly.

The boy rolls his eyes and takes a seat next to her.

"I don't remember seeing you here yesterday, where were you?" He asks curiously, his blonde hair moving in the small gusts of wind.

Maria looks down at her hands which are folded in her lap and says, "I was home."

"Were you sick?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what was it?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions?" Maria asks irritated, turning to face him.

"Well, when you see a girl sleeping on a bench outside her school at 6:45 AM, when school starts at 9:00 AM, you usually have some questions," he answers like it's obvious.