Scars [An Exclamation Point Fan Fiction]

PART 2

"Hey stranger." Paul says sitting by me.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I followed you here!" He says.

I look at him, my eyes wide.

He laughs. "I'm kidding. My mom's friend has a little girl that dances here so I came to watch. You did great by the way."

I start to blush. "Thanks"

"How long have you been dancing?"

"Four years," I say "I joined my high school team before I came here."

"That's cool." He says. He looks around the auditorium. "How come you're sitting alone?"

"It's really cramped backstage with everyone's families."

"Where's you family?"

"They couldn't make it." I shrug.

Paul is about to say something when Nate comes barging in.

"Nikki!" He yells.

He marches over to me and I jump up.

"I just talked with Ms. Ward from NYADA. We'll get our letters next week. He looks over my shoulder and glares at Paul. Pauls stands up and starts walking away.

"I'm gonna head out. See you around Nikki." He says.

"Bye Paul." I say waving to him.

As soon as Paul is out the door Nate jerks my shoulder and turns me around. "Who's that?" He asks.

I'm starting to shake. "His name's Paul. He helped me with my car on the way here. And he knows a dancer."

"Why was he sitting so close to you?"

"He saw me alone and checked on me."

"I don't like him."

"You don't like any guy I talk to." I cover my mouth. I shouldn't have said that.

"What did you say, you little slut?" He says walking closer to me.

"Nothing." I say trying to back away. Nate rears his hand back. I expect the hit on my shoulder, but I feel his knuckles hit just under my eye. I have to fight back the tears.Nate glares at me a second longer, then rolls his eyes and walks out. I count to sixty then run to my car and drive home.

I wake up the next morning and my fcae is sore. I walk to my mirror and see my left eye is swollen and black. I try to put on make up, but it hurts too much. When I walk downstairs my mom sees my eye.

"What happened?" She asks, grabbing an ice pack from the freezer.

"I walked into an elbow last night at the dance studio." I lie.

"Are you going to be able to work tonight?"

"Yea mom I'm fine." I put the ice pack on the counter. "I'm going for a run."

After my run I get ready for work. I'm a waitress at a local resaurant, but tonight my band is playing. We play every Friday and Saturday night. We rehearse in our drummer, Connor's garage. I walk in and the guys stare at me.

"What happened this time?" Drew, the bassist, asks.

"I walked into an elbow after the pperformance last night." The lies get are getting easier.

"Nik, you need to be careful or you'lll wind up in a full body cast next week." Lyle, the guitarist, and my oldest friend jokes. The guys laugh, as I force myself to laugh with them. We practice a few covers before we head over to the restaurant. We start at seven and after a couple of songs we take a break.

A little girl comes up to me and asks, " Can you play a song by Olly Murs? It's my sister's birthday and she loves him!"

I look at the guys. The only song we've leanred successfully is Heart On My Sleeve. They shrug and get ready.

"Ok, but it's not a very happy song." I say.

Thank you!" She squeals hugging me before she runs back to her table. We start the song. I think of Nate as I sing. How he started hitting me. The end of the song is powerful, I sing my heart out. People who weren't paying attention turn and watch. We finish and tears stream down my face. Everyone applauds and stands for us. Lyle sees me crying, and tells me they can finish without me tonight.