Marshall, You're Not Alone (GxG)

Chapter 9

Screams of pain, begging and cries, yet this time those weren't mine. No, this time James was taking it out on his new girlfriend and while it felt scummy of me to feel relieved, there wasn't much else I could do. Attempting on making myself less guilty, I kept on repeating in my head - She's a junkie, she has a choice, I don't.

But even that didn't help with the clenching heart, those screams weren't something anyone would like to be woken up to. With every passing minute, their sound was evoking anguish inside of my head.

"Fuck this," I swore and pulled myself up from the mattress, quickly reaching for the backpack and sneaking out of the window.

Chippering birds and morning breeze were almost like another word from what I just walked out off. Who would have thought that during such a peaceful morning someone was going through hell.

Heading for my usual spot in the close by park, I enjoyed the quietness and emptiness of this time of the day. It wasn't even five in the morning, yet a few figures still so happened to pop by. Some were walking out their dogs, some were going through their walk of shame after a party or a one-night stand.

Taking a seat under a large tree I closed my eyes trying to rest, but being careful not to fall asleep – Never leave yourself exposed in the open area. Carefully analyzing the past week, there was a lot more than I expected.

No contact from Andrew, I placed on the positive side of my list. Axel beating up the boys on my behalf, which was leaving me with debt, negative. Tommy insisting on being friends, meh. Having to get Chris to tutor me, something to be worked on. And then a disruption, an entire Amira thing.

I didn't care, honestly, if I ever saw someone crying in the hallways, I would only find them annoying and irritating, and yet there I was running to her side. Why?

My brows furrowed when her round freckled face appeared in front of my closed eyes. It's not like I wanted to be her friend, I didn't think anything of her, and yet there she was at the back of my head. What a mess.

Today was Friday, which left me with only a few hours to decide whether I should go to that dinner. Right after the invitation, I made myself a promise not to go and stay out of it, however with every passing day the urge to change my mind was growing. Was it because of the free food? Or maybe a touch of curiosity.

Whatever it was, it lingered on me for the rest of the day, even when I went to school.

"What's up with you?"

Turning towards the voice I saw Chloe with Tommy by her side.

"Oh, God. Now there's two of you," I mocked, but he didn't seem bothered.

Chloe however narrowed her eyes and scoffed, "Whatever, bye."

"Bye," I replied, but she didn't care.

"Well, I guess no friendship here," Tommy pointed between me and the blonde.

"No shit, you don't befriend someone you did it with at the party. That's kind of messed up," I explained.

He only shrugged and chased after me. "You seem more bothered than usual," he began before blurting out. "Looking kinda constipated."

"I hate you," I cut him off, but paused when I spotted a bruise on the of his neck. "You good?" I wondered, slightly suspicious when he impulsively pulled his collar higher, covering it up.

"Perfect." There it was that word again - Didn't you just tell me that nothing was perfect?

After a few minutes of silence, I thought about something. "You are like... quite good with friends and stuff, right?"