Who She Is

~56~

**I'm stuck at my dealership getting an oil change so I thought I'd update! I hit 2,000 reads! Thanks for all the support! I appreciate every read, vote, and comment I get. It means the world to me! I hope you're all loving my story. Enjoy!

*Small trigger warning for the beginning

Alyx's POV

I open my eyes and sit up. Where am I? An alley? What am I doing here?

"Here." I turn around at the sound of Amaya's voice. I see her passing a bag of white powder to a filthy looking older man. He reaches for it, but she pulls it back. "Cash first."

"I'm not paying, bitch."

"Amaya!" I shout, but she doesn't look at me.

She looks taken aback with his comment. "Then you're not getting it."

"Yes, I am." Suddenly, two more men slip into the alleyway, walking towards Amaya. The old man grabs her arm, shoving her to the ground.

"Amaya!" I run towards her but hit an invisible wall. I bang my fists against it.

The man pries the bag from her fingers. "I'll be taking this." He nods toward the men. They step forward and grab Amaya, roughly lifting her up. "Take her." Disgusting smirks fall on their faces. Amaya screams as they drag her down the alley to their vehicle.

"No! Let her go! Amaya!"

I suddenly wake from my sleep to my phone going off. Ugh, another nightmare. I think that was the fifth one. With my eyes still closed, I reach over and snooze it. It's Saturday; why is it even going off? It immediately goes off again. I open my eyes to see Amaya's name on the screen. Oh, yeah. Breakfast. I quickly reach over and answer it, bringing it to my ear.

"Hello?" I say drowsily due to the lack of sleep.

"Hey. Did you just reject my call?"

I let a sheepish laugh out. "I thought I was snoozing an alarm. I'm sorry."

"Oh," she stops to let a little laugh out. "Well, just so know, it's five minutes until eight. I've been out here for ten minutes trying to call and wake you up."

Shit. I pull my phone back and see the time. I totally forgot to set an alarm last night. "I'm so sorry. I'm coming down right now," I say, as I'm climbing out of bed.

"It's okay. Just hurry up, sleepyhead," she says, hanging up. Okay, I can tell she's not mad at me by the use of the nickname and her tone. I hurry and grab a black long sleeve shirt, throwing it on. I leave the same gray sweatpants on and slide some shoes on. I rush into the bathroom and grimace once I get a look in the mirror. It really does look bad. I hope she'll be able to cover it. I quickly use the bathroom and brush my teeth. I rush downstairs and freeze on the last step when I hear my name being called.

"Alyx? Why are you in such a rush?" Shit, she's already awake.

I slightly turn to my mom, hiding the side of my face the bruise is on. She's peeking her head out of the kitchen. "Amaya's outside, and I wanted to meet her at her car."

"Oh, she's already here? Let me go get dressed." She walks out of the kitchen in her pajamas and a robe. I turn my back to her and head to the door. I open it and practically sprint to Amaya's car. I hop in, shutting the door behind me.

"Hi," I say, slightly out of breath.

"Hey," she says, with an amused expression before it turns to sympathy. She reaches up, grabs my jaw, and tilts my face to inspect the bruise. "Your poor face."

"I know. My mom's already awake, too; she didn't see it, though. Do you think you'll be able to cover it?"

"Yeah. Since I'm tanner than you are, I borrowed a lighter shade of foundation from Elaine, and I'm going to mix it with mine to try to match your shade. Maybe it will, and your mom won't notice." She grabs her makeup bag from the back and pulls the small bottles out, along with a beauty sponge. She puts all the items in her lap. She squirts a little bit of both foundations on the back of her hand. She mixes the color with the sponge and turns to face me. "Lean this way." I bring my face closer to her. "This might hurt a little."