Bruised

Chapter 9

Matthew made his way home trying to forget the night before. How could it be that Amber still had such a strong impact on him, he wondered. It was really crazy to think about.

He knew why he still fell for her every time. She looked innocent, and she had been innocent once. Matthew had known her since kindergarten, even before he met Nate. She used to be the light in his life, the one who always gave him strength, and now she was the one who made him weak.

He walked for some time clearing his mind and saw a group of people sat in a café, he recognized them from school and they had clearly recognized him too. They looked away as if they were scared of him, and he knew why.

Everyone at school tried to avoid him, according to Nate everyone knew he was a boxer and because he had gone to school multiple times injured people thought it would be better to keep a distance, eventually a few discovered Matthew was actually a nice and kind person, but that didn't always happen.

And it was the usual, people look, judge and turn their back on you without even thinking twice. That's the world we live in, he thought, we don't allow ourselves to understand anything that may be just a little different, we fear that too much.

With that he remembered the guy he used to be, fearless, strong, funny. But he could not forget the fact that his dad, the most important person in his life was gone, forever. He saw him suffer for longer than a year, fighting a battle he could never win. He was the only person Matthew ever wanted to make proud, and his dad had assured him he had.

He went home, changed those stupid fancy clothes and put on a white tank top and some shorts. He tried to sleep again, but he couldn't, so he thought about eating but he didn't feel hungry.

So he went to the one place he had always known. Scandal.

And he stopped feeling pain the same way he always did, with more. There were only three more fighters at the club which made everything easier for him. Less coments and less questions. He approached the black punch bag and hit it like he always had. He threw the first punch, and a second one, and then he started throwing then faster, harder and his mind was thinking about everything he had been through, all the bad things and for more than half an hour he wouldn't stop, so by the time he did he felt nothing. His knuckles were bleeding like crazy, his hand was covered in blood and there were now drops of blood on the floor as well. He had no towel near him so he had to take off his top to clean his hands. Only after a while he started to feel pain, but he didn't really care . He was used to physical pain, he wasn't afraid of that, yet he was certain that the painful emotions woudl end up killing him.

He walked to the small medical room they had on the back of the building and he dressed his wound once the bleeding stopped. He let out a laugh when he checked his top, not really sure whether he should go out topless or with a top covered with blood. He ended up dressing it again and walked outside. The sun was shinning and people were staring, he wasn't really interested in it though. Actually he even decided to stop by the most known bakery in the neighbourhood to buy bread, and then a coke, and eventually even a croissant. Then he slowly left the bakery just to enter his house next. He was starting to feel alive now, after so long he was starting to feel alive again.

And that made him think maybe he was already so damaged only wounds and bruises would heal him.

Someone knocked on the door and he yelled a 'Just a second' as he made his way there.

"Stella?" Matthew said as the girl quickly hugged him "Do you need something?" He asked not sure about what was going on. They were friends, sure, but not the type of friends that would hug each other, and not the type that would go to each others house just to say hello.

"I was accepted in London!!" She said and was more excited thst he had ever seen her "What the hell happened to you?" And her face expression now clearly showed how worried she was.

"I was practising, I'm fine" he said in his usual calm tone. Accepted in London, he thought, but he couldn't remember her telling anything about London. The pause he made was enough for her to realising what was going on "You have no idea what I'm talking about do you" and it was clearly that she was disappointed.

"Sorry" Matt said as he passed his hand in his hair, embarassed. It was easy to see that was very important for her, and he was supposed to know about it, yet he didn't have the slightest clue.

"Royal Academy in London, I told you about it, Nate even went to my audition with my brother. I got accepted" she said looking down, then she looked into his electric blue eyes "But why would you remember, it's normal, I just felt like telling you for some weird random reason" Stella said and started to walk towards the door.

"I just have a lot on my mind, I'm sorry I didn't remember" he said as he followed her "But tell me"

She opened it slowly but looked back at him "You cleary still have a lot on your mind" she said low but was cut off.

"You have no idea about how difficult these months have been, you have everything you want, parents that love you and are by your side, you have a rich family, you have nothing to complain about but the fact that the guy you like is with your bestfriend, that by the way you have known for how long? One month? I lost my dad, my mum is long gone, my ex girlfriend messed up my whole life and I nearly got killed less than a month ago, so I'm sorry that I don't remember you having an audition for a perfect school in England" he said and only after he realised how cruel he had just been. He rarely talked, because when he started he could never stop, and then he would always be mean to people. Just like he had now been to Stella, the girl who only came to him to share her happiness. "Stella, I'm so sorry" he quickly said. She had one arm hold the door and was looking outside, but suddenly she closed it and walked inside again.

"You do realise how little you know of me don't you?" She said and now she was not only sad like the tears on her face showed but actually mad "You think you live a rough life? You don't, you have no idea what I have been through! No idea who is my bestfriend or for how long we have been friends! You think you know me, but do you even know my last name?" She was know yelling and tears filled her eyes.

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O M G what just happened!!???

I'm just so happy with this story!!!!!!

Thank you for the support, and for reading

All the love,

Yxzmin