SkaterGirl

Chapter Fifteen

Throughout the day, I avoided Kyle as much as possible. I had to figure out what was going on in my mind. It was a passing period, meaning one class just ended and I had five minutes to get to my next one, and a girl stood in front of me.

I went to go around her, but she just pushed me to the ground. That was when I got a good look at her face. She had brown eyes and long blonde hair. She had the meanest look on her face like I had just insulted her.

I got back up and she punched my face.

"Why are you hitting me?" I asked her.

"So you'll go home! No one wants you here!" She yelled at me.

"Hey!" Vince's voice boomed.

Him and Cayla walked up to us and Cayla's jaw dropped when she saw me. Must be a pretty bad bruise.

"What?" The girl snapped.

"Leave her alone," Vince said.

"You know her better than I do. Why don't you tell her what everyone says?" She smirked.

I looked at Vince and Cayla stiffened. Everyone knew something I didn't. Even though I probably knew it deep down inside.

"Tell me. I won't get upset," I shrugged.

"A lot of people don't like you," he said.

I shrugged. "Okay."

"No, keep going," the blonde said.

"No. You need to get a life, Trisha. Stop putting other people down to make yourself feel better," he said.

"Oh come on," she rolled her eyes. "I don't fall for that."

I tried to escape to my class, but Trisha tripped me.

I saw nothing but darkness.

-

My eyes fluttered open in the nurses office. There was an ice pack on my head and Ms. Ames was sitting by my side.

"Ow," I said.

"She's up," Ms. Ames said.

A nurse came over to me and started asking routine questions. My name, where I lived, what happened. I gave her all the answers she needed and when I tried to sit up, she had me lay back down.

"You're bruised pretty badly. You may not want to sit up just yet," the nurse said.

"Trisha did this to you?" Ms. Ames asked.

"Yeah. I don't know why," I said.

"Well, she'll have to talk to the principal--"

"That'll just make things worse," I said.

"We can't let her get away with it," she said.

"I really don't care. I just wanna go home and sleep. This is why I don't think I'll make the year," I sighed.

"You'll make it. I'm here for you," Ms. Ames said.

I thought back to when my mom would give me words of encouragement like that. Like if I was nervous about an upcoming test, she'd tell me she had all the faith in the world in me that I'd pass. And if I failed, she never got mad. She always said that I would just have to try extra, extra hard next time.

And until Ms. Ames came into my life, I had gotten used to not hearing those kind words. She officially became my "mom." No one would ever replace the woman that gave birth to me, but Ms. Ames was definitely a good steady rock that I needed. She filled majority of my void of not having a mother growing up.

"How's your head?" Ms. Ames asked.

"Hurts," I answered honestly.

"Wanna try and sit up?" She asked.

I put my hand on the ice pack and Ms. Ames helped me slowly sit up. When I did, my head felt like a bowling ball. I grunted at the pain and pressed harder on the ice pack.

"Oh, good, you're sitting up. We tried calling your father, but the line has been disconnected--"

"I know," I said.

"Who's your legal guardian then?" The nurse asked.

"Me. I'm eighteen tomorrow," I said.

"Really?" Ms. Ames asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Well, who do we call in emergencies then?" The nurse asked.

I pointed to Ms. Ames. "Her."

"Ms. Ames, are you okay with--"

"Absolutely," she said.

The nurse left and Ms. Ames looked at me.

"Thank you," I said.

"I didn't do anything, sunshine," she laughed.

"You continuously help me," I said.

Before she could respond, I set the ice pack down, hugged her, and cried into her shoulder. She tried soothing me, but all I could think about was how much I missed my mom and how grateful I was that Ms. Ames would be so willing to take on that role in my life.