𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

Holly woke up the next morning almost completely oblivious as to what happened the night before. As she opened her eyes, she felt a slight pain on her cheek, but thinking nothing of it, she just decided to ignore it. 

Holly grabbed her school clothes and headed into her bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. It was when she looked in the mirror that she noticed it. A small, red gash on her left cheek. Holly's eyes widened with shock as she moved her hand up to touch it ever so gently. The second her finger made contact with the wound, she winced inn pain. "Fuck." Holly whispered under her breath as she closely examined the cut. 

The longer she stared at it, the more she remembered the events of last night. She felt her stomach tie itself into little knots. What was she going to tell the boys? Even worse, what was she going to tell her dad? Holly tried to shake off the anxiety by just getting into the shower. 

She washed the wound as best she could, she was careful with how forceful she was in the process. 

Around 5 minutes later, Holly stepped out of the shower and continued on her with her daily routine. As she was brushing her teeth she kept staring at the cut, and with each second that passed, the more she thought about it. That was when she realised- it wasn't all that noticeable after all. She applied a light layer of makeup like she usually did, and went downstairs to leave for school.

She greeted her father warmly, but she was met with an undesirable expression. "What the fuck happened to you?" Her father stressed, gesturing towards the gash that lay upon her skin. Holly was quick to think up an excuse. "Oh, I was in the shower and I slipped." She chuckled nervously, holding her hand up to hide the wound from view. Her father was still slightly suspicious, but he was completely unaware as to what went down the night before so he was able to let it slide almost too easily. 

"Alright, well, if it gets any worse at school today, come straight home, got it?" He instructed, walking over to Holly and pulling her into a hug. Holly. nodded as she grabbed her bag and walked outside to the car with her father.

When she got to school, the first person she saw was Henry. He walked up to Holly, greeting her cheerfully. Unexpectedly, his beaming expression seemed to fail once he laid his eyes on the very obvious cut on her face. His gaze hardened, but in more of a worried way rather than an angry one. His smile seemed to fade as he kept examining it. "And what the fuck is that?" He interrogated, pointing to her wound just as Holly's father had. 

Holly blushed with embarrassment as she put her hand up to shield it from his view - just as she had done with her father earlier that morning. "It's nothing, okay? I just slipped and fell in the shower this morning." She explained, hoping it would be enough to please her protective friend. Technically though, she wasn't actually lying. She really had slipped and fallen, it was just the time placement she altered. She had to tailor the story, there was no way she could ever tell anyone what had really happened. 

Henry stood there, analysing her facial expressions in an attempt to catch her in a lie. Part of him knew she wasn't being truthful, but he couldn't prove anything. He had already started formulating his own theories about what had happened to her, and to him, there were only 2 possibilities. 1, she had an argument with her dad that went wrong, and 2, she had gotten into some altercation with Taylor that she wasn't telling him about. 

He nodded slowly, sort of emphasising his distrust in her statement to Holly herself, but she failed to catch on. "Look, if you need to talk about anything with me, I'm here for you okay?" He reassured, reaching out his hand to intertwine with hers. It was little things like this that Holly loved, but they both knew they could never do them in public, for both their sakes. Holly shot Henry a slight 'bro wtf' look, and he quickly retracted his arm. Luckily nobody saw. "I do know that I can come to you, and I promise that if I need anything, I will. But right now, I'm fine. Really." She insisted, giving him an innocent look. He could still tell she was lying. He knew the look she had in her eyes when she was about to lie. However, there was nothing he could do, so he let it slide. 

The bell sounded, and the pair decided to walk to class together as they both had first period together. As they navigated through the school, they saw Ryan in passing. The auburn haired boy took note of Holly and her ailment, and gave her what seemed like a faint smile. She requited. Henry noticed this and turned to her. "What's that about?" He questioned, his voice dropping an octave or two. Holly looked up to him with quizzical eyes. "What do you mean?" The tall, blonde boy rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean, Holly. I'm talking about that Reece boy smiling at you." Holly would never ever admit this publicly, but she loved when Henry was protective of her. It definitely fucked with her head and her heart when he did things like that. 

"His name is Ryan, and he's just being friendly." She reassured, giving him a look of security. Henry returned her look with a raised eyebrow and an extremely disapproving gaze. "Yes, because boys like him smile at girls like you just to be 'friendly'." He insinuated, speaking in an exaggerated mocking like voice when he said the word 'friendly'. Holly's expression froze. "Girls like me?" She questioned, with a mix of both concern and bewitchment in her voice. These same emotions were transferred into her eyes. 

Henry stood still. "You know what I mean." He spoke sternly. Holly mocked him. "No, I don't. I think you need to tell me." The boy stuttered for a moment. "Girls like you are like, cool I guess." 

To any onlookers, Henry's remark would seem bitchy and sarcastic, but not to Holly. Holly knew that Henry wasn't exactly the emotional type, especially not in public, so Henry's sentiment, though small and insignificant to everyone else, meant the absolute world to her. She shot him a large, beaming smile and the both of them continued their walk to class.