Restored

~7~

I didn't sleep all right, I became so much more awake and aware of everything around me. Everytjme I tried to sleep, I was interrupted by never ending, horrible thoughts. I kept thinking back to what Zach had said about me.

'Pretty'

A fact echoed in my head like a shout in a ravine. I felt it flow through me like blood in my veins.

Pity.

He didn't mean it. He felt bad. He would never mean it.

Many tears streamed down my cheeks as I sat looking out the window. I stared as the sky lightened slightly. I sighed as I knew I had to get ready for the day of school. Every movement, every thought, was followed by a grunt or a sigh. I didn't want to go to school after knowing how people see me, who I'm known as. While I put on my long, baggy jean shorts and a big nickleback t shirt, I was overly aware of what parts of my body were visible. I felt every brush of the baggy fabric graze my skin. I put on a belt I knew I didn't need, placed a smile on my face, and headed down to my kitchen. My mom had to leave for work this morning, so she wasn't able to make breakfast. I pushed the feeling of disappointment down as far as I could and kept going. I couldn't let myself eat today, but I wanted to so bad. I longed for the feeling of sweet, soft, syrup soaked pancakes. I wanted to eat, I couldn't.

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The ride to school with Zach was quiet, other than my abrupt yelps every time we took a sharp turn, and Zachs  laughter at my sounds. We pulled into school, and again, we immediately got looks. I kept my head up and walked straight to Zachs friends with him, keeping silent but holding a look of cheer on my face. Once we arrived at our group, everyone gave us looks of pain and pity, and my heart sank.

"Oh my god hun, I'm so sorry." Tarra said as she approached me and pulled me into a deep hug, I felt myself obsorb into her arms, fighting tears as I pulled back. Zach looked confused.

"Um.. what is happening?" He asked, looking at everyone, hoping for answers

"Bro, you haven't seen?" Asked Darik, opening his phone and holding it out for Zach to see. I caught a glimpse of his screen and winced slightly. It was the photo Theo had sent me. I saw the bold red letters, I saw everything, and it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. I felt sick but concealed it to not cause any more issues. Zach stared and stared. He stared for an eternity. We all watched his eyes move as he analyzed every pixel on the screen. Every small movement his eyes made, we watched his face tence. Every second, he grew more visibly angry. He looked away from the phone at me all I saw was hurt and anger.

"Who made that?" Was all he said.

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged, but I knew. I cleared my throat.

"It was um," I said, not knowing if I should say or not, Zach might do something bad, but looking at his face I couldn't lie to him, I just couldn't."Sophie Mason and Jackie Henderson sighed out. His face turned from pain to pure anger. I don't think I'd ever seen someone so infuriated just by a name. I looked around at everyone's faces, and they all seemed furious, I was so confused.

"Oh?" Zach said, tilting his head up and looking at the sky, taking deep breaths.

"Zach, don't." Mable said from her place behind Tarra, but clearly, Zach didn't listen. He turned around and began walking towards the school. He was set on wherever he was going, ignorning everyone telling him to come back. Darik sighed.

"I guess he's going now, oh well." He said, going back to his cigarette. He seemed much calmer compared to the girls. What was he going to do?

Just as I was going to ask, the bell rang. I walked in beside Bailey and ended up alone once I began heading to my class, sadly. I sat in class, not paying attention what so ever, but I knew the subject, so it wouldn't be the end of my life. I was just thinking about what would happen to Sophie and Jackie. I couldn't think of anything really bad. Actually, yes, I could, but I pulled away from ya know, murder and just thought of last night, everything that happened, I felt a pit in my stomach. I chased it away and decided to think about how pretty Zach is, I could think about that forever.