The New Girl

Dominic

By the time lunch swung around, my day didn't get any better. It was pretty much all downhill after I ran into that teacher with the flyers.

Ayden and Bennet were pretty good at getting the message that said please refrain from asking about my leaving during the assembly. I wish I could say the same for Colton and Dakota.

Finally lunch came around and I was thankful to be able to call my brother to see how he's doing and how he feels about going out with Ayden and I.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." I told Ayden as I stood up, putting my hand on his shoulder to help push myself up.
"We'll be here." He said, flashing me one of his infamous grins.

After exiting the cafeteria, I turned a couple corners so I was a fair distance from the population of the school.

"Good afternoon, Gabs." Dominic answered.
"No it's not." I mumbled leaning against the lockers, adding a sigh.
"What's up?" He asked. "Is everything okay?"
"Firstly, today was that annual bullying awareness assembly every school has." He knew exactly what I meant by that and he knew why that effected my day.

It's been two weeks since my brother tried to kill himself. It was too soon to have to realize that had i not gone upstairs looking for my brother, one of those stories could've been him. Way too soon.

"Then, I talked to one of my teachers about my past at Seneca. I just wanted what happened at Seneca to stay at Seneca, but I couldn't have that. I'm sorry, I sound selfish."

This is what happens! This is exactly why what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas - despite that I lived right outside of Vegas.

"Anyway, to add on to all of that, apparently they have a father/daughter dance here." I pretended to smile, even though it was obvious he couldn't see me.

"Mom is gonna come pick you up, Gabs. You're having a horrible day and I don't want it to get worse."
"Dom-" I was cut off by the line going dead. Great.

Ayden was already suspicious that I left the assembly early, that I was late for our second period, and that I was being kind of short with him. Now we can add on to that list with the fact I'm leaving early.

I sighed and went back to cafeteria, squeezing back in next to Bennet and Ayden. I leaned my head on Ayden's shoulder tiredly.

"My mom is picking me up." I whispered while everyone else was engaged in their own private conversations.
"Are you okay, Gabby? Be real with me, please." Ayden asked as he looked at me, causing my head to fall on his chest, rather than his shoulder.
"Dom thought I sounded too tired and talked my mom into picking me up." I lied - it was bad how easily that came to me. I was getting better at lying and that made me ashamed of myself.
"Oh okay." He readjusted himself again so he was facing Emma and Colton across the table. I think Ayden was beginning to be able to tell that I'm lying and that wasn't good.

At the end of lunch, Mrs. Tener came to me and handed me a dismissal passed. I felt bad for having Dom let mom pick me up, but that's all I wanted to do right now.

It's 6 and a half more months, Gabs, you can keep yourself in line for 6 more months.

"Where's Dom?" I asked my mom. She signed her name on the dismissal pass and we started our way out of the school.
"In the car." She motioned to where Dom had the window rolled down, sitting in the passenger seat.
"You're a butt, you know that?" I chuckled and got in the seat behind him.

Instead of taking us straight home, Mom stopped at Taco Bell because apparently Dom has been craving that - claiming hospital food is probably worse than prison food.