Book 1: Valentina

Chapter 5

Everything had gone blurry. Her ears had popped and her head was spinning. Artura got up from stool and stumbled towards the stairs. She heard Maggie calling her but she sounded like she was far away. Trying to place her foot on the first step she lost her balance and fell, hitting her face on the fourth step.

When she regained consciousness, Maggie was sitting in the chair beside the hospital bed. As soon as she saw Artura's hand move she jumped out of the chair.

" Artura, are you ok, dear?" She asked pushing her hair back from her forehead.

Although she had a concussion, she didn't forget what Maggie had told her about her mom's death. It was supposed to had been Artura who had died while her mom and her boyfriend went off to live in some fairytale fairy tale wonderland with a new child. Her heart was broken, shattered even, what had she done that was so bad that her mom would want her dead? He couldn't have promised her anything that he could've actually delivered.

Maggie was still standing there, stroking her hair, whispering sweet nothings at her bedside. No matter how much she told her that she was happy that it wasnt Artura who'd taken the knife to the throat, it didnt help. Trying to introduce a brighter side to this unfortunate event would be like trying to light a torch in a bottomless abyss. Pointless.

Artura was in the hospital for only five days, just long enough for the doctors to run all the tests they needed. Maggie only came for about an hour each visit and was gone for the rest of the time. She didn't know where she' d been disappearing off to, but she didn't care after the third day Maggie brought her a new phone.

"Hello?"

"Alex?"

"Maybe. Depends on who this is."

"Tura. Dipshit."

"Tura! No my goodness! I miss you so much! You sound so different." Alex exclaimed.

"Too much has happened, my dear friend." Artura replied sitting upright on the bed.

"Well, spill don't leave me dangling."

Over the next hour Artura filled Alex in on everything, the good and the horrid.

"They were planning to what!" Alex screamed.

" But that's enough about me. What's going on with you and lover boy?" Artura changed the subject.

"We are no more." Alex sighed into the phone.

"Why? What happened!?"

"How much time do you have?"

"Two days." Artura replied sarcastically.

" Well, get comfortable. Ok, so like a few weeks ago me and him were having a "play date" and I asked him when we were gonna get serious and he got mad and kicked me out. On the way out I walk slap into Candice. God if looks could kill, I would've been dead three times over. So I hear them get into an argument while I'm leaving because dear Jared pushed me out the door in his boxers. So of course by then she had her suspicions."

" So the next day at school, she kept giving me glares and she'd whisper to her friends, I didn't think anything of it, until the assembly when the cheerleaders put on a presentation. They had a PowerPoint presentation of all the texts and pictures that I'd sent Jared, but somehow, the texts were fixed to where it looked like I was a gay slut trying to turn a straight guy gay and make him leave his girlfriend for me."

"And if there was anyone in that gym who was confused as to whom they were slandering Candice walked up the bleachers stood next to me and said into the microphone, " Lady and Gentlemen, meet Alexander Hayes, the little fag that's trying, unsuccessfully, if I may add, to steal my boyfriend!", and that when I'd had enough so I stood up and whispered in her ear, " I can't steal something that keeps running back to me, sweetie." And tried to leave, but the football team was in on it to so by the time I made it out of the gym they grabbed me and dragged me into he locker room."

"The entire football team was there including, Jared, all eyes on me and they pushed me down onto my knees. Eric looked down at me and said something g along the lines of me being used to being on my knees and I told Jim that Jared should know my favorite position. Then Eric punched me in the face and just started hitting me, when I heard Jared, I was thinking, oh thank God, he's defending me." Alex sniffed into the phone, he was crying softly now.

"Do you know what he did Artura? He told Eric that he had it, and silly me thinking he's about to swoop in and carry me out of there, he told me that I was filthy, he told me that I was crazy and that I needed to stop harassing him and that fags like me, didn't deserve to walk on HIS earth like he was God. So I leaned forward and said, " Why would I have to walk when you offer me to ride you, every time we're alone." I said it loud enough for everyone to hear and this pissed him off and the next thing I know he's on top of me, beating the crap out of me and if that wasn't enough, he invited every one else to join in on the fun."

"When they were done I was barely coherent and they left me in some unknown county in the middle of the night. Some lady saw me and took me to the hospital and I was there for about a week until, I could leave. My mom wanted to press charges but I was too embarrassed, to talk about what happened so we moved." Jared finished.

Artura was dead silent on the other end of the phone, the only the Alex could hear to clarify that she was still there, were her constant sniffs.

"Tura, don't cry. Please it's over now." Alex strained.

"Alex, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left you. I should've said no to Maggie--

"No you don't get to do that! You don't get to feel sorry for yourself. You don't get to continuously play the protector, when you're the one who needs protecting. Tura, Im fine, my heart's shattered but I'm fine, I'm moving on. You don't have to always fight for me, you're all the way in New York. Leave the battle to me." Alex protested.

When she had hung up with Alex it was damn near midnight. She hadn't even realized that it had gotten dark out, she'd missed the conversations with her best friend, the gossip, the jokes, all of it. One downside was that they had always worn her out, so she put her phone on its charger and went to sleep.

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A/N: I've been having terrible writer's block for this story, but with Troye Sivan's music, I found inspiration.

How about Alex's story about him and Jared? I almost cried writing it, like level 3 betrayal!

This chapter was more about Alex and Artura catching up, I've and man was it something.

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