Love And War (On Hold)

Нαℓℓσωєєи

J a z l y n

"You can't even see it." I said, slowly applying foundation to my face to cover the bruising.

"It shouldn't be there," Talia snapped.

"Talia." Kayla said, warning her to calm down.

"Don't get mad at me. You acting like I did something to you." I said, rolling my eyes. I know she's upset but she needs to check her attitude. I am not in the mood. "It" happened yesterday and I am still really fucking sore. When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror, I freaked out.

My eye and lips are a little swollen but my cheek and nose are bruised and a dark purplish color. Half of my face looks like it was hit by a car. My stomach hurts when I take a breath, touch it or move in any way, and my chest feels like somebody dropped a bowling ball on it.

The good thing about not giving a fuck about how you look at school is that I can wear sweatpants and a black shirt with some mocassins and not think twice about it. Talia's skin tone is lighter than mine, so using her foundation made me look pale, but it hid most of my bruises.

I was walking to Anatomy when Davon decided to start walking with me.

"Sup Jazlyn?" he asked, keeping pace with me.

"Bye." I said, not looking at him.

"C'mon girl I'm tryna be nice and that's how you do me?" he said, playing the innocent card.

"Davon, go away." I said, getting slightly irritated.

"Nah, I'm tryna see wassup with me and you," he smirked.

I scoffed. "Nothing nigga. Bye." I walked faster, ignoring the pain coursing through my body. The smirk fell off his face and he stopped in front of me.

"Oh aight. I gotchu." He looked around and then slid two twenty dollars bills into the front of my sweatpants. My eyebrowns flew up. This nigga did not just - I punched him in the chest twice. He staggered a little and I pushed him into a locker.

"Stay the fuck away from me." The few people left in the hallway stared at us. I flipped my hair and hurried to class but, of course, I was late.

My teacher didn't care so I didn't sweat it. I overreacted. Kinda. Usually, I would've just slapped the shit outta him, but him putting his hands on me made me think about John and I just spazzed. Just because I didn't fight John last night didn't mean I can't fight. You can't survive in The Brooks without knowing how to defend yourself.

There's a difference between knowing when you're going to lose and when you should fight. You have to pick your battles. Fighting John would not have done shit, but piss him off and land me in the hospital or worse.

I'm not gonna lie and say I'm fine because I'm not. I feel like somebody is always sneaking up behind me. I'm jumping at every little thing. It's driving me crazy. My emotions are outta control. I need to get it together before tonight. I'm not gonna ruin everybody's night because I'm being paranoid.

                            ***

I rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, Paige opened the door.

"Hey," she said with a smile.

"You look so pretty." Paige complimented Lexi.

Lexi was wearing a white sparkly dress with matching wings, off-white flats and a white, fuzzy halo attached to her hair by a headband and some bobby pins. I was wearing the less 'G' rated version of her angel outfit- a white long-sleeved crop top, white skinny jeans, gold wrap-around sandals, white angel wings, and a white halo.