The Key To My Heart

Chapter Two

Leah's POV
At lunch, I finally managed to get through the lunch line without anyone dumping my tray or tripping me. I sat at my usual table, and Devan came over to sit with me.

"Hello again." I smiled weakly, opening my milk. He raised an eyebrow.
"What? They still picking on you?" I nodded slightly.
"They never stop. Even- never mind." He winced, guessing what I was going to say.
"Family as well?" I was terrified, leaning a little closer.
"You can't tell anyone. If they find out I told you...." He sighed.
"If you don't tell anyone, how are you going to get help so you can get out of there?!" He almost raised his voice, and I put a finger to my lips.
"Don't! I'll be alright! I'll be out of there in two years, once I turn eighteen. I'll survive." He looked like he wanted to argue.
"But what if you don't?" I sighed, stirring my butterscotch pudding around.
"What are you suggesting?" He relaxed a little bit.
"Come home with me after school. My parents can meet you, see if there's anything we can do about it. Is there anything you'd need to get from your house?" I nodded.
"I've got one suitcase with all my clothes and books in it. I don't have really anything sentimental. All my stuff fits in my backpack and a suitcase." I nodded.
"We'll swing by there, get the suitcase, and head for my place. I will call my mom, let her know what's going on. Okay?" I nodded. Then, he got up, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. As I finished my food, me got back.

"My parents said that's fine. We have a spare bedroom you can stay in for now, and you get to meet my brother." I chuckled.
"He's the one that can do magic, right?" He smiled.
"Yeah. And you might wanna let me go in first. He likes to prank me when I get home from school." I chuckled, heading to my next class as the bell rang. At the end of the day, as I was getting my books from my locker, my mind drifted. What was it going to be like, not having to wake up afraid of Kelly or my parents beating me up? Kelly never even mentioned me in interviews, so no one knew I existed. I felt a stabbing pain in my fingers, which jerked me out of my daydream.

"Ah!" I pulled my locker back open, freeing my hand. Three of my fingers were cut, and bleeding pretty badly. I grabbed a bandanna from my locker, wrapping it around my fingers as I headed out. I passed Kara, Lauren, Allyson and Abigail, who were laughing. I saw Devan, and I smiled a bit. We talked about the YouTube channel his brother had, and the videos they had done together. As we rounded the corner to my house, I didn't see my parents car in the driveway, but I did see Kelly's.

"Alright. I'll be right back. My house is the next one, so I'll be right back. Only my sister is home. I should be able to get out pretty quickly." He nodded, but came to the fence dividing the two houses. I dropped my backpack on the other side of the fence, and climbed up the tree, sliding the window open. I dropped my suitcase out, and then I felt a pain in my knees. Kelly. She punched the back if my knees, and when I collapsed, she kicked me in the chest over and over again, hitting my face as well. I pushed her away, scrambling out into the tree. I lost my grip on the last couple branches, and fell, struggling to catch my breath. I grabbed the suitcase, and Devan took the other side of it. I heard Kelly slam the window as I pulled my backpack on.

"Wow. I saw her at the window beating up on you, I'm guessing?" I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.
"Yeah. I'm alright, though. She's not the worst. That's my dad. How far to your house?" He led me down a different street, after I almost headed back to the school.
"About a mile. Not too bad. My mom or dad usually take me to school, and my dad works, and my mom runs errands depending on the day. She'll be there when we get home, so you can meet her." We walked silently, and then we rounded a corner to an area with larger houses.

"The one with the bushes in front of it is ours. And.....yep. My brother's home, and probably has some kind of prank set up. As soon as I finish my homework, he wants me to film a video with him." I nodded, still in awe of the size of the houses. We got to the door, and he opened it silently, putting a finger to his lips. There was someone in the kitchen, digging in the refrigerator for something. Then, he hollered to someone else.

"Hey, mom! Do we have any more string cheeses?!" Then, Devan slid his backpack off silently, and jumped at him, yelling.
"Yaaaahhhhh!!" The other guy dropped the tortillas he was holding, and screamed. I tried not to laugh, but he sounded like a girl, and I couldn't help it. Devan got back up, and I doubled over, laughing.

"Alright, alright. I'm glad someone got a kick out of that. Collins." He took my free hand, and I didn't realize it was the cut hand.
"Ah! Sorry! That hurt. Leah." Collins gently pulled the bandanna off, wincing at the sight of my bloody hand.
"You didn't tell me about that! What happened?" I peeled the bandanna all the way off, wincing when it stuck to the dried blood on the cut.
"Locker door. It's happened several times before, and on the same hand." Collins had run upstairs, and was coming back down with a blond haired, middle aged woman who they looked fairly similar to. She smiled warmly when she saw me.

"You must be Leah. I'm Anne, these two rascals mother. Now, what did I hear about a cut hand?" Devan showed her my hand, and she led me upstairs, telling them to take my things to the guest room. She took me to a bathroom, where she cleaned the cut and bandaged it. It hurt even worse, but it might get better quickly this time. We came back downstairs, and Devan sprayed both of us with pancake batter, nearly 'dying' my brown hair blonde.

"Devan, what happened?!" Collins grinned at me.
"I was told to shake up this pancake batter. 'Oh, it'll be fine, Devan. Nothing is gonna happen!' Yeah, right." Collins laughed.
"And we haven't even started filming yet! I have a feeling this is gonna be a good video. For sure." We all laughed as Devan repeated his last two words. We filmed the video, and I sat on a counter in the background, which they thought was awesome. Afterwards, I went to shower and get the batter out of my hair.
This is amazing already. I just hope it lasts.

Author's note- Hello! I think I got all my spelling right this time! Again. I apologize. And yes, there is a blond haired girl sitting on the counter in this video. If you noticed her, put a random emoji in the comments! Thanks for reading!