Your Second Half [Completed]

I'm Here

After school on Mondays are possibly the slowest. There are no clubs or sports meeting on Monday...so no people. I'm here for tutoring and when I say tutoring, I mean having someone else do my homework while I pretend to be listening. OR I can copy Ashlyn tomorrow morning! Yes! Just saved $20.

As I begin to turn the corner I hear some yelling. I stop and peak around to see what's going on. Oh my gosh. Why does Cory have Marcel pinned to the lockers? "It would of cost you if she said no." "I did what you told me to do." What is he talking about?

"It better go well, or else I'll be back and I wont just yell at you!"

He scarcely nodded. "And stay away from her! She's mine!"

"You just saved your face, Styles" he says as he punches him in the stomach. Marcel doubles over in pain.

That's a side of Cory I never thought I'd see. I feel weak and stupid for not intervening but I was honestly frightened. I wonder how Marcel felt.

After I was sure that Cory was gone I ran to Marcel. He had slid down the lockers and had his head hung low. I kneeled down in front of him, "Are you okay?" He looked up, "Lori?" I nodded, "I-I saw what happened. You should go to the nurse." "I'm fine...really." I shook my head and helped him up. He didn't protest when I took him down the hall. The silence between us was deafening.

"Hello young lady, what seems to be the problem?" the sweet nurse asked me. I glanced behind me to Marcel to indicate that he was the one with the problem. "Marcel, what happened this time?"

this time?

She takes him to one of the many beds and lies him down. I sat on another bed next to his, not wanting to leave him on his own. The nurse leaves to the freezer to retrieve an icepack. She sits besides Marcel and wraps a paper towel around the pack. "Lift your shirt." He hesitantly does as told. My eyes widened at the sight. He had all sorts of dark colors littered across his abdomen. I didn't notice that when I went over to his house. There were shades of blues, grays and purples. It made my heartbreak, knowing that these bruises were there and kept appearing.

The nurse laid the pack on his new bruise, the newest of his 'collection', and he winced. "Who was it?" she asked. "Cory..." he spoke softly. I covered my mouth with both hands, wanting nothing more than to remove all the scars he had and pain he must feel. He looked at me and lightly smiled, basically telling me 'I'm gonna be fine.'

It amazed me that after all the bruises, that I had no idea about, he still managed to smile and act as if it was a normal thing. Was it a normal thing? For him maybe and that made me want to scream. People work differently these days and for the worst. Who could go around hurting people and not feel some sort of remorse?

"Keep this here for another 20 minutes and you should be fine" the nice lady said and went back to her desk.

I just sat there with my elbows on my knees and my hands clasped together in front of my mouth. No words. My leg bounced as I waited for an answer to my mental question. Why?

"Say something" he whispered.

"What is there to say?" He just shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me this was going on?" I asked. "It's not really a topic of interest" he smiled. "How can you smile in a situation like this?" "If you were me, you'd learn to smile." "How many?"

How many what?" "How many times has this happened Marcel?"

He shakes his head, ashamed, "I've lost count. Since...freshman year." "W-why haven't you told anyone or Mr. Harvey?" Mr. Harvey was our principal and a crappy one at that.

"Never had anyone to talk to..." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently, "Well I'm here."

***

Driving to this movie theater...where I really don't want to go. Marcel asked me what I was going to do about Cory and I told him I'm still going on the date. He was confused as to why. I simply told him 'He threatened you, Marcel and I won't let him hurt you'.

I parked my car and got out. I walked to the entrance and saw Cory waiting by the ticket booth. He looked nice. Cory wasn't a bad looking guy. He had short, red, hair and was pretty muscular compared to other guys. But the anger in his eyes when he threatened Marcel made me want to hate him.

"Hey Lori, I'm glad you came."

did i have a choice?

"Glad to be here"...lies.

"I already have our tickets, shall we go in?" I nodded and we went inside the theater.

I swear, this movie is so depressing. People kept looking at me strangely when I'd giggle. Wasn't my fault, Cory kept saying things into my ear making me laugh...mostly fake.

That Wednesday feeling came and I gripped onto my arm rest, tightly. I tensed as the feeling got stronger and harder to contain. The tingles became more rapid and left me squirming in my seat.

When the movie had finished, I actually had started taking a liking to Cory. Too bad he was a manipulative douche. He walked me to my car and he kept talking about how great a time he had and how the movie wasn't as he expected. HE wasn't who I excpected. "Was it worth the wait?" I jokingly asked. "Definitely." He stared at me for a little while. Please don't do what I think you're about to do. He started leaning in...dammit. I acted fast and laid my hand on his shoulder, leaned up and swiftly kissed his cheek. "Goodnight Cory" I said and got into my car.

***

Thursday, Marcel walked into the booth with the hugest smile on his face. I had been waiting for him but sent him to talk to Summer for a while. I was on my phone when he pranced in. "What are you so happy about?" I asked. Summer gave Marcel her number Tuesday after school because of 'lighting issues', well that's the reason I told Marcel to tell her. They've been texting since, even though that really isn't on Marcel's repertoire. 

He gave me his phone and his message screen was open. I read through them.

S: I'm still having trouble figuring out which sounds I should use.

M: I can help. I work with all technical stuff in theater.

S: You'd do that? :D

M: Yeah

S: Great! Can we meet some place and we can talk more?

"OMG that's great! You got a date!" I exclaim. "Yeah, thanks to you." I smile, "When is it?" "Saturday..." "This Saturday!?" "Yeah, is there something wrong?" "No, not at all. Just...soon. Okay, I'll come over tomorrow to get you prepped. We can work on some things and...oooh I'm so proud!" I hop out of my seat and wrap my arms around his shoulders. He squeezes me tight with his arms around my waist. "Thank you, Lori" he mumbles into my hair.

The unfamiliar pang of my heart makes me weak.

A/N: Sooo...how about that chapter?

Make sure to favorite this story! Oh and comment...please. It keeps me motivated.

-Mone'