Deal With It By: Audrey B. Holley

Chapter 22

Days later, it is time for school. The dreaded image of Billy screams at me. Have they sent him off to his punishment, or will I be met with the face of a callous boy who harmed me? 

I've dressed myself in a blue long sleeve shirt, and black skinny jeans. My feet wear my brown boots.

When I step foot into the kitchen, mother greets me with a worried look. "Honey, you don't have to go."

I shake my head. "No mom. I've spent the last 4 days of winter break stuck in my room under the covers. Surely, I'm ready."

Breakfast zips by, and now I'm in the passenger seat of my brothers car. His hands clench the steering wheel.

"If he even glances at you, I'm going to rip out his eye balls, and he'll be a blind man for the rest of his life."

"David, please don't do anything stupid. I'm sure they've already warned the principle of the incident, and he'll certainly take care of him when he gets the chance."

"Keelie, he tore your shirt, and your coat. He did inappropriate things. I hope he gets his dick chopped off. He doesn't deserve any sympathy with what's about to come to him."

I blink back tears, and stare at my limp hands that lay in my lap. "You're right." I mumble.

Just as we pull into the parking lot of school, my heart beats frantically.

Keep cool Keelie. I tell myself.

David waves at me before fading into the chaos of the halls. I manage to push past the crowd of teenaged bodies, and end up in my first period class. 

Benjie smiles as I make my way to my seat.

Just as I pop a squat, Maria exclaims, "Keelie! OMG! You will not believe this!" She snakes an arm in the crook of Jimmys muscles. "Jimmy and I are dating! When I heard you and Benjie were a thing, I figured we should double date sometime." She exposes a set of pearly white teeth when she stretches her mouth open into a wide smile. 

"Sounds good." I say simply.

She tosses her blond hair over her shoulder. "Have you done anything exciting since the party?"

Yeah, my brother gave an epic speech about the importance of Christmas, I'm getting over my best friends death, oh and I almost forgot, Billy Yarden tried to do the dirty on me, and gave me bruises.

 "Not really," I fib, and flicker my eyes to Jimmy's frown, and then back to her oblivious face. "How about you?"

She rambles on about her parents getting her a brand new car as a Christmas present, and how muscle man over here decided to man up and spill his confession of love for her.

"That's awesome." I say when she stops for a breather.

"So yeah, it's been pretty good." She's practically glowing with bliss.

Mrs. Darthy intrudes our discussions by saying, "OK class, if you remember, I gave you a task to write an essay over something important to you. We will begin the presentations tomorrow. Today is a day so you can add in the finishing touches of your assignment." She then busies herself with some paper work on her disorderly desk.

* * * * *

The bell is about to indicate our dismissal of first period, and then the dismayed beginning of our second class.

I struggle to fight off the fear yawning through my body. Jimmy seems to sense my discomfort.

The bell sounds.