Taming Life

Grateful

Six months ago today Alex got out of hospital. We had now been together for nine months, not that they had been easy at all. But neither of us would trade those nine months for anything in the world.

Alex's father got 2 years in prison. We were all shocked when he confessed to all that he had done, but it made Alex feel slightly better that he had. It meant that maybe some part of him was human, and felt guilty for what he'd done. Alex refuses to see him in prison, and everyone understands why. Her mum sees him once a week, and none of us really understand why she can see a monster like that, but love does strange things to people, especially when you're weak. Alex's mum was released, as she never actually hurt Alex, but she was on caution from the police and wasn't allowed custody of her. Alex sees her once a month, and it's a little awkward but she says that it's for the best. Alex now lives with her Aunt Gina, Uncle Felix and Amanda. She's so much happier there. Her and Amanda have rooms next to each other and they treat her like she should be treated. She stays at my house all of the time and I go there too, and even though she's not a few minutes away from me, being a village away from one another isn't so bad, for Alex's happiness it's nothing. Her bruises faded after a while, and she still has a few scars but I kiss them all the time and tell her how beautiful she is, and slowly, slowly, she is starting to believe me. Watching her gain her confidence back is just beautiful.

Alex now sits with me at lunch. We have a little gang of us, me, Alex, Calum, Ryan and sometimes Lily. We were all quite happy say together, and Ryan was really nice. He and Calum were together now and I'd never seen Calum so happy. We'd been on a double date and it was so much fun. I honestly thought that they'd last, like me and Alex. Ever since everything that happened, me and Alex had been closer than ever. We spent as much time as we could with each other, and even when people at school gave us weird looks we didn't care, and it was such a good feeling. Ever since we came out slowly people have started to accept us. Alex would do anything to defend me and it made me happy.

"Good morning beautiful." I said, as Alex rolled over, yawning. Her hair was messy, and some of it was stuck to her forehead as it had been warm in the night. She hadn't taken her makeup off properly and some of her mascara had streamed down her cheeks, and a spot was coming on in her chin. But she was beautiful, breathtaking. There was a scar on her collarbone from where she broke it, and I kissed it like I did every morning. I travelled down her body kissing all of her scars and telling her how incredible she is.
"I love you." I said, as I moved back up to her face and kissed her. She smiled into the kiss as she kissed me back.
"What would I do without you?" She said, and I hugged her. We sighed and rolled out of bed five minutes later, and got dressed quickly. We brushed our teeth next to each other, smiling as we fought to spit in the sink. This didn't always end well, as Alex had once spit toothpaste on my face by mistake and we'd ended up having a toothpaste war with each other (I won). As soon as we were ready we went downstairs and ate pancakes with my family that mum had made. Turns out that I eat breakfast now.

"I'm nervous, Haze." Alex said, as we stood in line. It was our GCSE results day, and I'd had to hold Alex as we fell asleep last night so that she didn't have a panic attack. She'd been having those since everything with her dad.
"So am I, but you've got this. And even if you didn't pass...that subject, then you can retake next year, okay baby? And I'll help tutor you again and I'll still be just as proud of you." I said, kissing her cheek. She smiled and nodded.
"Okay. That helps." She said. Suddenly we were at the front and one of our teachers asked Alex to sign, and then me. We were given envelopes with our GCSE results in. We both moved away from the line and from other people opening their results. I could already hear tears, and parents congratulating their sons and daughters. I'd made my parents stay in the car, I thought it would be easier this way.
"Let's open it together, okay?" I said, and Alex nodded.
"1, 2, 3..." Alex said, and we opened them together. I scanned my results, and was surprised to see various As, Bs and C's. Not a single fail. I was so happy, and surprised. Around exam time stress had gotten to me a lot and I was worried that this would affect my grade.
"How did you do, Al?" I asked. Alex had a blank expression as she read through her grades, and I could quite tell if she'd done well or not.
"I passed English. I ACTUALLY PASSED ENGLISH!" Alex exclaimed, hugging me tightly. "I couldn't have done it without you!"
"Well done baby! I'm so so proud of you, I knew you could do it!" I said, squeezing her hand. Who knew that from not getting on at all, and coming from two totally different worlds, we would get to be here? I certainly didn't, but I was incredibly grateful for it.
I'd figured out what I was supposed to do in life, what I'd been missing. And I was so grateful for that.