Stronger

chapter 1

"I don't want to live here!" I yelled "I hate it!!" I was yelling at my abusive alcoholic stepfather and my drug addicted alcoholic mother. I grabbed the small duffel bag I had packed and stormed out of the house. I ran as fast as I could to the bus station. I paid to get on and sat in the last seat. I must have fallen asleep because i was woken up by the bus driver yelling. "You guys gotta get off now. This is the last stop." I thought i was the only one on the bus but there was another girl. She looked like she'd been beaten. She got off and headed to the left. I was headed to the right. But something inside told me to chase after her. "Hey, Miss! Wait up!" I yelled. When I caught up with her, I could see that she was cold. I took off my hoodie and put it around her. I walked beside her but we said nothing. We found an open hotel. I got enough money together and paid for a few nights. We simply passed out as soon as we hit the pillows on our separate beds.

I woke up to find she was still asleep, or so I thought. I walked back into the room to find her sitting in the center of the bed with her face in her hands. "Um, we haven't exactly introduced ourselves. I'm Rocky." I said. "You are...?" "Izabella." She said softly. Her voice is so beautiful. I'm obviously not going to tell her that though. "Well, Izabella, why were you out so late last night?" I asked. "I mean I know its none of my business but I would like to help if I can." She spoke softly again. "I ran away and I can never go back. What about you?" I know we're strangers but I'm already in love, I thought to myself. I sat down next to her. "I ran away too. I have an alcoholic drug addicted mother and an alcoholic abusive stepfather." I continued to talk to her like she was an old friend of mine. "He uh beat me and raped me because he thinks he can 'change me'." "What do you mean by 'change' you?" She asked in her sweet soft and angelic voice. "He can't accept the fact that I'm a lesbian. So he's raped me everyday since I came out to try to get me to like penis again." I wasn't ashamed to tell her but her response surprised me. "Thats sort of the same reason I left. My dad was always working and when I finally sat him down to talk to him a month ago, to tell him im bisexual, he flipped. He took my phone and locked me in my room. He tried to convince me many times to not like girls and to be the daughter he wanted. After awhile, he stopped trying. One day, he came in my room and asked me if i was 'cured'. I obviously said "No dad." He sighed and left. The next day, he came in with this friend of his. He told me that if i could not change myself then it would have to be done forcibly. That friend raped me everyday. Sometimes more than once a day. The thing is though he was gentle. He acted apologetic sometimes, like he regretted it. If i asked him to stop, he would. But he still listened to my dad. My dad was a candidate for governor and he preaches sometimes at the church. I guess he didn't want to disrespect the lord by having a bisexual daughter. I finally got out and he probably doesn't know I'm gone." As she finished a tear began rolling down her cheek, I wiped it away. When she talked I felt like it was my duty to listen to her. I looked down at her wrists. Then, I looked at my own wrists. I could see we had another thing in common. I took off all my bracelets. I reached over and picked up her hand. "May I?" I asked. She nodded. I slowly took off each bracelet. I noticed there was a lot of dried blood on her wrists. I walked into the bathroom and brought back a wet towel. I cleaned off all the blood. "So tell me about yourself, Rocky." Izabella said. "Well..." I began. "My favorite colors are red and purple. I love pizza and horror movies. I lost my virginity at 12. I realized I was a lesbian at 14. My dad died of cancer when I was 5. My mom married Sir Asshole when I was 8. I hate Mondays. I've tried every alcoholic drink known to man. I've made a lot of mistakes. I want a new start in life." I nudged her. "What about you?" She smiled her beautiful smile. "Okay, I'm also 17. My favorite color is blue. I also love pizza and horror movies. My mom died of cancer when I was 3. Honestly, I'm so happy to be out of there. I know we're gonna be really close even though we just met." Izabella said. I simply replied, "me too." By the time we were done talking, it was late. I didn't even go over to my bed.

When I woke up, I had my arms around her. I slowly crawled out of the bed and got in the shower. I tried to stop thinking about her but I couldn't. When I got out of the shower, she was awake. We didn't say anything as she passed me to get in the shower. When she was done in the shower and sitting on the bed, I started the conversation. "Hey, do you want to play 21 questions?" I asked not sure of her answer. "Sure, but I'll ask you the questions first." I laughed and did a 'go on' motion with my hand. We laughed. "Okay, question 1: if you could be anything in the world, what would you be?" She asked. "A teacher. I wanna teach kids in a different way." I said. "I agree. I think teachers are not teaching the way students need to be taught nowadays." She said. I think shes out of my league. "Okay, question 2: why are you being so nice to someone you just met?" She asked. Damn, I gotta be honest. "Because I feel an attraction between us and I think we have a lot in common. And honestly it feels like we've known each other for years." After I answer, she just simply blushed and bit her lip. As if it was supposed to catch my attention, she said, "For the record, when I bite my lip around someone, it means I want to kiss them." Now that caught my attention. I looked away hiding my smile. When I turned back, she bit her lip again. So I slowly leaned in closer. Am I really about to kiss her?, I thought to myself. Our lips touched. I put my hand on her cheek. At first there was nothing, then all of a sudden there was a feeling like neither one of wanted to separate. For a few minutes we didnt move, then she pulled away slowly. She looked away trying to hide her smile but I seen it. I also smiled. "Okay question 3: Do you think you'll ever wanna go home?" I had to think about this for a moment. "I um I don't want to go back to what I left. What about you?" I wasn't sure what she qaa gonna say. "I agree." She finally said. We decided to go for a walk. As we walked, our hands touched. She blushed. I pulled out my wallet. There was $1.32. But then I found an emergency credit card my uncle had given me awhile ago. I looked up and smiled. "Let's go shopping!" I took her hand and we ran into American Eagle. We ended up spending almost $200. At the hotel, we sorted through everything. As we were trying on everything, we were just laughing. Laughing at how much of a good time we were having. Her smile is all I could look at. That is until, she takes her shirt off and grabs another one. She catches me looking ans blushes but turns away. There was a knock on the door. "Hello, Rocky? C'mon open up." The faceless voice said. I panicked. "Put on a shirt." I whispered to Izabella. She dis as I asked and quickly cleaned up the mess of new clothing. I opened the door. Standing there was my 19 year old cousin, Michael. "Mike....hi." I said unsure of what to say. "Hi. Can I come in?" He said in his ruggedly smooth voice. I nodded. He shyly waved at Izabella and turned to me. "At least give me a hug." He said smiling. Its been 5 years. We hugged tightly. "I'm being rude. Mike, this is Izabella." I said walking over to her. "My girlfriend." As soon as the word rolled off my tongue, I regretted it. But she blushed and smiled as shook Mike's hand. He turned to me again. "Why are you here? Why'd you leave? What happened?" He asked a million questions at once. I just simply said "Sit. I'll explain." We sat down at the small table. It felt like the hours were running by. When I was done, he hugged me as tight as he could. I buried my face in his chest. "What's been up with you?" I asked him. "My dad remarried. I got twin sisters. I don't go out much." He stretched. "I was in the kitchen making a sandwich and the phone rang. It was the bank. No one was home so I took a message. They said an old credit card had been used by two teenage girls heading to the Holiday Inn. I remembered he gave it to you." He hugged me. "Well, I gotta get going." He said. I walked him to the door. As he walked down the hall, he turned. "Love you, Rocks." He said. "I love you too, Mikey." I said. I turned back into the room. "So y'all are cousins? " Izabella said as we sat down at the small table. "Tell me about him." "When we were kids we were really close. He protected me. But he moved a couple years ago." I said. She took my hand. She wiped the tear that was rolling down my cheek. She stood up and sat on my lap. I leaned in closer and she met me in the middle. I picked her up and she tightened her grip on my neck. I laid on top of her and started kissing her neck. She slipped out from under me. "I'm sorry. I thought I'd be ready but..." She said as she put her face in her hands. I sat up and put my hand on her back. "Hey, its okay." I said. She looked at me with her soft gray and baby blue eyes. "Really, you'd wait?" She asked laying back down beside me. "Of course." I kissed her forehead. "Let's get some sleep." I said and we drifted off to sleep.

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