Drag Me Through Hell

Chapter 1

Isabelles P.O.V.
I felt the soft, fluffy fur of my cat slide across my face as she quietly meowed, almost begging me to wake up so she could be fed and continued until she could visibly see she had woken me up. The cold fall breeze, but warm sunlight fell on my face. I turned onto my other side and saw the curtains waving from the wind, that my open window let in.
I pulled off the covers and immediately regretted it as the cold air sent goosebumps across my body. I put on my slippers and went downstairs to feed my cat, who continued quietly meowing, as the small fluffy calico followed me. I put food in her bowl and went back upstairs to brush my teeth, the cold air still giving me goosebumps as I walked into the bathroom. I changed my clothes, brushed my teeth, and did my hair.
     I finished doing my space buns and did thick  eyeliner and put on dark red lipstick. I used extra foundation and concealer to cover up the small, dark bruise on my jawline and cheekbone that I got from Jace, my ex boyfriend. I broke up with him last night, because I told him I wanted to focus on my school work and that he should too, he was understandably upset, but took it too far.
*Last Night*
        I walked up to Jace's apartment. I swallowed the lump in my throat a knocked on his door. I was terrified to tell him, but I had to. I knew he wouldn't be happy, I'm not either, but it's for the best. We're both going to be seniors next year and thats the most important year of high school, we both need to be focused if we want to go to a good college.
        He answered the door in sweatpants and a hoodie. I immediately looked down at my feet, I couldn't look him in the eyes.
        "Hey babe.. what are you doing here?" He questioned, but seemed uninterested on what I had to say.
"I-I think we need to break up. We're juniors and next year is the most important, we should both be focusing on school." I hesitantly replied, still unable to look him in the eyes and keeping my gaze at my feet, terrified of what he would say.
"So you come here to fucking break up with me and you can't even give me a good reason. I knew you were stupid but this-this is a new low. If anything I should be the one breaking up with your dumb ass." He said sharply through gritted teeth, leaning in closer to me.
"I need to go, I just think this is for the best." I responded quietly, shuffling back to walk towards my car. He grabbed my wrist quickly with a tight grip.
"You're not going anywhere, we're going to talk this out." He continued talking, still through gritted teeth, as he attempted to pull me into his apartment. I pushed against the door frame, but he was so much stronger than me. He tightened his grip on my small wrist and pulled me in, but my cheek and jawline smacked into the door frame in the process. I winced and held my face as he let go of me in disbelief of what he let himself do.
"I don't know what came over me, I'm so sorry Isabelle." He couldn't even look at me as he frantically apologized for letting himself become out of control. I stepped back and ran to my car before he could grab me again.
*Present*
Looking back on the relationship I should have left sooner, he was always
controlling and extremely jealous. He always found a way to get whatever he wanted from me, to him I was transparent. He would make snide remarks about my looks or would try to blame me if he was upset, even if the situation didn't have anything to do with me. He used to force himself onto me and being naive and unexperienced in relationships, I just gave in I just did what I thought couples were supposed to do. I gave into peer pressure so many times when I was with him. I thought it was just between us, but of course he told his friends and within a day everyone knew. My friends told me to leave, but I thought he didn't mean what happened and that we were both better when we're together, but when he grabbed me last night, I knew I had made the right choice. My breathing always seemed to slow down when I thought about him, about what he put me through.
The tension in my chest slowly disappeared as my thoughts changed back to finishing my hair. The small strands of my half black and half dark blue hair that were loose from my space buns were slightly curled. My tattoo chocker was the last thing I put on to complete my outfit of my dark grey oversized hoodie, black ripped skinny jeans, and my classic vans.
As my mum called me from downstairs, I grabbed my backpack, headphones, and phone. It was 7:30 already and my walk to school took 15 minutes so I had a little time before i had to leave. I walked downstairs and was greeted by Harley, the small fluffy calico that had woken me up to be fed this morning.
"Isabelle your dad doesn't have to work early today, he can drop you off." My mum said from the kitchen table as I sat in the living room on my phone casually scrolling through every social media acorn I have.
"Okay." I answered putting my headphones in waiting for my dad to get ready to take me.
I didn't want to go to school. I hated it. It was always so mind numbingly boring, and everyone there was ignorant and annoying. Plus Jace always had to be around me no matter what and I knew that even after what happened last night, today would be no exception to what seemed like the endless torture that he put me through.
He was always jealous, if I even thought about hanging out with another guy he would accuse me of cheating. He caught his ex cheating and I understand that he has trust issues, but he also has anger issues and sometimes things can get out of hand, and I thought I was helping him learn to control it better, but I guess not.
     "Isabelle are you ready yet?" My dad asked coming down the stairs.
     "Yeah." I said getting off the couch and following him to the car. Once again I braced myself for the cold wind to hit my face and uncovered skin. As I sat in the car I saw the school building get closer and closer. You could see the gates that looked like a prison and the tall auditorium in the middle of campus through the thick morning fog.
My dad stopped the car outside my school and before I could even open the door he gave me the usual "before school pep talk". 'Listen to your teachers, don't get in trouble, be nice'. I promised I would and opened the car door throwing on my backpack as I got out.
     I went to the side of the auditorium to wait for my friend Liz. She was pretty much the only friend I had at this school. All of my other friends either left, don't talk to me anymore, or aren't that close to me. I felt the breeze pick up and I held my arms as if that would stop the cool wind getting through my thin sweater.
"Isabelle!" I heard Matt's, Liz's boyfriend, voice calling me from the bottom of the stairs. I smiled without looking up but when I did my heart dropped. Matt and Liz walked up the stairs to great me, but they were with Jace. His eyes were red and puffy, like he had been crying all night. I looked at his restless, sunken eyes that had a dark purple ring surrounding them. He didn't look up and continued to stair at the ground.
"Hey guys." I managed to get that out, but not without my voice cracking. I felt my face get cold, my eyes get red as tears started to brim my eyes, and my whole chest felt heavy making it hard to breath. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I thought I would be able to see him even after what he did to me last night, I thought I could handle it. After all, he said it was an accident.
     "Hey Isabelle, can I talk to you?" Liz asked letting go of Matt's hand walking away from where we were. I got up and followed her, trying to push the tears back.
     "I know you probably hate me right now..." Liz said not even looking at me, but instead choosing to look at her feet as she kicked up small rocks in the dirt.
     "Why would I?" I tried to sound clueless but again my voice cracked.
     "I know-I know he hurt you. I'm sorry but he kept following me and Matt around like a puppy, begging us to get you to forgive him." She said somewhat looking up at me, but it seemed like she still couldn't bring herself to look at me.
     "Look I know you were just trying to help, but you're my best friend and I need support. You know I don't want to be with him anymore and I thought you would be the one person to understand." I said walking away just as the bell rang. That was the first time I've ever been happy that that bell went off. I quickened my pace heading straight for the bathroom. I heard Jace call my name from behind me, but I just quickened my pace away from him.
     My eyes once again brimmed with tears as I closed the bathroom stall door. I put my bag down, sat down and let the tears fall. I was careful to not let it fuck up my makeup, I wasn't going to deal with people constantly asking me if I was crying all day long. I wiped my tears and grabbed my bag. I walked out and washed my hands and fixed the parts of my makeup that got a little smeared.
     I shoved my headphones in, put on shuffle, and walked to class. I walked slow on my way to class not caring if I was late or not. When I got to the English building I couldn't get to the stairs, there was a crowd of people, yelling and surrounding what I assumed was another fight. I rolled my eyes; why do people have to solve their petty arguments by fighting at school. I heard the two people fighting yelling back and forth. I walked closer and saw two guys from my class, Evan and Adrian, screaming at each other.
Evan's P.O.V.
     I felt my eyes begin to get glossy as I walked into the gates of the prison that adults pass off as a school. This would be the first time I went back to school ever since my mom died; she had cancer and by the time the doctors saw it, it was too late. She passed almost a week ago, the funeral would be another week from now.
     I didn't want to be here, the same people that piss me off, the same girlfriend that verbally and mentally abuses me, and the same teachers that yell at me to do work but don't tell us how to do it. I couldn't stand it.
     "Hey Evan, I heard your mom died, was it because of your meth head dad?" I heard guys yelling at me as I walked by, just trying to go to class. I ignored them and continued to walk.
"Hey, I'm talking to you", one of them jumped down from the ledge that him and his friends were sitting on. All of his friends staying behind and continuing to laugh. I continued to ignore him and kept walking, but I could feel him walking right behind me. He shoved me into the side of the brick building that was in right front of me.
My temper has never been good, but ever since my dad abandoned me and my siblings for drugs its gotten even worse; that was around the same time my mom was diagnosed. I felt my head throbbing in pain and held my hand where I felt blood.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, I've never done anything to you. And-." I managed to get out most of what I was going to say before he interrupted me.
     "You didn't do anything to me? Do you know who Livs boyfriend was before you? No, you probably don't cause all you know is that she likes you so much she dropped her old boyfriend for you." He said slowly walking closer to me, forcing me into a corner. I didn't "steal" her from him.
     "She left your sorry ass because you abused her!" I yelled throwing my backpack down and I pushed him back. He stumbled back, but it wasn't a strong enough push for him to actually fall. He caught his balance and swung his fist, it hit my lip and I stumbled back into the wall. I could feel the blood coming from my lip drip onto my chin. I swung back and he did the same, he hit my cheek and the other side of my lip, but it didn't bleed.
I felt my fist hit his chin and then his cheek. I felt like I had blacked out because once I looked around me, there was a crowd with all their phones aimed at us and chanting "fight fight fight". When I saw them run to their classes I knew I was in trouble, I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from throwing another punch. 'Dammit' I said to myself, I released my tightly closed fist and dropped my head in disappointment knowing it was a teacher. Tears of frustration soon began to gloss my eyes. I looked up, and the crowd was gone, except for one girl. I'm pretty sure she was in my English class, she was the teachers pet, but Mr. Puente pretty much treated her like a student teacher.
Isabelle's P.O.V.
         My English teacher Mr. Puente stopped one of the kids from throwing another punch, I saw his face drop as soon as he realized who it was. When the people surrounding the fight noticed Mr.Puente, they all scattered, running to their classes. I was pretty much a student teacher for him, except I still had to do the class work, so I knew he would ask me to take one of them to the principals office, mostly due to the short staff security we had, but it didn't bother me that much.
        "Isabelle please take Evan to the nurse and then to principals office." Mr. Puente asked as he walks away with Adrian.
"And in the second semester of senior year too..." Mr. Puente shook his head in disappointment as he walked away with Adrian.
He knew I wouldn't say no. I helped Evan up, I didn't realize he would be so much taller than me. Given everyone is, considering I'm only 5'1. I studied the newly formed bruises and gashes with a frown. His greasy pitch black hair was lazily put into a beanie with a few pieces sticking out. His dark, sunken in eyes looked restless, as if he had been awake for days at a time. I put my phone away and quietly guided him to the nurses office.