Royce's POV
I saw Renee getting rejected by her friends. When she walked by us I called her over, she turned around, she sadly said, "Oh hey." I said, "Wanna sit with us?" She said, "You're not still mad at me?" I said, "We were just mad at the choice you made, leaving us for them. But now it looks like they left you. Come on take a seat."
She dropped her bag and smiled. The next day she joined us again at lunch. But before she could sit down Cameron brutally grabbed her arms and slammed her back into the wall. He said, "If Rydel breaks up with me because of something you said, I will end you." She said, "Don't worry, they kicked me from their group anyways."
I went over to them, "Hey, let her go." He said, "Sit back down. This isn't your fight." I said, "It's not hers either. I haven't seen her throw a punch. Release her arm." He let go and walked away. We went back to Ricky, Jason, and Aaron. But it didn't stop there, for the next few weeks he did the same thing. We'd move and sit somewhere else but he'd find her.
She looked like she didn't even care anymore. I didn't understand why she was taking it. I couldn't stand seeing this. I went up to Ross after school. I walked up to him, "Hi." The look on his face told that he had no idea who I was. "Hey." He said. I said, "I'm Royce, one of Renee's friends." He said, "I'm Ross." I said, "I know, look, there's this guy. He keeps hurting Renee, she looks like she's been in a boxing match. I know she can fight back but she won't. He said if Rydel breaks up which him because of something she said he'll kill her. I don't know how to help her. I know you still care about her, please." He said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you." And he walked away, what a douche.
Renee's POV
Every day I walk home and I pass Cameron's house. I stop and watch sometimes. I can hear the yelling all the way from across the street. His dad yells at him and his mom hits him. I know where his anger comes from, he's in a bad home. How on earth are they getting remarried? After he can't take it anymore, he gets in his car and drives away. I see it happen every day. I never fought back because I thought that if I hit him, he might unleash all of that anger on me.
The next day I walked to school and took my books out of my locker. When I shut the door Cameron was there. He smiled and slammed me into my locker door. My books fell out of my hands. The fact that he was now doing this for fun, not just a threat was sick. He walked past me, I yelled after him strongly, "Hey!" He turned around and came back, he got up in my face, "Did you just yell at me?" My bruises were fading, I could take it, I said in a sassy voice, "Mommy and daddy taught you to hurt people." He grabbed my wrist and clenched it, it felt like he was crushing my bone, he brought me close to him and right in my face he said, "You don't know what you're talking about so you better shut your face."
I grabbed his wrist and clenched it as hard as I could, digging my nails into his flesh. I saw him cringe. I whispered into his ear, "You don't scare me." He said, "You will be." And he let go. I did too and he walked away. I looked down at my wrist, it was black and blue, I saw his wrist, blood was dripping from where I had dug my nails into his arm. He pulled down his sleeve. I looked down at my hand, at my nails, there was blood. But it wasn't mine.
I went to the bathroom and on my way I accidentally ran into Ross, he said, "Oh sorry." He was about to keep walking but he saw my hand. He said, "Are you okay?" He gently took my arm in his hands, examining my wrist. He said, "What happened?" He saw the blood on my other hand. I roughly took my arm back, it hurt, but I didn't care, I said, "Doesn't matter, you wouldn't believe me anyways, right?" I walked away and went into the bathroom. I scrubbed the blood off of my hands, the girls using the sinks next to me saw my hands and they ran out of the bathroom. One girl stayed behind, “Freak.” Then she left. I said, “Thanks.” I looked in the mirror. I was a freak.
I walked out of the bathroom and began walking to my next class. Cameron rammed me into the lockers again. When I stumbled back I fell into someone. I saw all of their papers on the floor. I said, “I’m sorry.” And started to pick them up. Then they put their hand on mine. I looked up, I had bumped into Rocky. He looked up at Cameron and said something. I couldn’t really tell. It looked like he said, “Really?” Then he patted my hand and gestured towards Cameron. I turned around. He said, “What is wrong with you? Are you deaf or something?”
Cameron looked at me again. "You are deaf, aren't you?" I nodded. I think he said, " Oh." He looked like he felt bad all of a sudden, then it changed back into the usual rage. He said, "Freaking Hellen Keller." I said, "I can see just fine." He walked away, I turned back around and picked up the rest of the papers. I looked up, Rocky wasn't moving, he was just staring at me. He said, "Its true. He is beating you up. Rydel was wrong." I said, "It doesn't matter. He said, "I am so sorry we didn't believe you." I said, "Make sure your sister is safe." Then I got up and left.
Rocky's POV
I can't believe that we didn't believe Renee. She was a mess now. Not mentally but physically, she had faded bruises all over. I felt awful. After school when we got home I texted Riker, Ross, Ryland, and Ratliff to meet in the parking lot of Dunkin Donuts I drove with my brothers.
I sat in the passenger seat. When we got there Ratliff was sitting in his car waiting for us. He climbed in our van when he saw us pull up. I turned around. "Renee wasn't lying about Cameron. He isn't the guy we thought he was.
Riker and Ross simultaneously said, " I know." The rest of us were confused. Riker said, " She hid under the table when she saw him coming. She had to be afraid of him, otherwise why would she do that? And he was very specific on getting that wedding invitation to her. And there was that peice of paper ." Ross said, "She dragged me into that dressing room, and today I saw her, her wrist was black and blue and she had blood on her other hand. Also her friend Royce came up to me and asked me for help." I asked,"And did you help him?" Ross said, " No or else we lose Rydel.” I said, “Well, he thinks that she’s deaf or something now.” Ross said, “She is. She lost her hearing around the time we moved in.” Ryland said, “Why didn’t you tell us?” Riker said, “She didn’t want anyone else to know.”
