I hadn't had a chance to shower last night like I usually do so I woke up early to stand beneath the lukewarm water. It spurts from the shower head and I stand for a couple minutes longer than necessary. I try to convince myself to move, leave my warm prison. Everything hurts. I have bruises on my back, my shoulders, my legs, cuts all up and down my thighs and on my rib cage. Mrs. Newbury usually isn't this bad, she must've been in a really bad mood last night.
I don't know exactly what time it is but after another few minutes there's banging on the bathroom door and I'm forced back to the reality of the day. I turn and kill the stream from the faucet. It hurts to lift my arm to pull open the curtain and again when I wrap up my hair. I tuck a towel around my body and hurry out of the bathroom.
The bedroom is empty. The girls are all eating breakfast. I sigh as I look over my selection of clothes. Allie and I don't have more than eight outfits put together. This results in us wearing dirty clothes more than once a week. It's not too bad if we are careful about keeping them unstained. I dig through the wardrobe and pick out a pair of jeans with holes all over from being worn too long and a dark grey sweater I'm beginning to grow out of. I pull on the clothes and try not to think too much about having to bend over to tie my shoes.
It takes way longer than it should to get ready but I'm downstairs at 7:45 ready to walk. My hair is up in a pony tail because I couldn't dry it. My hoodie is pulled over the sweater and I have to fold up my jeans. It's not that bad though, considering.
The bus ride is quiet, well at least for me. First period goes by in a blur. English isn't all that important anyways, right? Halfway though second period I get tired of watching the rest of the class correct the math test that I had already aced. I sigh and watch Mr. Brown give not-so-subtle glances at a girl named Jessica.
My hand is raised and I'm cursing him for not noticing me because it hurts like hell. He comes over and I tell him I need to use the bathroom. He says I can just leave because there's only a couple more minutes of class anyways. Thank God. As I leave I can feel someone watching me and look back to see James quickly look back to his paper. Whatever.
I walk down the hall to the stairs, nowhere near the bathrooms. I climb them with difficulty. My legs ache by the time I reach the top. I take a break and lean against the wall beside the art room. I can hear Ms. Liva's music from inside. I take a deep breath and open the door. It's her free period so thankfully the room is empty besides her.
"Hi, Lucy. Shouldn't you be in second period?" She sets down her brushes she was washing and looks at me.
"Mr. Brown let me go early," I explain. "I just came to tell you that I won't be able to make it tonight." The words make my chest hurt. Ms. Liva gives me a sympathetic look.
"Oh what a shame." She sighs and I nod.
"Yeah it really is a tragedy." My words may seem overkill to you but my art teacher eats it up. "I've got to get somewhere. I'll see you tomorrow probably." Ms. Liva nods and I leave her classroom.
"Don't forget to close the door!" She yells and I nod, closing the door behind me.
I really had no intention of heading anywhere. I wandered the halls of the school for a bit. Students filtered around me and went to their classes. I easily avoided the tardy patrol and ended up outside. I was originally just going to go to the gym or something but I had ended up in the big field at opposite end of the school. I didn't keep track of time but I knew soon enough it would be lunch and I would have to decide if go cared enough to go to my science class.
As I sat cross legged in the slightly damp grass I breathed in the air around me. It was like it had been filtered this morning. It seemed crisper, burning my chest slightly if I breathed in too deep. I blew out a breath and saw a cloud of white appear and slowly dissipate. A bell rang and I sighed, causing more white air to escape from my mouth. I looked down at the grass and combed my fingers through the green blades. I didn't want to look up and see all the kids with friends and good lives. I wanted to sit here and feel bad for myself for a while.
I heard the slight crunch of the grass under shoes and was forced to look up. Someone probably sits here and I just took their spot. Just my luck. My eyes broke away from the seemingly fascinating grass around me. Standing over me was the one and only James. He had no lunch in his hands, no bag, or book. Was he just coming to sit here? Well I mean that's what I did, but still, I had good reason to be weird.
"Mind if I sit?" He looks me in the eye and gives me a warm smile. His dark hair falling in his face a little. Dammit why did he have to be so cute. Those streaky eyes met mine again and I nodded. He lowered himself beside me and stretched his long legs out in front of us. "So," he said as he leaned back on his hands. "I was thinking. You are a very good person to just open so random kid's locker and then show him to his next class." He looked over at me a smirk on his face.
"I'm a helpful person." I shrug and pick a piece of grass from the dirt. The clouds above us shifted and hid he sun. The whole day seemed to darken.
He shrugged back at me. "Yeah, maybe." He smiled. Goddamn his smile, I wanted to smack it right off his stupid adorable face. "What class do you have next." As he said that the tint of Jamesness was gone from the conversation.
"Science." He nodded.
"PE." I nodded back.
"I don't really want to go."
"Me either."
"Let's ditch." As I said that all sense of rationality left my being. If I ditched it could only be worse at the home. At the moment though, I really could not give a damn.
"Where?" James looked over at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"I don't know, we'll figure it out as we go."
"Ok, let's go."
YOU ARE READING
I Promise || Adopted by Peterick
Fanfiction*Completed Lucy Ann Crowley was left on the highway at age seven. Her mother said she'd be right back. She said she promises. After daddy left mama promised she'd never leave. But one day she did. Eight years later she's fifteen and still without pa...
