bathroom stalls » mileven

quatre

the bruise on her cheek angered him. he had taken make-up from nancy and concealed it but barely so. he had to help her re-apply it during break.

telling el to meet him in the bathroom, he confronted troy during lunch.

apparently, troy had pulled her wig off and called her fake and a monster. then, he had slapped her and el ran away, quickly putting the wig back on. luckily, only troy and his minion had seen el without her wig. they were spreading rumors that el had cancer, and that was why she shaved her head. no one believed troy ever since the pee incident at will's fake wake, but troy somehow still held all the power at the school.

mike punched troy and rushed off, knowing that tomorrow he would be beat up. the teachers at this school didn't care. if parents got involved, the bullying only got worse. there was no way to beat the bullies. he could only find ways to cope.

he sighed and entered the bathroom. water drops were floating in the air. el's concentration broke, and the water fell to the floor.

"hey," he seethed, not hiding his anger well.

"you okay?" el hesitantly asked.

"no. what troy did. he just- are you okay?"

"i'm fine," el murmured, taking out her sharpie.

"el."

"quote," she sharply said, her pen faltering. it caused the first 'o' in 'good-bye' to look more like an 'e.'

"good-byes hurt the most when the story isn't finished."

"do you have one?" el mutedly asked.

"no," he whispered. "um, okay, let me think... um i love the roads where the houses don't change, where we can talk like we have something to say."

"speaking is hard," el thoughtfully said, capping her pen.

"i think saying what you want to say and having the other person understand what you mean is harder."

el nodded. she reminded him so much of a queen in that moment. her face was stoic and expressionless, devoid of any emotion. her blonde hair was re-curled thanks to nancy. the ringlets were bouncing and twisting with even the smallest jerk of her head. the bruise was faintly visible on her face, and it made mike angry. he hated this feeling of powerlessness, of not being able to protect her, his princess.

"el, i think you're my princess," mike whispered.

"princess?" she asked, tilting her head. he reached out to carefully touch her hair, twisting a lock of it. confused, she glanced into his eyes, trying to understand what he was saying.

"princesses are royalty. they're the daughter of a king or queen."

"pretty?"

"princesses are so pretty, beautiful even. they are kind and gracious and proper. their smiles can light up the darkest rooms. they have hearts of pure gold. their touch could probably heal or maybe just make someone smile because knowing a princess is like," mike paused. "it's like wishing on a star and having that wish come true."

"princess?" el pointed to herself. "i'm ugly," el mumbled, raising her hand to hide her bruise and to touch her fake blonde hair.

"no, you're my princess."

"am i?"

"you are my princess, but just for now."

"for now?" el softly asked. "is something wrong? did i hurt?"

"no, nothing's wrong. in fact, i'm happy because i know that someday you're going to be my queen."