THAT GIRL.

Nine.

THE DAY

Groaning, I get out of bed, beginning to regret trying to go to school on a Monday. Walking into my closet I grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and a random shirt, then went into the bathroom, and grab a cold shower.

After getting ready, I grabbed my keys and jacket, then headed off to school, I was in a way excited just to get through my day, one because I only had a month until this hell was over, but also because of the fact that I decided today would be a good day to re-evaluate the girls in the high-school so I could go to prom, and get named prom king.

Arriving at school, I was about five minutes early for once, and walked in, noticing how quiet the halls were, and they smelled off. Weird. Then again it was early, and this school always kinda smelled funky. I headed to my locker which was past Samantha's, that's when I saw her, laying on the ground, next to her locker, passed out or blacked out I was guessing. Completely unaware there was a group of people starting to form around her with their cellphones out. I couldn't really blame them though, this was the craziest thing I'd ever seen here. No one just passed out on the school floor. She looked like she had a rough night, but that couldn't happen because she always came to school acting all perfect. I didn't want to care. I honestly didn't, but she looked really pathetic. So I decided to save her from more embarassment.

I walked through the crowd and squatted down on the ground next to her. She was still out cold.

"Jason, what you gonna do, take a picture with her for your facebook?" Brody said, one of the guys, suddenly standing beside me, chuckling quietly, trying not to wake her up. I just stared at her.

I had seen too many people the same way at my parties for it to affect me anymore. However I'd never seen them with dirty clothes. Her clothes were all roughed up, dark spots of dirt and grass, so something must have happened last night. And the bruises. Damn. I noticed them finally, they were huge. Around her neck was handprints, a huge bruise on her shoulder, a glimpse of another on her stomach where her shirt had moved up from the position she was in.

"Nah man, I have no clue." I hoped no one noticed the bruises, I had finally seen, she wasn't one to want people to notice things like this. I guessed. Considering she kept to herself. Which was weird. It got even weirder because I realized I'd just remembered what I had read in her file. The abuse. She hadn't come to school looking like this lately, but then again, I hadn't noticed much in the past months.

I put my hand on her shoulder, and she was cold, which finally made my mind kick in. She was barely breathing. She needed help. I shook her, and she didn't respond. That's when I finally got my emotions back, this wasn't okay. She can't die like this. Not here. I shook her more violently, and yelled at someone to get the nurse or call 911. I stopped shaking her when I realized that wasn't going to help, she was out cold. I took my jacket off, and covered her with it.

Fuck, I swore at myself. This is no time for my emotions to kick in. I can't feel bad about anything shitty I ever said to her. I can still be mad. I glanced down at her again. That feeling of anger instantly disappeared, and was replaced by remorse.

I told Brody to go get the principal, because something was going on here, and he looked as freaked out, as I was on the inside.

10 minutes later the ambulance arrived, because the nurse wasn't at the school yet. The EMT's made their way down the hall way and made the group dispersed, one of the EMT's pulled me off to the side.

"How long has she been out for?" He asked gruffly.

"At least 15 minutes, I don't really know man, I like just got here when I saw her. But when I got here, a lot of these people had already been standing here. You should ask them." I stated, my voice shaking. I couldn't help but yell at myself in my head for caring. Why should I? She had tried to ruin my life.

Glancing at her again, I realized I had let her attempt affect me more then it should have. Maybe she was like defending her abuser or something. I had read something like that when I read about emotional and physical abuse that night so long ago.

The EMT walked around talking to other people, then another one of them looked at me, and asked me if I had been the one to shake her. I nodded yes, and he told me to come with them. Right about then I started freaking out inside, more than before. All I could think was that I had hurt her more, then whatever she had already been through. Hell, what if I had caused internal brain damage or some crap like that? I'd never forgive myself, and I definitely didn't want to be blamed for murder because I didn't pay attention in health.

I followed behind the EMT's, and got into the ambulance once they had got her in there. They said they wouldn't ask me questions until they got her stable. So I just sat there staring at her face, which for some reason made me think beautiful instead of sexy or hot, which confused me deeply, I had thought I hated her, and she might be dying right now, so I tried to clear my mind, in the 15 minutes it took for us to get to the hospital.