Escape

Reasons Behind Skin and Flesh

Sage Reynolds POV

June 22nd

Everyone is usually really happy about the last day of school , but in the Summer I always miss my quiet spot in the library. I left school that day close to tears, sweatshirt hood up and headphones stuck in. I wasn't crying about how I was going to miss reading in the library, but about something worse and, well, more dramatic. It happened in 5th period, when I went to the bathroom today. I heard crying, Luna Birch came running in, and I remained as quiet as I possibly could in my stall, to try and prevent any drama. "Shit , shit, shit!!" Luna mumbled angrily. I froze, knowing that if i walked out she might take her anger out on me. The hysterical crying went on for minutes more, then the bathroom became dead silent. " If someone is in that goddamn stall, I'm going to fucking pull your hair out." It was quiet again. I waited. BAM! My stall door shook, probably from the force of Luna kicking it. I started to shake. "Who's in there?!" Luna yelled. "If you don't come out I'm going to pull you out by your feet." Luna peeked over the stall door. "Oh. Nerdy - Sage. Or what about... Sage - Page!! Get it? Because all you do is flip pages in those meaningless objects." Luna said. I'm sensitive, and I take those stupid names Luna makes up personally. "Why don't you come out here and we can have a little chat shall we?" Luna said. It was scary how much I was shaking. My heart rate was probably in the 150's. I had no idea what she was going to do or say to me. "Ahem." Luna said, after I realized it was about 15 seconds since she talked to me. I slowly unlocked the door, and walked out. Luna looked impressed, and looked me up and down. "Wow. I really didn't think you'd come out. Well, now we need to come up with a plan to cover up what you just heard." Luna said, thinking. "I-I think that maybe I should just not tell anyone..." I said, nervous to hear her response. "Shut up nerd no one cares about your opinion." she said. I stared at my blue converse laces. "I think I have a great idea. I'm going to say you slapped me. Here." Luna takes my hand, and forced it hard and fast on her face. She cringed at the pain. "No-" I said, but Luna interrupted me, and said "Remember what I said loser. Stick with the plan. And also, no one does care about your opinion. They aren't going to believe that you didn't slap me. Now let me be." Luna runs out of the bathroom holding the side of her face, crying. I stand frozen, staring at myself in the mirror. I think that she made me slap her to hide the fact she was crying over something more personal. Surprisingly, I wasn't called down to the office about what happened. I thought i'd be in some kind of trouble, but I guess not. I didn't see her for the rest of the day. It's strange, because she sits at the table in the back in my biology class, and she wasn't there. I feel really hurt about what she told me. Do people really not care about my opinion? Do they care about me? Is life even worth it? I've never felt this way before about myself. Upset. Upset to be me. I really wish I had a friend who cares about me. I guess my teachers care.

Luna Birch POV

June 22nd

I walked in, crying, actually at this point I was balling my eyes out. I couldn't take it, all this stress and anxiety is killing me. Home life hasn't been the best for me. People think of me and my life being all perfect and shit but it's not. At home my parents get mad easily, they verbally and physically abuse my siblings and I. I can't take it, I walk into class late all the time because of how far my parents will go until they prove their fucking point. When I walk into class the teachers ask me things like, "Miss Birch, where have you been?" And I respond with an excuse like, "I was in the principal's office." That excuse usually works out fine but I hate being late and getting all that attention. I hate how when I walk into class and the boys talk about my ass while I walk past them, I hate every fucking thing about this school. It honestly makes me very emotional. I had enough and I walked out of my fifth period class which was geometry and I ran to the bathroom crying while the teacher was calling from behind me. I opened the door, "Shit, shit, shit!!" I mumbled angrily. I started crying and letting everything out. I heard some noises coming from the second stall, I released my anger out on whoever was in there. "If someone is in that goddamn stall, I'm going to fucking pull your hair out." It was a long time of me raging out on her. I really felt bad but I wasn't going to tell her. I'm the bitch of the school, might as well act like it. She seemed so scared. I could tell she was in the bathroom for a certain reason too. I came up with an idea to help myself out of this shit situation. I made her slap me and I ran out of the bathroom. I gave her a quick look back but she was looking at the ground really sad. I made her hit me because I needed a reason for crying and I panicked and blamed it on her. I decided to tell the teacher that I was hit by someone and she kept asking questions but I told her that I needed to go home. This teacher by the way is best friends with my parents and she understood me. She let me go and I ran out of there so quickly. I'm done. So fucking done.