Wounded

Chapter 8

"Jai, your brothers told me you were sick." My mother walked into my room, waking me from my peaceful sleep. I blinked up at her slowly, still trying to wake up a little. She placed a hand on my forehead, saving me from having to talk as soon as I woke up. "I think your fever is starting to break."

I nodded my head at her before groggily closing my eyes again.

"Jai, is everything okay?" My mum asked me suspiciously.

"Yeah I'm fine." I replied, just wanting her to leave already.

"Are you sure, Jaidon?" She asked again, using my actual name instead of what I went by. "Luke says that you've been acting more distant lately. If he's this worried about you, then something must be wrong."

"Luke's just imagining things, Mum. You know if something was wrong then I would tell you." I replied nervously.

"What about the bruises, then?" My mum asked hesitantly. I gulped. Of course Luke had to tell her about those.

"I made the wrong person angry. It's nothing. I promise." I reassured her.

"So it was just a simple fight?" She asked. "You're not being bullied or anything?"

"Of course not, Mum. Just who do you think I am?!" I chuckled, even though she had hit the nail on the head. I was in fact being bullied, but she didn't need to know about that. No one needed to know. I could handle it.

"If you're sure." She smiled sadly at me, obviously not completely believing me.

I watched as she leaned over to kiss me on the cheek before leaving the room completely.

I let out a sigh. My Mum was right. I was being bullied. I hated that I couldn't do anything about it. I slowly got out of bed before a wave of dizziness rushed past me, causing ne to stumble slightly.

I couldn't live like this much longer. I was a failure. A huge failure that was disappointing everyone around me. How was I supposed to deal with that?

Bzzzz

I reached for my phone at the sound of it vibrating. Once I saw the text on it, I almost wished I hadn't of even picked it up.

"Hey trash! You think you can just skip school and avoid me. Well, guess What? You have another thing coming. You were supposed to do my biology homework last night, so because of you I got an F. I'm coming for you, Jaidon. Just you wait!"

I felt tears rush to my eyes as I dropped my phone and rushed to the bathroom. I quickly threw myself over the toilet and vomited everything in my stomach. At some point, I felt a soothing hand start to rub my back in comfort. I leaned back and glanced up to see Luke staring at me worriedly.

"You okay?" I heard him ask. I didn't answer. The truth was that I wasn't okay. I wasn't okay at all.

-
"So you thought you could just avoid me, Jaidon?!" Dylan screamed in my face.

"I was sick. I'm sorry." I whispered, honestly terrified in that moment.

"You're sorry?" Dylan smirked. "You're sorry? Then, how about this?"

Dylan grabbed me by my shirt and threw me into a nearby locker. I thought that was all he was going to do, but he kept holding onto my shirt.

Right as I looked up at him again, he started to repeatedly slam me into the locker. Dylan also made sure my head slammed into the locker each time.

"You're pathetic, Jai." Dylan spat at me after he finally let me go.

I waited until he left before sprinting to the nearest bathroom with tears running down my face. I glanced at my face in the mirror and was suddenly disgusted. I didn't look like myself anymore. I barely even resembled Luke anymore.

"Jai?" A voice called out hesitantly. My head shot up to see James in the mirror. I quickly wiped the tears off my face even though it was pretty obvious that he'd already seen them.

"I'm fine James. Promise." I assured him, shooting a fake smile at him.

"No you're not. You're crying." James argued. I let out an angry sigh before looking away from him.

"I'll get over it, James. It's honestly nothing." I forced a laugh.

"Jai, I know remember. I know you're depressed. Don't sweat it, though. It's okay to feel like that sometimes, but when those times do happen, you can't push away the people that care about you."

"And why not?!" I snapped. "It's not anyone's business but mine! It's not a big deal, so just drop it James!"

"Man, I thought we were friends but I guess we weren't after all." James sighed before leaving me to wallow in my misery.

I felt more tears slip down my face as I pulled my phone out and retrieved the blade I kept hidden in the case. I didn't want to bleed through my white shirt, so I locked myself in a stall and lowered my pants to ground. Then, I finally took out all of my anger on my thighs.

Anger at Dylan.

Anger at Luke.

Anger at my Mum.

Anger at James.

Anger at myself.

I deserved it all for being so weak.