Bruises

Chapter 2

 I turned the corner and saw my best friend Lana repeatedly hitting some poor girl from school. Normally I wouldn’t be worked up about it, and yes this happens almost every week, but the girl was in a fettle position on the floor covered in blood. I rushed forward to the fighting girls. 

“Lana, get off now!” I tried pulling her off the girl who I recognized to be Mimi, but Lana had a death grip on her.

Instead of going for Lana I pulled Mimi from under Lana and stood in front of her. Lana lunged for Mimi but I held her back and pulled her to the bathroom.

“What the hell Lana, why’d you continue hitting her after she was down.’’

“Zoe, just stop, my brother’s in the hospital, and that idiot outside started making fun of him and his drug addiction and when I told her off she started talking about my dad…..” She couldn’t finish her sentence; she just balled her eyes out. I pulled her in for a comforting hug and just held her. Truth is her father was in jail for about the same reason her brother was in the hospital except her father shot someone when he didn’t get what he was looking for (drugs).

“Listen Lana, you had every right to get mad, but you shouldn’t have punched her first.”

“I did…didn’t ……….punch her…..fir………..first, she sla…slapped….. me.” She said between sobs. It was then when I realized she wasn’t responsible for anything that happened and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I pulled back and studied my poor friend, her life was a mess right now and no one really cared. She had the most gorgous blue eyes but you'd ever see them with her hair always falling in her eyes. Her face was  round which made her look adorable. And all that added with her blond hair, you would never suspect this girl was made fun of at school, had such a horrible family, and could beat your ass in ten seconds flat,given the right cause of course. I handed her a tissue and she whipped her face. She regained her composure and we left the bathroom. We were 20 minutes late for fourth period which we luckily had with each other.

We walked into Ms. Roberts Literature class and took our seats in the back corner. Ms. Roberts was a nice old women when she wanted but she becomes the evil which of the west when upset or bothered.

“Nice of you to join us Ms. Diaz and Ms. Parker.”

“Glad to be here Ms. Roberts.” I gave her a cocky grin.

She rolled her eyes and returned to her lesson. Not 5 minutes into class I had a note on my desk. I opened it up and smiled at the comment.

                Looks like some ones late.

I wrote back: what gave me away :  ]

I tossed it to my best friend Jay and waited for the reply. Soon enough it was back on my desk.

                Noting really, but I keep my tabs on you. But seriously where were you earlier today?

I frowned at the page, curse Jay and his overly protective best friend butt.

I replied: I woke up late and yah know the drill and then I went to the café and stayed there longer than I expected. I tossed it back to him.

Jay knew everything about me including the situation with my dad and when he found out I made him swear to keep his mouth shut. He still doesn’t like the fact but if things every get to rough he’ll be at my side in a mere 3 seconds. He had dark brown eyes that were always happy and filled with laughter. His hair was cut into an up do with hair hanging in his face. The contours of his face were sharp but smooth in a way. He had thin lips that were always in a smile. He was attractive if I do say so myself. 

The paper was thrown on my desk yet again.

Zoe you need to start taking class seriously.

I gave him an annoyed look and crumpled the paper. When the bell finally rang I was took my time, and as expected Jay was waiting for me with Lana. We all had lunch next and we walked together in silence.

As we entered the cafeteria I noticed the same irritating butt head from early. When he caught my eye his smile instantly turned into a scowl and his hair was cut nicely out of his face. Strangely enough he looked a lot like my dad except he had light blue eyes and was muscle. I chuckled at the thought and returned my gaze to the guy. This time he wasn't there. H'm, were'd he go?

I turned around and was about to head to my table when a very familiar arm blocked  my path.

"What do you want pretty boy?''I asked not really bothered. 

"How dare you flip me like that do you know who in hell I am?" even though it was a question it sounded a lot like a statement. 

"Listen here Pretty boy, I don't give a elephants behind who you are, and frankly I don't care. So just get out of my way before I re-introduce you to the floor." He moved his arm knowing I wasn't bluffing but he still wouldn't move.

"Well are you going to move" He was about to say something when Jay intervened.

"Come on Zoe were waiting on you."

"I was on my way but this douche came and blocked me." i pointed to Pretty boy.

"Well he's not here anymore so lets go" I followed him to our table and sat down but only to have Jay yank me back up.

"What do you want Jay?"

“Zoe I was serious with what I said, I know things are hard but you have to push on.”

“I know that Jay but sometimes it doesn’t work, so just leave it” I turned and tried to walk away but Jay grabbed me around my waist causing searing pain shoot up and down my stomach. I doubled over in pain clutching my stomach.

“What the hell, Zoe” Jay screamed and grabbed me before I fell. I went through my bag and grabbed the pain killers. When they kicked in I sat up and Jay gave me a worried and relived face if that was even possible.

He helped me get to my feet and pulled me to the side and looked at my side. Then carefully lifted my shirt and exposed my bandaged side. His eyes practically jumped out.

”What the hell Zoe”

He was being a little to loud for my liking and people where starting to look so i pulled down my shirt and took him into the court yard. His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish trying to find the right words to say. I started to laugh a little but quickly tried covering it up.

"what are you laughing at" he suddenly turned serious. This shut me up right away and just looked at the ground.

"listen, uh yesterday ......well........he kind of beat me again."

Jay gripped my chin with his thumb and pointer and tilted my head up to look at him. 

"Zoe when will you get it through your thick skull that you need to tell the cops."

"I know but ....he's a powerful man and if he wanted to he could kill me any minute and still get away with it."

He looked frustrated and I hate the fact I made my friend's life a living hell.He looked at me and embraced me in a comforting hug. He started to squeeze a little to tight and i winced at the pain. He pulled away and looked at me apologetically. I was so happy to have a friend like Jay but sadly all good things come to an end. 

At that moment i began to feel slightly dizzy and i felt myself start to sway.Jays arms wrapped around my waist to steady me.

"are you okay Zoe?"

"Yeah I'm fine" I started stuttering with my words and before i knew it i was engulfed in a black sea.