Tears In My Eye

11

My fist collides into Ms.Ruby's jaw with millions of thoughts racing in and out of my brain. Only one thought really sticks with me though, I'm dead. I look into Ms.Ruby's eyes, they are filled with anger. She grabs my shirt, lifts me up, and slams me against a wall, I cry out in pain. She clenches her teeth and mutters something to me, "I swear to fucking god, if you lay another finger on me I will make your life a living hell. Understand?!" I frantically nod my head as she lets go of my shirt and I fall to the carpet. I quickly get up and run out of the room, heading towards my own.  I open the door to find Maddie sitting on the bed, her eyes red and face stained with tears. She runs over to me, jumping on me, with us both falling on the ground. I let out a little yelp as I land, cushioning Maddie's fall. My blue eyes lock with her hazel ones for a moment. She stands up and holds out her hand. I take it and she helps me up as I mutter a "thank you." She pulls me over to my bed as she sits down, patting a spot next to her for me to sit. "What happened?", She asks me as I sit down. "No no, what happened to you? Ms.Ruby hurt you." She bites her lip, "W-Well, she yelled at me for sleeping so long and th-" "What the fuck?! You fucking passed out from the heat." I look over at her, tears prick her eyes, "I-I know, but then I tried to say it was from working in the heat she slapped me and told me to never talk back to her." I pulled her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her waist as quiet sobs escape her lips. "Good thing I punched her, she fucking deserved it." Maddie looks up at her in shock, then pulls me closer. "Y-You did? D-Did she hurt you, oh n-no, this is all my fault.." "This is not your fault! It's hers, and she didn't really hurt me, just slammed me into a wall, but I'm okay." "I just don't want you getting hurt.." "I don't matter at all, you're the only one that matters and I swear to god if she lays another finger on you, we'll just leave, okay? I don't like seeing you upset." Maddies mutters "mhm" and we continue hugging each other.

A while later, I get the chance to glance at the clock and decide we should start getting ready and get breakfast. If we were late to breakfast, we'd really be getting it. As I start getting up, Maddie grabs my wrist, a sad look on her face, "Where are you going?" I gently take her hand off of my wrist, "We need to get ready." I can hear her sigh before lying down on my bed, "Do we have to?" "Unless you want to get hit again, then yes." I can tell Maddie won't be moving, so I go over to her bed and pick out a pair of clothes, a dark blue tee-shirt and white jeans. I hand them to her and I can hear her quietly thank me before I get my clothes, a pink, long-sleeved top and black shorts. When we finish getting dressed, we walk out into the hallway and see Ms.Ruby. She glares at us before walking into the dining room, with us following. We take our seats and quickly eat before heading back to our room. Since it's Friday, we don't have to go to study period because later we'll go out and try selling stuff. Before I could shut the door behind me, Ms.Ruby comes up. "You guys can't keep doing this you know." "W-What do you mean?", Maddie says, quietly. "You guys are in here all the time and I'm sick of it. Go to the lounge, and if I catch you back in here I'll beat you. Understand?" "Fine," I say, annoyed. "Don't use that tone with me!" I feel a hand come across my face. I wince in pain and Ms.Ruby walks back into the hall. Maddie wraps her arms around me, tears slipping out of her eyes. "A-Are you o-okay?" "I'm fine, now lets go to the lounge before she comes back." I slip my hand into Maddie's as we walk to the lounge. We take a seat on the couch, with other kids running around the room. Maddie rests her head on my shoulder and I look over at the TV, where a few girls are watching some TV show. 

We're sat there for a little bit, fingers intertwined, and Maddie's head on my shoulder. We are pretty content, that's until a few boys start pointing at us and laughing. We just ignore them, but they start to approach us. "You can't be like that in front of the younger kids, they'll become gay like you, and we don't want them to be fags and go to hell." Maddie lifts her head up and tries to let go of my hand, but I won't let her. "What the actual fuck is wrong with you guys. We're not even dating and how is being gay a bad thing?" One of the boys walk away, I'm not sure why though. They leave the lounge and head down the hallway, but the other two stay. "It's a sin." "Don't bring that shit up, if it was a sin then why would god make people like that?" They roll their eyes, "being gay is a choice." "You think it's a choice?! Bitch what the fuck is wrong with you? Just leave us alone." The boy walks back in, with Ms.Ruby. She stomps over to us, and slaps me yet again. "Don't you dare swear in front of the little ones or show this. You fucking faggots." She walks out and the boys go back and sit at the table in the corner. I stand up, and drag Maddie back to our bedroom. I honestly don't give a shit if she hurts me anymore, we'll be leaving soon anyways. I quietly shut the door and pull Maddie into a hug. She lays her head down on my shoulder and lets out soft sobs. "It's okay Maddie, don't listen to them, they don't know what they're talking about." She chokes out a sob, "I-I-I know, b-but you're h-hurt a-again.." "Maddie, I don't matter, I don't care if she hurt me-" "But I care! I care about you so much, a-and I don't want you getting hurt." "I'll try to behave, but if she hurts you, we're leaving right away." "Okay."