Crânio Borboleta (COMPLETED)

Chapter Five

Juliette

I got home at about 4:10. Sean and his friends were gone, probably to find some girls, and Winona wasn't home either. Probably shopping. I opened the door and saw George drinking a beer on the couch, looking exhausted.

If I hadn't mentioned already, George had a drinking problem. I guess his hearing loss and the fact he's jobless doesn't help him keep himself moving. He ignored me after I opened the door, so I sighed and walked upstairs where my bedroom was, then I walked up another flight of stairs in a hall closet, reaching the empty attic.

I spread my homework all around the floor and put my earbuds in, beginning to work, when I got a text. I looked at it. It was Clay.

How come u have bruises on ur face?

My heart stopped. How did he know? I thought the makeup covered it up.

I don't have bruises, I replied.

Yes u do. Three on ur face and a couple on ur neck. Ur lip is split. What happened, did u get into a fight?

My throat burned in embarrassment. Were there other people that knew too, or was it just him?

I won't tell anyone, I promise. What happened? he asked.

I gotta go, I replied. Talk to u later. I turned my ringer off and turned my music up, trying to focus on my homework, tears flooding my papers.

******

I stayed in the attic for the rest of the evening. Kyle and I talked for a little, but that was it. I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to anyone. I just wanted to be alone and cry. But I won't lie when I was curious about Clay's "Tourette's". What was it, a disease? I decided to look it up and found the Internet definition:

"Tourette syndrome (TS or simply Tourette's) is a common neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple motor tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Tourette's is defined as part of a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes provisional, transient, and persistent (chronic) tics."

I frowned as I reread the definition about six more times until I finally understood what it meant. Every once in a while, Clay would jerk his head or arm or blink hard. I looked up how it was caused next, and one of the most common ones was stress, which I completely understood. I felt awful for Clay, he didn't need that. Did he get bullied for it? I hope not.

I decided to text him and ask him about it, have him give me more information on it so in case I wanted to talk to him about it more in the future, he wouldn't find it offensive.

For the next ten minutes, Clay and I talk about his Tourette's and his family. I was relieved he wasn't asking me anything. My answers wouldn't be good, most likely.

So, tell me about u. Ur family, Clay said.

Damn.

Well, I have a mom and dad and brother and dog, I replied.

I've seen them, they're black. Ur not. U were adopted?

Yeah, when I was eight or nine.

R they nice?

Yeah.

Then why do u have bruises? And don't try and come up with some shit excuse like u ran into something or fell.

I sighed. I wanted to tell him, I really did. But I couldn't.

I didn't answer.

******