Toxic

03 | Brighten your day (OLD)

"And If Love be madness, may I never find sanity again"
~John Mark Green

THE MEETING WITH DANIEL...was...I honestly don't know how to describe it. It was, normal for lack of better term.

Normal doesn't happen in my life, my life is drama, 24/7. I mean you can't have a normal life with a mother who killed herself because she couldn't deal with my father and his bull shit. BS that only magnified when she was taken out of the picture.

I was three, when she took her own life. My dad was never there. I taught myself everything. How to cook, video on YouTube. How to braid your own hair, practice and more YouTube videos. Manturbation, a blog for all girl things. I used to sneak into my father's room when we had an apartment in New York. I would steal money from him to buy food and health necessities.

He would get so upset, that he'd start swinging at me, because I'm the only one who knew where that money was hidden.

My father succeeded in getting in a few successful hits, and he would always pull on my hair whenever I tried to run, he nearly pulled out most of my hair.

When I turned 10, I started to fight back. Even with tiny fists, I was able to punch him in the eye, or land a swift kick to where the sun don't shine, just enough to blindside him until I could run to my room and lock the door.

Then I got my first job when I was 14, and that's when I started to self teach everything I missed in school. With a dad who couldn't tell right from left most of the time, I never attended school.

At the age of 16 I saved up just enough to by my neighbors classic motorcycle, and I went to the junkyard where I fixed it up with extra parts.

I made connections in and out of NY. A girl had to survive somehow on the streets.

Then my Dad, one day out of the blue, turned up sober, and moved up a couple of states over to Minnesota, to a town I still don't know how to pronounce. So I call it nowhere.

I'm just a girl stuck in absolutely...nowhere at all.

•••

Monday morning came around faster than I wanted it. And so did the snow.

I put a sheet on it this morning and parked it in the shed. So I ended up using the shitty Pick-Up truck.

I was at my locker with my shitty gas station coffee, and stale donut that I'm sure has been sitting in the case for about a week now.

I heard an orchestra of sighs and gasps, and I knew Ace must be close. He always had that effect on girls...he had that effect on me when I first moved here.

"Harper!" I heard him call out my last name. Then warmth surrounded me as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Woah! What...are you doing?" I said shrugging lose out of his hold.

"Oh come on, baby. Don't be like that." He slurred grabbing out for me again. I just managed to sidestep his arms in time.

"Are you...drunk? Did you seriously come to school three sheets to the wind?"

"Well after your visit with Daniel on Saturday, how else am I supposed to react?"

"Uh, there's nothing to react to! Nothing happened Ace! And nothing is happening between us either! You need to stop this." I took a deep breath, and released it, stepping closer to him. "You already know how much bull shit I have to go through with my father. I don't need your bullshit either."

I stepped away from him, slamming my locker door shut, I ran towards the girls bathroom, without my backpack or any of my things.

I ran into the empty bathroom, locking myself in a stall.

I tucked my feet up on the toilet, and I cried silently.

I didn't ask for drama. I didn't want any of it.

"Leana?"

I let out a gasp at the deep voice with the slight accent.

What was he doing in the girls bathroom?

"Daniel?"

"Leana, I just heard what happened with...with Ace."

"And what exactly did you hear?"

"He was drunk, and trying to blatantly hit on you."

I bit my lip as a fresh wave up tears washed up. I got down from the toilet, and undid the lock on the stall. As soon as I saw Daniel with his arms open, I practically jumped on him, hugging him tight.

"Shhh...it's going to be ok Leana, I'm always here for you. Nothing will ever hurt you again as long as I'm here." He whispered sweet words in my ear, rubbing up and down my spine, until I stopped crying.

I finally had someone there for me, someone who understands what I go through, and that's something that just brightened my day by 100%.

•••

A/n: If this book gets to 50 views, I'll post the next 3 chapters