Baton Rouge.

Chapter 3 - Claws Out!

As Melissa laid in her bed, she jumped up to the noise of her door opening. She squinted her eyes as the light from the hallway, trying to see who the person was that stepped inside of her room. It was Rodrigo.

"Melissa, wake up." He said. "We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Melissa sniffed as she lifted up in her bed, rubbing her eyes.

Rodrigo sat at the end of her bed, placing his hand on her lap.

"Your counselor/clinic told me that you visit her every other day and you've been doing it since the beginning of the year." Rodrigo said. "What's the problem?"

Melissa froze. She looked down, trying to think of what she could say.

"I don't visit her as much as she says..." Melissa lied. "I just visited her today. She's overexaggerating-"

"Then why'd you visit her today?"

"I bruised my nose from tripping in the hallway. That's it." Melissa sighed as she cut on her lamp. "It's not that big of a deal."

Rodrigo glanced down at Melissa's collarbone, looking back up at her.

"And your collarbone?"

"From falling, dad." Melissa sighed. "Can I PLEASE go to bed now?"

Rodrigo didn't believe her, but he didn't know much on the background of Melissa being bullied. He gave her a blank stare, then kissed her on her forehead.

"Well you be good, Melissa. You have school tomorrow." Rodrigo said. "Oh, and don't forget that we're having dinner for the 70th anniversary of my hospital. Tell your swim coach that you'll be skipping out of swim practice, alright?"

"Yeah." Melissa sighed as she bundled up under her covers. "Goodnight."

As Melissa's father shut the door, Melissa slumped into her pillow, taking a deep breath and preparing for the next day. She could never get a break or any time to herself. It was always work, swim practice, studying, reading, then the same thing all over again. But since she hasn't lived much of a life outside of this, she didn't realize how "trapped" she was.

The next day, Melissa had it easier than other days in her school. Though she was talked about by people, no one pushed her over her limit as usual. She figured that people knew that the counselors were staring to watch the students, so maybe they were backing off a little. Though she was happy about this, Melissa was still lonely. During lunch, she once again found herself stranded in the middle of the lunchroom. Melissa took a deep breath, speed walking out of the lunchroom and going to the janitors closet. Melissa took a deep breath, sitting down with her tray.

"Sigh....." Melissa whispered as she sat in the cluttered area. "Only a few more hours to go, Melissa."

And after two more grueling hours of school, it was time to go back home, get dressed, and get prepared for her fathers dinner.

Of course, Melissa's mother had to dress her. Whatever Melissa liked or suggested, her mother was against it. Maria even wanted to dress Melissa's brother Louis, but he had to continue to remind her that he was an adult. So instead, Maria focused all of her attention on Melissa. She gave Melissa some black stockings, a black dress, black shoes, and a black bow to go with the bun that Maria put in Melissa's head. Maria smiled in the mirror, placing her cheeks next to Melissa's.

"Ooh sweety, don't you like how I dressed you?" Maria squealed as she squished her face next to Melissa's.

"Heh. Sure?" Melissa sighed.