Au Revoir

12

"Jess.. Jess!  Jess wake up!"  Is what I hear repeatedly in a hushed yelling tone.  It sounded like Alex, so I immediately got up.

"What is it?  What's wrong?"  My voice was quiet, but you could clearly hear the panic.

"Your mom screamed saying she was coming up in a few minutes.  What should I do?"  You could also tell his heart was beating five miles a minute.  If my mom found him up here she would literally kill me.  Just as I was thinking what to do I heard thumping on the steps.  

"Get under the blanket and press against me!  Hurry!"  By this point I was actually having a heart attack.  The plan was hopefully if we were as close to each other as possible and Alex was completely under the blankets my mom would think it was just me.

My door slammed open, and I jumped.  I was also started shaking.

"You better get the fuck up now!  You are so irritating.  Why didn't you set your alarm?  You made me yell and come all the way up the steps.  Now I'll probably be late to work because I had to wake your dumbass up."  My mom was screaming and was about to slap me, but the only thing I was worried about was Alex.  

I could feel him shaking too.  I wanted to hug him so bad, but I couldn't.  My mom reached over where Alex was and slapped me.  Hard.  A whimper escaped my mouth, but then I started gasping for air because she was choking me.  My hands couldn't get hers off my neck.  She had them there for probably half a minute before she spoke again.

"I hope your bullies will finish this interaction when you get to school.  Now get up."  She let go and stomped out slamming my door again.  I started choking and Alex flung up from under the blankets.

"Are you okay.  Oh my god, I'm so sorry.  Please answer.  Just nod your head."  He was leaning over me stroking the hair out of my face in a calming way while I tried to get my breathing under control.  After a minute I nodded to signal I was fine.  

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alright.  She's done worse."  I weakly say.  Alex pulled me into a tight hug, and I could still feel him shaking.  He just kept repeating the phrase I'm sorry.  If I'm being completely honest this has probably been my mom and I's worse interaction, but I don't want to worry Alex.

We pull ourselves together and get ready for school.  I put on some shorts and a turtleneck sweater to hide the forming bruise on my neck then walked to my door, so Alex could get out my window while I was downstairs.

"Hey Jess?"  Alex grabbed my hand gently.  I look at him.  For once he was looking at my eyes and not down.  

"I know you may not want to, but promise me you'll defend yourself when she does this.  I need you."  He put his hand on my cheek where my mom hit me;  also it's where I put makeup to hide the red mark.

"I promise."  We held eye contact for a bit longer, but then I broke it.  "We better get going so we aren't late to school."  

With that we met a block away from my house and walked to to carry out the usual day of school ahead.

--

"Alright, see you at school."  I say.

"Yeah see you.  Get some more sleep while you can."   Alex responds then walks out the door.

It was currently 5:30 a.m. on December 3rd, and Alex was leaving to get ready for school at his house.  It's been a couple weeks since the event that happened with my mom and I, and everything seems to be genuinely perfect.  December has just started which always gives me good vibes, my mom seems to be easing up on me, and Alex and I have gotten extremely close.