Why me? (C.W) | Ackley Bridge

t h r e e

It was four days since Cory had found me and I had just come out of hospital after having surgery on my broken wrist. My step-father was away on a business trip in America so thankfully the hospital hadn't been able to get ahold of him, according to his flight details he left just hours after the incident. However since I was seventeen I was able to discharge myself, I had told Nas and Missy that I would be back at school tomorrow which I wasn't looking forward to at all.
I was sitting on my sofa with Nas and Missy, this had been the first time they had ever stepped in my house because my step-dad didn't allow me to have people over. We were talking about what I had missed at school when the door bell rung, I let out a sigh before getting up off of the sofa and heading to the front door and swinging it open. My smile dropped when I saw Riz and Cory. I swallowed the lump in my throat that had gathered once seeing Cory's face.
"Hey." I muttered to the two boys before looking down, the bruises on my face were at their prime and I was not wearing makeup.
"You alright?" Riz asked while bending down to give me a hug.
"Yeah." I stated bluntly while pulling away from the hug. "Missy and Nas are in the back room, go in if you want." I told the two boys. Riz walked first leaving Cory closest to me. I gently wrapped my hand around Cory's forearm.
"You haven't said anything right?" I questioned quietly not wanting Riz to hear. Cory shook his head.
"I've said nothing, everyone thinks a stranger phoned the ambulance." He replied.
"Thank you." I responded with a small genuine smile, it meant the world that he was keeping my secret. He walked into the back room where the others were, with me closely following behind.
Everyone had been round for about two hours when they all decided to head off, thankfully because I was so tired. It was nice having all four of them get along which I don't think I had ever seen before. Cory and I had become increasingly close over the last four days and I was starting to realise that he wasn't all bad, to my shock. Not even ten minutes after everyone had left I was in bed and dropping off to sleep.

My alarm clock rung out it's annoying squeal which was one thing which I hadn't missed in the hospital. However I jumped up out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The room which I had tried to avoid at all costs since I had come home yesterday. I took a deep breath before getting in the shower and having the quickest shower of my life. I wasn't feeling to peachy this morning so I decided to just leave my hair in a messy bun for school, after all what would be the point in having nice hair when I can't put makeup on due to scabs, stitches and medical tape on my cheek and lip. I brushed my teeth and went to the toilet before slamming the bathroom door shut behind me. With great difficulty I managed to do up my buttons on my school shirt. I decided that I would go back to my school skirt seeing as I don't want to get back into Mrs Carters bad books. I pulled on the short skirt and sighed. Maybe my step-dad was right. I was asking for it, especially in this skirt. The skirt came just about two inches above mid thigh and it didn't help that I was tall for a girl of my shape, so that didn't help at all. I looked at the bruises on my legs in the mirror, they were a mess but undeniably so was my face so I doubt people will be looking at my legs. I just wasn't ready for all the stares to begin. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge seeing as I am still dieting and filled my school bag with everything that I would need for today. It had been agreed that I would walk to school with Cory while I was recovering because he lived on the same street as me, all of the, had also made it very clear they they didn't want the 'guy' who did this to me to come back for round two, if only they knew. Once I had grabbed my phone Cory knocked on my door, right on time. I exited the house, making sure to lock it after me, where I was greeted with Cory's unusual smiley face. We walked in silence for about ten minutes.
"Ugh I'm dreading today." I groaned while pouting when we were approaching the school gates.
"Don't worry, stick with me and no one will mess with you." He whispered while throwing his arm around my shoulders. I was already getting sympathetic looks from people and I hadn't even walked into the building yet. Mrs Carter and Mr Bell were stood my the entrance to the building as per, collecting items which weren't allowed in school. As soon as we approached them the looks started again, I rolled my eyes and ignored them, being escorted to my locker by Cory.
"You don't have to follow me around you know, I'm a big girl." I chuckled slightly.
"I'll leave you once Nas and Missy get her." He said firmly. I rolled my eyes once again and started to dig through my locker for my books for first period science.
"Move." Cory instructed.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked rudely turning around to face him. He made actions with his hands telling me to move so I obliged eventually. He went through my locker and found my books, putting them into my hand bag for me before handing it to me.
"Aww see you're not Mr Big Bully after all." I mocked while squeezing his cheek with my good hand. 
"Shut up." He chuckled while looking behind me presumably to his mates.
"Go, I'm fine.' I told him. "Missy's here now anyway." I spoke pointing to the blonde walking up to us.
"Fine, I'll meet you back here after school." He told me before jogging off to see his mates. Nas and Missy approached me seconds later.
"You know girls, he's really not that bad after all."