Chapter 1 - A Ruined Surprise

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I, Delilah Harte, am not very noticeable. For most, I blend into the background, just another unimportant person that doesn't matter. But for a few, I do stand out. I am their punching bag; I am a weak, broken victim that will take their abuse lying down and won't fight back.

Letting them hurt me generally leads to vicious words hurled at me, a fist to my face a few times, and a call to my mum for her to pick me up. And that was how my school year ended. Thankfully, I was going round to Leondre's house today, so I had something to look forward to. Otherwise, I would have been sat at home all summer with self-loathing and a broken self-esteem confining me to my room.

"Do you want me to drop you off at Leo's house?" My mum asked as she turned off the main road onto a smaller one.

"No, just drop me here." I replied to my mum, pointing to the start of Leo's lane.

"Are you sure?" She worried.

"Yeah. See you on Sunday." Jumping out the car, I slung my bag over my shoulder and waved to my mum as she turned around and drove away. Our car was a small, second hand Golf which resembled a cat's scratching post; as did my wrist.

Walking the short distance up the road to Leo's house felt like a lifetime, though it took about three minutes. As I waited for the door to open, I stood watching the setting sun cast light upon the grass, still wet from this afternoon's downfall, making it seem like there were tiny crystals strung on each blade. However beautiful those green blades were, my favourite type of blades were the silver ones that could kill you if you let them, yet make you feel alive.

A few seconds after I rang the doorbell, the door opened to reveal Joey, Leondre's brother, smiling and gesturing for me to come inside.

"Leo, Delilah's here!" He yelled up the stairs, walking back into the kitchen. I closed the front door behind me and wandered into the kitchen after Joey. As I was chatting with him, I heard Leo thumping hastily down the stairs. "Del!" He pulled me into a hug.

I hugged him back, feeling warm and secure; Leo gave the best hugs.

"There's something I need to show you." He told me as he grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs behind him.

I started to get nervous. The last time I had a surprise, it was my 11th birthday, two years ago, and it led to me having a panic attack.

"Leo, what is it? I'm getting scared." I mumbled as he tied a scarf around my eyes.

"Don't be, I've got you." He whispered into my ear. Shivers danced up my spine as he wrapped his arm around my waist. As he was about to open the door into his bedroom, I flinched. I felt him graze over the scars on my wrist. It was so gentle that no one else would have noticed, they'd have thought he touched my arm by accident, but they don't know him like I do. He was checking for fresh cuts.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, frozen in place with fear. He untied the blind fold and opened the door. He headed for his bed and sat down. I walked in slowly after him.

Little fairy lights decorated the walls, illuminating the room. A few vanilla candles, my favourite, were lined up on the shelf, flames flickering, casting small shadows.

I was about to sit down when I saw a piece of paper. It read:

'To Delilah,

I am so proud of you for being one month clean. You are beautiful, and I hate that you feel depressed and scared and alone sometimes. I will always be here to help you through this.

I am so glad that I have you.

Love from,

Leo xxx'

Leo looked at me and my heart sank. I sat on the bed next to him. He slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it tight. He wasn't angry. Part of me wanted him to be angry so I could blame myself for everything. The silence was deafening.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm such a screw up." I let a few tears slide down my cheeks.

"Don't be sorry. I love you, Del. I'm not angry. I'm not going to be angry at you, ever."

"I ruined everything though." I let the tears fall quicker now, and there was certainly no shortage of them. He just looked me dead in the eye as if to reassure me that everything will be okay.

"Hold on, I need to get something."

He came back a few moments later with a massive blanket from Tilly's room, which he threw at me. Being the unsporty girl I am, I missed it.

"Great catch." He joked, bringing a massive pile of DVD boxes over to the bed.

"Thanks. My PE teacher said I should join the netball team." I laughed, using the back of my hand to wipe the remaining tears from my blotchy cheeks.

"Which one d'you wanna watch first?"

"The scary ones, cos I'll forget them if we watch more movies after."

"Ooh, is little Delilah a wimp?" He teased tickling me.

"What would you do if I was?"

"I would give you a massive hug and tell you that I'll protect you from all the big, scary monsters." He said in a baby voice.

"Well, in that case, I am a wimp." I smiled, looking up to him from where I was lying on the bed.

"You look beautiful like that." He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on my forehead.

"Like what?" Sitting up again, I looked at him, puzzled.

"All the time, but especially when you smile."

Feeling awkward, I asked him to put the first movie on.

I curled up on the bed, tracing over old scars and fresh cuts up my arms, but under the blanket so Leo wouldn't see. "Is Charlie coming over tonight?"

"Nah, he's gotta look after Brooke."

He replied, grabbing the controller and sitting on the bed next to me. I felt his arm slowly snake around my back. I moved closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

The movie began. After an hour of watching it, I felt myself drifting off to sleep; until there was something that jumped onto the screen and scared me out of my skin. I buried my head into Leo's shoulder.

"I meant what I said earlier, Delilah." Leondre muttered into my ear.

"You said a lot of things earlier. What was it that you said?"

"That you're beautiful. I'm so glad that I met you, Del. You're the best thing that's happened to me."

He pushed a strand of hair from my eyes.

"I'll tell Charlie that!" I giggled.

"If you tell him then he won't like either of us. And I'll have to audition for Britain's Got Talent as just 'Bars'."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"We're auditioning for BGT." Leo confirmed, his lips decorated with a big grin.

I squealed and threw my arms around his neck.

"I love you Leo, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

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Hey. Welcome to my new humble abode/fanfic.

If you liked that, please comment, add to your library, whatever else you do on here.

^ That sounds really rude :| I mean, I'm new here, I'm only really used to Booksie, so idk how this works.

Anyway, thanks for reading that, if you did read it. I'm not very good at writing, but I felt like doing this anyway bc YOLO.

I don't really know what to talk about now because I'm not very interesting :)

Also, please comment whether you think that was too long/short/whatever you want to be improved and I'll try to fix it for the next chapter.

So yeah, I think that's it.

Byeee ~ Sophie x

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