Alone Together // Pete Wentz

A Little Less 16 Candles

~Anna's POV~

I shut the front door behind me, and climbed the stairs, going straight into my room. I collapsed onto the bed. I had almost made it through the second week of school. Tomorrow was Friday, September 15th. Oh yeah, it was also my birthday too. I didn't really want Pete or anyone of my friends to find out. They might make a big deal about it, and I didn't want them to go to any trouble. I was still very excited, nonetheless. 16 meant I could get my license soon.

I lifted up my long sleeve on my left wrist. Why was the scar still so obvious? Good thing nobody had noticed. Okay, stop being depressing. I told myself, and turned on some FOB.

"WE'RE THE THERAPISTS

PUMPING THROUGH

YOUR SPEAKERS

DELIVERING JUST

WHAT YOU NEED"

I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Anna, quiet down!" My mom yelled from downstairs.

Uggggggggghhh. Whatever. I shut up, and started on my homework. After what seemed like 4 hours I finally finished. The first thing I did was scroll through my Instagram feed, instantly regretting it. It was a picture of my two old best friends from my old school, Zoey and Callie. I smiled sadly. They were in their bathing suits, smiling by Zoey's pool. But somthing very small, that no one else would have noticed besides me, caught my eye. A small bruise Callie's right leg. No, this couldn't be happening. I searched her holy body more, and somehow I saw that she had used makeup to cover a black eye. Callie's mom's boyfriend was abusive to her. I instantly felt a lot of guilt and a longing to hug her tight. I dialed her number, as quickly as I could.

"Anna? Hi!" Said her quiet voice.

"Hey Cal! I miss you so much... You don't even know." I told her.

"I miss you more!" She said, laughing sadly.

"Listen.. I saw you're Instagram post, you know with you and Zo by the pool? And I saw the bruises.. Im so worried about you, Callie." I said, my voice slightly cracking at her name. She went silent for a minute and then whispered. "Im scared, Anna."

"Please promise me you'll get help soon. I thought he stopped? You promised me you would get help, remember?" I whimpered.

"Yeah I know... And I will, I promise. Tomorrow, okay? Well I gotta go because he might hear me. Bye, I love you so much." She said, and the line went dead.

How the heck was I supposed to sleep after that? One of my best friends, constantly being hurt. And she was only now getting help. Thoughts swarmed my head, and a sudden headache came. I groaned, realizing how tired I was. I closed my eyes and drifted off instantly.

"BEEP. BEEP. BEEP." Went my alarm.

"Gaaaaaaaaah whyyyy?" I mumbled, sitting up. I turned on my phone and saw that I had a new voicemail. Unknown caller? I turned up my volume and listened.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA BANANA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUU!"

I immediately recognized Zoey and Callie's voices. I smiled, happy tears threatening to spill out.

"Anna we miss you too much and love you even more! Have a seriously chill day, dude!" They laughed, and then it was done. The happy tears managed to slip out. I replayed the message about 10 times, and then finally headed downstairs for breakfast.