Fake Love

Part 46

Briar POV

At lunch time, I grab my food from the cafeteria and sit down at my usual table. It now consists of about eight or nine people; Brittany and Trevor, Alex and Lamar, Vic and Isaac and Myles and I. Britt and Trev are together as are Alex and Lamar and Vic and Isaac. We seem to be the new popular group.

I glance around the cafeteria and notice Dylan run off crying into the bathroom. I wonder whats going on there. Her and I have kind of come to a truce in the last couple of weeks. She's changed for the better. All of her friends dropped out of school and she doesn't see them anymore, I think that humbled her a lot; In fact she sits with us sometimes and we all actually enjoy her company, you just have to get past the mean front she used to put on.

I stand up and follow her out to the bathroom. "Dylan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She says wiping her eyes and looking at herself in the mirror.

"You don't have to tell me whats going on ... " I say, putting a hand on her shoulder. "But I'm here for you, always."

I don't know whats been going on with her lately, but she seems to be constantly sad. Like overly sad, maybe even depressed. Before we made our truce, she sat at a table in the back corner of the cafeteria alone. She didn't eat, she hardly even moved. I noticed a couple of cuts on her arms, no not cuts. Scars. But I decided to invite her to sit with us and she got better after that, but not entirely; she eats and doesn't cut herself but she's still sad.

"It's okay, b." She says. "I want to tell you I just ... you'll probably just end up hating me again; And think I'm pathetic skank."

"What do you mean?" I ask her. "I won't think that, I promise."

"Okay." She says. "During summer break I was walking home through the old park near my house; it was late at night. It was just after I heard all my friends had decided to drop out of school and I was upset. It must've made me look weak and vulnerable. A man came up to me and asked me if I was okay and if he could walk me home; I thought  he was just being nice, I told him I was okay and that I was fine to walk home alone but he grabbed me by the hand and threw me to the ground. H-he ... he raped me, Briar."

Tears are streaming down her face, uncontrollably. Oh My God. I wrap my arms around her, comforting her. I hadn't thought for a second that this was what she was going to tell me.

"I told my family and they contacted the police." She continues. "My sister, Berkeley, helped me out through the whole thing and when you asked me to sit with you things got even better. I've been so much better lately but today I got a call from my mum telling me that they caught the guy who did it. It brought it up again; but I mostly just feel relieved that that monster is locked up in jail."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Dylan." I say, lost for words. "At least he's gone now."