Julie Bane

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Julie's POV

  He slowly reaches his hand up and starts to touch one below my bellybutton, but I push his hand away quickly.

  "Who did this?" He asks softly.

  "No one." I say.

  "Did you do it?"

  "No." I almost shout.

"Just asking." He mumbles. "When did this happen?"

"A long time ago."

"Where did it happen?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I say standing up and walking to my dresser to get a new shirt, he follows.

"I have things I don't want to talk about too, Julie. But I'll talk about them if you talk about what those are from." He turns me around to face him.

"No." I shake my head.

"Too bad, you need to tell me."

"I can't Carlos." I look at my feet.

"It's okay, I'll listen."

"I'm not saying you won't. I just can't talk about it."

"You need to."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's painful to think about."

"I'll be right here with you." He takes my hands. I look into his eyes, trying to find some reason not to trust him. And the only thing I could find is how he forced me earlier. He yanked my shirt off, even when I told him no, he can't draw on my back, but he didn't listen. He didn't care. He didn't think about my feelings. He just did what he wanted.

But sadly I still don't see a reason not to trust him.

"Fine, just, I don't want to tell you face-to-face. You go sit outside of the door and I'll tell you." I sigh.

He gives me a weird look before nodding and walking out of my room. I shut the door and sit against it, assuming he's listening on the other side.

I take a deep breath.

"..." Nothing comes out of my mouth.

"Julie?" He asks. "This better not have been some trick to get me to leave you alone."

"It's not, I'm trying to tell you. Just wait." I say and he goes quiet.

"It was in the foster home." I finally say. "I was only eleven then, none of the other kids liked me. I didn't know why, and I still don't know to this day. Everyone just treated me like I was worthless, even the staff. I was treated like some lost, disabled puppy that didn't have any purpose in life. I was just worthless."

"You're not worthless." He says softly, and I continue.

"So one day, I was just doing my own thing, coloring in the art room, when this one boy came. He always bullied me the most. Call me names, push me around, make me cry in front of all the other kids."

"What was his name?" Carlos asks.

I close my eyes as I bring my knees up to my chest, "Jonah." I almost whisper.

  "Jonah?" He asks. "Hey, that's the same name as the guy who bullied you at school." He points out and my eyes sting as I stay quiet. "What a coincidence."

  "Not a coincidence." I whisper.

  "... Oh, Julie. He's been bothering you since... he was in foster care with you?" He asks quietly.