Her Escape, His Safe Haven

Chapter 6- Ignore Them

I have made it through almost the whole day so far. Sixth period just ended and I'm heading to PE. Today is the first day we have to wear our uniforms. Savannah was able to get the transfer so she will be starting our dance unit today with us. I haven't told her yet that Mark agreed to be her partner I probably should have prepared her but I wanted her to be surprised.

Most of my bruises have faded, and the few times I have run in to my father the pain he has inflicted will be easily covered by my t shirt. nI have a gnarly looking bruise on my ribs and the one on my hip is still pretty bad. My knee feels exponentially better now so I should have no problem dancing today. 

"Athena!" I heard V say when I made it into the locker room. She ended up with a locker right next to mine, which is great because I don't know what I'd do if I got stuck changing next to Beatrice. That would be a massive hit to my self esteem to see her compared so closely to me. 

"Hey, you ready to be in class with you know who?" I teased 

"Always." She laughed with me and we got dressed into our gym clothes.

When we walked out of the locker room we found  a spot on the ground to sit. We chatted about random things as we waited for everyone to come out and for class to begin.

"Hey Athena." I heard Mark before he and Eli sat with us. "You must be the best friend." He said looking at Vannah.

"Uh yeah, that's me." she stuttered out a bit.

"Thanks for agreeing to be my partner." he said and I saw V's eyes open wider than I've ever seen.

"W-what?" she asked in complete shock.

"Didn't she tell you?" he asked pointing at me. His cheeks began to redden in embarrassment.

I could tell I had a huge smile on my face. I looked at Eli and noticed a similar smile on his as he looked right back at me.

"I forgot?" I feigned innocence.

Savannah looked at me and I could tell she was freaking out in her head. "I'd be happy to be your partner, god knows who I'd end up with otherwise." she let out a nervous chuckle.

"Alright class! Welcome to our first unit. Dance! I'm going to give you guys five minutes to find your partners and then we will begin." Coach yelled through the gym.

"Hey Elliot, wanna be my partner?" I heard a shrill voice ask from behind us.

I felt him stiffen before turning to her. "I have a partner already, thanks." he brushed her off and scooted closer to me. I couldn't fight the smile on my face.

She scoffed and turned towards Mark. "What about you Marky?" 

"Thanks, but I'm set." He said and gestured to Vannah. I heard her scoff again and stomp off to one of the other football players that were in the class.

"I'm pretty sure we just gained ourselves a new enemy." I told Vannah.

"Don't let her bug you, in fact let us know if she does anything okay beautiful?" Eli asked. I nodded my head and could practically hear V screaming in her head when he called me beautiful.

"Alright everybody up and face your partner." Coach yelled. Eli stood up and reached his hand out to help me.

"Just a warning, I have two left feet." He chuckled 

"No worries, I can carry us." I joked and winked at him. I noticed his eyebrows shoot up probably surprised at my boldness, as I am usually really shy around him. I mean, I'm even a little surprised.