What Keeps You Alive

WKYA Chapter 2

I smiled and said, "You have an amazing voice." I slid his bag onto my shoulder.

He blushed, "No better than you. I think Mrs. Gwyneth had more tears in her eyes than me." The to himself, "I wonder what other talents you have." Then he looked up and smiled. "So, off to English for me. Where are you going next?"

I looked down at the schedule I'd just pulled out. "Honors Chemistry."

"Wow, so you're a nerd, then?" He smiled teasingly.

"I resent that." I said with a feaux hurt expression on my face.

We began walking in silence for a while stealing glances at eachother, as if glances would tell us everything about the other person.

We reached his class and I said, "See you at lunch?" He nodded and smiled and we parted.

I made my way to Chemistry and barely made it on time. My new teacher, Mr. Calvin, nodded when I walked in and quickly made introductions. We'd gone over the things he was teaching at my last school so the time passed quickly and soon I was off to lunch. My brother stood outside waiting for me. As an extremely smart senior he had his second period off so he'd gotten us some lunch. I smiled appreciatively noticing the McDonalds bag in his hand. He smiled handing me an X-Large Sweet Tea, a cheeseburger, and a fry. I sat down on the hood of his car with him just like old times.

Swallowing a large bite of his burger he asked, "Any new friends?"

I smiled, finished chewing, and said, "Um, that boy who I pulled from the wreck. He has a couple of breaks and bruises, I've been helping him carry his stuff around....speaking of which, I should probably..." I hinted that I needed to go help him.

"Go ahead. But Arya, be careful."

I smiled and responded, "I always try to be."

I threw my bag in the garbage and still carrying my drink, headed for the Cafe. On my way I noticed an alley between the two parts of the school. A girl stood next to, someone I presumed to be, her boyfriend. Just as I was about to call out and say 'hey' the guy slapped her, not noticing me, and muttered, "How many times have I told you? Everytime I say, 'don't eat anything' and everytime I see you, your eating something!" He slapped her hard and she cried out. "How many times have I told you, 'take it like a woman!'" He slapped her again and I  must have made a noise because he turned toward me.

"What do you want?" He sneered and turned toward the girl again. "My blond-haired, blue-eyed, babe." And he slapped her.

This time I yelled, "Stop!" I set my things down and walked closer to the couple.

"What did you just say?" The guy asked me.

Now that I was closer I saw that he wore a football jacket. "I said stop." My voice was hard as diamond.

He waved me off roughly kissed the girl and walked toward me. He bumped into me intentionally as he left.

The girl crumpled to the ground and I knelt next to her. I could see the roots of red hair and the teary contacts when she looked up at me. She was wearing a cheerleading jacket and when I tried to help her up I put my fingers around her upper arms and they overlapped. She was sickeningly skinny and I felt a wave of nostalgia that I fought. I couldn't remember that now, not while I was helping her. She let me take her to the bathroom where we applied new makeup and we fixed her hair back up. And then, for good measure, I gave her a granola bar. She ate hungrily and then thanked me.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Sarah Jacobson." She attempted a smile. "And yours?"

"I'm Arya Aine." I smiled and asked if I could help her at all. 

"No, I'm fine." She said defiantly.

I looked into her eyes and said, "You need to get out of this relationship, Sarah.  He could hurt you very badly." I knew from experience.

"How would you know?" She said.

"Because the very same thing happened to me. Only near the end it escalated. I don't like to talk about it, but if you ever need to let me know." I smiled and she thanked me and left. I put away all of my stuff and left the room but I couldn't keep the memories from flooding as I walked down the hall.

~Flashback~

I was standing in the Girls' Locker Room after school for cheer practice. I was captain. I was changing into the uniform when a bunch of the other girls looked at me.

"Girl, are you alright?" Alicia was staring at my protruding ribs.

"Sure, I'm fine." But I looked at the mirror and saw the foundation was wearing off, the deep circles under my eyes were showing and my cheekbones looked gaunt and I was weak and tired.

Cheer Practice went on and at the end I got dressed silently and left barely able to lift my ten pound bag. Jordan, my boyfriend, met me in the hall.

"Look at you, Babe! All worked out and tired from Cheer. My blond-haired, blue-eyed, babe. Come here, let me see you." He lifted up my shirt to see my stomach and made a disapproving noise with his tongue.  "Looks like your getting pudgy, Babe. Time to cut back." Little did he know I was lucky if I chewed a stick of gum every day.  No more gum, I guess. And then his rampage started, "Why would you disobey me and eat so much?" Slap. Then he'd give me a once-over, "Your roots are showing." My dark hair showed through the blonde. Slap. Time to re-dye. And then he'd look at my face. "Where are your contacts and, Babe, wear more foundation." And then he'd punch me until I was down and kick me just for good measure. And then he'd pick me up and shoulder my bag like a gentleman and walk me out to my car. He'd kiss me goodnight and then leave. I was terrified of him, but I was also terrified of breaking up with him. So I just kept going through it. Besides, who would believe me? He's the star quarterback and I'm apparently an airhead cheer captain who'd do anything for attention.

~Flashback End~

Someone was saying my name, bent down in front of me, wiping away tears.

"Ari, it's okay. Shhhhh, It's okay." Cavan, my guardian angel, knelt in front of me and tucked my hair behind my ear. "Maybe, maybe you shouldn't have come back. Maybe, you should stay home for a while longer." I shook my head, but he picked me up and walked to the counselors office. He set me on the couch and told me he'd be back in a minute. The counselor didn't say anything, though I suspected she knew my past as well as I did. She just let me cry and soon Cavan came back.

"Arya! Are you okay?" Cavan had brought Declan with him.

"Ari, Declan's going to follow us home in your car and I'm going to take you home."

I lept up, "No, Cavan, I was doing so good, I'll get there again. It was just this girl...anyway just give me a minute to clean myself up and I'll get ready for class. I guess it's a good thing we have a long lunch hour right?"I ended with a shaky laugh.

"Ari, lift up your shirt." I knew what was coming, but did as he told. "Do you see that?"

I nodded and smiled.

"That is recovery, your body has recovered, but your mind, well that will take a lot longer. If you need to go the counselor has made it possible for you to go any time you need to." I smiled and hugged my older brother. 

I walked over to Declan, who looked more confused than ever, and took his bag, "Ready for class?"

"Um, yeah..." I said goodbye to Cavan and the counselor and me and Declan started to class. "Arya, what...what was that about?"

I shrugged and said, "Maybe you'll know someday, but for now, it's not something I want to talk about, Okay?" I smiled.

He smiled back and said, "I can respect that. But if you ever need anything let me know."

And with that, we went to our classes.