Staying Hidden

Distractions

I went to my "room" (the studio) and started my stretches. My girl hormones kept telling me that Casen was a nice guy that I should be with, but I kept trying to push them away because I didn't deserve happiness. My mom didn't want me, my dad obviously didn't care. Almost everyone I let in ends up leaving. Except for Grace and John. But they were out of my reach at the moment and I was losing my mind.

I put on the song Run This Town by Lucy Hale and went over the dance I made up for it.

Hold on cause I'm letting go - right hand over heart, left hand crossing right hand, extend arms to the side like wings

I'm gonna lasso your heart like a rodeo - left hand on hip, right arm up and doing the lasso

I'm gonna give you some till you want some more - left foot out, extend arms out in front

Cause all I see is an open door - act like you're opening a door

"Knock, knock," Mr. O'Connor's voice said.

I stopped and paused the song. "Hey."

"How's the dance coming?" He asked.

"Good. This one's already choreographed," I shrugged.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good. You?" I asked.

"I'm great. But you don't seem good. You seem sad. You hide it very well, but I know you fairly well. What's going on?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"Vanessa, you can come to me. You know that, right?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"When you're ready to talk about it, let me know," he hugged me.

I hugged him back and I hadn't been hugged in so long. I held my breath so I wouldn't cry. I pushed him away and he smiled at me. I smiled back and he walked out and shut the door. I put on my rock instrumental and free-styled. I did cartwheels, windmills, leaps, all of it. I twirled and kicked and screamed in pain.

"Ow, ugh," I held my breath as I held my leg.

I grabbed my ice and put the ice under my leg. It was just a pulled muscle. That's it. I laid on my back and closed my eyes.

"Twinkletoes!" Rydon's voice boomed.

"Sorry, Vanessa, I couldn't stop him," Mr. O'Connor said.

"It's fine," I said not opening my eyes. "What do you want, Rydon?"

"What happened to your leg?" He asked.

"It's fine. What do you want?" I asked again.

"Mr. O'Connor? Can I talk to her alone please?" He asked.

"It's fine, Mr. O'Connor," I said.

The door shut and I heard Rydon's footsteps getting closer to me.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I stopped by your house," he said.

I sat up, shocked.

"When I asked where you were, your mom's exact words were, 'I don't know or care where that bitch is. It's just a good thing she's not here.'"

I was speechless.

"Somethin you're not tellin people, Twinkletoes?" He asked.

"First of all, why were you at my house? Second, how'd you know where I live? And third, why do you care?" I asked.

"First, I wanted to ask you some things. Second, do you not remember me stopping by all the time when we were kids? And third, I care because I may give you a hard time, but I don't hate you," he answered.

"What'd you wanna ask me?" I asked.

"Angela sent a piece of the story she's putting in the paper on Monday," he took out his phone. "Just preparing you."

There was a picture of me and Casen and the headline was Night-In.

Friday night, Vanessa Wilson, Casen Christian, Joyce Emeralds, Lincoln Cummings, and Kyle Pickard gathered at Casen's house for a night in. But apparently, for Vanessa, this night in, turned out to be an all-nighter.
Vanessa and Casen were spotted leaving his house at 9:30 am Saturday morning in Casen's truck. An insider also commented on the night-in saying, "She looked really happy next to him. If they're not dating yet, they will be soon."
A different source said, "Out of all the years I've known Casen, he never looked more happy. I don't know much about Vanessa, but she apparently does something for him, that no other girl has."
But a different source isn't so onboard with the whole "Canessa" ship.
"I think she did it with him. She was way too comfortable and didn't say anything while he had his arm wrapped around her."

"She said she's almost done, but she sent this to almost everyone. The full thing will be in the paper Monday," he said.

"I didn't sleep with him. I haven't slept with anybody," I said. "This is ridiculous. And who saw us leaving this morning?"

"I don't know, but I thought you should know," he said.

"Thanks," I said.

"So why do you have an ice pack under your leg?" He asked.

"Oh I forgot about that," I said. "I pulled a muscle."

"Do you still need it?" He asked.

I shook my head as I went to take it out from under my leg, but Rydon beat me to it. He acted as if my leg was a glass pillar that would break if he was too rough. He put the bag of (now water) on my thigh. I seriously couldn't breathe. Did Rydon--the guy who tormented me for as long as I could remember--just help me?

"See you later," he stood and walked out.

Whoa.