The next day, I took my usual seat at the back of the cafeteria, alone. I pulled a thick book out of my bag and tried to block out the obnoxious teenage banter flooding around me.
Suddenly, the chair right next to me squealed as someone plopped down in it. I cringed, prepared for an awkward exchange.
"Hey Elly." said a familiarly warm voice. I looked up from my book and there sat Avery Jenkins.
"Don't call me that," I began.
"Why not? It fits you. It's pretty." He interrupted. Whether he didn't hear my obvious annoyance or chose to ignore it was questionable. I sighed.
"Don't call me that." I repeated. "What do you want?"
"The company of a beautiful lady." he answered with a lopsided grin. I cursed the heat rising on my neck.
"Then go find one." I tried to sound nonchalant as I went back to my book. He laughed and put one of his hands directly in front of where I was reading. I looked up and glared at him. He smiled back.
"I'm looking at her."
I rolled my eyes and swallowed back a smile. Bitches don't smile at stupid guys.
"Go away."
"Make me." He countered, grinning. I sighed, frusterated.
"Whatever. Move your hand." I let bitchiness seep into my tone, but it didn't seem to have any affect on him. He moved his hand and, as I looked back down, brushed a peice of hair out of my face. I flinched away.
"Leave me alone." I tried. He just kept smiling that dopey smile. I went back to my book and completely ignored him for the rest of lunch. He sat there the entire time and hummed to himself. When the bell rang, I shoved my book in my bag and rose.
"Bye, Elly." he said, cheerfully. What was this kid's problem?
"Don't call me that!" I answered, clutching my bag. He laughed and walked away.
........
My dad picked me up that day. I heaved a sigh of relief when his Lexus pulled up- I could avoid another annoying conversation with Avery Jenkins. I slid into the heated abyss of leather seats just as the first December snowflakes began to fall.
"Hi, Dad." I said, smiling a little. He looked over and smiled back coldly.
Before Maya killed herself, my dad was the happiest man alive. He alway cracked jokes and was incredibly goofy. Even when bad things happened, he knew how to smile through it. I'd always admired how he handled things- until Maya died.
"How was school?" his voice was nearly emotionless, and it was then that I could smell the alchohol. I cringed.
"Dad, maybe I should drive-" I said, hesitantly.
"I asked you a question, Abigail." he replied angrily. When he was drunk, his emotions were practically bi-polar- and his temper was elevated by almost one hundred percent. I blanched and was silent for a moment.
"It was fine." I softly answered. The rest of the ride was completely silent. I fiddled with the seat belt and Dad kept his eyes focused on the road.
When we pulled into the drive way, I had to keep myself from running inside just to put as much space between my dad and I as possible. I felt guilty for wanting that, but he wasn't the same person anymore. And the new him scared the hell out of me.
I grabbed my bag and quickly walked inside, trying to justify my rush with the snow quickly falling around us. I stepped into our house and was embraced by the warmth and the smell of my mother's home made soup. I felt myself smile a tiny bit at the normalcy around me, but quickly shook it off. Nothing was normal.
"Abigail, is that you, sweetie? Could you come in here and help me for a minute?" called my mom from the kitchen. I set my bag by the door and ran over. I kissed my mom's cheek and started helping her chop up some vegetables.
Maya's death had the opposite effect on my mother (as opposed to my dad.) She was incredibly depressed for almost a month, but then all of a sudden, she got happy again. She started being cheerful all the time, and sometimes it almost made up for Dad's anger. Almost.
"How was school, honey?" she asked, half distracted by dicing celary. I sighed.
"It was okay, mom." I kept my eyes down when she looked up, a frown falling over her face.
"Is everything okay? Have you made any friends?" her voice was dripping with worry.
"Mom, I promise, everything is fi-"
My lie was interrupted by a crash at the front door. We both dropped our knives and ran to the main entance, where my dad was on the floor, my backpack lying on its side- a definite tripping hazard.
"What happened!?" fretted my mother. Dad pushed himself up and shoved Mom away when she went to help.
"Damn it Abigail! If I've told you once, I've told you a million fucking times, don't leave your shit laying around everywhere! Are you stupid or something!?" he was fuming. Tears welled in my eyes and I tried to choke them back.
"Dad,I didn't mean-"
"Jerry, it's my fault. I asked her to help-"
"Shut the fuck up, Colleen."
I snapped. Even my father couldn't talk to her like that.
"Don't talk to her like that." I let the ice seep into my voice.
He stared at me then blinked. "What did you just say?"
"Jerry, please calm down-"
"I said, don't talk to my mother like that." I had to resist the urge to get all up in his face.
What happened next is still kind of a blur. I never thought he'd do anything like that, but I guess that's what alchohol does to people.
He hit me. Hard. Right in the face. I fell to the ground with a thump.
"Jerry!"
Mom rushed over to me. I stared at the ceiling, mindlessly. My cheek burned and I could tell it would leave a nasty bruise. He hit me.
"Baby, are you okay? Where does it hurt, let me see."
My dad stalked away, stepping over me, without a word.
........
I went to school the next day with a huge purple bruise taking up almost all of my cheek. He tried to apologize before I left for the morning, but I wouldn't acknowledge him.
I was suprised to find Avery already at my table, smiling in his dopey way. I never expected him to talk to me again after getting the silent treatment all of lunch yesterday.
"Hey Elly." I took a seat across from him.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, blankly.
"What happened to you, bruiser? You look like you just got in a fight with the punching bag and the punching bag won." he laughed at his own joke as I cast my eyes down. He seemed to notice my mood change because his laughter stopped abruptly. I heard the chair screech and I thought he was finally going to leave.
Instead, he sat next to me, looking at me intensely. I glanced up and for the first time I relaized how beautiful his eyes were.
"Is everything okay?" he said it in a hushed way.
"I'm fine." I was pissed at myself for letting him see the real me for even a second.
"I can tell you're not Elliot, what happened-"
"What are you even doing here? Do you want something from me?" I was angry all of a sudden. I was supposed to be cold, but he broke me down for just a minute. This guy I barely knew tore down my carefully constructed wall. That could never happen again.
"No," he answered, leaning back in his chair. "I honestly don't know what it is. Maybe I see a little of myself in you, Elly."
"You barely know me," I said.
But I could tell he was serious. All of the cockiness left his voice and there was something in his eyes that told me he understood way more than I had origionally thought.
