The Truth Is.

Chapter 14

        Mother and I were different. We shared the same sickening disdain for our family, but we were different. Mother hated silence, and I thrived on it. Noise screwed with my mind, the chatter of students always dawned empty on my mind. The tickle of laughter numbed me, the bright smiles were too much.

        I hated it so much.       

        My feet burned while I walked. The anger in my body had tears rimming my eyes. Mother always said, "A real woman is never angry."

        But I'm always so angry. It's not the kind that explodes, and destroys everything around me. It's the kind that eats me up inside, It drowns out the empty drones of happiness, It sets everything inside of me on fire and lets me burn. I wish they would just let me burn.

        The flame in my chest was dimming. A candle-like flame kept me moving, and breathing. It paused when we entered the school.

        When nobody chattered.

        When nobody laughed.

        The air was frigid. Eyes weren't focused on me, but rather on the boy walking beside me. The boy only moments ago, I though I knew: Alex felling.

        He walked in with a smile that fell when he saw their glares. They weren't angry at him, but they expected him to join in their anger as well.

        "What's wrong?"

        Sandy and Jacob both leaned against the lockers in the middle of the angry Magnates. She clenched her jaw and shook her pretty strawberry hair. "Haven't you heard about that Bitch yet?!"

        Alex only gave her the confused look of a puppy, and she softened. "Some Scant is claiming that you raped her."

        "What?!" The golden rays of his smile faded, into a dark stormy glare. The felling boy was like the weather. He could be the prettiest sun only to crack from the lightening. "Who fucking is she?" Alex didn't curse, but after all did I really know that anymore?

        Sandy smile was infectious, and sickening with jealousy and rage. "Paige Tsuyoi."

        My heart froze.

        "Who?"

        "I don't know, I've never even heard of her." The lie floated off his tongue like sweet syrup. Nobody had any doubt. Even I found myself questioning it, was her name really Paige? Had Alex actually introduced us? The canopy of drunken blur had left my mind to wander.

        Fear and doubt crept up on me. Alex knew her, so why lie about it? When I looked at him, he ignored me, keeping his gaze straight.

        Alex wouldn't do that. There was probably a misunderstanding.

        "Nobody believes her," Sandy added quickly. Her arms circled around his and brought it to her chest. "We know you'd never do such a thing."

        A sweat flushed the back of my neck. Goosebumps erupted across my arms, and no amount of rubbing would sooth them.

        "Where is she?" He ignored Sandy's soothing touch.

        "The yard around back." Jacob put out the butt of his blunt on a nearby locker.

        "What're you going to do?" My voice trembled with urgency. They gave me strange looks, all except for Alex. His eyes were narrowed. For a moment I panicked. What was I doing?

        Alex caught my bicep and pulled me. "We need a minute!" He turned the corner and pushed me into the closet.

'       Cleaning supplies loomed over my head, the smell of bleach froze my heart. I couldn't breath. My nails pinched into my palms and I didn't feel it. The room was dark, with a shadow blocking the exit.