Thirst; Paxton Hall

sixty-six

Mercedes's POV

I had woken up to a phone call from my mom, and Beto was still sleeping next to me as i grabbed the phone and answered my mom's call.

Mercedes: Hello?

Mom: Mercedes. You're not going to like this, but i just wanted to talk to you about schooling.

Mercedes: Mom. I'm just going to do online.

Mom: No sweetie. Dad doesn't want you to. He doesn't want you regretting your last two years of school because of a boy. He's not going to let you do online.

Mercedes: Um. I'm sorry but i'm not going to school with them.

Mom: You're going to have to face your problem at some point.

Mercedes: I'm not healed.

Mom: I know.

Mercedes: I cant go.

Mom: You're going to have to. I'm sorry.

Mercedes: I love you.

Mom: I love you too.

I slowly got up, and went to go into the bathroom so i could pretty much take my anger out in there. I couldn't scream so i just squeezed the shit out of a rag and threw it across the room.

My mother knew i didn't want to go to school, and she knew how hard it was for me. I'm not done suffering from what i saw that night, and going to school isn't going to help.

I burst into tears and sat in the corner of the bathroom, holding my towel by my mouth so i wasn't making too much noise.

Obviously that didn't work very much as i heard the headboard of the bed hit the whole, assuming Beto had gotten out of bed, and realized i wasn't there.

I sighed and quickly got up to lock the bathroom so he didn't walk in on me crying. I went in front of the mirror to look at myself and laughed at how pathetic i had felt.

I splashed some water on my face and washed my face so i had a reason to look like the way i looked. My eyes were bloodshot though, but i'll just say i was still tired.

"Mercedes?" I groaned under my breath and heard him try to open the door. "Mercedes? Are you okay?"

I went to the door and unlocked the door, and Beto has opened it right away. He looked at me, and studied me very hard. I grinned at him and rubbed my eyes.

"Good morning." I greeted him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to go get some coffee." I turned quickly and tried to head to the kitchen when Beto grabbed my hand.

"No." I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to act like i wasn't just bawling my eyes out in the bathroom. "Come here." He grabbed me and gave me a big hug.

The hug was so comforting that i almost started to bawl my eyes out once again, because i just felt like my worries went away for just a few seconds of hugging someone.

"Mercedes." He grabbed my chin and looked at my face. "What's wrong."

"What? Nothing."

"I'm not stupid. What happened."

I sighed and looked at the ground. "I have to go back to public school. But, i just can't Beto."

"Babe. You're going to be fine. You're strong. You act like you're not but i don't think you realize how strong you are."