Lifesaver

Chapter 3

Later that night at dance, of course we are all asking each other about their first day of school and how it went. Everyone was more so interested in mine because I am the only senior of the group, also the only single one. None of my dance friends know about my dad abusing me whenever he feels like it. Not only do I keep it from them because I am afraid, but dance is my safe place. I do not want to show up to something happy and be reminded of my home life just by them saying "Are you okay?" or whatever would come to their mind. I have survived three years of being abused, I am use to it by now. Abuse is also another reason why I never tried dating anyone, but I just tell my dance friends I am not interested whenever they try and get me to double date with them. Of course since they are all nosey, I told them about Joey.

"Do you have a picture of him? What does he look like"? "Do you think he likes you back? You should go for it or tell him how you feel" were the only questions I could understand being screamed at me in excitement. I reply with "No I do not have a picture and we have only known each other for a few hours, I highly doubt he likes me or even thinks I am pretty". My absolute best friend, Grace, looks at me and says "Girl, if anyone has a chance with any guy it would be you over us. Stop being so hard on yourself. You're sweet, caring, down to earth, and loyal. That's what guys look for in a girl, you just need to shoot your shot." As much as I do want to shoot my shot and find a guy to love, I also do not want to do that because I feel I will just be putting him in danger. If my dad were to find out, what would he do? What would he say? I do not see myself being able to hide a relationship when the only separation I have from my dad is school and dance. 

As I am thinking of something to say to Grace, our ballet instructor walks in and tells everyone to get in places for warmups. We all grab our things and put them to the side of the room so none of it is in the way. As I put my things against the wall, I glance at my phone and notice someone with the username no_jooo added me by recommended on Snapchat. At first I had no idea who it was and then thought maybe it was Joey. I did not have time to open the notification and investigate but it gave me something to look forward to, for once, after class. 

After ballet, we have a twenty minute dinner break before our last class of the night. I usually do not eat dinner during break, I just get something on the way home or eat whatever I find lying around the house while everyone is sleeping. As I pick up my phone and go on Snapchat, there is no Bitmoji which I thought was sketchy because everyone uses Bitmoji, right? After a few seconds, I decide to just add the user back and as soon as I do I get a snap. I keep my account private so the snap must have been sent when they added me. I go ahead and just open the snap and sure enough it was Joey. It brought a huge smile to my face as it looked like he was shirtless with the caption "This better be the right Bella or I might be upset". I could not tell if he was shirtless because he was laying in bed, wrapped in several blankets but I just starred at the picture for a while before responding. I finally just take a mirror picture of me in my leotard and tights and reply with a "As long as you were looking me then it's the right one" with a smiley face. Before I can lock my phone to start my homework, I already get a snap back which I was not mad about. The snap he sent back was of him in the same position except this time he had a huge smile on his face and the caption read "Yay!! I was hoping it was". Apparently I had a huge grin on my face because everyone in the room ran my way wondering what was going on. I show them Joey's picture and tell them what happened and before I can finish they all go "GIRL he is fine".

Of course I used my whole break talking to Joey instead of doing homework but it would all be fine. My last class, tap, is over at nine meaning I would be home by nine-thirty with plenty of time to do work. I actually looked forward to school the next day because for once I had a friend. For once, I felt like I could walk into school and not be judged by every person there for being the quiet, nerdy girl. For once, I totally forgot about my home life.