She Hides Behind a Smile

The Whispers

"Natalie!" Mitch said aloud to her.

Natalie jolted, tears filling her eyes as she gasped and looked up at him. She was trembling, and forced herself to smile up at him. Mitch glared a little bit, since he hated when she drifted off in her personal mind space, but he wouldn't be dealing with that. Wendell would.

"Hey watch it Mitch. Leave her alone, alright?" Gracie said as she hugged her tightly.

Natalie could only let out a very nervous laugh, her hands trembling with fear. She played it off as being scared out of her mind space, and she hugged back before gently pulling away from her. "Thanks Gracie.. a-and sorry about that Mitch."

Mitch narrowed his eyes at her. To Natalie, it was always as if he knew something was wrong, or if he resented her in some way and wanted to show all of her darkest and dirtiest secrets. Wendell had gotten distracted by another friend, one that they didn't know personally and didn't bother to know either. Natalie took a deep breath as she pulled away from Gracie, and she pushed her hands into her pockets.

"Was your dad drunk again yesterday?" Gracie asked.

"Y-Yeah.. but it wasn't so b-b-bad.." Natalie said. She held a smile, but in a way it was worrisome and broken.

Gracie sighed deeply, and ruffled her hair. She was taller than her, and acted like a big sister sometimes, even if she wasn't as mature as a big sister should've been.

"He didn't hit you or anything?" Mitch chimed in.

She quickly shook her head.

"Stop lying." A voice in the back of her head seethed loudly to her.

"You sure?" Gracie said softly. She gave Mitch a glare, her teeth gritting against each other, since he had quite a loud mouth, and times could be a bit insensitive towards Natalie.

Natalie just nodded again.

"STOP FUCKING LYING TO YOUR FRIENDS." The voice seethed louder.

Natalie almost began to tear up. She forced a smile, making it seem as friendly as always. Everyday, she wore the same look, the same smile, and tried her best to never let them see her cry. No matter how bad she was really hurting on the inside.

The bell ring for class, and Wendell walked over to Natalie. They had their first period class together, which was Chemistry. He gently wrapped an arm around her small shoulders, and pulled her close against him while they walked. Natalie had flinched slightly, pulling at her fingernails and nearly breaking them as she gently hid her hands inside her sleeves just as usual.

~~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After class, Natalie made her way to the library. She sighed softly to herself, and sat in the very back. She put her head down on the table, and set a book up in front of her to hide her face. Her hands were trembling, and she took a deep breath. All the rubbing, picking and pulling at her hands had rubbed off the makeup. She looked down at her bruised hands, knowing that Gracie and Wendell would have a fit.

Natalie just pulled out her phone, and scrolled to her playlist of music. She put in her ear buds, and closed her eyes as she began to list and calm down.

She hummed along very quietly, her fingers tapping against the table lightly. She opened her eyes, jumping slightly in surprise to see an unfamiliar face. "What the hell are you doing in here Alvárez? I didn't know you had a free period."

"Oh fucking great." Natalie thought. "It's Carieline."

Natalie sighed to herself. "Yeah. This is one of my free periods during school. Could you leave me alone?" She asked quietly.

"Hah. Why should I? I heard that you and that Wedell boy started dating. Lucky him, eh? Getting the smartest bitch in the school, with the smallest fucking chest... and the most drunk father in the fucking town."

Natalie sighed softly, putting her head down. She suddenly yelped as her chair was yanked back, and she fell onto the floor. She looked up at Carieline, the back of her head against the floor, and throbbing in pain. She just was quiet, and slowly got up.

"You're so fucking pathetic and dumb. Your dad probably makes you jerk him off everyday." Carieline laughed into her ear with a wide grin.

"My dad may be drunk, but he would never make me do something so sick." Natalie said quietly.

Sure her father wouldn't, but she had a feeling her Uncle Edward sure would. "Yeah right." Carieline said. "And get this shit up before I tell the librarian you're fucking up again."

Natalie shook her head gently, picking up her backpack and her phone. She put her earbuds back in, her sleeves slightly sliding down for a few seconds. Carieline's mouth was slightly hung open, gawking at the massively dark bruises on her hands, but she didn't say a word.

"I've gotta go.." Carieline said. She pushed her own hands into her pockets, seeming to be disgruntled by something.

Natalie didn't care, as long as she was left alone. She sighed deeply once again, then pulled her sleeves up. She looked at her bruised hands and arms that were trembling, and she knawed at her bottom lip again. That's when she decided to just go put makeup over them again.

Natalie then looked down at her chest, she wasn't very flat. She just wore hoodies all the time, and that hid just how stacked she really was. But, she didn't care if people knew about that or not. She just cared about keeping her bruises hidden.

The bell ring just a bit later, and Natalie grabbed her bookbag and her phone. She walked out of the library, after putting away the books that she had. Natalie hummed quietly to herself as she began walked down the hallway, bumped into by a few people intentionally, but she didn't let them bother her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once it was lunchtime, Natalie searched for her friends. She had covered herself back up, meaning that she had put makeup back over her bruises. She had sweated it off during gym, but even then she wore a hoodie and sweatpants. Once she got into the cafeteria, she found her friends at their normal table.

"Lili, how come you never wear just a short sleeve shirt or something? Ever since I've known you, you've always worn hoodies and big heavy jackets sis." Gracie said out of the blue.

Natalie froze for a bit, then just shrugged. "I dunno. Just a habit I picked up when I was little I guess."

"Then take it off. I wanna see how pale your arms are from hiding them so long." Mitch said with a slight smirk.

Natalie opened her mouth, but nothing came out when she tried to speak. She went quiet, then shook her head a bit. "No..."

"Oh come on. I think we all wanna see Natalie!" Gracie chimed in.

Wendell had left the table for a moment, leaving her alone with the two. Without a warning, Mitch and Gracie both grabbed the both of her sleeves, and began pulling on either side. Natalie yelped out, quickly trying to pull her sleeves back, but it caused her arms to slide inwards. She was panicking, her breath becoming heavy as she looked at both of her friends. Or, so she thought them to be her friends.

"Oh my god! Natalie what the fuck happened to you?!" Mitch said loudly.

Natalie froze, the back of her arms uncovered and showing off her bruises. A few people looked in their direction, and some gasped, while others looked away quietly. She began to tear up, whimpering loudly as she snatched her jacket out of the grip of them both. Wendell had began walking back over, managing to catch a glance at the bruises covering her arms. He stood in shock as he looked at his new girlfriend's bruised body.

"Natalie...?" Wendell said in a trembling voice. "W-Why didn't you tell me?.."

Natalie grabbed her things, then rushed out the cafeteria. She wanted to keep something's hidden and to herself, and now she knew what they would be thinking. That it was all on her father. No, it was someone else, and she was too afraid and ashamed to say a single word.