𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕤𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕕//𝕞𝕔𝕪𝕥 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

𝙀𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏

ᴏʜ, ᴅᴇᴀʀ ᴅɪᴀʀʏ, ɪ ᴍᴇᴛ ᴀ ʙᴏʏ ʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍʏ ᴅᴏʟʟ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴊᴏʏ

The bruise still hasn't left my face. I found myself staring at the mirror, no makeup to be found since my mom decided to throw all mine away. Said I wasn't mature enough to own any.

That's why she lost her first and second husband.

No, stop. I smacked my face with both of my hands, trying to make myself focus. Bigger problems. How do you hide a bruise?

I kept glancing at the clock, watching the time slowly dwindle. I only had about five minutes to get to the bus stop before I would have to run to school. So I sucked in a deep breath and shook off the nerves.

I was fighting with my mom. She said something I didn't like and I turned too hard, smashing my face in the door frame. Yup. Perfect.

I ran to the stop, shivering in the cold. Fall was starting, meaning that the leaves were slowly, yet surely, turning orange and red. I let the cool air soothe my senses and push down my anxiety, focusing on how nice it felt for once.

I can do this.

Those words continued to repeat in my head the entire time I boarded the bus, paid for the ride, and approached the school. My body felt numb as I tried to brush away the anxiety, focused on my feet and entered the school in front of me.

I walked past rowdy students and loud upperclassmen, reaching my first class of the day. My hands clenched around my backpack straps as I spotted a familiar head of blonde hair already in his seat next to mine. It was a piss poor attempt at grounding myself to Earth considering as soon as he turned to look at me, his jaw dropped.

I fought back any emotion that threatened to escape and made a straight path for my seat. Mumbling a greeting to my friend, I sat down and pulled out my notebook and pencil pouch. His eyes burned into the side of my head and I attempted to not let it show that it affected me.

"Who did this to you?" Was the first thing out of his mouth. I looked at him and he looked absolutely pissed. His hands were furled and his knuckles were white while his eyebrows were furrowed. He continued to inspect the side of my face and my knee bounced out of instinct.

"It's nothing. I got into an argument with my mom and turned too fast. I got a face full of door and a trip to the hospital." Technically, I wasn't lying about the first part. He didn't have to know about what actually happened.

Tommy just kept eyeballing me, looking peeved. I stared back, forcing myself to be bold and try to have confidence in my lie. The more convincing, the better.

"Does it look that bad?" I let out an awkward laugh, hoping to diffuse the tension. It worked and his tension melted away gradually.

"No. It just really looks like someone hit you." He admitted before reaching across the desks and holding my hand. "And I hate seeing you in pain."