Fiction

The hot water burned as it hit the new scars on my arms from last night. My tears streamed down my cheeks, mixing along with the water as I stood underneath the shower head and let myself cry. There was no fighting back the tears, not now and definitely not last night after dragging the blade across my skin.

My parents definitely punished me last night for cussing out my dad, that and Kyle went ahead and told them a bunch of bullshit about what happened after school yesterday. Now I was grounded for a week, all because I accidentally swore at my father, and for swearing to slap Kyle across the face. I was going to do it if not for his stupid, so-called friends.

At least my punishment wasn’t too bad. It was only for a week, but it all still felt unfair. I don’t think I'm the one who did anything wrong, besides cussing at my dad, but that wasn’t on purpose.

It’s not like I was planning to go out this week anyways, so it didn’t really matter if I was grounded or not, but I still hated to have my parents angry with me. I hardly ever got in trouble. I wasn’t used to all of the upset looks I was being given in exchange between my mom and dad. Let’s just say they weren’t all too happy with me right now.

After I got out of the shower, I finished getting ready for school, even though I really didn’t want to go. I don’t know what it is, but I didn’t have a good feeling about today. Something was going to happen, and it was probably going to be bad. I just really hope nothing horrible happens.

My dad took us to school again today and the three of us rode in silence. Everyone was unhappy with me, but I too was upset, and had a right to be. I was unhappy because my dad punished me for one curse word that accidentally slipped out, and I was completely pissed off at Kyle for being such a jerk yesterday.

Now I had to go in to school and try to avoid the girls from the bathroom and even the people Kyle hung out with to keep myself out of further trouble. What about that Johnny kid? Was he serious when he said he would be getting me back for hitting him with that door? Was he planning to get his revenge on me like everyone else? It seemed like everyone was out get me.

We pulled up to the front of the school and I couldn’t seem to get out of that car any slower. My legs felt like they could barely move. I stood behind the car door, afraid to move any further, even if I could.

I had no idea what events were in store for me today. I just wanted to climb back into the car and apologize to my dad for my behavior, just so he would forgive me and comfort me. I didn’t want to go and face my fears, but my dad wasn’t having any of it.

“Go Leah. You can’t be late.” I looked back, giving him a pleading look. “We will discuss your punishment even further after school.” Apparently the look didn’t work.

I sighed and shut the door behind me as hard as I could. I was starting to give up on my ‘good girl’ act. I was tired of trying to be nice and hoping that everyone liked me. That’s it, I’m done, and I give up. No more of this nice girl act.

I angrily threw my backpack over my shoulder and marched my way through the school doors, right after throwing Kyle and his jerk friends a glare. The guy that pushed me yesterday smirked and Kyle turned away as I burst open the doors.

I just got to my locker, throwing in my backpack since my first hour was just computers when suddenly my locker quickly slams shut, just barely missing my hands. I couldn’t help but jump and let out a yelp. At first I figured it was those girls again, ready to get their revenge on me.

I looked to see Johnny, who had snuck behind my locker door, laughing at me. “Did I scare you?” He mocked, grinning from ear to ear.

I scowled at him. “Yes,” I said through clenched teeth, though I could feel my shoulders relax out of relief that it was just him.

“Good. Consider it as part of my payback.” He smiled evilly. I scoffed, which caused him to smirk. “Hey, at least I didn’t slam it against your face.”

“True, but you did almost slice my hands off there!” I said, rubbing them together, thankful they were still intact. “And again, I’m sorry about that.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get you back for that somehow.”

“Oh great,” I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Well whatever it is that you’re going to do, it can’t be nearly as bad as-” I stopped myself. I wasn’t too sure I wanted to tell him or anybody about the bathroom incident.

I just wanted to handle all of that by myself and not have anyone else involved. I could stick up for myself. That reminds me about Matt, and I sighed just thinking about how I had treated him yesterday, acting ungrateful for him sticking up for me. If I had the courage to, maybe I could thank him later on in history class.

“As bad as what?” Johnny raised any eyebrow.

I quickly shook my head. “Never mind. It’s nothing. So what’s up?” I asked to change the subject.

He gave me a confused look at first, but then just shook it off. “Oh, well I just came over to ask you if you wanted to hang out with me at lunch today.” He asked with hopeful eyes.

I looked at him in surprise. “Really?” I almost couldn’t believe that someone would actually want to hang out with me.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” He shrugged again. “It looks like you could use some company.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you know. I haven’t really seen you with any friends so I figured you could use someone to talk to.” He nervously shoved his hands into his pockets.

I almost began to blush, actually shocked that he wanted to be around me, especially after hitting him with that door. I nodded a little too quickly. “Yeah, sure. That would be great actually. Thank you.”

Now he began to blush a little. “Cool. We can just meet at your locker after the lunch bell rings.”

I smiled. “Okay, I'll see you later then.” I said, about to go to class.

We parted ways and I headed for my class. I sat down in the same seat as yesterday, away from most of everyone else.

Notes