"H-How?!" You muttered in disbelief. You had been so careful precisely to avoid getting all of this found out by the girls, and yet you failed!
"Like I said, your makeup skills weren't flawless" Jen chuckled, her demeanor softened after she saw how you flinched by reflex when she wiped some of the makeup on your face "Not gonna lie, I had only seen that trick in soap operas back in Mexico, never did I expect to see my... friends having to pull that"
"Imagine having to go through all these lengths to hide obvious signs of abuse" Lillian huffed.
"To be fair, I wasn't hiding this from just you guys, I just didn't want more people to realize and raise a stink about it" You said, looking away from Jen, the little residue of her saliva on your cheek began to slip and undo more of the makeup covering the black eye and scratches Valentina had given you.
"Didn't you guys consider that Dolores or a teacher like Lulu could also caused trouble if they saw this?!" You said, feeling clearly annoyed "And god knows what Principal Abalos would do if she saw me like this... not to mention, getting my parents involved..."
"Blaise, your parents have never physically punished you..." Lillian said with a deadpan look and crossing her arms "Besides, why are you assuming you'll be the one punished when you're the victim?"
"Because I will be blamed! No one will I believe me if I say that she..." You then stopped, catching yourself about to spill out too much.
"She..." Both Lillian and Jen said and they exchanged a knowing look.
"So, there is another girl besides Lily, huh..." Jen's eyes reflected a more intense aura to her person, as if they had been suddenly lit up in flames.
'I've said too much' You thought. You still didn't know for sure how the girls figured everything out besides your apparent slip ups, but you didn't feel like you wanted to find out anymore "I'm going home. Alone" You huffed and tried to walk past Jen, but she grabbed you by the wrist once more.
"Blaise, we're not the enemy here, we're trying to help... but how can we, if you won't let us?"
"That's precisely the issue. I'm becoming the school's laughing stock because it seems I need you two to save me all the time... I need to solve some issues on my own, or I'll be really as worthless as they say..." You said with a tired huff, before you managed to wriggle your wrist free from her grasp, which wasn't as strong as it had been earlier.
Your answer actually shocked both girls, you had never acted like this. And in their shock, they failed to notice that you began walking away and by the time they realized, it was far too late, you were already gone, nowhere to be seen. The near empty hall felt colder, despite the sun's light shining directly through the windows.
"Did... did he just...?" Jen said in disbelief.
"That's Toxic Lily speaking for sure" Lillian groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I... I just didn't think she'd be able to get to him, I thought he knew that she was saying utter garbage"
"Yeah, that thing about us having him as a pet is idiotic. I can't believe he fell for it for real" Jen sighed.
"Everyone has their own insecurities. But I thought I knew him well enough" Lillian said, sounding more hurt than angry.
"He didn't dare to speak of the stuff about Valentina though" Jen noted.
"I saw his eyes, there was a deep fear in them, even when he kinda lashed out. Whatever that bitch's done, it has struck real deep within him" Lillian said "Come to think of it, he did have a point... Lulu, Dolores or Coach Amber wouldn't have let that shit fly if they saw it. But I still don't understand how he learned to put on makeup well enough to hide that, nobody in my house or his wears much..."
"Cindy or Zuemy?" Jen said.
"They would've found it weird if he suddenly asked them for tips on applying makeup, and we would've known" Lillian said "Anyway, that's not too important right now. We need to catch him again"
"He wants to be alone..." Jen replied.
"And kids often want to just eat desserts and not real food. But sometimes what people want isn't the right thing for them" Lillian said.
"Good point... but, isn't this gonna make it look like Lily was right? That we're really controlling his life and all that nonsense?" Jen asked.
"I'd rather have a living friend that hates me for doing what is right than one that's dead because I respected his wishes!" Lillian said as she began to walk fast towards the hall's exist, with Jen quickly following along.
Meanwhile...
The adrenaline from your encounter with Lillian and Jen ran out fast, and the enormous pain from all the injuries in your body began to sap your strength and it made you feel crippled. The hour-long walk to your home felt three times longer and many more times tiring.
At times like this, you had been ambushed outside the school's grounds by Lily herself, or other bullies on her behalf, and many times you managed to defend yourself, but it was always a Pyrrhic victory at best, getting rather severely beaten even if you managed to escape in the end. And this was all the more difficult when it was girls, as that meant you couldn't even fight back.
Your afternoon and evening were pretty much ruined, you wouldn't have minded hanging out with the girls after this supposed tutoring, as long as they remained unaware of the darkness that shrouded you, but now, that wasn't even an option anymore. Something in your heart ached as a result.
You were roughly at halfway between school and your home and you decided to sit down at the nearest bus stop, not because you wanted to ride, but simply to rest, you were feeling really tired though the mental pain was more overbearing than the physical one at this point. Your plan for now was to simply go home and rest.
But something deep inside tugged at your conscious, a sort of need that needed to be fulfilled. You felt like you needed to be with someone, feeling that something bad might happen if you stayed alone. You weren't sure if that was because of your encounter with Lillian and Jen, or just your body warning you about something else, but at this moment, your closest friends like Cindy and Zuemy were out of the question.
There were also Jim and Pete, but you got a gut feeling that they might be in on this along with the girls so it might not be a good idea to hang out with them, even though Jim's half sister Jessica was the one who helped you the most with these things, specially with the makeup coverage. It didn't seem like she sold you out at least.
That only left 4 viable options: Yamile, Bailey, Maggie or Brooke, and even in these cases, they might ask questions if you fail to cover the bruise and scratch marks on your cheek. Maybe you could still use the "fell down the stairs" excuse. Your legs also ached badly, you didn't feel too sure about being able to walk all the way home.
In the end, you decided to text [choices 1 - 4] and ask to meet you at the bus stop where you were without giving any more details. If that somehow failed, you'd see it as Fate determining that you just had to soldier through your fatigue and go back home.
Once you sent the text, you leaned back on the cold steel seat and let it soothe your sore body. Closing your eyes as you waited for the notification ping and vibration from your phone, not wanting to see, hear or think about anything for a bit, feeling just too drained...
"Like I said, your makeup skills weren't flawless" Jen chuckled, her demeanor softened after she saw how you flinched by reflex when she wiped some of the makeup on your face "Not gonna lie, I had only seen that trick in soap operas back in Mexico, never did I expect to see my... friends having to pull that"
"Imagine having to go through all these lengths to hide obvious signs of abuse" Lillian huffed.
"To be fair, I wasn't hiding this from just you guys, I just didn't want more people to realize and raise a stink about it" You said, looking away from Jen, the little residue of her saliva on your cheek began to slip and undo more of the makeup covering the black eye and scratches Valentina had given you.
"Didn't you guys consider that Dolores or a teacher like Lulu could also caused trouble if they saw this?!" You said, feeling clearly annoyed "And god knows what Principal Abalos would do if she saw me like this... not to mention, getting my parents involved..."
"Blaise, your parents have never physically punished you..." Lillian said with a deadpan look and crossing her arms "Besides, why are you assuming you'll be the one punished when you're the victim?"
"Because I will be blamed! No one will I believe me if I say that she..." You then stopped, catching yourself about to spill out too much.
"She..." Both Lillian and Jen said and they exchanged a knowing look.
"So, there is another girl besides Lily, huh..." Jen's eyes reflected a more intense aura to her person, as if they had been suddenly lit up in flames.
'I've said too much' You thought. You still didn't know for sure how the girls figured everything out besides your apparent slip ups, but you didn't feel like you wanted to find out anymore "I'm going home. Alone" You huffed and tried to walk past Jen, but she grabbed you by the wrist once more.
"Blaise, we're not the enemy here, we're trying to help... but how can we, if you won't let us?"
"That's precisely the issue. I'm becoming the school's laughing stock because it seems I need you two to save me all the time... I need to solve some issues on my own, or I'll be really as worthless as they say..." You said with a tired huff, before you managed to wriggle your wrist free from her grasp, which wasn't as strong as it had been earlier.
Your answer actually shocked both girls, you had never acted like this. And in their shock, they failed to notice that you began walking away and by the time they realized, it was far too late, you were already gone, nowhere to be seen. The near empty hall felt colder, despite the sun's light shining directly through the windows.
"Did... did he just...?" Jen said in disbelief.
"That's Toxic Lily speaking for sure" Lillian groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I... I just didn't think she'd be able to get to him, I thought he knew that she was saying utter garbage"
"Yeah, that thing about us having him as a pet is idiotic. I can't believe he fell for it for real" Jen sighed.
"Everyone has their own insecurities. But I thought I knew him well enough" Lillian said, sounding more hurt than angry.
"He didn't dare to speak of the stuff about Valentina though" Jen noted.
"I saw his eyes, there was a deep fear in them, even when he kinda lashed out. Whatever that bitch's done, it has struck real deep within him" Lillian said "Come to think of it, he did have a point... Lulu, Dolores or Coach Amber wouldn't have let that shit fly if they saw it. But I still don't understand how he learned to put on makeup well enough to hide that, nobody in my house or his wears much..."
"Cindy or Zuemy?" Jen said.
"They would've found it weird if he suddenly asked them for tips on applying makeup, and we would've known" Lillian said "Anyway, that's not too important right now. We need to catch him again"
"He wants to be alone..." Jen replied.
"And kids often want to just eat desserts and not real food. But sometimes what people want isn't the right thing for them" Lillian said.
"Good point... but, isn't this gonna make it look like Lily was right? That we're really controlling his life and all that nonsense?" Jen asked.
"I'd rather have a living friend that hates me for doing what is right than one that's dead because I respected his wishes!" Lillian said as she began to walk fast towards the hall's exist, with Jen quickly following along.
Meanwhile...
The adrenaline from your encounter with Lillian and Jen ran out fast, and the enormous pain from all the injuries in your body began to sap your strength and it made you feel crippled. The hour-long walk to your home felt three times longer and many more times tiring.
At times like this, you had been ambushed outside the school's grounds by Lily herself, or other bullies on her behalf, and many times you managed to defend yourself, but it was always a Pyrrhic victory at best, getting rather severely beaten even if you managed to escape in the end. And this was all the more difficult when it was girls, as that meant you couldn't even fight back.
Your afternoon and evening were pretty much ruined, you wouldn't have minded hanging out with the girls after this supposed tutoring, as long as they remained unaware of the darkness that shrouded you, but now, that wasn't even an option anymore. Something in your heart ached as a result.
You were roughly at halfway between school and your home and you decided to sit down at the nearest bus stop, not because you wanted to ride, but simply to rest, you were feeling really tired though the mental pain was more overbearing than the physical one at this point. Your plan for now was to simply go home and rest.
But something deep inside tugged at your conscious, a sort of need that needed to be fulfilled. You felt like you needed to be with someone, feeling that something bad might happen if you stayed alone. You weren't sure if that was because of your encounter with Lillian and Jen, or just your body warning you about something else, but at this moment, your closest friends like Cindy and Zuemy were out of the question.
There were also Jim and Pete, but you got a gut feeling that they might be in on this along with the girls so it might not be a good idea to hang out with them, even though Jim's half sister Jessica was the one who helped you the most with these things, specially with the makeup coverage. It didn't seem like she sold you out at least.
That only left 4 viable options: Yamile, Bailey, Maggie or Brooke, and even in these cases, they might ask questions if you fail to cover the bruise and scratch marks on your cheek. Maybe you could still use the "fell down the stairs" excuse. Your legs also ached badly, you didn't feel too sure about being able to walk all the way home.
In the end, you decided to text [choices 1 - 4] and ask to meet you at the bus stop where you were without giving any more details. If that somehow failed, you'd see it as Fate determining that you just had to soldier through your fatigue and go back home.
Once you sent the text, you leaned back on the cold steel seat and let it soothe your sore body. Closing your eyes as you waited for the notification ping and vibration from your phone, not wanting to see, hear or think about anything for a bit, feeling just too drained...
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May 12, 2023
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