[Note: Minor warning about a potentially disturbing/unsettling topic, it comes in context but I won't get too into it. Just there for plot building and to show a little bit of some of the more somber aspects of Blaise's school life]
You had no idea why Valentina left so abruptly but you weren't gonna question it, for all you knew it was a blessing not to have to endure any more of her.
'Sheesh, she hates me with such a passion as if I were some serial killer or something' You thought, groaning in a mixture of pain and annoyance. The wounds on your cheek still stung, though you carefully patted them with a finger and found they were no longer bleeding.
'Thank mom for her quick coagulation' You chuckled. Lillian liked to joke you were like the Wolverine because back when you two were children, whenever you got any sort of wound, it'd stop bleeding insanely fast, sometimes in less than a single minute, and they healed pretty quickly too. A thing you found that was inherited from your mom's side.
You laid on the cold, hard tiled floor, letting it soothe your aching back and the back of your head for a bit while you recovered some strength. Then, you slowly got up. That beating took out quite a lot out of you, and you were just at the start of the day, enduring through the rest could be troublesome. You then quickly picked up Lulu's art supplies and put them back inside her bag before heading out of this classroom. As soon as you got out, you saw your reflection on the locker in front and walked closer, remembering that Valentina had given you quite the "parting gift" in the form of a nasty bruise.
"Goddammit, Valentina!" You growled quietly. Bruises on your chest, stomach and legs you could hide, but something like this would raise questions, and as much as you could use this chance to sic the girls on Toxic Lily, you didn't believe in attacking someone technically innocent, though the girls would probably say otherwise. You also knew your lying game was subpar so you wouldn't be able to evade their prodding if they saw you.
'I need to hide this... but how?' You thought. The bruise was large around your eye and quite noticeable as it was much darker than your light-brown skin. Your brain scrambled for possible solutions while you began considering the possible outcomes to this situation, until it clicked. As if a lightbulb had just lit up, you got an idea...
Grandma Xóchitl has always believed that just like herself, you were born to live in the tropical heat of the Mexican jungle and that in the colder temperatures of the state and city you lived in, you were more vulnerable to the cold and to respiratory disease, a fact that
even grandma Regina gave some credence to with her knowledge as a retired nurse, thus, Grandma Xóchitl asked you to always have a sweater or jacket with you at nearly all times even if you wouldn't be wearing it at first, but "just in case". Funnily enough you always felt the opposite was true, struggling with the heat but feeling the best when it was cold, a sentiment shared by your mom as well.
Grandma Xóchitl even told you an old saying that more or less translated to "A cautious man is twice as valuable" and since you saw no harm in obeying her, you did whenever possible, by keeping a hoodie in your locker when going to school, just in case you ever felt cold for some reason, and to be fair, the A/C almost always seemed to be at full blast, it was rumored that (similarly to yourself) Arianna couldn't quite cope with the heat and preferred cooler temps, thus keeping the A/C at school as low as it could go.
For once this piece of advice came in handy, as you figured you could use the hoodie to partially hide your face, though that was still a flawed plan when it came to your friends, they'd obviously look at your face at some point and see that bruise and would start asking questions. As you walked back to your locker to get that hoodie, you realized another fatal flaw to that plan: The girls could be back at any time soon, plus Lulu was there waiting for you!
'How can I have so much bad luck in a single day?!' You groaned, stopping in your tracks. You needed to change your course of action and once again mentally scrambled to find another solution.
Your memory flashed back to your grandmas again, but this time to grandma Regina. As a retired cop, she had lots of stories to tell you from her job, many of which served as cautionary tales while some others were just funny anecdotes. But among those, you came to learn some things that were quite messed up, and one of such things that came to mind was a "trick" largely used by women who suffered abuse: To disguise their bruises with makeup in order to cover up for their partners to avoid further retaliation.
'I guess that works? Damn, that's messed up, but if that's what it takes, I guess I gotta do it... but where the hell am I gonna find and let alone apply makeup? It's not like I know how to...' You thought with a defeated sigh. But once again your subconscious came to the rescue as another idea surfaced in your mind.
'I actually know! That's it!' You regained some enthusiasm and changed directions, you weren't going towards your locker anymore, instead you were heading to the so-called hustler girl: Jessica Pilgrim. If there was someone in this school who could get you that kind of stuff, it was her, and hopefully she knew how to apply it too.
Just in case you still tried your best to hide your bruise while walking towards her locker, in case you didn't notice someone looking at you, they might end up blabbing out to the girls about it, though you were confident that you were such a nobody at school that nobody should give you a second thought as you passed by, but one could never be too cautious. Luckily, you made it there without any issues, as far as you could tell, and there didn't seem to be anyone around but her. She was checking her phone as if waiting for something or someone.
"Hey" You quietly greeted her, not wanting to draw too much attention anyway.
"Sup" Jessica nonchalantly greeted you back, still looking at her phone.
"Uh, I need your help with something" You said "I know it's not for free, but I still need it" You were quick to add, knowing that sometimes Jessica wasn't the most patient person in the world and while she'd never been hostile to you, a part of you was still reeling from Valentina's abuse so you wanted to avoid any sort of confrontation, as minimal as it might be.
"Alright" Jessica turned off her phone's screen and put it away in her pocket, then she looked at you, and without missing a beat, she raised an eyebrow and asked "The hell happened to you this time?"
"*sigh* Can't talk about it... I still need your help though" You replied.
"You got a coin? Any coin? Even if it's just a dime" She asked, which confused you but you nodded and reached into your pocket to pull out your wallet, digging a little to produce one dime, which she swiftly took off your hand.
"Good! Now you're officially represented by Pilgrim and Associates. Your secret's safe with me, protected by attorney-client privilege" She said, handing you a business card. You were baffled beyond measure, but then again this was Jessica Pilgrim we were talking about so you decided to stop questioning it.
"Now, tell me what the hell happened to your face" She said, crossing her arms. You didn't think her to be the type to like gossip, but you knew she honored her word, making her motives a true mystery.
"You're either gonna laugh or not believe me" You said, feeling somewhat ashamed.
"Dude, I wouldn't have offered you legal protection if I planned on doing that. Plus I'm not telling anyone, so spill the beans" Jessica said with a slightly pouty look. You sighed in defeat and nodded.
"Alright, alright... what happened is... Valentina happened" You said quietly, looking down at the floor as if you were confessing a crime yourself.
"What?" Jessica raised an eyebrow in disbelief "I'm not doubting you... but, really? I thought you ran into Toxic Lily or something"
"She REALLY hates me" You said, shuddering as the memories of her beating came back.
"Goddamn! She even cut you with her nails?!" Jessica said as she grabbed you by the chin and turned your face to the side to get a better look at the wounds Valentina inflicted "Does she think she's some kind of animal?" She then sighed and let go of you.
"Okay, so how am I supposed to help here? You want me to go and beat her up? I would've thought your friends could do that for free"
"No, the girls can't know about this. Nobody believes me anyway" You explained.
"I admit she looks innocent enough, but I know a bullshitter when I see one and you ain't one" She chuckled, giving you a reassuring thumbs up.
"This is gonna sound crazy, but please bear with me" You then said "I need to hide these" You pointed to the cuts on your cheek "And this" you then pointed to your black eye.
"Bruh, I can do a lot of things but I'm not a frickin' wizard... sheesh, not even a hoodie can fully hide that" She replied.
"Actually, we can hide this. I just need the right makeup" You said. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh! I hadn't thought of that! Well, I mean guys aren't supposed to wear makeup but I can see it now. Yeah, we can probably hide 'em with that. Luckily for you I have the widest selection of cosmetics in this side of the school" She said with a slight chuckle. She then turned around and opened her locker, rummaging through it. Sometimes it seemed like that locker contained far more things that any locker had any right to have, and only she knew how she could cram so much inside, but this time that talent of hers came in handy as she began pulling out various cosmetics although you had no idea what they were for. She turned back to get a better look at your skin tone several times as she got the stuff to match it...
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May 12, 2023
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