Looking down at her, Chloe’s heart started to break.
“She looks like she’s had enough.”
“You better fucking kick her.”
Sebastian and the rest of them all stepped closer to her, making the threat clear.
Taking a few steps closer, she wanted to break down and cry for the girl, cry and scream until someone came to rescue her. There was no way she could kick her.
“Kick me. It doesn’t hurt anymore,” The bloody girl mouthed quietly for only her to witness.
Feeling the others closing in on her, Chloe closed her eyes and reared her foot back, kicking her in the ribs with enough force to keep them happy, though not hard enough to inflict much more pain on the girl.
“Let’s get out of here. The bitch got the message. Good job, Chloe.”
They all started to head back once again, but Chloe couldn’t move. She had been so disgusted with herself the moment she had done it, but she couldn’t figure out another way to get the girl some help in the end.
Staring down at her, she saw the girl staring back with pleading eyes. Chloe could see her begging for her to leave with them, to not continue to arise suspicion. She didn’t understand why the girl cared if she got beaten up or not. She shouldn’t care, not after what the group she hung around had done to her, and this hadn’t even been the first offence.
The strong-willed girl kept pleading, and with the group watching her every move, she turned to leave with them.
She looked down at the ground as she walked away, wanting to cry. I’m so sorry, Elle …
Chloe quickly wiped the tear that had fallen down on her fresh scar.
I deserved what he did to me.
Six
The Words That Would Forever be Ingrained in Her Soul
Elle was one of the first ones to sit down with her food in the cafeteria. She hadn’t waited behind in math class to finish her problem and get the shit beaten out of her when the hallways were deserted. It was also taco day for the main line, which meant the other line of chicken patties and hamburgers was nonexistent, and she had chosen that option.
It was her first day back since the beating, and she was keeping to herself, but that wasn’t much different than what she had done before.
Looking at her empty lunch table and to the other tables that were starting to fill up with students, she remembered how she used to feel embarrassed sitting alone. But now it beats bleeding behind the school.
She just needed to finish the school year out. Her father wasn’t going to be able to pay for her tuition anymore. That was one small blessing out of it all.
From the moment she had walked through the school doors for the very first time, Elle had felt like she didn’t fit into this prep school. She had been happy back in public school, and she wished her parents had never enrolled her there in the first place. The kids there only cared about the label stitched into their clothing, while all Elle worried about was if she was going to survive her first and final year here at Legacy Prep.
Doubtful.
The cafeteria slowly went suspiciously quiet as whispering began. Looking around the busy room, she saw everyone’s attention on the door behind her.
Spinning around to see what had gained so much attention, Elle’s eyes rested on a once beautiful girl who had the most gorgeous pair of striking gray eyes. Now, in her place, stood a girl with enflamed red slashes across her face and tortured gray eyes.
What happened to her?
“Fucking freak!” was said, followed by laughter filling the space with continuous echoes of the word “freak.”
Elle’s heart dropped as she watched the girl turn back around and leave the lunchroom. She didn’t know who had yelled it, but she was sure Chloe had seen.
She stared down at her plate before squeezing the sides of her tray and quickly standing up, getting rid of its contents and heading out the door the marked girl had just left.
Seeing the swinging of the girls’ bathroom door, she went inside what seemed an empty bathroom, but the feet under one of the stalls revealed otherwise.
Elle put her hand on the occupied stall to feel that it wasn’t latched. “Chloe?”
Opening the door, she was able to see this new version of her up-close for the first time.
The once beautiful girl sat there, spilling silent, glowing red tears down her cheeks. She was right to think Chloe had once been beautiful, but now her beauty was truly breathtaking. You would think that the red slashes would have tainted her looks. However, it was the complete opposite. They let you see her true beauty: her strength.
Elle could see the torture Chloe had endured. She didn’t think she could have survived it if she had suffered Chloe’s fate.
*
Chloe looked up at Elle through blurry eyes, waiting for her to call her a freak just like the others. It wouldn’t make her hurt any more than she already did.
I deserve it from her.
“Are you okay?”