“Ass,” I muttered, running my hands over my tear-stained face.
Breathe. Just breathe. You’re strong. Breathe.
Monday morning and the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. I looked at my face in the mirror, still foggy from my shower. I could see the purple splotch even through the condensation.
Makeup isn’t gonna cover that. What’s my story? I took an elbow while swimming. Yeah, that’ll work.
I blew my hair dry straight, angling it toward my face. Maybe if it fell forward, it’d help hide what makeup couldn’t. Not likely.
I put on my makeup, trying to use concealer around my eye to hide as much of the bruising as I could. It was a lost cause, and, besides, no amount of makeup could cover the swelling.
I grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and the new T-shirt I had made when Jenna and I were at the mall that said, Mondays should be illegal. Once dressed, I grabbed my things and left for school.
Jenna had texted repeatedly since Friday night. I sent her one text telling her things were okay, and I’d tell her more Monday. Other than that one text, I hadn’t talked to anyone since Friday. Sitting in my car in the student parking lot, I pulled out my phone. I knew I needed to warn them before they saw me, especially Brody.
I felt sick. I hated lying to them. I hated how weak it made me look… how weak I was.
Jaden texted me over and over during the weekend, reminding me that he knew my secret and he had no problem telling people. And even if they didn’t believe him, they would believe Ralph. With every text he sent, my stomach roiled. Bile rose in my throat, scorching it. I felt pathetic and useless. And pissed. And not for the first time, I thought I’d just tell him to go ahead. Tell everyone. I didn’t care anymore. Just do it and get it over with. Whatever the fallout was, it couldn’t be any worse than living with the secret hanging over me.
Me: Had an accident over the weekend. Don’t flip when you see me.
Jenna: Yeah. An accident. Ok.
Me: Tell Tim for me.
Jenna: Sure. Whatever.
I sat looking at the screen on my phone, tapping my fingernail on the back. I knew I had to text Brody. I couldn’t just walk into biology without warning him. He’d have a fit. These were always the hardest bruises to explain. The others, I could hide with clothes, but my face, I couldn’t. That was why he didn’t normally hit in the face. I guess that shows how much I pissed him off Friday night.
Breathe. Just breathe. It won’t break you. Just breathe.
I took a deep breath and started typing.
Me: Hey, Ace.
Brody: Hey back.
Me: I need to tell you something and you have to promise me you’ll be cool.
Brody: Okay.
Me: No. Promise.
Brody: I promise. I’ll be cool.
Me: I had an accident over the weekend. Don’t flip out when you see me.
Brody: I’m gonna kill him.
Me: You just promised me. Cool remember? Or I’ll leave.
Brody: Damn it, Willow. Okay. I’ll try.
Me: Try hard. For me.
Sighing, I opened the car door. I reached in the backseat to grab my bag. When I turned around, I saw Brody jogging across the parking lot toward me.
Oh, jeez. I was hoping to put this off until we were in class where he wouldn’t make a scene.
“I saw your car when I pulled in. What happened?” His voice trailed off when he got close enough to see my eye. “What the hell?”
“I had an accident—”
“Don’t lie to me, Willow. Remember sitting in my aunt’s bar and telling me you wouldn’t lie to me? So, let’s try again. What happened?” Brody reached out and took my chin in his hand, moving my head to the side so he could get a better look at my mangled eye. He gently smoothed the hair away from my face.
I bit my lip and looked away from him. If he didn’t want me to lie to him, I wouldn’t say anything at all. That was the safest thing to do, anyway.
“You’re not going to answer me?”
I looked in his eyes and shook my head slowly. “No,” I whispered. Tears overflowed from my eyes.
He let go of my chin and nodded once. “Okay. Then answer this. When’s the last time you’ve seen Jaden?”
I sighed. Afraid Brody would hear from someone else that Jaden was over Friday night, I decided to tell him. I thought it would be better for him to hear it from me. Maybe I could do some damage control. Yeah, right. “He came over after the football game Friday night. His cousin Karen saw me in your Jeep. He wanted to know who I was out with. I guess she didn’t see you.”
“Son of a bitch. And you’re asking me to look the other way and do nothing?” He flung his hand toward my eye.
“Yes. I’m asking you, as a friend, to overlook it.”
Brody glared at me. His jaw worked back and forth as his eyes roamed over the bruises and swelling covering my eye. “You’re scared of him.”
“Yes.” My answer was mostly the truth.
“Willow, you don’t have to be—”
“Please, just do this for me.” Grabbing Brody’s hand and threaded my fingers with his, I skimmed my lips over his knuckles. “Please.” I hated how my voice trembled, the desperation I could hear in it.
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. He grabbed my book bag, slung it over his shoulder, and stalked toward the school.
“Brody, wait. Give me my bag.” I hurried after him, taking two steps to every one of his long strides.
He stopped abruptly and turned. “Why? Because he’ll get angry that I’m carrying it?”
I took a step back at how hard his voice sounded. “Yes.”
He let the bag slide from his shoulder. It hung from his flattened palm. “Here.”
“Don’t be mad at me,” I called when he turned and walked away.
“I’m not,” he said over his shoulder.
“You’re acting like it.” I hated the tremor in my voice, but I couldn’t stand him mad at me. His opinion, our relationship, was important to me.
He stopped, and I nearly ran into his back. “I’m disappointed, Willow. I didn’t figure you would let someone treat you this way without fighting back.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. It felt like he’d physically knocked the air from my lungs. Disappointment was so much worse than anger. “That’s not fair! There’s more to it than you know.”
“Then tell me,” he shouted. Turning to look at me, he held his arms out from his sides. “Tell me, what’s not fair? What don’t I know?”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Whatever.” His arms dropped with a smack against his thighs. He walked away and left me standing alone in the middle of the parking lot.
Walking slowly into the building, I made my way to my locker. I focused on the tiles on the floor and putting one foot in front of the other, so I didn’t have to look at everyone staring at me. It was bad enough I could hear their whispers.
“Yoga pants? Really, Willow?” Jenna asked, looking at me. Then I raised my head. “Oh, shit.”
As soon as I saw Jenna, the tears started. I hadn’t cried when it happened. I hadn’t cried all weekend. But there, standing in the middle of the school’s hallway, in front of my locker, I started blubbering like a damn fool. Like I hadn’t given people enough to talk about already, I had to give them more ammunition.