Raindrops assaulted my window pane as I lay motionless in my bed. Another day passed, another bruise formed. Slivers of sunshine danced through my room and sparkled through my brothers messy blond hair while he lay curled on the floor beside me. I searched my throat for my voice,
"Jazz… wake up. It's Wednesday and we have to leave to school soon." I tried to whisper, but my voice came out hoarse.
"It hurts."
"I know, but we have to go to school. Once the years over we can leave Jasper. Just wait until we are eighteen." He smiled slightly and stood up, causing him to wince at the pain in his legs. I refused to look at them, knowing they would be caked with blood.
"I'll meet you downstairs in five minutes." He said quickly as he slipped out of my room. I sighed and dropped the covers, revealing my naked form. I didn't realize the extent of the pain until I swung my legs over the side of my bed. I hurt everywhere. My ribs cracked, my hips ached, my wrist was swelling, I had a dull pain between my legs, and I'm sure my face had bruises. I let out the breath that had been caught in my throat and made my way to the bathroom. I was worse off than I thought. My face was pale, almost translucent, with a bruise on my cheekbone, and a black eye. I quickly scanned my body taking in the bruises on my hips and the scratches down my back. Sighing, I took out my cover up and began to work on my face. Once that was applied, I put on a light dust of bronzer and some mascara. I needed to keep up my façade of happy. Next, I moved onto my back and applied antibiotic cream and bandages. I threw on my underwear and added an old, tight blue t-shirt with a pair of jeans. To finish off my look I threw my wavy mahogany hair into a messy bun and clipped a tiny blue butterfly hairpin into the bottom of it. Every time Jasper and I were hurt badly I'd wear a butterfly somewhere on my outfit. I had butterfly t-shirts, butterfly hair clips, butterfly nail enamels, even a pair of jeans with a butterfly stitching on the back pockets. Ever since I was little I've always adored them. As I grew older I realized the symbolism they could hold. They were free, and they could fly away. They could do everything I wanted to do.
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Jasper pulled our beat up Chevy truck into a parking space in the middle of the school lot. He hobbled out of the car just as I did and we walked towards the front of the school where we would have to part our ways. He gave me a short smile and ruffled my hair,
"Don't do anything stupid today, Bells."
"I don't think I'm in any condition to, Jazz." He frowned and gathered me in a light hug; he was being as gentle as someone would be with expensive china. All the sudden I heard a shrill voice I knew too well.
"Oh look how cute!" Lauren sneered at us sarcastically, "Little Jasper and Bella Swan having a sibling moment! Did anybody ever tell you butterflies were out of style, Bella? They are so totally nineties! Oh right, you probably don't have enough money to buy any new clothes!" In the few moments after she spoke her words, I knew she had crossed the line. She was in no way entitled to mock my brother and I. I began to step towards her when Jasper grabbed my arm. I looked back at him and saw his weary face. I stepped back and turned around.
"Tanning causes skin cancer, Lauren. I hope you die." I added quickly before slipping into the school. I kissed Jasper quickly on the cheek and shuffled to my locker to get my biology books and head off to class. I slid into my seat carefully, and watched as the class began to fill with students, one of which being Lauren. When she saw me her orange tinted face filled with disgust. Quickly she turned to her friend, Jessica.
"Hey Jess. You'll never believe what happened this morning. I was at my locker, and like, Jasper Swan came up to me and asked me out! How pathetic is that! Like I'd ever go out with a loser like him!" I was too blinded by rage to think about my actions. Lauren had just insulted my brother, my best friend, and she was going to pay. In a second I was standing in the middle of the room with Lauren and the other students were chanting "fight!" as I glared at her, and she at me.
"Don't you ever talk about Jasper again, or you will pay for it." I said as menacingly as I could as I got closer to her.
"Why? Is little Bella going to hurt me?" She countered. I continued to glare at her. "You're nothing more than dirt on my shoe, Bella." She looked down at me with disgust and spat in my face. I quickly punched her in the face and wiped her saliva off. She started screaming on the floor and I was about to go back for seconds when somebody grabbed onto my torso holding me back. As they grabbed onto me, my ribs began to tremble, causing me to cry out in pain. I fell to the floor as my vision began to fill with black spots and dizzy images.
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wooo. First chapter.
