A/N: Thanks for the great reviews everyone! Here's chapter seven of Judgemental!

Oh by the way, thank you jesterlady for telling me that my writing matters! I thought that was really sweet!

xoxox

Gianna

Chapter 7- Darkness

I woke up in the hospital today with a headache again which was no surprise. I've been having massive headaches lately, but Dr. Curnan said that it was normal for me. I look to my left to find a nurse wrapping a black thing around my arm. Couldn't she have at least waited until I actually woke up? I got so much sleep, but I always felt like I was going to pass out. The pain from my injuries has gone away somewhat, but it is definately still there.

"Good morning, dear. I'm just going to take your blood pressure. It's for the doctor's records," the nurse says with a smile.

"Oh, ok," I say raising my arm a little.

"110," the nurse says while grabbing her clip board and writing down the number.

"Is that good?" I ask.

"Yes, that's normal. It's improved greatly since your coma. The doctor will be in soon."

"Alright," I say nodding.

I look over to my left and see the clock. 11:57. Lucas is in school right now while Karen and Lily are working. Everyday, for last week, Lucas has been leaving school at lunch time to come eat with me. We would talk about basically nothing, but to me it meant everything. He'd be arriving in about ten minutes.

Doctor Curnan walked in. "Hi, Peyton. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm better. Still a little weak but better," I say.

"Well, the good news is you'll get to leave this weekend," he says while checking my heartbeat with a stethoscope.

"Thank God," I say, "Wait. That came out rude. It's just I'm-"

He stops me. "Peyton, it's ok. I'm pretty sure everyone in this hospital can't wait to go home."

I smile a little.

"Ok, everything is looking good so far. How are your ribs feeling?" he asks.

"Umm, well I don't have to take such deep breaths as much as i used to."

"That's good. They should be fully healed in a few days. I'll come back in a few hours to check on you," Dr. Curnan says.

"Ok," I say.

Just then, Lucas walks through the door.

"Good afternoon, Lucas," Dr. Curnan says while walking out the door.

Lucas nods his head toward him.

"Hey you," he says while reaching down to hug me.

"Hi," I say.

"How you feeling today?" he asks while rubbing his hand lightly across the bandage on my forehead.

"I'm ok."

"That's good."

"The doctor said that I could come home this weekend," I say.

"Peyton, that's great!" he says excitedly.

"Kind of. But the thing is, where exactly is my home? Now that my parents are gone, I really don't have one."

"Didn't my mom tell you?" he asks.

"Tell me what?"

"You're going to be staying with us for a while," Lucas says.

"Oh. I saw her this morning, but she never mentioned it."

"Well, now you know."

"Thanks, Luke."

"Anytime."

That Sunday I finally got to leave that horrific hospital. I was getting so sick of being there. When I arrived at Lucas' house, there was a 'We missed you' sign in the kitchen along with some balloons and confetti. It was good to know that people cared about you. Lily showed me a spare bedroom where I would be sleeping. It looked almost identical to my room. It had red walls with records organized on shelves and there were some of my drawings hanging on the walls.

"Where did you get those? I thought my father ripped them all up," I say with tears in my eyes.

"They were in your sketchbook. We wanted to make sure you felt extremely comfortable here," Lily said putting her arm around my shoulder.

"Thank you so much," I say hugging her.

"Your welcome, Peyton. Why don't you get some rest while I put the rest of your stuff away," Lily says.

"I'm really not that tired. All I did was sleep in the hospital."

"Oh ok."

"I can help you if you want?"

"Yeah. Yeah sure."

I open up one of the bags and notice that I have never seen these clothes before. I liked them a lot, but they weren't mine.

"Lily, I think we might have grabbed the wrong bag. None of these clothes are mine," I say pulling out one of the shirts.

"Oh, my mom and I went shopping and got you some new clothes. I hope you don't mind," Lily says smiling.

I look at the clothes and then back at Lily. Everyone there made me feel so loved and wanted.

"How did you know the type of clothes I wore?" I ask.

"When I did your make up for you, that kind of gave it away."

"Thank you so much. This means a lot."

It really did mean a lot to me. Everything that they were doing for me seemed too good to be true. But it wasn't. There really are kind people in the world. I just never knew it. The way I grew up it seemed that happiness was a lie. That there was no such thing as love, kindness, generosity, or any other good feelings. Now, I know that feeling was not true. People aren't always bad. I now believe that everyone is good at heart, but they can sometimes give into evil.

Lily and I finished rearranging everything in my room. She made me laugh when she would tell stupid jokes. Lily was an extremely outgoing person who I could tell was well-liked by everyone. She was fun to be around, and she never judged me. She looks deep inside of people and doesn't see what is on the outside. She she's what's on the inside of everyone. Lily gave me tips on being confident. She told me to always stand my ground and to hold my head high when things got tough. I looked up to Lily. She was a great person with an amazing heart. Lily was my role model.

Lucas walked in and found us laughing at pictures of him when he was little.

"Lily! Why are you showing her those?" Lucas asked embarrassed.

"Because they're funny, and I really like embarrassing you," she said looking over at me and smiling.

"You're unbelievable," he said leaning against the door with his arms folded across his chest.

"Aw, come on Lucas. I think you were cute when you were a baby," I said giggling.

"Ha. Ha. Very Funny," he says. "Mom wanted me to tell you guys that dinner's going to be ready in five minutes," Lucas said leaving the room.

I watched as he left and couldn't help but smile.

"Hmm, does somebody have a little crush on Lucas?" Lily says nudging me.

"What? No. We're just friends," I say while my face turns a little red.

"Uh huh, sure," she says sarcastically.

"We are!"

"Fine. Fine. I believe you," she says.

"Dinner's ready!" Karen yells.

"We're coming!" Lily yells back.

We walk into the kitchen and the table is set. I love the idea of sitting down and eating with them.

Throughout dinner, everyone is laughing and sharing stories. I'm so happy to be apart of this. They include me in on every conversation they have. I love being around them and eating dinner with them. These people were my new family.

"Peyton, did the doctor say if you could attend school tomorrow?" Karen asked me.

"Yeah, he said it was a good idea if I started going back so I could catch up on all my missing work."

"Lucas, you better watch her and make sure she takes it easy," Lily says looking at Lucas and then smiling at me.

"I know and I will. You didn't have to tell me that," he says.

That day flew by. I was really enjoying living with them, but I was dreading school. I didn't want to go, but I knew that I had to. I missed three months of it. I mainly just didn't want people staring at me because I still had some bruises and I had white bandages on my face. I also didn't want anyone to feel sorry for me. That would aggravate me the most because they ignored me three months ago, but then all of the sudden they want to be my friend. That would make me so angry. The thought of Lucas being there with me was the only thing that settled my mind. He was always sticking up for me and defending me.

I woke up at 7:00 on Monday. I brushed my teeth, changed my bandages, got dressed, and did everything else I needed to do. I was really nervous to get back to normal school.

"Good morning, Peyton," Karen said as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hi, Karen," I said.

She always insisted that I call her Karen because Ms. Roe made her seem old.

"Are you hungry? Would you like some breakfast?" she said.

"No, I'm fine. Is Lucas up yet?"

"Yeah, he should be ready any minute," Karen said.

Lucas walked into the kitchen seconds after she said that.

"Hey, how you feeling?" he asks me.

"Good morning to you too, Luke," Karen says laughing a little.

"Oh sorry Mom," he says looking back at me for an answer.

"I'm ok," I say.

"Good. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let me get my bag."

We drive to school talking and listening to the radio.

"Ready for this?" he asks before we enter school.

"Yes. I'll be fine."

We open the door and immediately all eyes are on us as if we were monkies in the zoo. People began to whisper to eachother about my father beating me, the coma I was in, and my other injuries. I ignore it all and try to not let it bother me.

"You're doing good," Lucas whispers to me.

"Thanks," I say.

I look to my left and see a girl laughing as we walk past. Brooke Davis. Of course. She's still a cold, heartless bitch. I hold my head high just like Lily told me to.

"I can't believe he's still hanging around with her," I hear Brooke whisper to Rachel.

I pretend as if I don't hear them talking because I don't want it to bother me.

Lucas and I walk into first period and once again everyone has looks intensely at us.

"Peyton! Welcome back!" Mrs. Browne yells.

"Hi," I say waving.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm better," I say.

"That's terrific dear. I'm so happy your back in school."

Throughout the day, Lucas and I walked through the halls with every face staring us down. They would look away quickly once we looked at them. There was a lot of gossip going around about why I was in the hospital, but I simply shrugged it off as if it never happened.

At the end of the day, I waited by my locker for Lucas to come.

"So, Peyton is it true that your daddy used to hit you?"

I turn around away from my locker to see Brooke standing there.

"That's none of your business, Brooke," I say defending myself.

"Oh, looks like your daddy knocked some confidence in you," Brooke said stepping closer to me.

"Get the hell away from me," I say glaring at her.

"Or what? You'll call your daddy. Oh wait. That's right. He's in jail," she says which makes some of her friends laugh.

I can't take it anymore. Anger is running through my veins at a high speed. I curl my right hand into a fist and bring it straight to her face. I can't control my anger. I'm still punching her, but I'm crying as I'm doing it. She covers her face when she falls to the ground with me on top of her. At this point, everyone in the hallway is watching us. Tears are rolling quickly down my face. I'm may be swinging at Brooke physically, but I'm also swinging at the pain everyone has caused me throughout my life; my father, my mother, and everyone else in this damn school. I keep hitting her and hitting her until I feel someone pull me away.

"Peyton! Stop!" Lucas yells.

I stop and look at what I've done to Brooke. Her nose was gushing blood while her lip was bleeding. I can see a black and blue bruise starting to form around her cheekbone. I want to run and hide and pretend as if this didn't happen. I'm still crying uncontrollably, and everyone is looking at me in disbelief. No one expected me to even touch Brooke.

"Come on, let's go," Lucas says wrapping his arms around me.

I nod my head as we walk outside and into his car.

"What happened back there?" he asks.

I sigh. "She was just talking about stuff and it made me so...angry. I can't take it anymore."

"Hey. It's ok. Everything's going to get better. I promise," Lucas says reaching over to hug me.

"I hope you're right," I say as I start to cry into his shoulder.

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