This Burden Broke Her Shoulders
MPOV
I had always done well in school, I had always gotten the best grades, I loved to learn, all the teachers liked me. I was the perfect student.
But after the accident, well, everything went downhill. It started with a few scattered missed assignments here and there, then I stopped participating in class, doodling instead of taking notes, dozing off occasionally. Needless to say, I became one of the most hated students by all, each and every teacher, except Mrs. Martinez. After the accident, she was one of the only teachers that understood how I was feeling. She was the only person I could talk to.
Her english class was my only escape from the world, literature was my only escape. I engrossed myself with a copy of 'As I Lay Dying', chewing on the back of my pen. Too engrossed, to notice the obsidian black hair and eyes standing by the door.
"Hello, I'm Fang, is this English?" Immediately, my head perked up at the sound of his voice. It was him, the God I crashed into.
Mrs. Martinez cleared her throat and nodded, "You must be Nicholas!" She smiled, welcoming him into the classroom. Ahhh, Nicholas. Nicholas gave the class a once over, looking into everyones faces. His eyes widened when he met my surprised gaze and his mouth twitched into a half smile. I blushed and immediately looked down at my book.
"Class, this is Nicholas Griffith, ahhh Nick, your name derives off the Greek word meaning victory of the people. Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra in Lycia, Nikolaos the wonderworker..." She trailed off and smacked her forehead with her palm, "I have spoken too much again havent I? Sorry Nick, you can sit at any available seat, although if you want some advice, don't sit next to Brigid, she'll be batting her eyelashes at you all lesson, Sam will be talking about some boring sport you probably have no interest in and Clare loves to draw, you'll be distracted by the masterpieces on the paper that isn't English."
A chorus of gasps and "Come on, Mrs. M!" came from the class and she shrugged, raising both hands. "Who are you kidding?" She joked, winking and the class settled into a laughter.
"Thanks for the advise Mrs. Martinez," Nicholas smiled, courteously and eyed the empty seat next to me. I blushed and looked down at my paper, Please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me. When I looked back up, he was placing his books on the desk next to mine and I silently cursed the world in my head. Mrs. Martinez smiled at Nicholas and brought her hands together.
"Excellent choice Nick, Max is perfect,"winking at me as she said it, I blushed even redder, burying my face in my book again. From the corner of my eye I could see Fang smirking and I couldn't help but smile.
Mrs, Martinez held me back after class, I waited by her desk as the rest of the class filtered slowly out the door.
"How are you Max, how are you doing?" As she said it, her eyes were searching deep into mine. Usually, I would try to break eye contact but with Mrs. Martinez, I didn't mind at all. In fact, a little part of me wants her to see past my facade. A little part of me hopes that she would swoop in to save me from the burden I carry.
"I'm okay, Mrs. M, I'm doing okay."
"You look so tired, Max. I'm really worried about you. Are you getting enough sleep? Enough to eat?"
"You don't have to worry about me Mrs. Martinez, I've got everything under control." Lie.
"Is everything going alright with your Dad?" Instinctively, I pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down lower.
"Yeah, everything's going well. Thing's are starting to brighten up," This wasn't exactly a lie I guess, Jeb had started gambling and drinking more, he was barely in the house which was a good thing. And, we had recently cleaned the windows of the living room so the house really was brighter.
"Max, don't lie to me." I flinched slightly at her words, the intensity of her gaze burned deep into my own.
"I'm not lying Mrs. M, I promise, I'm doing well."
She sighed and nodded, before I could turn to leave, she handed me a thick book and I smiled widely at her. Anna Karenina, my favorite. She patted my hand as I took the book and I smiled even wider at her.
"Thank you Mrs. M, you're the best."
I slung my bag over my shoulder and gathered up my books, heading for the door.
"Max? Remember you can always talk to me." Mrs. Martinez said as I pushed the door open, I smiled and nodded, waving at her before I slipped out of the room and closed the door. But before I could walk a step, I saw Fang leaning against the wall outside of the English room and I quickly looked down at the floor, desperately trying to walk the other way.
"Hey! Max! Wait!" He called after me, reaching out and grabbing my wrist to stop me. As his fingers wrapped around my wrist, I yelped and hissed in pain and his eyes widened. He dropped my wrist like a hot potato and I mentally slapped myself.
"What was that all about?" He asked, his head tilted. God, if I had a camera, this would be a million dollar shot. Fang with his obsidian hair slightly hanging to one side, his head tilted and his gorgeous, flawless face set into an adorable mask of curiosity.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't know... Because I wanna get to know you?"
I shook my head and turned around to walk away. He probably just wanted to make fun of me, he just wanted to laugh at how desperate I was. All alone, with no friends. He didn't want to be my friend. Why would anyone want to be my friend. As I entered the cafeteria, I ducked my head even lower and walked immediately to an empty table, throwing my bag beside me and staring at the empty table in front of me.
I didn't have enough money for food, most of our money went into food for Gazzy and Angel, basic house necessities, the occasional gift. I had the money remaining but I put most of that into savings so that I could take Gaz and Angel away when I was 18. It wasn't bad though, I had enough to keep me nutritioned and alive.
As I started to trace patterns on the table with my finger, a mocha-skinned girl, gorgeous and tall with high cheekbones and gorgeous curly dark brown hair placed her lunch tray on my table and took the seat opposite me.
"May we sit here?" She asked politely, smiling the most heart-warming smile I had ever seen on anyone besides Gaz and Angel. I tried to return her smile and but met her only halfway, but I nodded. She motioned for her friends to join and a beautiful girl I had seen walking around the school with silky long blonde hair and emerald green eyes sat down next to her, a tall well-built and muscled guy with strawberry-blonde hair followed and sat with his arm draped around the blonde girl. I was stunned by how beautiful they all were, I had noticed the blondie around school, I think her name was Ellie? But I hadn't seen her up close like this. It made me wonder why she wasn't hanging out with oh-so-perfect Lissa and her posse of brainless bimbos. But I couldn't say I recognized the mocha-skinned girl and the pale strawberry-blonde.
"I'm Nudge, this is Iggy, Ella..." She trailed off as she stared at something behind me, I turned to follow her gaze and my eyes, once again, met dark obsidian irises. "And that is Fang..."
"Pleasure to meet you.." Fang smirked as he placed his tray down next to me.
FPOV
"Pleasure to meet you..." I smirked as I placed my tray down next to Max, plopping myself in the seat next to her. Instinctively, she shuffled slightly away. I eyed the table in front of her and noticed she didn't have lunch. God, pray that this girl is eating healthy.
"You aren't gonna have anything?" Ella asked, noticing Max's lack of food as well. Max looked down at the table and shook her head.
"I had a huge breakfast, I'm bloated," She laughed nervously. It was a breathless laugh and for the first time I noticed how tired she looked. Her shoulders were slumped, dark rings circled her eyes.
"You should really eat though, you're so thin." Nudge said, pushing her sandwich to Max. She smiled warmly but shook her head.
"I can't take your food Nudge, that's cruel,"
"No but I ins-"
Before Nudge could finish her sentence, a red head walked into the cafeteria, earning several wolf whistles from the jock table. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and scanned the cafeteria, her entourage of girls clad in a cheerleader uniform marched in after her. After several glances at the cafeteria, her eyes zeroed in on me and she strut her way over to me, swaying her hips from side to side. I winced and glanced at Iggy for help, he laughed and shrugged.
"Nicholas!" She squealed and I suppressed the urge to gag.
"How does she know your name?" Iggy whispered to me and I shrugged. Next to me, Max duck her head as Lissa came over, pulling at her sleeves.
"Nicholas I've missed you!" She squealed again and sat in my lap, wiggling slightly. I grunted and Iggy laughed hysterically, clutching his sides. Max giggled a little too and I rolled my eyes.
"Get off, Reddie, I don't even know you." She was lucky I was trying to be nice. Lissa pretended she didn't hear me but instead occupied herself with Max.
"What the hell are you doing? Nicky-poo, why are you sitting with this loser? She's such a dumb bitch. And a freak too." Iggy covered his mouth to prevent a burst of giggles and I glared at him. Lissa played with a strand of Max's hair and twirled it around her finger, like a lion playing with a mouse's tail. Max swatted her hand away but kept her head down.
"She's not a freak Lissa, you are."
"Oh, she's not a freak? Explain what this is then!" She pulled Max's arms out onto the table and before any of us could register what she was doing, she yanked her sleeves up past her elbow. The entire table went still for a second, completely silent as we processed what had just happened. When I finally realized what Lissa had done, I saw red angry lines criss-crossed and slashed across both of Max's wrists, faded puckered pink lines scattered across her entire arm up past her sleeves and the lines probably continued on to her biceps, but I couldn't be sure. And an ugly ensemble of faded scars scribbled over her entire arms as if a child had gotten a white crayon and tried to color her in. Lissa smiled defiantly, her emerald eyes an ominous flame. Before I could so much as move my thumb to defend Max, Nudge had stood up, reached across the table and slapped Lissa hard on the cheek.
At the sound of skin hitting skin, Max perked her head up like a meerkat and smiled at Nudge, her eyes filling with tears as she pulled her sleeves down and ran out of the cafeteria.
"I see a beautiful girl Lissa, not a freak." Nudge spat and sat back down, eating her food as if nothing had happened. Ella gave Lissa the death glare until she got the message and started to back away from the table. She blew me a kiss as she left, how the hell could she have such a quick recovery rate. A second ago she had been slapped like the bitch she was and now she's blowing kisses. I will never understand women.
"Monique, you will regret that, you will regret that you even breathe the same air as me." Lissa screamed from across the cafeteria, earning a couple of low 'Oooooo's. Nudge rolled her eyes and flipped her off, and I laughed. My little sister had balls.
"I'm gonna go after her..." I said as I stood up and gathered my half-eaten tray. The gang murmured in agreement and shooed me off. As I threw away my trash, I saw Max across the corridor by her locker, searching frantically for something and I felt my pocket for that something. There in my jeans, nestled deep, was her sharp little razor. The thought of her arms made me wince. I jogged down the corridor, down to Max's locker and slowly pushed the locker door shut. Max turned to face me but didn't meet my eyes. She swiped at her eyes a couple of time and I finally realized she was sobbing.
"G-go away."
Instinctively, without thinking, I pulled her into a hug and backed her up onto a nearby bench and sat her down, letting her cry into my shoulder as I stroked her hair comfortingly. It was strange, I had only met this girl this morning and here we were, with her face buried in my neck and my arm around her. She convulsed with sobs, her chest heaving so violently, I was afraid that her ribs might crack. We sat together like that for at least 10 minutes, until she had no more tears to cry and her sobs started to die down. I rubbed her back soothingly, and when her sobbing had come to an almost stop, I tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. She struggled a little and when I did finally get her head up, she looked anywhere but my eyes. Her eyes and lips were swollen and red, her cheeks tinted pink and she look as beautiful as ever. It took every atom in my body to stop me from holding her delicate face, leaning in and kissing her right here right now.
"Wanna get out of here? It's free period next anyways." Her face seemed blank as she nodded slowly, and I helped her up, letting her lean on my shoulder as we walked down the corridor and out the big double doors. I searched the parking lot for Iggy's car while Max occupied herself with the strings on her hoodie. Looking like an adorable child, pulling at the strings. I spotted Iggy's land rover and led Max to it, she reached out and stroked the large vehicles hood like you would a horse or dog.
"It's so beautiful." She murmured under her breath and I chuckled, stroking the hood of the car with her.
"Yeah, I guess it is."
She smiled to herself and got into the passenger seat of the car and I got in behind the steering wheel. I tossed her my phone from my pocket.
"Could you text Iggy and tell him I have his car and to tell us when to pick him up?"
Max nodded and started typing away at my phone as I backed out of the driveway.
"Who's JJ?" She asked suddenly and I seriously considered bashing my head on the dashboard. Max did not have to know about JJ.
MPOV
Hey Ig, it's Max, Nick told me to tell you that we have your car and to call when you want us to come pick you up :)
I hovered over the send button, wondering whether the text was too formal and if I should've added the smiley face. In the end I sent it anyways and just as I was about to give the phone back to Nick, his phone vibrated and big flashing words 'New Text Message' appeared on the screen. Out of curiosity, I clicked it.
Hey Fang,
I know I made a mistake and for that I'm very sorry. But I find that I can't find any other guy that I want to be with, that makes me happy like you did. I love you Fang, I'm still in love with you. My family's coming down to AZ to visit my Aunt, maybe I'll see you then.
I miss you Fang,
JJ
I read the message over and over again, making sure I read each word correctly. Nicholas had a girlfriend...figures. I mean what was I thinking, of course a masterpiece like him would have a girlfriend. Jeez Max, always the brightest crayon in the box aren't you.
"Who's JJ?" I found myself asking softly. To be honest, I was afraid of the answer. It was clear as day, but I was afraid of it coming from his lips. The car was silent for a second and the atmosphere grew tense.
"It's complicated Max... She's my ex I guess..."
I nodded and placed his phone in my lap, I didn't want to ask more about her. In my head I pictured a beautiful brunette, tall and perfectly curved with light blue eyes, as beautiful as a model. To be good enough for Nicholas, she was probably top in all her classes and insanely rich too. Basically, everything I wasn't.
"By the way, where are we going?"
"I know this place, we stopped along the way when we moved here to check it out, it's beautiful."
And it was beautiful. It was a large canyon, with a towering straight drop. The wind blew freely on my face and as soon as the car pulled to a stop, I jumped out immediately and stood as far out as I could on the edge. Spreading my arms like an eagle and letting the wind caress my face. Nicholas came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I blushed immediately. But looking down, I realized he hadn't tried to embrace me, he was simply tying a rope around the belt hoops on my jeans and around my waist.
"Come on," He grinned and slid off the edge. I gasped and peered over the edge, sighing in relief when I saw that he was safe and climbing down the rocks to what looked like a jutting lip of rock that led to a cave.
"Come on Max, you're safe, the rope''ll hold you!"
Taking a deep breath, I edged off the side of the cliff, picking rocks to step on carefully. Edging closer and closer to the ledge.
"Don't worry Max, I'll catch you if you fall!"
I rolled my eyes and jumped the remaining few feet onto the ledge, untying the rope from around my waist and lodging it behind a rock. Nicholas smiled at me and motioned to join him in the cave. The cave wasn't too small, just a hollow in the rock barely tall enough for me to walk into without bending over and I was a good 5'8". Inside the cave were two sleeping bags and small lantern to light the cave up. It was beautiful. I took my shoes off and tucked myself into one of the bags and curled up. Nicholas chuckled and lay on top of the one opposite.
"Nicholas?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are there sleeping bags in this cave?" He laughed and turned to lay on his side to face me.
"Iggy and I came up here to camp the other day, we really like this place. It was such a hassle to bring the bags down so we just left them here."
A loud beep came from my pocket and I quickly scrambled for my pager, smiling when I read what was on the screen.
6:30PM USUAL PLACE
"Hey I think we should probably get going soon, Iggy texted me." Nicholas said and I nodded. "Wait, wait... Is that a pager? How old are you!"
"I like vintage things, and that's fine, I've got work tonight,"
Nicholas tilted his head at me and I laughed. "What? You don't think I can work?"
Nicholas shook his head and I punched his arm playfully. For the first time ever, I actually felt like I had somebody who I could be myself with. Who I could talk to. And for the first time since I could remember, I laughed a genuine laugh and I smiled a genuine smile.
God sorry for this chapter guys, I seriously contemplated uploading this. It's such a boring chapter. I'm typing up the next chapter to make up for this boring one. I promise the next one will be filled with much more drama. Goddd, I can't apologize enough. Anyways reviews please? :3 Hope you're all having a great time.
OH and sorry about my American school terms and stuff, I'm not American or anything so I have no idea what I'm saying and I'm just asking my boyfriend to help me out with all that.