Sophia walked through the halls of her private school with two of her best friends at her side. She wasn't the most popular girl in school, but she enjoyed the company of her friends. Suddenly there was a loud crash from around the corner that echoed through the school. The group looked at each other than simultaneously ran around the corner of the hall. The infamous bullies of the entire middle school. As she neared her way closer, she noticed a familiar figure among the group. Jude. She widened her eyes at the sight and began to run to him, but it was far too late to help him. She tried to push through the crowd, but it was too big.
She heard cheers to fight each other, but the more prominent ones were yelling terrible slurs. Sophia wanted to help but she knew doing so was considered social suicide, "What are you gonna do about it fa-," the voice stopped mid-sentence as a teacher pulled the two away from one another. Sophia sighed in relief as everyone headed to their respective classrooms, however the crowd was so vast she lost track of Jude.
As the group became less dense and people passed, she was able to spot Jude who was directly across from her. She stood there shocked by his appearance, his usual happy, carefree demeanor was now dull and long faced. Just below his eye was forming a black and blue bruise that would eventually become a larger shiner. They looked at each other for what seemed like minutes, but was only seconds as time seemed to slow down. Sophia was brought back to reality when one of her friend approach her side.
"Isn't that your brother?"
Sophia looked slightly upward at her friend and shook her head, "No," she looked back at Jude then to her friend. "We're not related," she commented like it was the easiest thing in the world, and to Sophia it was. Together the friend made their way to class as Jude was left alone in the hallway. After a moment to collect his thoughts, Jude looked down at his shoes and walked down the opposite way and continued to not make eye contact with anyone.
During the rest of the day Jude had been distracted in his thoughts. Even his half sister didn't support him, but then again why should she? They weren't close. They weren't even related. During P.E. was the worse part of the school day, where some of the male students would make fun of him and he was forced to change in the restroom stalls. This confused Jude severely, he didn't think that anything he did was wrong. He did what he wanted, not what anyone told him was correct. After the exhausting, unnecessary mile run Jude managed to be the last person in the locker room. The coach stated that once the mile run was complete, you could have the rest of the period off. Seeing that all his other gym classmates were all athletic boys, Jude realized he would always come in last place.
No one questioned the shiner Jude received no less than an hour ago and he thought it was best to keep the marking as low key as he felt needed. The nurse, however, did give him ice that he applied until it all melted and became water. The nurse cared for Jude, but when she asked if she wanted to call his parents, he quickly declined. Jude walked over to the full-body mirror and looked back at his stick like reflection. Unimpressed by all of his features, Jude looked at the one thing that stood out, his black eye. There was nothing on his person to cover the mark when he got home, and he knew that Callie would definitely ask him questions that he didn't want to even bother answering.
As he was staring in the mirror, he noticed in his reflection a blue baseball cap. Quickly, he changed back into his uniform and went over to the bench where the cap was lying. Hats were only permitted during gym class, so he could not wear it during the school day. He knew that everyone in the school saw or heard about the "fight", even his supposed sister knew, so wearing the cap during would just bring more attention. Attention that he did not need. Besides, if someone in his grade lost the cap, he did not want them to find it on Jude's head.
He picked up the hat and looked at it, his thumb grazing over the brim of the hat. There was nothing special about it, the only thing that stuck out as the white embroidered "B" on the front. He turned back to the mirror and place the cap on his head, at first the rim of the cap set across the brow area, but it wasn't enough to cover the bruise. So he took the strap and readjusted it as loose fitting as possible. Placing it back on his head, it was now at the end of his eyes, but it wasn't quite there. He tilted the hat slightly, making it so the side covered his area he knew that it would block his sight of vision, but to him, he felt it would work to his advantage by looking down at the floor.
The bell rang so he took the hat and stuffed it in his bag. The rest of the day was nothing special, he would get the occasional glances and glared at his mark, but he was given those looks everyday. He wanted to leave this school, he thought if Hell did exist, school would be the entrance to the flames. He had no friends, at lunch he would eat at an abandoned table, or if they were filled, he would eat in the bathroom. During his last few minutes of class, he texted Jill that he was taking the bus, normally he would ride with her and Sophia to Sophia's horseback riding lessons but obviously today was a different story.
As the bus came to a stop he hopped off, then place the cap on his head. Jude then walked to the driveway only to see that there were no cars in the driveway. This meant that Callie wasn't back from school and Robert wasn't back from work. He took this moment to sigh in relief and thank God that no one was home, maybe he wouldn't need the hat. He walked to the door, took out the key, and unlocked the door. Jude ran inside and ran up to the bathroom, when he got inside, he locked the door so no one could enter if someone surprisingly should. If anything, though he didn't need to worry, he had an hour or so before anyone got home. He went through the cabinets and drawers in the bathroom, he looked everywhere. This wasn't his bathroom, each of the kids had their own bathroom, this was Sophia's. After about a few drawers, he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a few brushes, foundation and concealer. He didn't know exactly what they were, but he somewhat understood what they did.
He took off his hat and set it down on the sink's counter. Sighing at his reflection, he took the foundation and pumped some of the liquid into his hand. The tan substance was sticky and almost made his skin dry. The color was almost perfect for Jude's complextion. He took a brush that appeared to be good for the makeup, and lightly dipped some on. He bit his lip, then brought the tip of the brush his face. The pain stung the bottom of eye and he cried out. After regaining composure, he bit his lip a bit harder and gently brushed the foundation against the bruise. At the slight tingle of pain he flinched, but he was able to blend the color with his skin. When he took the concealer and opened it, he was surprised to see a little brush on the cap. Realizing he didn't need the brush, he quickly spread it across the area. It stung a lot less than the brush. Jude looked in the mirror still not pleased with the look.
He looked through the drawers again and found powder and grabbed a fluffy brush. Dabbing the brush into the powder, Jude was able to even out the makeup so it would look natural. Luckily, the brush was soft enough that it did not hurt against his skin. He took one last look in the mirror before approving his work. But as he was admiring his craftsmanship, he heard the door open from downstairs. "Crap," Jude muttered to himself, then scrambled to clean up his mess. He put the supplies back in their proper places, and threw away the paper towels he used during the process. After picking up his bag, he quickly opened the bathroom door only to run straight into Callie.
"Oh, Jude, you're home," it was obvious by the expression on her face that she was taken back but happy to run into Jude. "I thought I was home alone. You usually go with Soph to her horseback riding classes." She didn't appear to notice the bruise on his face, but then again with Callie it's a hit or miss. But Jude still took a slight moment to applaud himself.
"I took the bus. I had too much work, not enough room to do it from a bench What about you? You're usually at Liam's all day."
Callie nodded, "You're the only one with homework, bud," a small chuckle escaped her lips, "I have a huge test coming up in science and I need to study." Jude nodded, "Cool," he wasn't too fond of Liam anyway, Callie was a freshman and he was a senior. He only met the man once when he came over to have dinner with the family, but other than that he never got to know Callie's boyfriend. After an awkward pause in the conversation Jude turned on his heels and went to his room.