Rachael opened the door to her home and was disgusted to see empty beer bottles scattered on the floor. Her father was sitting on the couch with yet another beer bottle in his hand watching TV. Rachael quickly went up the stairs avoiding the mess she calls a father and lied in her bed. She looked up at the ceiling of her bedroom and sighed. She thought about what happened today at lunch. She sighed as she thought to herself "Why did he ask me to eat lunch with him? It surprisingly wasn't a prank…I didn't do anything to get his attention….I didn't even recognize him until now…." Rachael's thought process was interrupted by her father screaming her name. She rolled her eyes as she got up from her bed to see what her father wanted. She went down the stairs to see angry eyes looking at her.
"Why can't you clean the house for once!? I work every day for your lazy behind and you don't do crap! I bet once you get a job, you'll start to appreciate me more!" Her father hollered.
Rachael rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her father. "He's talking crap again." Rachael thought as she shook her head.
"You don't even work! You're always out drinking, and those are your beer bottles that are scattered on the floor!" Rachael screamed back. She was tired of letting her father bring her down.
Her father looked her with even more rage in his eyes. He angrily walked up to her and slapped her across the face then grabbing her arm tightly.
Rachael barely had time to recover from the slap that wasn't expected when he brought her close to his face. She looked up with fear in her eyes. She feared for her life. He never hit her. "I told you many times to watch your mouth when you're talking to me! You live in my house! You better treat me with respect!" He threw her onto the ground hard and walked out of the house slamming the door behind him.
Rachael laid there on the floor crying silently. She got up minutes later and went into the bathroom to check if there was any bruise. She looked in the mirror and saw that there was a red hand mark on her face. She raised her shirt to see a big, purple bruise around her ribs from the impact when she hit the floor.
Rachael washed her face with cold water. She went back downstairs to the kitchen in hope of finding ice to put on her bruise and face. She found the ice and concealed it in a bag to help the swelling that was forming around her ribs. She soon went back upstairs to her bedroom and silently cried herself to sleep on her bed.
_xXx_
Gar looked around the classroom and saw an empty seat. He frowned when he saw that Rachael wasn't here. He looked at the teacher and tried to listen to what she was saying but his attention was soon focused on something else more interesting, like the bug that was crawling on the floor.
The door to the classroom opened shortly. Rachael quietly came into the classroom. Gar quickly forgot about the bug and looked at her with a big smile. The teacher soon didn't care about Rachael's tardiness and kept going on about the lesson.
Gar looked at Rachael and noticed something different about her. She was wearing a black hoody, and had the hood up over her head so he couldn't see her face.
Gar stared at her until he realized that the teacher was calling his name.
"Garfield!" the teacher screamed the third time.
Garfield quickly looked at the teacher who interrupted his thoughts.
"Since you're paying so close attention to my lesson, how about you come stand in front of the class and say the three basic biochemical compounds.", the teacher smirked.
Gar stood from his desk and slowly walked up in front of the class. He looked around the class and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. His eyes soon darted to Rachael. He noticed that her eyes looked red and puffy. He saw that her cheeked looked a little red. He quickly looked at something else when they made eye contact.
"Today, Mr. Logan", the teacher said clearly annoyed.
Gar blushed. "Uh, three basic compounds?" he asked.
"Yes Mr. Logan.", the teacher said.
"Uh. Is it…Pie, H20 and an atom?" Gar asked clearly confused.
The students in the class laughed as the teacher got up from her desk and went to take her spot in front of the class. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"No, not really, but good guess." the teacher said.
Gar went back to his seat and sat down. He looked at Rachael and saw that she had her head down.
"What's wrong with her?" Gar thought as he looked at her.
_xXx_
Rachael sat outside on the bleachers at the school football field. She sat there thinking of what her father had done to her this morning. She feared of what might happened today when she go back home.
"He never hit me before. Maybe he drank too much and lost his mind even more….Will he hit me again today?" thought Rachael.
Fear rose in her heart. She certainly didn't want to get abuse by her father again.
"I have to get out of that house." thought Rachael.
Rachael jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw Gar. She quickly put her hood up and looked at her hands.
Gar sat next to her on the bleachers with a small, caring smile.
"Hey", Gar said.
"Hi", Rachael replied. She still wondered why he kept talking to her.
"Are you ok? You seem a bit down."Gar said with concerned.
Rachael kept quiet for a while looking at her hands and slowly replied.
"Yea, I'm fine", she said.
Gar looked at her and knew that something was wrong with her. Sure she looks sad on a daily basis but not this sad.
Gar looked at her again with a concerned look and took her hands in his.
Rachael looked at him confused and shocked. No one ever really touched her, especially not her hand. She saw the concern in his eyes.
"Rachael, I'm your friend. If you need anything, just ask me ok?"Gar sincerely said. He looked at her and his smile grew as he saw her slowly crack into a small smile.
"Alright" Rachael said with a small smile.
Gar soon hugs her and shocked Rachael once again. She slowly wraps her arms around him and hugs him back giving him a small smile.
"Maybe this kid isn't all that bad." Rachael thought.
_xXx_
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