• Chapter 2

    I opened my eyes with a start and frantically looked around me.
    "Yuki, calm down, it's okay now. You're okay." Who was it? Who was speaking to me? Slowly, David lowered into my view.
    "David! Where am I? What did you do with..." I choked. "M-Mateo?" He looked confused.
    "You're at my house. Don't worry, I rang your parents and told them you were sleeping here. What do you mean ' What did I do with Mateo'?" Didn't they know?!
    "He tried to kill me, David!" I burst out. He put his hand on my forehead.
    "No fever..." He muttered to himself. "Look, Yuki, Honey. You had too much to drink. You were speaking to Mateo and suddenly lashed out at him. Then you ran off. When we found you, you were passed out in your sick and beaten up." Panic rushed through me. I didn't drink anything. Why didn't they realize that I never, ever drank? They obviously had too much themselves, to tell. Mateo did try to kill me. I wouldn't pathetically lie to myself like that.
    "I didn't drink! What you said doesn't prove Mateo didn't come after me!" I began to shout, falling into hysteria. David gently put his hands on my face and whispered to me.
    "Yuki, when you ran off, Mateo was trying to find some more wood for the fire. Then he came with us to find you. How could he have hurt you?" Tears welled up in my eyes and I sobbed. What he said wasn't true. I had seen Mateo. He did hurt me. Why didn't David believe me? I thought he knew me... I got up quickly, sparking a rush of pain to my legs. The legs Mateo had kicked. "Don't push yourself, Yuki." David begged.
    "You don't believe me! He'll hurt me again!" I screamed through broken sobs and ran out of the house.

    I pulled down the front door handle, but it was locked. At a time like this and I was locked out of my house. I was so scared. What if he came after me? I slumped down on my door step, sobbing to myself. Crying, helplessly and for all I knew he was round the corner. Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder. I flinched and slowly looked up. Only Johnathon. I began to breathe again.
    "Are you al-" I cut him off by slapping him round the face. He stared into my eyes. His eyes showed hurt. Not physically, but mentally. Maybe hurt was too small of a word, tortured would have fit better.
    "What was that for?" He asked, softly.
    "You." I looked up at him, through my streaming eyes. I shook him and screamed. "Ever since you got here, everything has changed. What did you do?" I didn't realize how hard I was shaking him until he held my hands together to stop me.
    "I... can't say." I could see him physically struggle to say that.
    "What do you mean?" I sobbed. "That makes no sense."
    "Just watch out. I beg you, just listen and watch out." What was he saying? It didn't make any sense. I couldn't take it anymore so I pulled him toward me and hugged him.
    "I know you hate to see me, but get used to it, pretty girl." He whispered into my ear.
    "I don't understand, but please... just promise my I'm safe." I mumbled.
    "I promise." He vowed and kissed the top of my head.

    After a good hour of me crying on Johnathon's shoulder, he spoke to me again. "Oh, I have your key by the way. Your mum gave it me." He softly said in my ear, his words beautifully singing to me.
    "You could of said earlier." I grumbled as he let me in. We looked awkwardly at eachother.
    "Maybe I'll go..." He took a longing glance at the door.
    "Yeah, you can." I replied and watched him as he shut the door. I fell to the bottom step on the stair case. What had just happened? What happened to him being the cocky idiot, who I hated? I tried not to think about it. I ran upstairs, put my ipod in my ears and turned it on full blast. There was nothing to think of, it wasn't possible with the blaring in my ears. Ever so slowly, I drifted off.

    "Good evening, sleepy head." Who was talking to me? I flew upright. Only my mother. She eyed me, confused. "Was the sleepover that bad?" She asked, sympathetically.
    "No it was fine .Sorry I didn't tell you about it sooner." I managed to force out of my system. She pulled me into a hug.
    "I know you're upset about Mateo, honey, but you have to face rejection some time." She whispered into my ear. What was she on about? Mateo didn't reject me. I didn't ask him for anything, so how could he have rejected me?
    "What are you talking about?" I breathed out as the panic took over me.
    "It's going to be hard when you have feelings for your best friend. Also even harder when you ask him to be your boyfriend and he says no. He's come round to apologize."
    The blood in my veins froze. Tremors ripped through me. He was here... what was I meant to do? My mum mistook my shaking for sobs and hugged me tighter. "Go on, Yuki, you can do it." She said and gently pushed me out the room. Down the stairs. To see Mateo stood at the front door, staring at me.

    "What's wrong, Yuki? Why are you staring at me like that?" Mateo asked, worry in his voice. What? Maybe I had imagined it, after all. If I hadn't, why would he act this normal... so much like the usual Mateo? He took a step towards me. I flinched back automatically. An image of his face above me, twisted in hatred, with his fist raised, flashed in my mind. A tear leaked out of my eye. Why? "Yuki." He whispered. I ran toward him and hugged him. I much more preferred to believe a lie and feel safe. I pulled my face up to gaze into his eyes. His stare was worried, upset. I didn't know what was happening but he was my Mateo, right there. He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled my arms off him. His face twisted in pain.
    "What's wrong?!" I gasped. His breathing stopped. I fell and fell into the panic. Darkness ripping away at me. Then he breathed again. He smirked.
    "I know you hate to see me..." He panted. "...but get used to it, pretty girl!" He snarled, pushing me backwards. Why?! I shrieked and fell onto the floor. He snickered and ran out of the door, slamming it behind him. I didn't know what to do. I just lay there, crying and crying and crying. Curling up into a helpless, pathetic, defenseless ball.

    Someone patted my shoulder. My head lifted up immediately. Just my mother...
    "Baby, you're going to have to get over this sometime." She soothed me, stroking my hair. I couldn't do anything. I just stayed there, curled up and cried. She picked me up and carried me upstairs to my room. I couldn't think about it. I just let myself fall numb. It ate away at me, taking slow bites. Slowly, It consumed me, controlled me. I just could not fight it. I could not accept the pain, I feared it too much. I gave in completely. Everything disappeared.

    Ever so slowly, the numb eroded away and my peeled flesh oozed with pain. Johnathon had said I was safe. My best friend... How was my best friend doing that, safe? I thought Mateo had finally started to act normal, that maybe, I had imagined it in the first place. But, no. I believe the lies, just because I couldn't face the truth. But I barely knew the 'truth'. I needed to find out. Why wouldn't Johnathon say? Why couldn't he tell me? Beep Beep Beep. Something vibrated on my bedside table. My phone. I couldn't bring myself to touch it. It could have been Mateo. I glanced at the clock. 2:15AM, Sunday. I had been out of it for a while. But why was my phone ringing in the middle of the night? I picked it up. Unknown number. If it was Mateo, why would he disguise his number? I might as well of answered it. I hated to leave a phone ringing. I clicked the answer button.

    How wrong could I have been? Of course it was Mateo, of course he would of made his number unknown, otherwise I wouldn't have answered it.
    "Don't hang up. I'm only on the phone. What could I do to you?" He whispered. 'Break my heart into pieces' was the answer I wanted to say but I choked. I just breathed down the phone.
    "You best not be thinking about missing school tomorrow. Your mum will think you're even more insane." He threatened. I was thinking about missing school. But he had a point. I was just scared to death of facing him again. Even I, who was out of touch with just about everything, had heard of the saying three times lucky. I didn't want it to be his lucky break for killing me. I guess I would just have to stay with Johnathon all day.
    "I... wasn't." I said in an almost level voice. Then I hung up and burst into tears. So, I would be ok, right? There's people at school, he can't act extremely weird, and at the most, kill me. I shivered at the thought, wiped away my tears and went to sleep.

    I was woke by my mum shaking me.
    "Look, I know you're upset about Matty. But you have to go to school!" Matty?! What the hell? I glared at her, hoping my eyes were boring into her.
    "I was going to go, anyway." I retorted. But seriously, Matty?! I pushed her out of my room, slamming the door to make it clear I wasn't happy about her stupid pet names. So, school. Great. When I walked through the gates, my whole being shied away from the tall, old, Grey building in front of me. I stared at each and every window and round the grounds. No Mateo. Good so far.
    "Hey!" A voice shouted down my ears and I felt arms around my waist. I panicked. Slowly. I turned round to see who it was. Only Samantha, a crazy girl in my class who thought we were friends. I prized her hands off me and faced her.
    "Hey...er, Samantha. I appreciate the kindness and all but I'd prefer..." My voice drifted off. A few feet behind Samantha, Mateo was stood staring at me. The look in his eyes made me want to curl up in a ball. Just a look. And I was terrified already. I tried to keep my composure. "So," I coughed and patted her shoulder. "I'll be going." I said and quickly ran off. Now, even crazy Samantha thought I was insane.

    I had looked round for Johnathon everywhere, but couldn't find him. I wanted to go round on my own, but I didn't want Mateo to know I was scared of him. So I asked Samantha if I could hang out with her. My usual best friends considered I had passed onto the dark side and ignored me. Apart from Mateo, who kept gazing at me. With those eyes... that stare. No, I had to stop thinking about him. By lunch, Samantha was driving me round the bend, so I told her I was just going round the smokers corner for some alone time. She just raised her eyebrows and said ok. I sat down on the pavement and sighed. Before I knew it, the tears began to fall again. I just sobbed silently to myself.
    "Look! It's that chinky, Yuki!" Some jeering voices laughed.
    "Bless, she's crying, I'll go cheer her up." A patronizing, female voice squeaked. Suddenly, searing pain flew through the roots of my hair.
    "What are you doing?" I growled at the girl.
    "Don't talk to me like that, loner!" She squealed and smashed my head against the floor. I just couldn't take it. Anger flew through me. I slowly turned to face her and glared. It seemed to please her and she snorted.
    "What's the look for? You gonna do something about this?" She laughed and pulled my hair again. I snapped. My fist flew forward into her stomach. She let go of my hair and fell on the floor, coughing. I turned to look at her friends. They were all male and I was scared for a second. But then I saw how impressed they looked and smirked. They obviously didn't like the girl very much.
    "That. However, I didn't hit you in the face, because we wouldn't want your pretty looks ruined, would we?" I snarled and kicked her bag. The boys took a step back and I walked away to find Samantha.

    Or at least I thought I was until I walked into a boy's chest. I looked up to see who it was. Johnathon! My arms flung around him and I enjoyed the moment of calm. Until he pulled me off him. I looked into his eyes, confused.
    "We barely know each other, wouldn't you say a hug is a little inappropriate?" He asked, talking to me like a child. My happiness and security blew away.
    "But..." I began to protest.
    "Especially one like that." He winked and nudged me. So he hadn't completely changed from the other day. I tried to think of something to say to him.
    "Hey, what's that in your hair?" He asked and pulled lightly on my head. When he withdrew his hand, a clump of my hair was strewn through his fingers. We both laughed. "Been getting into fights? Or do you have a stress disorder that you're not telling me about?" He joked.
    "Er... well... I was sat down... and this squeaky-voiced girl came over and pulled my hair." I nervously told him. He frowned.
    "What did you do about it?" He quizzed, looking interested, but also worried.
    "Punched her in the stomach..." I blushed.
    "Ah..." He looked a bit lost for words. Suddenly he pulled me round a corner where noone goes. "Look. I know you're hurting and I want to help. Go to Samantha's house tomorrow night and I'l meet you there. It's about..." He froze. A beautiful year 7 girl had walked round the corner and stared at us. His face twisted into angry features that I had never witnessed. He put his arm over me, pinning me to the wall. "I've had enough. You're stupid, ugly and self- centered. Don't talk to me anymore." He shouted at my face. Then he ran off. I thought he could help me. I thought he cared for me. I thought he l-he hates me. He hates me. He hates me. The words circled round my head. I fell to my knees and sobbed. The pretty little girl grinned, patronizing me, showing messy, ugly, mangled teeth. I stared at her as she skipped off and began to cry again.