Broken Pieces, L. S. [brene brown rising strong .txt] 📗

curiosity.

She smiled at me.

“I don’t want to be here anymore, I don’t want to be with my alcoholic dad who beats my mom every time he gets drunk and I don’t want to be with my mom who’s secretly banging our 17 year old neighbor” she said without even looking at me.

I looked at her with sympathy. I didn’t expect that she is going through something like that. I am not the only miserable person after all. I just envy her on how well she manages her situation. The way she carries herself you will never notice that she lives in a home like that.

“Do you have any relative in Florida?” I asked trying to figure what will happen to her once she leaves.

She shook her head.

“Nope, just a friend . . . Do you want to come with me?”

I was shocked with her latter statement. She wants me to come with her? Is she serious? Is she for real?

“Are you serious?”

She smirked and rolled her big blue eyes.

“Of course, I am not telling anyone about my plan, not even my girls but since you wanna escape to your hell of a life I am giving you this chance.” She walked towards my direction. “My friend will pick me up tomorrow here at school after lunch if you want you can come with me.” She offered.

I didn’t know what to tell her, this is the chance that I have been waiting for.

“How are we going to live there? Are we going to work? Where are we going to live?” I need to know what will happen to us first before I give her an answer.

She shook her head.

“You know what Jillian you have too much questions no wonder why you can’t escape your step father, you worry too much. It’s now or never so are you in or out?”

Nicole was right, this is my only chance to be free, it’s gonna be now or never. I can finally escape from Dan, it doesn’t matter how I will live in Florida what’s important right now is I can finally be free.

“I’m in” I said almost a whisper.

She smiled.

“Great! See you tomorrow then and please don’t bring too much stuff so that no one will notice us” she said before making her out of the ladies room.

I looked at my reflection on the mirror. I can’t help but smile. This is it. I can finally be free from Dan and from the hell of a life that I currently have.

 

I woke up early the next day, I didn’t sleep much because I can’t help not to think about Nicole’s plan. Last night when everyone was asleep I packed some of my clothes on my back pack. I can’t bring any other bag or luggage because I don’t want Dan to get suspicious.

After I took a quick shower, I made my way to the kitchen to make some coffee, I was surprised to see mom sitting on the dining chair having some coffee and bread.

“Hey you go home early after school, I have visitors later”

I just nod as an answer. I can’t help not to feel sad because I am leaving her for good. This will be the last time that we will see each other. After everything she’s done and not done for me I can never change the fact that she is my mother. Despite of her poor judgments and bad decisions she is still the woman who carried me inside her tummy for nine months. Maybe if Dad didn’t die, she will stay the same woman I grew up with, the one who brushes my hair before I go to school, the one who reads me stories before she tucked me in my bed at night and the one who didn’t get tired of making me understand how to properly used fractioning in Mathematics. We were doing so well before she met Dan.

I felt the tears forming in my eyes so immediately I blinked them away. I can’t cry in front of her, I want to hug her but I stopped when I heard footsteps coming to the dining room.

“What are you still doing here cunt? Let’s go I need to meet a client before nine” Dan yelled at me.

I nod, then grabbed my tumbler from the table and walked out of the house. I waited for Dan in the car. He didn’t say anything as he gets in, he looks worried like something is bothering him.

“You know who I am meeting today?” he said.

I didn’t want to answer but I don’t want to provoke him so I nodded.

“Well, let’s just say he is the person that will give us tons of money and you will help me”

I didn’t say anything, after lunch later he will never ever hurt me again. All I want right now is to reach school.

“I'll pick you up by lunch” he said as we reach the school.

I was terrified. Nicole and I are leaving after lunch once every one is in their respective classes so that no one will see us. How can I go with them if Dan is picking me up by lunch?

“Why?” I asked trying to keep myself calm.

The last thing I want right now is for him not to become suspicious that I am planning something.

“Don’t ask, just wait for me at lunch” he said with finality.

I shook my head.

“I can't I have a quiz on Spanish” I refused.

My body shook when he grabbed me in my arm. I know he is upset.

“Do you think I  fucking care about your quiz?” he said in my face while he tightened his grip.

I didn’t say anything, I just looked down. When he didn’t get any response he finally released my arm.

“Be here by lunch”

I just nod before getting off the car, I didn’t wait for him to drive away, and I immediately made my way inside the school. I need to find Nicole, I need to talk to her. But I can't seem to find her, I went to the pantry, to the ladies room, to the locker area but she is nowhere to be found. The bell is about to ring for the first period and I am starting to lose hope, there are a lot of things running inside my mind. What if she was just fooling me? What if she's gone? What if she doesn’t really want me to come? I can’t even text her since I don’t have a cell phone, another thing that Dan forbid me to have.

I saw hope when one of her minions passed by the locker area.

“Gia” I called her, good thing I remembered her name.

She raised her brow when she saw me and I knew people at school think I am weird.

“What do you want Winters?” she smirked.

I decided to ignore her attitude.

“Do you know where Nicole is?” I asked.

She smiled sarcastically.

“Do you really think Nicole will befriend a weird person like you?”

“Just tell me where she is . . . please?”

I hate asking favor from people.

“She's at the boy’s locker room” she said and then walked away.

I made my way to the boy’s locker room right away, thank god no one was actually there because I don’t want people to ask me questions.

I went inside and it was strangely quiet and dark that it’s creeping me out. I am not afraid of the dark in fact I love watching horror movies but that was really creepy. Still, I walked inside, I need to find Nicole and I need to trust Gia that she wasn’t fooling me. When I passed the lockers I was able to breathe when I finally heard something . . . actually it’s someone . . . moaning . . . someone is moaning due to extreme pleasure . . . aside from the moaning . . . someone is also breathing so hard. I walked further until I reached Coach Bakers office and I almost screamed from what I saw; Nicole is lying on coach’s table, her skirt pulled up to her waist while our classmate Mark is on top of her, with his pants on his knees.

“Jillian?”

I turned around and was about to leave the place when Nicole called my name.

“What are you doing here?” she casually asked like as if I didn’t see her in a very awkward position.

I stood there my back facing them, it’s not that I am a saint, I am no longer a virgin myself but I still find it awkward to see a ‘friend’ in an act.

“I-I j-just want to talk to you but i-it’s fine, it can wait” I said then ran away.

I feel my face turning red while I made my way out of the boy’s locker room. That was the first time that I’ve been there and that is the kind of experience that I actually had.

I’ll just talk to her later, I just hope that she finish early so that she can still go to class since we only have two subjects together.

I successfully made my way out when I bumped into something hard and wet.

“Jill?”

I looked up to see who its was; of course Max is here, standing in front of me wearing nothing but his sports shorts and sweat flowing all over his perfectly toned body. Wow! He is just so hot!

I automatically made a couple of steps backward, I tend not to control myself whenever I get too close to him (remember the kiss?). I have been trying my best to avoid him, I successfully did it yesterday and I don’t want to break my momentum because he is standing in front of me looking like a model in a glossy magazine.

He glanced from where I came from.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with curiosity.

I suddenly didn’t know what to say, I can’t tell him that I went to see Nicole cause I don’t want him to ask questions since Nicole and I aren’t friends but I can’t tell him what I saw either.

“Wait! Did you go here to see me?” he asked.

Yeah! Right? Of course he will think that way. I’ve never been to the boy’s locker for god’s sake!

Then he started making steps towards my direction. What am I going to tell him? I can’t tell him what I saw but I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. Yeah, I like him a lot but I can’t date him. I can’t be with him because of Dan and even if I can escape Dan I can’t still date him because I am leaving for Florida for good so I need to accept the realization that Max and I will never be together.

“No, I-I wasn’t looking for you” I said with my head down.

I saw his feet an inch away from mine.

“What happened? Why were you avoiding me? I thought we were okay?” he sadly said to me.

He held my chin to look him up but I can’t meet his gaze.

“P-please stay away from me” I said trying to keep my composure.

“No!”He yelled. “I know something is wrong, I can feel that you like me but something is stopping you. Tell me what it is?” he begged.

I shook my head, I can’t tell him my secret, he can maybe help me but I can’t afford him to know how disgusting I am.

“No . . . Y-you’re wrong . . . I don’t like you, I will never like a guy like you” I lied.

Then I pushed him away from me and ran as fast as I can. All I want right now is to stay as far away as possible from him. When I reach the other building where my classes are, I stopped. I can’t breathe, my chest is in so much pain not because I ran but because of something else. I feel like I am going to burst in tears any moment. I didn’t expect that Maxwell Norris will have this kind of effect on me. That