Chapter Twenty-Three

Charlotte

Mrs. O'Donnell stood across from me tapping her fingers rhythmically against her chin. "I don't know, Charlie..." she murmured reluctantly. "I think you should take a bit more time off school to try and adjust to the changes in your life."

"I've already been off for four days, and I really want to go tomorrow." I absently stirred a spoon around the cereal in my bowl. It was Sunday afternoon, but I was having a late breakfast to avoid bumping into the Hillside House means girls. "I can't afford to take this much time off School – my grades will drop, and I won't get the Scholarship I applied for."

She gave me an empathetic look before finally sighing in defeat. "Okay, fine. I'll go to Linshore High tomorrow and get you enrolled."

"W-what?" I dropped my spoon, my face paling as I stammered, "I'm being t-transferred?"

Tentatively, Mrs. O'Donnell nodded her head. "Eastcoast Public High School is an hour and a half drive from here-"

"Rayden said Bridgewalk was only an hour away," I cut her off, panic taking root inside me.

She gave me a disapproving look before saying, "Maybe the way he drives, but if you are sticking to the speed limit, then it takes an hour and half. Linshore High is only fifteen minutes away, and all the kids living here go there."

"Please, Mrs. O'Donnell, don't make me transfer schools. Any little discrepancies in my grades and extracurricular activities could be what makes or breaks my chances of getting that Scholarship. I'm already in band, the chess club, and I help out with the School Newsletter at Eastcoast High, and I'm enrolled in all the advanced classes that Linshore High doesn't offer." I stared up at her with wide, terrified eyes and pleaded, "Please, Mrs. O'Donnell – I'll even get up extra early to take a bus or train to Bridgewalk. I've lost so much already, please don't make me lose this too."

She ran her hand down her face wearily, but slowly started to nod her head. "Okay, Charlie. I can see how important this is too you, so I will make a few inquiries to the agency and see what we can come up with. In the meantime, is there anyone you can get to pick up some homework for you?"

My thoughts instantly went to Karla, but then I thought about Christian and Cecilia. I couldn't face any of that – not right now. My heart was too tender and I was afraid I wouldn't be strong enough to hear the truth. If anything was happening between Christian and Cecilia that would be the first thing Karla blurted out.

I kept trying to remind myself that Cecilia was a muliputative B-word, and that Christian would never stoop so low as to waste his times with her, but I couldn't think of any other explanations for why Cecilia would be answering Christian's personal cell phone.

"Not really," I finally admitted. "But I could take a bus to Bridgewalk tomorrow and pick up the homework myself."

"No you won't" Mrs. O'Donnell slowly smiled. "I'll drive you tomorrow myself."

"Thank you so much Mrs. O'Donnell." I jumped off the stool and went around the breakfast bar to give her a hug.

She laughed and padded my back. "If I'd known this was all it took to break you out of your shell, I would have offered you homework days ago." When I pulled away, I was smiling. She tilted her head toward the breakfast bar, and added, "Now don't forget to clean up your dishes. I really do hate clutter."

Nodding, I reached for my bowl as she walked out of the kitchen. I was looking forward to going to Bridgewalk tomorrow to get homework, nothing made me feel better than submerging myself into my studies.

"So not only are yah a four-eyed freak, but you're also a big ol' brown noser," Mack said, leaning up against the kitchen doorframe. "Yah better not be thinking that Mrs. O is gonna like you more 'cause you're some smarty-pants, rich kid."

Ignoring Mack, I rinsed out my bowl and put it into the dishwasher. She was a bully, plain and simple, and nothing I said to try and defend myself would made her stop. Through my experience, the best way to deal with bullies was to ignore them.

I started walking past her, but at the last minute, she stretched out her leg. My foot got caught and I stumbled forward, lost my balance and fell to the hardwood floor.

My face took the brunt of the fall, but I managed to turn my head to the side and saved my nose from possibly breaking. Groaning, I reached for up and held the side of my face that was burning.

"You should really watch where you're walking," she said with a snicker before walking past me toward the living room.

I closed my eyes and tried to get my emotions under control. I could get through this – soon, I would graduate high school and head off to University, leaving this world behind forever.

When I was confident I wouldn't break down and cry, I got up and headed to the designated quiet area. Although, after looking into the room, I realized a more fitting name would have been the gaming room seeing as everyone was crowded around the computers playing various video games. And the room was anything but quiet – Liz and Summer were at one computer watching YouTube videos and laughing hysterically. Danny was playing Call of Duty on another computer, cursing profusely into the microphone, and a younger boy was on the last computer playing a game I didn't recognize.

Hesitating for only a minute, I dug down deep for some inkling of courage and walked in, heading toward the back wall of bookshelves. A layer of dust covered all the books and shelves, an indicator of how long they sat untouched. Running my fingers along the spine of each book, I read the titles until I found the one I was looking for.

Ignoring the palpable glares of Liz and Summer, I sat down on the white chaise beside the window and opened up the book.

A couple hours later, I was so thoroughly engrossed in the book that I barely noticed everyone leave for dinner.

"Reading anything interesting, Charlotte?"

I looked up and saw Rayden leaning casually against the bookshelf, his arms folded across his chest and a cocky smirk on his face. I wondered how he could wear a leather jacket while it was so warm outside.

"Uh ... you could say that," I said shyly and showed him the cover of the book.

He chuckled hoarsely. "Wuthering Heights?"

Nodding, I clarified, "I used to hate this book, but I thought because of the recent events in my life, I might see it in a different light."

"I hope I didn't shatter your optimism yesterday with my reservations about happily ever afters." He plopped down on the end of the chaise next to me.

"I've never been much of an optimistic person to begin with," I admitted.

He raised his eyebrow and once again, I was reminded of Christian. I closed my eyes and tried to push that beautiful face out of my mind.

"I find that hard to believe – I got the distinct impression you were a bit of a romanticist." Then he added teasingly, "Like come on, Jane Eyre? Next you'll be telling me you're a diehard Austin fan."

"Pride and Prejudice is a beautiful book about a guy who could have almost anyone and yet, falls incurably in love with a girl who had nothing to offer him but herself."

"Houston, we have a problem!" He called out to the empty room, "I think we may be losing her to the illusionary world of fictional fairy tales – umph!"

I hit him playfully with the toss pillow from the chaise.

Stealing it from me, he was about to hit me back but stopped mid swing. Frowning, Rayden took my chin in his hand and tilted my face upwards, and asked darkly, "What happened to your cheek?"

"What?" I asked. Reaching up, I winced when I touch the side of my face. It must've been bruised. "Nothing," I lied. "I just ... uh, tripped."

"Mack?" he guessed correctly.

I turned my head and stared absently at the wall across from me.

"Let me talk to her-"

"No!" I interrupted. "That'll only make it worse – I need to deal with this myself."

Grudgingly, he nodded his head. "Okay, but if it gets worse, come tell me." He draped his arm casually over my shoulders and gave a slight squeeze before adding, "I've officially decided to take you under my wing."

I grinned sheepishly. "Why?"

"I don't know – I guess you kind of remind me of my little sister. Plus, I'm a sucker for the underdog," he said with a shrug. "So, are you going to tell me what's got your spirits up today?"

I was a little surprised he noticed, but that didn't stop the large smile from spreading across my face. "Mrs. O'Donnell is going to bring me to Bridgewalk tomorrow so I can pick up some homework!"

Slowly, Rayden's jaw dropped. A few seconds ticked by until he burst into laughter. "Oh god," he breathed, "You're serious!"

"School work is a good distraction."

He stopped laughing and looked at me scrutinizing. "What do you need a distraction from?"

"Everything," I said bleakly, my thoughts going back to my family, to Christian and all the things that made getting out of bed each morning so hard.

Rayden sighed, leaning back on the chaise, he said, "Yeah ... me and you both."

It was almost 10pm when Rayden and I finally said goodnight and headed toward our own bedrooms. Continuing his amusing quest to be my caregiver, Rayden ended up bringing dinner to the quiet area so I could eat without being bothered by the mean girls.

We talked quite a bit, and while we had absolutely nothing in common, it was nice to finally have a friend. I may not approve of half the things he does, such as his foolish decision to skip school tomorrow and hang out at the house while Mrs. O'Donnell is in Bridgewalk with me, but I enjoyed talking to someone about pointless things like movies and books.

I walked into the bedroom with a faint smile on my face. The room was pitch black and I could barely see a couple feet in front of me, so I reached out and flicked on the light switch.

"W-what's going on?" I stuttered, staring cautiously at the four girls standing in front of me.

Brittney glared. Folding her arms, she hissed, "Liz saw you and Rayden getting pretty close on that lounge chair."

"It's called a chaise," I said and then clapped my mouth shut.

"She don't care what it's called, four-eyes!" Mack gritted out.

"Let's just get this over with – I'm tired," Liz said with a yawn.

Mack rolled her eyes before tying her long, red hair up into a high pony tail. "Fine," she spit out. "You been crossing a line, four-eyes. First, yah try to steal my Danny, then you go brown nosing Mrs. O and now, you're tryna spread your legs for Rayden. It's time we teach yah a lil' lesson about messin' with us."

I took a tentative step back and held my hands up in surrender. "I'm not trying to cause any problems here..."

There was a sinister look in Mack's eyes, one that made me realize she was more dangerous than I initially thought. Reaching behind her, she pulled out a pair of scissors from her back pocket. "K girls, hold 'er down."

I went to call for help but Summer clapped a hand over my mouth, and wrapped her other arm tightly around my waist. Liz and Brittney restrained my arms and legs, I struggled to no avail.

Mack grabbed a handful of my long, brown hair and hacked it off. I wriggled and thrashed but the girls' strength overpowered my own. Mack continued to cut off my hair, over and over, she chopped away until all but a few inches of my hair adorned the bedroom floor.

I spent all my strength trying to free myself, so when the girls finally released their hold, I sagged to the floor in defeat.

Mack tightly grabbed a hold of my chin and forced me to look up at her. She lowered her voice so the other girls couldn't hear, and said maliciously, "Next time, it won't just be hair I'll be cutting off..." Her laughter echoed in my ear as the four girls made their way out of the bedroom. Mack stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder. "Oh yeah, you should prolly clean that up – Mrs. O don't like clutter."

~~

N/A 8( I feel so bad for Charlie – her life is so hard ... but I think it really shows how strong her character is.

So... Question of the day: Who do you hate more, Cecilia or Mack?