Chapter 04: Broken
Adeline

"And go! Adeline keep up!"

I try my best to catch up with the other students, holding my "stomach" so that it doesn't move.

"She's jiggling. Wiggle wiggle." A girl runs past me as I stop, faking to look tired.

Sis is lucky I have to hide.

"Adeline, keep going!" My gym teacher blows her whistle and I start running again.

Soon enough, I catch up to Brianna as she stops to touch up her mascara. She looks in the mirror at me, stretching her arm out to push me over.

"Brianna Miller! Run! Adeline, get up!"

Brianna sticks her tongue out childishly, bending over as her boyfriend catches up to us.

Easton glances down at me before kicking me in my stomach, hard. Despite the padding, the impact reaches my actual stomach, making me wince in pain.

"Adeline, I said to get up!"

"I'm going!" I answer her, trying not to sound annoyed.

"Good."

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

"Haha!"

In a swift movement, my lunch is no longer in front of me, but is instead on the floor, scattered.

"Go pick it up, Adeline. Stop making the janitors' job so hard." Easton laughs, pointing to the ground.

Tears prick my eyes as I get down on my knees to clean up the mess, gripping the crumbs that was once my sandwich in my hands.

"Good girl. Now go hide. Nobody needs to see such unnecessary ugliness."

I push myself up, walking out the gate and into the parking lot, hiding behind my brother's car.

Hide...

I do it everyday, those words shouldn't hurt me.

Go hide?

Hide who you are so they can't see your vulnerable side.

Hide your beauty so you know how they act when you have flaws.

"I hate it!"

I hate this so much. I get up everyday, and it's the same nonsense.

I go through it all. Wake up, go to the hell hole. Get bullied, cry. And come home wishing I could show them who I really am. What I really look like.

"But you can't, Adeline. And you know that." The only person I have to talk to is myself.

Sad. I know.

I'm just sad. There's no hope for me to actually have a friend. But if my parents allowed me to be who I really was, who I am, I could have a chance.

I could have a chance to have friends, to do things that my brother can do.

Maybe Easton wouldn't be ashamed to act nice with me.

Maybe everyone would be nice.

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

"I'll kill anybody who hurt you. Actually, I'll kill them all just give me five hours."

"Kaleb, sit down." I stress, pulling him by his sleeve.

"You think I didn't notice this? Who did it?" My brother grumbles, touching the corner of my lip.

"Oh, uh. Well you see. Sometimes, people get angry. And we don't think. And then," I stall, getting side tracked after. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

"Adeline," Kaleb sighs, standing up. "Tell me when you're ready. Do you want McDonald's?"

"Yes, sir." I giggle, scrunching up my nose. "Fries, chicken nuggets and a McFlurry."

"I'll be back."

My brother walks out the front door, leaving me alone in the house.

I walk upstairs, throwing myself on my bed once I get into my room.

Checking my phone to pass time, I notice a text message from an unknown number.

Unknown: Come over

Me: hell no.
Me: who is this?

Unknown: East.

Me: hell no. I mean it.

Without bothering to talk to him anymore, I switch the app, playing games.

A knock on my window catches my attention and I groan, standing up to check.

"What?"

"It's always you."

His words catch me off guard as I glare, tightening my jaw.

"Huh?"

"You're the only one who gets mad for no reason! What's up with that?" He yells again, sounding muffled.

Easton throws another rock at my window and I open it, glaring at him.

"Me? You're the one who abuses me."

"You think I want to do that? Adeline you know-"

"You aren't a puppet, Easton. You can make your own decisions." I tell him, cutting him off.

"I-"

"Easton. Please leave me alone. You can bully me all you want, but don't think things are okay once we're alone."

He starts to stutter as I close the window, leaving the curtains open.

"Fuck!" Easton yells, causing me to flinch.

He's the type of person who breaks you and doesn't realize he does. Easton's the guy who you think can change, but never will.

He never will.

Surprisingly, Easton and I have been neighbors for a while now. Our parents are best friends so it's not even like it's a choice to get along with him.

I have to.

Talking to him at night made me think Easton and I could actually get along. I guess I was wrong.

He's hurt me so many times. A lot of people have hurt me, but it feels different coming from him.

"Easton is just different."

❀⊱┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄⊰❀

Author's Note:

What do you think of the story so far?

I honestly think I'm forgetting something and maybe this is pretty bad. If you think something needs to be changed, just tell me. I'm open to any and all constructive criticism.

Feel free to vote and comment, I absolutely love reading your thoughts on my book.

Thank you, have a great day/night. Bye.