Locked Doors

The following Monday morning, I literally had to drag myself out of bed when my alarm went off.

My whole body ached, because like almost every other night my dad had gotten mad at me. Of course, that led to him hitting, kicking and swearing at me, before he drove off to some bar, and I cried for who knows how long.

Once I was finally out of bed, and not in so much pain, I walked into my bathroom so I could take a quick shower. Once I was done showering I walked into my room and grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a purple plaid shirt and quickly slid them on.

I walked back into my bathroom, and decided to put my hair into loose curls, before putting on my normal makeup, just so I could cover up the bruises. I then went downstairs, and grabbed some breakfast before sitting at our small kitchen table.

Just as I was finishing up my fruit salad, I noticed that I had to leave in three minutes, or I’d be late for school. I threw my bowl in the dishwasher, and ran upstairs to brush my teeth.

Once I had rinsed my mouth out, I slid on a pair of black ballet flats, and grabbed my oversized tote, which I was using as a book bag today, and ran out to my car, before speeding to school.

~*~*~

I was two classrooms away from my Calculus class, when the final bell rang. I muttered a few curse words under my breath, before picking up my pace, and opening the classroom door.

I let out a sigh of relief when I noticed that it wasn’t Mr. Ybarra standing at the front of the class, but a substitute.

“Excuse me Miss, can I help you?” the snobby sub said as I took another step into the room.

“This is my class, I’m sorry I’m late, but-“ I started to lie, when I was cut off by Rian.

“She’s actually new to this school, Ms. Wagner,” Rian said sending me a look, “She only started last Monday.”

“Oh, well then I guess I don’t have to report this tardy Miss…?” Ms. Wagner asked looking down at the attendance sheet.

“Solana, Gabby Solana,” I said shuffling into my desk.

“Alright,” she said marking my name down, “Now class, like I was saying, today is just a work day. Mr. Ybarra said that he gave you the assignment yesterday, so you can get to work on it now. I have the answer key up here if you need any help.”

As soon as she was done talking I grabbed my math book our of my bag, as well as my notebook. I fished around for a pencil and groaned when I realized I didn’t have one.

“Ri, do you have a pencil I could borrow?” I asked turning to face him.

“Don’t I always,” he said laughing and handing me one of his.

“Thanks,” I said smiling at him, “And thank for saving my ass when I came in late.”

“No problem, I know you’d do the same for me.”

“Of course I would,” I said starting on the assignment.

We worked in silence for a few minutes, occasionally asking each other questions if we had trouble, before Ms. Wagner came up to our table.

“Would you two mind taking the attendance down to the office? You guys are the only people working right now, so I thought you deserved a break,” she said handing us the single sheet of paper and the hall pass.

“Of course Ms. Wagner,” I said sliding out of my desk, “We’ll be right back.”

Rian quickly followed my motions, and we were soon out in the hallway and on our way to the attendance office. During our walk, I noticed that Rian kept opening his mouth to say something, but would abruptly close it when he looked at me.

“Rian, if you wanna say something, just say it,” I said getting slightly annoyed with his behavior.

“Gabby, I just,” he said taking a deep breath, “Promise me you won’t get mad or anything when I ask you this okay?”

“I promise,” I said as we approached the attendance office, “Just let me give this to the lady.”

I handed off the sheet to the lady behind the desk, and turned around to walk out of the office, and back to Rian.

“Okay, now what did you need to ask?” I said as we started walking back to class.

“On Friday, at the party, when me and you were upstairs, I noticed that you had a bruise, that was probably once darker, that ran up and down your ribcage,” he said stopping and looking at me, “When I asked about it, you said it was nothing, so I decided to just leave it at that.

“But when you came back to Alex’s the next day for the hot tub party, the bruise had gotten worse. Gabby, what’s happening to you? I know I may have only known you for a week, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

I broke eye contact with Rian, for the first time since he started talking, and directed my gaze to the floor. There was a part of me that wanted to tell Rian the truth, about the beating, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I didn’t want to receive sympathy from him, or anyone for that matter.

“The bruise stayed the same, Ri,” I said scratching the inside of my arm, “You probably just couldn’t tell the first night. That room was dark after all. And I got it when I fell down the stairs after slipping on the rug at the top.”

Rian gave me a skeptical look before nodding and pulling me into a hug.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay Gabby,” he said releasing me, “Just know you can talk to me whenever.”

“Okay, thanks Rian,” I said as we walked back into class and sat down to finish our assignments.

The rest of the day went rather normal, and before I knew it, the final bell of the day was ringing. As usual, I said a quick goodbye to Jack, before practically bolting out to my car.

On the ride home, I couldn’t help but to think of the look that Rian held in his eyes all day. The one that said he could tell I was lying, and hiding something big from everyone.

I just hoped that in time I could explain everything to everyone.