An Abused Beauty's Way to Happiness

I walked into the girls' locker room and handed Mrs. Bauer my note, saying that I had a bad accident over the summer and broke my foot, and it was still healing.

''That's not good.'' I smiled at her, a fake one, but, you're supposed to respect adults.

''Yeah.'' I said quietly. This was my second day of school, one week away from my dad, and my back was still bruised. This is usually when it starts to clear up. But, the pain is just getting worse.

''Locker 92 and 66 are unused. What's your pick?''

''Uh. I'll take 99.'' It even hurt to talk.

''Okay. It's over in that aisle.''

''Okay. Thanks.'' I said, and walked over to where she pointed. I sat down on the bench, carefully, and put my stuff beside me. When the first few girls started going out to the gym, I followed and went to lean against the folded-up risers. This school DEFINITELY has a lot more money than my old one. The boys came out of thier locker room, and lined up so the teachers could take roll. What was the other guy's name? I looked at my schedule. Mr. Davis. Bluh. Ugly name. I like Dolietta lots more. Well, it's not REALLY my last name, but, I'm excited for when the papers come through and certify it. I really like Bryce and Jennifer. They're nice. I leaned against the risers, and slid down slowly, and brought my knees up against my chest. If I haven't had so many experiences where I couldn't cry, I would have screamed out in agony from the pain that was coming from my lower back that was Daddy's target 8 days ago. So, I just put my chin on my knee and looked at all of the boys at one end of the line and the girls at the other. I moved my stare from the girls to the boys. They were all fit and well built. And they all looked pretty good. Every once in a while, some of them would turn around, look at me, turn back around, get thier buddy to turn around and stare, and then they would say something and laugh. There was one, who was kinda short, about 5' 6'' and he turned around after being recommended, looked at me, shook his head, and turned back around. He hit his friend in a scolding way.

''Linman!!! No physical contact with others!''

''But! He-''

''No buts!'' 'Linman' sighed and and looked at his friend, who glanced over his shoulder, and smiled, shaking his head yes, with a smile on his face. He waved at me. Is that why? He thinks I'm... good looking? I gave him the peace sign. Something I would never do at my other school. I unfolded my legs and put them straight out in front of me and folded my hands in between them to keep them warm. It was cold out side, and you would think that they would keep it kinda warm in here! But, I guess I can't complaiun because it's the middle of winter here and I'm wearing a blue jean skirt and short sleeved shirt. A cute shirt, might I say. A lacey white, form-fitting shirt. And, flip flops. Great. I'm a dumbass.

''Okay! We're not going to the weight and fitness rooms today because we have short morning classes. So, we'll do kick ball instead. Ada? You might want to stand up for it.'' Mrs. Bauer has the most annoying voice... Ever.

''It's Ida.'' I said. ''I'll be fine on the ground. I've been hit with kick balls more than a few times, and I'm not prone to pain.''

''Are you sure?''

''Yeah.'' I said, and leaned my head back and closed my eyes. I felt a tear welling up, which is rare. SO, I opened my eyes again, and watched the game. The one guy, 'Linman' was in the field, and was guarding the base right in front of me, but on opposite sides of the gym, and staring at me. I wiped my eyes quickly and watched the girl kick the ball. She got out and so did the next two people. They switched sides. Boring game. Sucky kickers. Lots a shoes flying all over the place. Eventually, the 10-minute bell rang and I got up to go into the locker room. I got up and walked to the door with my arms across my chest. My back was killing me. This is not normal!!! It's never this bad!! I walked into the locker room and went to the bathroom stall with a mirror. I gently pulled up my shirt from behind and looked at it in the mirror. The dis-colorment spread down closer to my skirt line since this morning. It was a dark purple instead of tan. I don't remember the effects to be like THIS. I pulled my shirt down and fixed it before I went back to the bench. I didn't even sit down. By now, I was having to breath slowly so it wouldn't bother my back as much. I leaned against the wall with all my weight so the pain would flare up, and go away. My self-discovered treatment. I stood like that the whole time. When the bell rang, I got my stuff and walked to the cafeteria for third period study hall.

I sat down atmy assigned seat, which was only two seats away from Linman. I don't know his name. And it's too bad I don't. I think he's kinda cute... But that doesn't matter. I have absolutely no experience with boys. None at all. I sighed and put my head on the table and the tears started flowing. They were slow at first, but they got faster and I wiped my face. God, I hope my eyeliner doesn't flow with the tears. Why me? Why do I have to be the one who was abused and hurt my back and go to school and cry? Why!!!

I heard the bot beside me try to get my attention.

''Pssp! Hey! Are you okay?'' He whispered. He tapped my arm and I hit it away with my own. ''Hey. What's wrong?''

''Leave me alone! We'll get in trouble!'' I said, turning my head the other way, a new streak of pain going down my back. I flinched. ''Ouch!'' I said, but quietly.

''Bitch.'' I heard someone behind me mumble. I felt someone get up and heard foot steps walking away. About a minute later, some one sat across from me.

''Excuse, me, Aida? Are you okay?'' It was a female's voice and I looked up without wiping my face.

''No.'' I said, laying my head back down on table.

''What's wrong?''

'My life.'' I looked back up and put my hand behind me, feeling my back. ''I need to go to the nurse.''

''Why?''

''I just have to. Something's wrong. Please.''

''Okay. Take your stuff.'' I stood up, this time fast, and my arms went numb. My stomach did a backflip and I started sweating.

''I can't. I... I can't! My arms are numb!'' I said quietly. I don't want to attract too much attention on my second day.

''Are you fibbing?''

''No!'' I whispered loudly. ''Please. Can I go now?''

She sighed and looked at Linman. 'Andrew, take Aida's stuff to the nurse.''

''Thanks.'' I said. I started walking, playing with my arms, trying to get the feeling back, but it didn't work, and only made the pain worse. I was on in the hall when Andrew caught up to me.

''You're lying aren't you?''

''No. I'm not.'' I said. ''I... can't believe he did this.'' I said, trying to fight back tears, but faling miserably.

''You're fine. But, thanks for faking it. Now, I get to skip study hall. Too bad it's not some major class.''

''SHut up. This real. Where's the nurse's office at? I'm lost.'' I looked down the two halls at the three way intersection I stopped at.

''Go right.'' I went right, and three steps later, I saw the door that said NURSE. We went in. ''Sit down.'' He said, putting the stuff on the chair.

''No. If i can't feel my arms, I might not be able to feel my legs soon.''

''You're crazy. I thought I might like you, but, now, I just see you're plain crazy.''

''I'm not crazy... I just... have gone through things that most of this school would never have thougt possible.'' I started playing with my arms again and the nurse came out to the waiting room.

''Okay, which one of you was here first?''

''Me.'' I said. ''I can't feel my arms. And... I need you to check something out for me.'' I said, ashemed of myself.

''What?''

''My.. back... There's somthing really wrong.''

''Okay. Come in.'' I followed her into the office thing.... what ever it is... ''Sit down.'' She said, pointing towards an examination table. I got up on it carefully, and layed down on my stomach. ''Okay. Where at?''

''Just...'' I pulled the back of my shirt up. ''Wherever. it hurts lower down.''

''Oh my, what happened?'' She touched my back. ''Wow. Oh, honey, how long has it been like this?'' She started pushing slightly down the middle of my back, each time increasing the pain.

''I don't know. A week. Maybe a little more. Please, it hurts. Can you be... more careful?'' She pressed down lower and I let out a slight scream. I've never screamed from things concerning my abuse. Never.

''I'm sorry. There's something wrong with your back. Honey, just, just stay there.'' She walked away, and I started crying freely, and covered my face with my hands. I heard her talking on the phone, answering questions, and she turned to me. ''Do you know how it happened?'' She asked. I shook my head yes. ''What is it from?''

''Abuse.'' My voice was muffled, and I was glad it was. I looked over at the door to see if Andrew was still there. He was. And he was staring, wide-eyed at my back. It was still out in the open. I pulled my shirt down and he looked at me. He had a sympathetic look on his face. I heard the phone being hung up, and the nurse came over.

''Honey, don't mave at all. They said that you must have a bad injury that might cause paralysis if you move. You might be on your way there if you cen't feel your arms. An ambulance is on the way to take you to the hospital for emergency surgery.''

''They don't know what's wrong. What if I have MS or, something like that?''

''You don't have MS because you still have feeling, right?''

''Yeah. But how can they fix a problem they don't know anything about?''

''Enough. Now, I need you to tell me who did it.'' She lowered her voice.

''Close the door.'' I said. Him seeing and knowing what it was was bad enough. She looked at him and he closed the door. ''It was my dad. In North Dakota. You and him are the only ones that know what it was.''

''Was he charged?''

''No. He's in a nursing home for his liver. What sucks is that I saved his life. I saved my stupid father's life and I regret calling the damned ambulance.'' I heard a siren in the distance.