Curse of Curves

I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling while biting nervously on my bottom lip.

Questions like, is Ethan ok, what is his mother doing, would she actually do something to him, ran through my head and it really sucked not having an answer for any of them.

“Arrow, get down here!”

I winced at the tone my mother used. What did I do now?

Sighing, I pushed myself off my bed and trudged down the stairs. It didn’t take long for me to enter the kitchen and find my mother with her head in her hands. Her eyes were downcast as she shook her head from left to right.

I cleared my throat to get her attention.

She looked up at me with a frown, but staid silent, simply motioning to an empty seat in front of her. I pulled it out, the legs screeching across the floor before lazily sitting down.

“Is it true?” She asks, her voice sounded sad like she was begging I say no, but I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Is what true?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.

“That you and Ethan,” she whispered. “You two are…together?”

I knew that she didn’t care that Ethan and I were a couple. If this were a different situation she’d probably hug us both and squeal about how “cute” we are until our ears bleed, but this is different.

I’m dating her best friends son, her homophobic best friends son. I could only imagine what it must be like.

“Yeah,” I finally answered while nibbling my bottom lip. “Yeah…we are.”

She sighed while running thin fingers through her hair. My mother was silent as she examined the room with her hand over he mouth before speaking, “Just be careful…Carol Lynn is…she doesn’t under-“

“I know,” I cut her off with a shrug. “I won’t let anything bad happen to Ethan, so don’t worry mum.”

She smiled sweetly at me before reaching over to ruffle my hair. I scowled and swatted her hand away while she giggled, “You’re such a softie.”

Sticking my tongue out at her I get out of my chair and walk back to my room to go to sleep.

I am so not a softie.Ok maybe I am, but so what?

When I woke up the next morning I groaned. My eyelids felt extremely heavy, like someone was trying to super glue my eyes together. I whined as I started rubbing my eyes trying to wake myself up, but it was a lot harder then I thought.

I staid up too late last night worrying now I’m going to fall asleep in class…like I don’t do that everyday.

Finally I rolled out of the comfortable bed and stumbled through out my room trying to find my clothes. Once I accomplished that I quickly got ready for school and said good-bye to my mother. She waved me off and said ‘don’t get yourself or Ethan into any trouble.’

I rolled my eyes before shoving my headphones into my ears.

I stared aimlessly at the ground while I kicked the rocks from under my feet. The wind was picking up and nipping at my skin, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I was worried about Ethan…

He hadn’t come over or called last night so that means…that means he’s all right? Right?

Damn it, I hate worrying. It makes me feel like an old bastard and I am definitely not old! I’m only a bastard on special occasions…

I was so busy worrying that I didn’t notice what was behind me.

Maybe if I hadn’t been listening to my music too loudly I would have heard their footsteps. Maybe if my mind weren’t so trained on Ethan I would have noticed them earlier. Maybe if I had just paid attention to my surroundings I would have been able to prevent this mess…

Sadly I didn’t though.

Things happened so fast I hardly had enough time to realize what was really going on.

One second I was walking calmly to school with my hands in my pockets.

The next I felt this pressure on my back. Whoever jumped me and myself had fallen to the ground, the cement scraping my cheek and palms. I hissed in pain when whoever this was rolled me over and before I realized what had happened I felt a fist in my gut.

Once I realized that I could move I pushed whoever it was off me. I was able to blink and catch a glimpse of blonde hair and a familiar school uniform before two pairs of arms grabbed me from behind and held me up to become a human punching bag.

I ripped my arm out of the grasp of some jocks’ grasp. I recognized all three boys’ from school.

The logical part of my brain said run while the other stubborn part said fight back…

I decided to do what the stubborn side said.

I pulled my fist back and implanted it into a boys’ face, but as soon as he stumbled back I felt a large fist contact my stomach. The air was knocked out of me and before I could regain it I felt that fist a second, third, fourth time before I finally managed to tackle the owner to the ground.

We wrestled, but not long since the other two grabbed me and held me up. This time I struggled but to no avail. I don’t know how long they held me there allowing their “buddy” to beat the shit out of me.

All I remember is the warm liquid running down my face and the pain from my stomach. I remember everything becoming a blur before they finally let me fall. I heard one of them curse and the sound of running foot steps.

A hand was pressed against my back and I winced. Things were spinning around me and I could faintly hear worried voices, but none of them were recognizable and before I knew it everything went black.