When She Cries

The weeks dragged on, and it was the same old routine. Mike would be sweet and loving, then suddenly turn into a monster. I've tried telling him it was over, and it was the last thing I did. Literally. He ended up hitting me so hard that I blacked out.

I was tired of lying to my family about why I was rarely around any of them, or why I would flinch when one of them hugged me. Dad thought I was slipping back into my old self, and it killed me to see the hurt in his eyes. I didn't want him to think he was failing at being a father for me. It was just something that was out of all their hands.

"Earth to Elle." I saw a hand being waved in front of my eyes.

"What?"

"Hey there, space cadet," Zeek said, laughing lightly.

"Sorry, didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

He sighed. "Yeah, you haven't been sleeping a lot lately." He looked at me before speaking again. "What's going on, Elle? And don't tell me it's nothing."

I shrugged. "Just having a few problems lately."

"Troubles in paradise?" He asked, raising an eye brow. I just nodded. "I knew it," he said, shaking his head.

I looked at him confused. "What?"

"This always happens, he always runs his girlfriends off."

Like he'll even let me get away...

"I'll see you later, Zeek," I mumbled, heading to class early.

When I got home, it was quiet. Too quiet... I could hear the t.v. on, but that was the only noise. I walked into the kitchen to see Dad sitting at the table, a single piece of paper sitting in front of him.

"Hey," I said softly.

He didn't look up at me or anything. "Sit," was all he said. I sat in the chair next to him, nervously playing with my hands in my lap. After a few minutes of silence, he pushed the paper in front of me. "Would you like to explain?"

I looked down and noticed it was my Progress Report for school. The only class I had an A in was Independent Study. The rest were C's, D's, and F's.

"This is inexcusable, Noelle."

Fuck, he's using my whole name. I really am in trouble.

"What's going on? You’re a straight A student. Why are your grades suddenly dropping?"

"I don't know." My voice was barely over a whisper.

He sighed heavily. "I didn't want to do this, Elle," he said, shaking his head. "But, no more dancing until your grades come up."

That caught my attention. "You can't do that!" I cried, jumping up from my seat.

"I can and I am. It's clearly distracting you from your actual studies!"

"And how would you know?! You're barely home! So who are you to say what's distracting me?!"

He stood up too. "I'm your father, that's who."

"You are not my father," I hissed. Nothing registered until the stinging in my cheek grew. I looked up at him and saw the regret in his eyes.

Neither of us moved until we heard the front door open and voices fill the air. That's when my feet become disconnected from the floor and took off.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" Zacky asked, being the first one to grab.

"Get away from me," I said, trying to push him away.

"Elle, what's going on?" Uncle Jimmy asked, trying to calm me down.

I shook my head as I got out of Zacky's grasp and took off. I didn't stop until I was at Zeek's. Thank God he only lived a block away from me. "Can I help you?" His mom asked, answering the door.

"Hi, is Zeek home?" I asked politely.

She frowned. "I'm sorry, Dear, but he's not. He's at his friend Mike's."

I sighed. "Thank you." I turned, and began my journey to Mike's. This time, I just walked.

When I reached the door, my feet were already killing me. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. There was laughing when the door opened. Zeek suddenly stopped smiling when he saw me. He didn't say anything, he just brought me into his arms as I broke down. Everything just felt like it was suffocating me and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Zee, who was-" Mike's sentence stopped as soon as he saw us. He went from calm to angry. "Elle, let's go in my room." I gave Zeek a pleading look, but he didn't see it because he was too busy glaring at Mike.

As soon as the door was shut, I was thrown against the wall. "You little whore! You think you can throw yourself at my friends now? Well, let's see how much you like being a whore." He picked me up and threw me on the bed. I didn't exactly know what he was going to do, until I felt him tugging at my pants.

That's when I knew, I was never going to be the same again.