Did My Art Teacher Just Flirt With Me?

"Come on..." Alex sighed said as he picked me up carefully. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

Cleaned up. I must've been pretty beat up then. As he took me inside the quiet house I noticed Alex was trembling. I gripped tighter on his dark t-shirt when he got me to the bathroom. He set me down on the toilet seat as he grabbed a wash cloth and began wiping the blood from my lips.

"After you get cleaned up I'm calling your dad." He said quickly. His voice harsh and shaky from anger.

I stayed quiet. I couldn't look up. Scared and still humiliated. I can't believe he saw my mom like that. He put the wash cloth away and examined me. I winced everytime his fingers brushed over my bruises. He sighed, taking a deep breath before helping me out of the bathroom.

"Sorry..." I muttered.

He looked surprised. "Why?"

"Sorry you had to see... that."

****

"Rachael?? Rachael oh my god Rachael!" Gina gasped as she ran over to hug me tightly. "Baby? Baby are you okay?"

Although I've never called Gina mom, she was the closest thing to it. And when she hugged me and conforted me like a real mom could I couldn't help but cry into her shirt.

My dad stood over in the back with Alex. They whispered in low voices staring at me then back to what they were talking about.

"Look at you... how could she..." Gina sobbed. "Rachael..."

"It's alright..." I said. "It just looks alot worse than it feels that's all." I poked one of my bruises. A small pain jolted from it but not bad.

My dad walked over now. His hand on my cheek. "Rachael... I called the police." he said. "Your mother has been taken to the station. We're going to fix this okay?"

With a small nod he walked away into his office. He was really pissed off. Gina sniffed as she got up giving me one last hug. "I'm so sorry Rachael. We'll never leave you alone in this house again."

"No! No really, I'm fine." I assured her. I couldn't stand the fact that she felt sorry for me. Gina smiled before leaving me to her kitchen.

I got up slowly, careful not to further injure myself. Walking slowly back to my room. My ribs hurt, my legs hurt, my face hurt and I think my arms hurt too. I can't tell anymore, everything hurts.

"Hey, wait up!" Alex said as he jogged over.

I turned around sharply sending waves a pain from my chest. "H-huh?"

He paused a bit. He took another breath. "Can we talk?"

My eyes narrowed. This was going to be about my mom. I could tell just by looking at him he had alot of questions. Personal ones too and right now, I wasn't in the mood.

"No." I said trying to sound nice but a spaz of hostility seemed to drip from my eyes.

Alex didn't back off. "I know you don't want to talk about it but, I just want to know, did she ever do this to you before?"

Of course she had. My eyes darted to the floor. "No..." I lied.

"I know you were scared and all but parents shouldn't do that to their kids and you shouldn't have put up with it either." His hand fell on my shoulder, the other one to lift my face to his. "I'm not saying it'll happen again but just in case, fight back Rachael."

"I can't..." I almost whined.

"Why?" He said in a calm voice.

"I don't know." I answered quietly. My throat throbbed. "I just can't okay, I get scared and I just... can't think when she's doing something like that to me."

Alex remained quiet. He gently pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me. "Alright, I know your scared, but it's wrong for her to treat you like that." My face flushed as I found myself hugging him back. "But at least run if you can't fight back."

"Okay..." I smiled softly.

Just then I heard the door open and I found myself in another problematic dilema. "Alex, about the court-"

Alex quickly let go of me and I stood their my arms still hugging an invisible someone. When I turned around I saw my dad. His face full of shock.

"Hey, Dad" I managed.