Happy the Hard Way

her conversation with nathan really made her think, she did think cameron was cute, his awkwardness with the random facts was cute too, and the more she thought about it, the signs of him liking her were very clear. And what? now she was falling for cameron, she couldn’t deny it now. Shaking those thoughts from her head she walked towards her locker where she saw logan. She smiled at him
"ready to go?" he asked, sounding mad, when she grabbed her back pack out of her locker. She nodded. when they pulled into her driveway he asked her "what took you so long?"
"oh sorry, i was talking to Nathan" she said, removing her hand from the door handle. Logan sighed "don’t be a baby about it" kallel joked, pushing his knee. And then he snapped, again. His hand flying up and slapping her across the face, Kallel quickly jumped back, jabbing her side into the door handle, sending pain throughout her right side, making her gasp. Someone must have saw because a few seconds later the car door opened and Kallel was being pulled out of the car. It was cameron, nathan was running over from his house.
"what the hell!" cameron yelled at logan, holding Kallel in his arms, who now had tears streaming down her face.
"back off man, its none of your business, she’s a klutz, i didn’t do anything! get in the car Kallel" Logan said sternly.
Cameron was furious "its my business now, you hit her, why the hell would you hit a girl. she’s beautiful and you treat her like crap! you're the one who hit her that night at the party, weren’t you!" cameron yelled, nathan was now standing behind cameron. "she’s not getting back in that car, ever." cameron said, slamming the car door shut. Logan backed out of her driveway and sped off. 'Cameron called me beautiful?' Kallel thought to herself. Her...beautiful? if only cameron saw the bruises on her body, he wouldn’t think she was beautiful then.
Cameron picked Kallel up and carried her into her house, up the stairs and set her down on her bed.
"he hit you last time, didn’t he?" Nathan said, sitting on the edge of her bed.
'which last time' she thought to herself, though she knew nathan meant at his party, there were too many times before. Kallel hadn’t told anyone who did it, or why. At this moment she knew she had to tell someone. "yeah" she said quietly, ashamed. Then rolled up her long sleeves to expose black and blue bruises up and down her arms.
Cameron’s voice cracked "he did that to you, and you ran back to him every time" he said, sounding heartbroken, yet angry. Kallel nodded, unable to look cameron and nathan in the eyes, ashamed.
"why didn’t you tell anyone" nathan asked quietly.
"i thought he'd stop, he said it would never happen again and that he loved me. i trusted him" she said quietly. "shit, i have to pick Elizabeth up..." she said suddenly, standing up.
"i'll pick her up" nathan said getting up, making her lay back down, then walked out the door.
It was quiet then cameron spoke up "you didn’t tell anyone? not even Colleen?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.
she shook her head, still avoiding his eyes. she had been a complete jerk to him everyday, never giving him her full attention or even caring what he had to say, especially earlier today when she yelled at him.
"Kallel look at me" he said, he waited for her to look him in the eyes and then he continued "You deserve way better than him, someone who wont treat you that way, someone who wont lay a finger on you to harm you. Someone who will treat you like the beautiful princess you truly are." he said, looking into her eyes. ".........someone like me" he said, so quietly the only word she heard was 'me'
Kallel looked back into his, she noticed how green his eyes were, and how they sparkled when he said her name. then it hit her, he was beautiful, inside and out. "why are you so nice, i've never given you the time of day, i snapped at you earlier today" she said, unable to stop looking at his eyes.
He smiled, again the sparkle appeared in his eyes, "i'm a nice guy i guess" he said. Then Kallel kissed him, unsure of how he would react.
Cameron quickly pulled back. Kallel halfway expected that to be his reaction. Cameron looked her in the eyes and gently placed a hand on her face where logan had hit her, and then kissed her again.
Their lips parted a few minutes later. "Cameron i really am sorry for treating you like crap" she admitted to him, she got up and walked to her bedroom window looking out at the ocean.
Cameron walked over and stood next to her. he held her hand and lightly traced his hand down her arm, looking at the bruises. "don’t be, I'm sorry...for what he did, i mean." Cameron turned to her and opened his arms, offering her a hug.
Kallel wrapped her arms around him and said "its not your fault"
"you didn’t deserve it" he whispered in her ear, giving her a quick squeeze. Kallel jumped back, cringing in pain, she lifted up her shirt and saw her side was already starting to bruise, a new one, along with all the others.
"I'm sorry" he said quickly "are you okay? i didn’t mean to, i mean i didn’t know, i wouldn’t have-" he started rambling off
"cameron, its okay." she said, pain still flowing through her body. She heard the front door open and Nathan and Elizabeth singing a Wiggles song. Kallel smiled when she heard them singing, quickly putting her sleeves down as she walked out of her room and down the stairs, cameron right behind her.
"Kallel!" Elizabeth said, excitedly. then she saw cameron "CAMMY!" she yelled running up the stairs to him.
"Hi Bethy! " cameron said, picking her up, carrying her down the stairs.
Nathan walked over to Kallel, looking at her face. "does it still hurt?" he asked quietly not wanting Elizabeth to hear.
"not really, my side is killing me though" she said, breathing sent lines of pain through her entire abdomen. "elizabeth why don’t you go show Cam your Barbie’s" kallel said, noticing Cameron’s face light up when she called him Cam. Once they were upstairs and in Elizabeth's room Kallel lifted up her shirt and showed nathan the bruise that was forming on her side. He gently placed his hand on it, inspecting it.
"unbelievable" he muttered angrily under his breath.
"will you, will you be there with me when i tell my parents?" Kallel asked, not wanting to do it alone. Nathan nodded, saying he understood.