I Think Its Arrogance

Grace
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I sighed and shoved my phone back in my pocket. I didn’t care what Jess had to say. I sat down on the curb.
Everything that had happened today started to flood its way back into my train of thought. He hit me. Again. He says he blacks out and doesn’t mean it. I don’t get it. How he can just hit me without a care.
I got up from the curb after a few minutes. I just wanted to go inside and sleep, forgetting everything that had happened today. Well. Other than the fact that Ace and I had a sort of sing-off in front a huge group of people. I slowly walked to the door not even thinking to look to my left to the driveway to see who was here.
I heard noises coming from inside. Its probably just mom cleaning or something. I thought as I turned the doorknob.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?” it wasn’t my mom… it was a male voice… I looked over my shoulder quickly to see that it was Jess’ car, not my moms. Fuck.

Jess grabbed my shoulder and roughly pulled me closer to him so he could close the door.

“LOOK AT ME WHILE I AM TALKING TO YOU!”

I stared up at him in shock. He was easily a foot taller than I was. “Jess I-”

“No! I don’t want to hear you speak right now!” He screamed in my face. “Who was that? Who dropped you off here?”

“Why does it matter?!” I yelled back, but instantly regretting it as a hand came across my face.

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!”

“I-I'm sorry…” I stuttered.

He put his hands on my shoulders. Then he calmly said, “Now Grace… Who brought you home?”

“Jess. Why does it matter..? He-”

“HE!? IT WAS A GUY?!” he began to yell once again.

“Y-yes..” I muttered.

“WHO!?” He yelled while tightening his grip on my shoulders and shaking me back and forth.

“I DON’T HAVE TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING JESS! IT DOESN’T MATTER!” I yelled. Jess opened his mouth to scream at me again but in the quiet pause, we heard my mom’s car pull into the driveway. He grabbed my wrist, pulled me close to him, and angrily whispered in my ear, “We will talk about this tomorrow.”

“No we won’t.” I said and jerked my wrist out of his grasp.
I swear I could see fire in his eyes. He grabbed my shoulder and threw me against the wall. As I hit the wall, I fell onto a small end table we had in the hallway. The next thing I saw was black.



I woke up in my bed. I was still in my clothes from the night before. My clock was glowing with the numbers 4:56. I groaned and went to rub my eyes. I winced in pain. I cursed under my breath, remembering everything that happened. I cried quietly before I got up and showered.
After I had showered and gotten dressed, I began to dry my hair. I walked into the bathroom to find my blow dryer. I looked in the mirror and gasped. Under my eye was a deep bluish-purple bruise right along my cheekbone. I should be used to waking up with bruises by now… 6 months together and he began to abuse her after four. No one would believe her if she told them. Jess was a star student; He had perfect grades, he was on the football team, president of multiple clubs and long story short. He was perfect. On the outside, once you have gotten to know him you see the real him.



French time. Lovely. My class with Ass. I mean Ace. It was seconds before the bell and he wasn’t here. I had a glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t be here today. Seconds after, my hope was shattered as he walked through the door. Why didn’t I tell Jess it was him that brought me home…?

“Glad you made it Blair.” I muttered sarcastically.

“I'm happy to see you too Knight.” he laughed.
I looked at him. Why was he acting like that?

“So Grace. Since your last name is Knight, does that mean you work at night?” he asked with a smirk.
I looked at him with confusion. What the hell was he talking about?

Then our French teacher spoke up. “Are you a “Lady of The Night, Ms Knight, is what he is trying to ask.”
What?!

My face flushed. Ace looked over at me with the look of satisfaction. Somehow our eyes connected. I could see in his eyes slight guilt. His eyes traveled from my eyes to my cheek. Why was he looking at my cheek…? The bruise! My eyes widened as I realized he was seconds away from figuring out my secret. I grabbed my backpack and textbook and ran out of the classroom.

I sprinted down the hallway and around the corner to get to the bathroom. Once I got there, I made sure no one was in here and then I leaned against the wall and slid down. Tears began to flow instantly. I put my head in my hands. Then I heard someone whispering.

“Grace?”

I was instantly silent. I heard the person take a few more steps closer to me.

“Grace?” they said a little bit louder. I whimpered quietly involuntarily. Then I saw the person. It was Ace. “Grace…” He whispered. I put my head down as fast as I could so he couldn’t see my face. I instantly felt his presence next to me.
“Grace, look at me.” he whispered. I immediately shook my head. “Please Grace…” he pleaded. I felt him gently hold chin and made me look up at him.
His eyes locked with mine and filled with guilt instantly. His eyes the traveled down to my cheek, realizing my makeup most likely washed off, I clamped my hand to my cheek wincing in the process. He slowly removed his hand from my chin and took my hand off my face.

“Grace… what happened..?” he asked quietly.

“It’s none of your business Ace.” I said bitterly as I pulled my hand out of his.

“Please talk to me Grace. I want to help.” He pleaded.

“You can’t help Ace.” I said as I began to cry again.

Ace then sat right next to me. He put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest. I continued to cry as he just held me. “Let’s get out of here.” He said.

I just looked up at him and nodded. He stood up and put his hand out. I took his hand and he pulled me up. He continued to hold my hand until we got to one of the side doors of the school. We were seconds away from being out the door before a security guard stopped us.

“Hey! Where are you guys going?” he asked

Before I could say anything Ace had spoken up. “This is my cousin. Her mom has just gotten in a car accident in a few towns over. I was told to come get her and bring her to the hospital.”

“Then why do you have a backpack?” the guard questioned.

“I go to another school. I just didn’t take my backpack off when I got out of my car. Can we please go now? This is a very serious matter!”

The guard apologized then let us run through the door. Ace grabbed my wrist and led me to his car. Once we were in the car and completely out of earshot of the guard. “Nice quick thinking Ace.” He laughed, brushing it off.

After driving for about 10 minutes, he stopped at the woods at the edge of town. I gave him a questioning look and he just grabbed my wrist once again. We walked for another five or so minutes before we came to a large circular clearing with a huge tree in the center. I looked up the tree and there was a tree house in it. I looked over at him to see that he had a childish grin plastered across his face.

Ace broke into a run towards the tree. I laughed and ran after him. He began to climb up the latter to get the tree house. “Come on Knight!” he called down to me. I gripped the latter and began to climb up it.

Once at the top of the latter I went to push my body onto the house as my foot slipped. “ACE!” I screamed as I began to fall. He quickly grabbed my arm. I screamed in pain. It must have been another bruise from Jess…. Jess… No. I am not thinking about him right now. Ace pulled me up to the tree house. He instantly pulled my sleeve up to see a hand shaped bruise. I was just as shocked as he was to see it there.

“Grace. Talk to me.”