To Translate I Love You

Miley shuffled her feet down the sidewalk. People were staring at her as they passed by. She was sure her eyeliner and mascara had run down her face, but she made no attempt to clean herself. Her chest hurt unbelievably, her lungs felt as though a fret train was running over them. She couldn't tell why she was crying, because of the pain in her legs or the pain in her heart. Her legs burned as she though about her boyfriend of three years, the same boyfriend she had just dumped in a fit of rage. She debated slowly on just going home or getting something to eat first.

Miley pushed open the door to the Pump N' Pantry, the cashier staring as she walked into the bathroom. She grimaced at her reflection in the long mirror. Several thin gray lines from her eyes to her chin rested on her face, a large dark purple bruise on her left cheek. She gingerly wiped the lines from her face with water and a paper towel. The powder in her compact didn't perfectly match her skin tone, but it would have to do. She rested her hands against the wet marble of the sink, staring into the mirror, recollecting the last half an hour. This entire situation started with a stupid piece of paper...

"Shit!" She left the packet on the cafeteria table. She dialed Ms. Mitchell's number on her cell phone.

"Hello, Ms. Mitchell speaking."

"Ms. Mitchell, it's Miley, um, I left the packet for my Japanese trip at school."

"Yes, I have it here."

"Can you fax it to me?"

"Sure thing, sweetie."

"Thank you," she rested against the wall, she had so many things to write in her diary tonight... she didn't know what to think at this point, her body moved on it's own accord, out of the bathroom and up to the cashier. "Can I have two medium pizzas and two dozen hot wings, please?" The young cashier blew her bubblegum bubble and punched in the order. The store was small, four aisles of snack foods were crammed together, a small boy could barely fit between them. Two large square cardboard boxes and two Styrofoam cases were put onto the counter. Miley didn't bother to listen to the cashier. She just set down a $20 bill and walked out of the door, the bell signaled her leave. It was just a short walk to her house, thankfully, she didn't need to cross the busy street. "Mom?" Miley shut the door behind her, a soppy romance scene filled her ears. She walked around the stairs and into the living room. The t. v. was still on, rather loud in fact, her mother was on the couch. Asleep or passed out, Miley couldn't tell. Her mother stirred as she turned off the movie.

"What?" Miley set the pizza down and opened the chicken wing box.

"I brought home dinner," her mother scrunched her face in disgust, she must have had a migraine again.

"Urgh, that smell..."

"Sorry," she quickly shut the box. "I'll just leave it in the kitchen when you want it," Miley grabbed a couple sliced of pizza and a handful of chicken wings. She hadn't noticed how hungry she was until the smell of the pizza reached her nostrils. She looked over at the microwave clock, her mother obviously hadn't noticed that she was home three hours before she was supposed to be. The last thing she needed was to be yelled at.

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Miley laid on her back, phone in her right hand. Since 4:30 p.m. Mike had been calling her non-stop. Finally, she had gotten sick of it, answered the phone and told him to 'fuck off', he hadn't called since. But she wanted to be ready incase he called again, she didn't want him to wake her mother. A random show from 'the N' played in the background as she read over Japan's latter. She still didn't know how she was going to tell her mother. It had taken weeks of negotiation to let her go in the first place.

"Miley!" Her mother yelled angrily, Miley jumped up and ran down the stairs, two steps at a time. Her mother's face was red from anger, and she threw a piece of paper in her face.
"When we're you gonna tell me about this?!" It was an e-mail about her exchange arrangement.

"Mom, we talked about this last October, remember?"

"You wanna go live somewhere else so bad?! Then just get out!"

"No, mom, I..." A hand clasped around her hair. Her mother opened the door with excessive force and pushed her daughter out the door. Miley crashed onto the cement, scrapping her hands and knees as she tried to break her fall.

"Never come back!" The door slammed and Miley winced at the sound. She weakly stood up, the sound of the lock met her ears. She stared at the door, tears welling up in her eyes once more. The only think she could do now was sneak up to her room by climbing up a tree and jumping through the window. Miley quickly packed her belongings into the black luggage that was under her bed. Her room was bare in fifteen minutes and she was on the phone with her best friend Beryl.

"Your mom is a bitch! Don't worry about it, hun, you can come live with me until you go," Miley looked back at her old house as Beryl's dad loaded her luggage into the trunk. Beryl wrapped her arm around her friends shoulders. "Just think, you can start a whole new life with a whole new family in Japan."

"Yeah, hopefully..." Miley sniffed and got into the back seat, slamming the door behind her.