The Butler

Chapter 7- Determination

The next day was horrible. My eyes were swollen from the hours of crying, and I had designer bags that were more pronounced. My stress was building up leaving me with a sleepless night as I continuously thought about the hospital fees. On top of the loans I took for the hospital fees, prescriptions and therapy, my mom had to get surgery as well, and the insurance was not willing to pay the full amount. Should I drop out of school to pay off some of the debt that was racking up? These overwhelming thoughts continued the next morning until I arrived to school.

I facepalmed when I was reminded of a person. Damon. How could I forget? He just disappeared off the face of the Earth, leaving me with no messages. I tried to focus as much as possible in class, but I missed him dearly. He was my best friend and hero. I would chop an arm and a leg off to know that he was alright. I feared for his safety and health.

As the bell rung, I slowly got up to go drop my books off in the locker. I plodded around in school deep in thought with my head down to not grab any attention to me. Without Damon around, I'm free for any type of harassment and bullying. As I turned the corner, I ran into a person.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize in my frazzled state as I look up. I freeze. 

An evil grin slowly spreads across his face as a sadistic emotion passes through his eyes. I almost forgot about this guy, but the world does not want me happy. Caleb saunters over to me and hooks his arms around my shoulder.

"I haven't seen you in awhile. Let's take a walk to my favorite place to hang out, friend," he confidently states.

Looking for escape routes, I tense up while my eyes frantically observe my surroundings. He leans over.

"Don't think of running away, or you'll definitely regret it."

I gulp as he practically drags my body into the men's bathroom. He yells for everyone to get out. A few of his friends that are leaning against the wall stay nonchalantly. I look over my shoulder and give a pleading look to one of the passing kids, but he had his head down choosing to ignore the situation. I can hear all the teachers closing the door indicating that classes have started.

He shoves me into the wall after only his friends and he remain. I get the wind knocked out of me as my eyes start tearing up.

"Strip," he commands.

"What," I ask because I felt like I misheard him.

He gives me a dirty look. "I said strip, pig."

"I'm going to tell the teachers. You're disgusting, Caleb. You need help. A therapist. I pity you and your friends. When you're older, you're going to look back on this and regret what you did," I spat in disgust.

He looks at me in annoyance as he walks over to me and slams the wall with his palm. He leans over and whispers in my ears, "First of all, the only reason why that b***h of a friend, Damon, was able to snitch was because his father had a large amount of power on the school board. My mother is on the school board, so I had to listen to Damon, but you on the other hand have nothing. Don't you EVER threaten me. She can silence the teachers if I did somehow get caught. The world runs on money and power, and that's a lesson you better learn now rather than later. Now I won't repeat this again. Strip."

I realized he was unguarded with his head near my height from leaning down towards me. I balled up a fist and punched him in the uneven nose. He yelled in surprise as I yelped from the pain. I probably sprained my wrist, as I never learned how to punch someone. He just gaped at me as both his nostrils started dripping with blood. His friends just stood there in shock. I could hear a pin drop in this bathroom.

Caleb's face shifted from stupor to pure rage. His eyes was filled with malice as he started breathing heavy. He sprinted to me and before I could react, and he punched me in the guts making me vomit. Luckily, I didn't eat anything since yesterday lunch so all that hurled out of my mouth was just stomach acid. I doubled over in pain and fell to my knees as I tried to catch the breath that was literally knocked out of me. His friends started stomping me on my back making me curl up into a fetal position to protect my head. I laid there for what felt like forever feeling pain kicked into me all over my torso. 

"Let's go," I heard Caleb tell his friends. He sounded so far away, but I knew it was because of the terrible state I was in.

I gathered up my courage and willed myself to stand up. The pain instantly shot through my body as the soreness ran through me. I limped into the girls bathroom to check my current state. I felt like there was nothing broken or fractured, but I was definitely sporting a few bruises. That bastard went easy on me to only leave bruises but no fractures in case of me trying to sue him I hypothesized. Only he didn't know I didn't even have enough money to sue him. I checked myself in the mirror to see that I had a few bruises on my arms as well and my hair was drenched in throw up. I gripped the bathroom sink in anger, only letting it go immediately as I felt a sharp pain in my wrist. I could see the left wrist slowly swelling up. Definitely sprained. I cautiously washed my hair in the sink and called a taxi. I wanted to leave and go home. I was in pain, and I smelled sour from the vomit. 

Only three more weeks left of school, and I would never have to see people from this unsympathetic town. I'll relocate my mom to a new hospital and restart fresh there I told myself. I won't cry from this I repeated to myself, however, a single angry tear betrayed me and escaped. I quickly wiped the tear with my working hand and slowly limped to my taxi with new found determination. These guys were going to pay.