The Beginning to an end

Chapter Seven:

Rose POV

I raised my arms up slowly so Ang could feel if any ribs were broken or bruised. She starts on my left side and applied pressure but I didn’t feel anything. She did the same to the right side and I winced as she pressed a little too hard in the middle of my side.

“Ow” I hissed but kept my arms up. Drake had moved his hands so that they rested on my shoulders and began to massage them; strangely, it was calming me down. Weird. 

“Sorry Rose. Good news is that none of your ribs seem to be broken from what I can tell. Bad news is that you do have a few bruised ones on your right side. So I suggest taking it easy for a week or so. Now, let’s get to cleaning that gash.” I nodded as Drake moved his arms around my waist and supported me when I leaned forward so I wouldn’t fall. She looked at it before picking up a cotton ball and and something to hold it with.

I watched as Tia came over with two small bowls, filled one with the disinfectant and placed some of the cotton balls in it before placing both bowls next to Ang. She brought the ball up to my forehead and paused.

“This will sting a bit, ok?” I nodded my head and took a deep breath. “Phoebe? Can you bring the little lamp over here please? I need more light.”

“Sure thing.” I saw her walk over with a small lamp, plugged it in and held it up. Alex and Justin came over as Justin took over holding it. Phoebe thanked him and stood close to Alex. Hmmm do I see a romance in bloom? Interesting.

Ang brought the cotton ball up to my forehead and started cleaning it; s**t hurt but it was bearable. After she finished cleaning it and making sure that she didn’t miss anything, she asked me to lay down.

“Hey Drake? Do you mind if she lays her head on your lap? That way it will be elevated and such.”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Do I get a say in this?”

“No.” everyone answered in unison. I huffed and leaned back against Drake and crossed my arms across my chest as Drake wrapped his around me tighter. 

“Don’t girls like laying on guys?” I elbowed him in the stomach and smiled when I heard him groan in pain before turning around carefully.

“Don’t get cocky, Drake. I’ll lay on your lap but only because it would be easier for Ang to stitch me up. The faster we get this over and done with, the faster I can get back to my day.” I moved so that my head was laying in his lap, only raising is enough for Ang to put a couple of the towels on his leg so no blood or anything got on it. “Ready when you are, Ang.”

“Ok. Let me get rid of the used cotton balls, change my gloves and thread the special needle. Give me a few minutes.” I nodded my head slightly which was a bad idea. It felt like someone was shoving knifes through my skull. I winced as the pain got worse and brought a hand to the side that wasn’t split open. 

“Rose?”

“I’m good Fee.”

“But…”

“I said, I’m fine.” I snapped before turning my head so I could see Phoebe and now I feel like an b***h… she looked like she was about to cry and my best friend isn’t one to cry easily. “Sorry Fee. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”

“I know.” she came over and pulled my legs off the bed before sitting down and placing them on her lap. “I’m here, Rose. We all are. I know you don’t like accepting help from anyone because you think you have to pay them back later on but that’s not the case at all.”

“Wait… Is that why you wouldn’t let me help you this morning?”

“Tia, I…”

“No! Answer the question, Rose. Is that why you wouldn’t let me help you this morning before class started?” I debated lying but then decided against it.

“Yes. It is.”

“Why?” her voice wavered “All the times you came into my class before school started, during breaks, lunch; I offered to help you cause I know what a hard time you go through but you turned me down every time… Why?”

“Because I always feel bad if someone has to take time out of their day to help me with something as trivial as sleeping. You don’t need to help me because I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for years and I’ll continue doing it. End of discussion.”

“But, Rose…”

“I’m sorry but no. Now, can we get this over and done with so I can leave? I still need to get to my locker and grab my stuff for my last four classes since I didn’t get to relax during lunch like I was planning on doing.” I looked over at Kelsey and saw that she was awake and staring at me. We stared at each other for a minute or so before I moved my head so Ang had full access.

We finally started to stitch up the wound and I could feel everyone staring at me, asking me if I needed anything to numb the pain or something. This is nothing I have’t been through before. Phoebe grabbed my shirt and placed it over my chest and held my hand as well as she could in the current position. I could feel Drake’s gaze on me as I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep. I was about to fully drift off into sleep when I heard everyone start to whisper quietly back and forth.

“Is she going to be ok, Ang?”

“In all honesty? I have no idea Phoebe.”

“If you don’t mind us asking, what does she go through to have her body covered in scars and such?” no one spoke and as the silence drew on, it kept getting more and more awkward before someone cleared their throat.

“Phoebe. You’re Rose’s best friend so you should tell the boys.”

“What!? Why me Tia?!”

“We just said why. You are her best friend and have been with her and there for her for forever. And don’t yell; Rose is trying to sleep.” 

“Ugh! Fine.” by now I was slipping farther and farther into sleep. I felt someone running their fingers through my hair and my guess is it’s Drake; since I’m laying on his lap. It felt good and was just making me fall asleep faster. I can’t fall asleep; if I do, I stay asleep and miss my classes, not to mention my shift; plus the nightmares. I tried to shake myself awake but all I felt was my fingers twitch and then a hand holding mine. The hand was warm and big; Drake? Why was he being so nice and affectionate to me? 

“Rose… hasn’t exactly had the easiest life growing up. Her parents were always working and away from home so she was always alone. When I met her, she was reserved and kept to herself. She didn’t really talk to anyone, the teachers never called on her, no one wanted to play with her; it was all really sad honestly. But one day I asked her if she wanted to play with me but she turned me down. I asked her if she wanted to be friends when she going to walk way but again, she turned me down. Before she did though she said ‘that no one wants to plays with a loser like her’ and walked to the classroom. I mean how sad is that! No kid should ever think of themselves like that; like an loser. Anyway, after that day, I kept asking her to play or be friends with me and she would give me the same answer; over and over. Until after about a few weeks of asking, she finally agreed. I asked her why she changed her mind and she looked me dead in the eye as she said ‘I just wanted you to stop asking me and being annoying’.” I heard everyone laughing and felt Drake’s fingers stroke my cheek softly before going back to my hair.

“Yep. That sounds just like our Rose.” I heard Tia say as Phoebe continued.

“She’s headstrong and stubborn. She loves with all her heart and she protects those who are important to her. But that also leads to her closing herself off from everyone else in the world. Hell, if I’m being completely honest; I think my family and I are the only ones who truly get her. Her parents sure as hell never took the time to get to know their own daughter. They were always at work or going on business trips. I came over one day to hang out with her and saw her parents were gone. I asked her where there were and she said they had to go on a trip for their work. Her mom is a receptionist and her dad is an accountant. They think it’s ok to go on all these trips, and leave your only child alone for however long that would be. That’s messed up. Anyway, I told her to wait right here at the door and ran back to my parents car since they hadn’t left yet. I told them what she told me and they went back to the house with me. They asked her if she wanted to stay with us until her parents came home. I remember the looks on my parents faces when she told them they wouldn’t be back for a couple weeks and that she was told to stay here at the house until they got back; only leaving to go to school and come back. They were pissed; what parent wouldn’t be when they found out that their daughter’s friend has been staying alone for weeks on end? My mom took her up to her room to grab a bag of everything she would need for being with us for a couple weeks and Rose told us that she has a key in case she needed to get something later on. We’ve been best friends ever since.” everyone fell into a hushed silence as Ang finished up and made sure that the stitches wouldn’t open up.

“She’s always been there for me and I’m always there for her. I want her to be as happy as she fakes to be. She deserves that and so much more. Did you know, that she had a boyfriend? She had one a couple years ago and I knew instantly that he would cause her nothing but trouble and pain. I told her this too but she didn’t listen and why would she; she was convinced that she was head over heels in love with the asshole. Drake, since you were sitting with her when I helped get her shirt off, I’m assuming you saw the scars on her back as we all saw them on her front?”

“Yeah.” 

“I’m guessing you want to know where they are from? Who did it? Why did they do it?”

“Yes.” 

“Well, her ex boyfriend gave them to her.” Drake’s fingers stopped running through my hair, retracting them completely before squeezing my hand.

“Why?”

“We didn’t know at first. He would get mad at the stupid things and take his frustrations out on her. But a year went by and he wanted to have s*x but she refused, saying she wanted to wait longer and that she wasn’t ready yet. We talked everyday and she said that she was more than ready but not with him. He got pissed and hit her; not a slap but full on punch.” Drake squeezed my hand harder and it hurt a bit; I twitched my finger and he released some of the pressure. “It didn’t stop there sadly. He kept beating her up; kicking her, punching her, everything you could think of. She didn’t fight back at first but as it kept happening, she started to fight back. She’s always been a strong fighter and she only fought if it was absolutely necessary. She punched him and from what she told me the same night as my brothers and I helped patch her up, his face was priceless.” I heard Phoebe laugh and I fought the smile trying to show up on my face. “My guess is that he has never been hit by a girl before and man did I want to see it in person. After that, she gave him an earful on ‘how he should respect women and never hit them, no matter how angry you are’.”

“So that’s why she said that and got so angry…” Drake mumbled. 

“Said what?”

“Oh well, Rose and I met this morning.”

“Yeah. In the parking lot.”

“In the parking lot, yes but we officially met at Onyx Gym at around 5 this morning. We literally ran into each other and I saw her face. By the way, why does she hide her face all the time? She is beautiful and shouldn’t be hiding. Anyway, she yelled at me because of my playboy ways and said that girls are not objects to play with, they are human beings. Is that because of what her ex did?”

“To a point, yes. He made her feel worthless and a waste. Not only did he beat her, he also verbally abused her on a daily basis. That’s why whenever Kelsey and Trista yelled at her and call her things, she isn’t affected by it because that’s all that happened to her for two years. After a year and a half, she got fed up with him and everything, so she did the most logical thing to do: she broke up with him.”

“That’s great! But why do you look so sad?” Alex asked as Ang but a bandage on my forehead to cover the stitches. I wonder what Kelsey is thinking with this whole situation?

“I look sad because I am sad. She broke it off and it was about damn time too but it didn’t end with that. Her asshat of an ex didn’t want to let her go so he tried to kill her.” I heard a couple of people inhale sharply and could guess it was Ang and Tia. “That’s how she got these.” I felt her slowly pull my shirt off my stomach and chest as everyone saw the scars he gave me. I felt Drake’s arm move and then felt his fingers slowly move them over the scars. I couldn’t help it when my body twitched, my sides are where I’m ticklish. 

“He pulled out a knife and went after her but she was faster. She dodged every time he came at her but he trapped her so she couldn’t go anywhere. He got her a lot but like I said; she’s a fighter. She fought back and managed to get the knife out of his grip and stab him in the leg and arm while also knocking him unconscious. She called the police and they came, arrested him and took him away. This all happened when her parents where away on one of their stupid trips. But...”

“He escaped, didn’t he?” Justin asked

“Yeah he did. He woke up when he was in the ambulance and injured the paramedics before running away. Police still can’t find him but he found us.”

“When?”

“A few days ago.” 

“He gave her the huge cut on her back didn’t he?”

“Afraid so.”

“She needs to go to the hospital and get it checked out.”

“Don’t worry. She already cleaned the wound so it shouldn’t get infected at all.”

“Phoebe….”

“I know Tia but do you honestly think she would go to the hospital? Take this moment for example; it took her not being able to walk straight and a concussion to even go to the infirmary! She would have to be dying for her to even consider going to the hospital.”

“Why does she hate hospitals so much?” I think that was Justin who asked that; I can’t tell. It’s getting harder and harder to stay awake.

“Who doesn’t hate hospitals?”

“Ok fair point but why does she?”

“The one time she went to the hospital is when the cops took her and made her get checked out. She left after being there for a few hours and said she hates them because they act like they care when they really don’t and ask too many questions. Questions she doesn’t want to answer and from the look on her face when we were leaving, the nurses and doctors who were helping her are lucky they didn’t get slapped because she looked pissed. Well, I mean she’s always pissed and tired but that was on a whole different level.”

“Phoebe?”

“Yeah, Tia?”

“Is Rose still working two jobs?”

“No. She’s working three.”

“WHAT!?”

“Calm down, Tia. Yes, she is working three jobs but one of them is being a tutor. She has to safe up for college somehow since I’m pretty sure her parents are using her college fund to go on their trips.”

“Oh.. Well, that makes sense I guess...” I could hear people laughing as I kept trying to force myself awake. I felt my hand twitch again as I finally got my eyes to open and I wish I didn’t. The lights were shining in my face and it hurt my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and after a few seconds, the lights were blocked and I slowly opened my eyes as I came face to face with Drake leaning over me; blocking the light, which I’m thankful for but now his face is really close to mine.