The Story In His Picture

Chapter 4

Song- Pink + White by Frank Ocean

…/…

It was staring right at me. Okay, so maybe I was being a little over dramatic by screaming but seeing my monthly visitor (that’s what I call my period) come by this time of the month was very scary considering the fact that I had ended last months’ a week before I went to the beach.

I hate my period. It makes me emotional and angry all the time. The littlest of things gets under my skin and I start craving sweet things knowing they’d hurt me. Sadly, I can’t use drugs to relieve the pain. The drugs mess with my system.

I toss and turn all night hoping the pain would at least, relieve me for a second. I finally manage to sleep sometime around 5am. The alarm went off 30 minutes later and I basically screamed.

The world was going to have it today. Sleepy Genevieve plus Menstruating Genevieve equals Bitchy Genevieve.

I get up to have my bath. I make the temperature of the water hot because hot water helps relieve the pain depending on the duration of contact. As soon as I step out of the bathtub, the pain comes rushing down my stomach particularly residing in my lower abdomen. I let out a whimper and I cower to the ground.

After about 5 minutes of unbearable pain, I gather all the strength in me and I dress up. I pull out my extra baggy sweatpants and my very baggy hoodie. All in all, I look like an amoeba, no shape.

I go downstairs to find my brothers and Luke already seated at the dining, eating cereal.

“Morning Sunshine” Luke says to me. I look at all of them and walk further into the kitchen to get a bowl. “Well, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed” Jay whispers to Jaden.

“I heard you”. I shout and roll my eyes still trying to find the right bowl. “No guys, it’s more than that. I’ve seen this outfit before” Luke says. I walk to the dining to grab the cereal box. They all stare at me, Luke looked like he was inspecting something, I ignore them and huff as I sit.

I put one leg on the chair before I sit on it and slouch, making my posture fit my outfit altogether. I hear a whisper from Luke that sounded like “Bingo”.

“It’s your time of the month, isn’t it?” Luke says to me. “Congratulations for being observant, you might as well write it on my forehead and take me round the world so everyone would know” My brothers’ eyes widen and Luke finds it amusing.

“Maybe you should stay back” Jace says. I glare at him. “Or go, we can go. Luke, where are the car keys?” He says almost in a rush to get away from me. I do enjoy intimidating people.

“Mother says they’d be back on Sunday” Jay says as we enter the car.

Throughout the ride, I give orders. Assuming the same position as I did in the dining, I tell them to turn down the radio. None of them hear me but I don’t repeat myself.

I lurch forward as the pain intensifies, and then I yell “TURN DOWN THE FREAKING RADIO!”. I hardly cuss so they knew it was serious. As soon as Jace parks the car, I get down and slam the door as I mutter humans under my breath.

Walking down the hallway, everyone was staring at me. I especially felt a huge load of stare from a certain direction and as I looked in that path, I glared at them and they looked away.

…/…

“Mr Henry, nice to see you in class today” The teacher says to Henry as I walk into the class. “Nice to see you too Mrs D” Henry shouts back. I walk to the only available seat at the back of the class.

I assume the same position to sit. It was weird but it made me comfortable. I rest my head on the table and before I know it drift off. The teacher couldn’t see me because Henry was sitting in front of me, did I tell you he’s ripped?

Someone taps me but before I can rip the person apart, I hear the teacher say “So, our last group would be Henry, Genevieve and Chris”. “What!?” I say under my breath. I was shocked for two reasons. I didn’t know I was sitting beside Chris, and of all the people in the classroom, I was paired with the two bad boys. “Great. Just great” I say to myself with sarcasm evident in my tone.

Either the pain had relieved me or I was too sleepy because as soon as the bell for second period rang, the pain came back. I had the next class with all of them. I sighed and attempted to stand up before I felt someone’s hand on my arm trying to pull me back.

“Grey, did I do something?” Chris asks me. “Do you feel like you did?” I snap at him. I jerk my hand away and walk towards the door. I couldn’t help but notice Henry staring at us the whole time. Then, again, that’s not possible, It’s Henry.

I walk to the next class and sit beside Luke. He managed to make me laugh by mimicking the teacher. It was childish but it worked. He keeps reminding me of why he’s my best friend every day, it’s cute.

Henry looks at me and I stop smiling immediately. We hold each other’s gaze for a while before I look away in time to meet Chris looking at Henry and I.

I pull out my book to read not before I hear Jay say “She’s not angry at you, It’s her time of the month”. I roll my eyes and resist my hand from slapping my forehead. “Well, Luke seemed to make her laugh plus she and Henry just had a moment. It seems it’s just me she’s transferring aggression to” Chris says. My eyes soften for a while but then I remember what he did yesterday.

Okay fine, I was angry at him. It wasn’t his fault but that didn’t stop me from feeling bad. I wrote in my book yesterday night that I was never going to be that girl anymore. It’s tough exterior or nothing now.

…/…

The day passes in a blur which I’m grateful for. The pain had gone down too so I was less bitchy. Luke and I walk down the hallway to the parking lot when I look across the street to see Chris and Natasha making out by his motorbike. Not too far away, Henry talking to yet another cheerleader by his motorbike. Luke wraps his hands around me and I rest my head on his chest, sighing.

“You’re coming to the game on Friday, right?” Luke asks knowing fully well that I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I nod and pull him towards our car. A girl calls his name and I’m forced to leave him alone.

“I’ll be back” He says leaving me to get to the car by myself. I meet Jace in the car and I sit in the passenger’s seat. I look towards Luke’s direction and I see him hug this girl. I couldn’t help the curious storm that was getting bigger inside of me.

“Where’s Jay?” I ask. “Talking to some girl we met in fifth period” Jace answers. “Well, I guess it’s just you and I in this singles’ crib” I say trying not to sound pained. “Get a grip of yourself, If Luke was dating this girl, he would’ve told you”

I fiddle with my camera and a shadow blocks the ray of sunlight that was heating up my face. “Hey, you guys should go without me. I promised Tami I’d go see a movie with her today, I’m sorry I had completely forgotten” Luke says. “Yeah, sure it’s fine. Go have fun” I say to him. I look in Tami’s direction, she’s dark-skinned and has very nice and full hair.

“Jay just texted me that he’s going to stay for a while, so I guess it’s just you and me” Jace says and I smile. Just as we make a turn into our street, I say,

“I’m gonna go see an old friend, you should come with”.