Shayla dropped me off in front of the school. I smiled as soon as I entered the building. I was so happy to be out of the house, away from Amber, my father, and Shayla. Mostly Shayla. She was something else and no matter what, I couldn't seem to get why my dad was with her and why she was with him. 

Push your care, push your burdens aside. Erase everything inside and leave just one thing on your mind.  

I let the music drown out the voices around me. There was something about the band Suicide Silence that gave a little meaning to my miserable life. Half the time I didn't understand what the lead singer was screaming, but I knew what he wanted me to get out of the music.

 I looked at my pants and noticed some powder on it. Before anyone else saw, I wiped it off. I hoped that was the only spot of it. Sleeping in between that stuff, trying to avoid rolling onto it was hard. I had to lock the doors so Shayla and my father wouldn't walk in and see the powder. The last thing I wanted to think was that I was a disturbed child.

Lost in my thoughts and the music, I found myself in the cafeteria looking for a place to sit. I stretched the sleeves of my flannel shirt upwards over my wrist then let my hand fall.  Soon after, a hand brush against mine then moved away. I looked to my side and found Rose standing there with a red tray in her hand. 

"Hey there," she smiled at me. "You grabbing breakfast?"

I shook my head. "I ate before I came. Where's Maddy?"

A girl behind us sighed when she saw us conversating next to the line where people exited with their food. Rose motioned her head towards a table. I put my bookbag on the chair and sat across from her. Putting away my headphones, I was sad that I wasn't able to hear my favorite part of You Only Live Once by Suicide Silence. 

Rose sat down, picked up her plastic fork, and dug into her salad and chicken. I've never seen someone eat salad in the morning before. 

"This taste amazing. You should try it sometime," she said as if she had read my mind.

I wasn't a lover of salad, so I gave her a smile instead. I probably stared at her for too long because she lowered both of her eyebrows at me. Realizing I had been staring at her for too long, I looked away. She chuckled when I looked at the table. I felt so embarrassed for doing that. I did my best to keep from blushing, but I just couldn't help it

"You're so cute!" Rose squealed in a small voice, almost as if she was talking to a baby.

"What?" I said, knowing what she meant. I was just too nervous to say anything else.

She shook her head before taking another bite of her salad. "Nothing. Are you a little bit used to this place yet?"

"Kind of."

"Made any new friends?"

"Just you and this guy named Robert Parker."

She dropped her fork in her bowl as soon as I had said his name. I looked at her spoon then at her. She looked shocked. Actually, that wasn't the right word for her expression. She looked scared. She was scared.

"What?" I asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

She slowly picked up her fork. "No, no," she blinked a few times. "It's just that I didn't know we had another Robert Parker here. Last time I heard that name was in 6th grade."

Okay? What was her point? There could be another Robert Parkers in the school. I wondered why she looked so scared when I said his name. She had looked at me as if I said all the curse words in the world at her. That's how bad it seemed.

She took a deep breath and put her fork down. "I lost my appetite."

"I'm sorry," I went on. "I didn't mean to upset you."

The frown on her face worried me. What was the big deal? 

"It's okay," she finally said. "I just-"

"Well, well, well." The same boy I had seen the first day here stood beside the table. Behind him was the girl I had bumped into and her group of friends walking behind her. Like the first day I saw him, he put his arm around the girl. Megan, I remembered her name. They guy looked at me with a sly grin on his face, and she stared me down along with him.

"You're at our table, punk," he said.

"Shut up, Devin," Rose snapped. "You guys never sat here before."

"Shut up ya gay fag," he replied back.

Megan and the group of girls behind them started to laugh. While they laughed, I had this funny feeling in my stomach. I was scared, and I wanted to leave. I felt my anxiety sneaking up on me. 

"Maybe they're together," Megan smirked.

"That's disgusting." One of the girls looked at Megan. 

"Yeah," Devin said in a small voice. "I fucking hate homos."

"Then take you and your homophobic crew to another table," Rose sneered. "Avril's right around the corner and I'll go get her. She wouldn't like to hear that you and Megan and the three loner girls in the back are harassing a new student, now would she?"

Megan leaned closer towards the table, placed her hand tray, then flipped it over on Rose's lap. I let out gasp along with the other people that had been watching us. 

"Be careful next time, Rose." Megan, Devin, and her crew left laughing. Some more students began laughing until there was a rupture of laughter and gossiping. All eyes were on us, and I felt so heavy underneath their gazes. I wanted to get up and leave, but I didn't know who felt worst. Me or Rose?

With her hands away from her clothes, Rose stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. She had left her bag behind. I grabbed it for her, fearing being approached by Megan again and followed Rose into a bathroom that was across from the cafeteria. 

"Lock the door and hand me my bag," she said.

I tossed her the bag and did as she said. I locked the door, not sure if it was okay or not. I didn't know why I locked the door, but at that moment my head was racing. Whenever I had anxiety, sometimes I didn't think right or think at all. I would just do something without thinking. It was like that if I had to talk a lot and it was the worse during arguments.

I heard her bag drop to the ground. My eyes widened when I saw her taking off her skirt and put on a pair of blue jeans from her bag. She took off her shirt exposing a red bra and a belly button ring. I wanted to look away before she saw me but I was too late.

"Shit, I forgot an extra shirt. Damn! Megan gets on my nerves," she said then rinsed off the food on her shirt and jeans.

I looked at my flannel shirt. We were almost the same size, her a little bigger. I took off my flannel shirt and handed it to her. Like I said, I wasn't thinking. At that moment, I had so many emotions that I didn't understand what was happening. I couldn't get Megan out of my mind because I was scared of her. However, I couldn't exactly get the fact that I had seen Rose half naked in front of me. I don't know why it shocked me like this. Maybe because I wasn't used to seeing that, ever? My mom had always tried to shield me from naked women, naked men, sex, and anything she thought was too inappropriate for my age.

Someone knocked on the door, causing me to jump. "Hey! Anyone in there?" 

I finally snapped back into reality but also realized that Rose was dressed and on her way towards the door. "I got it," she whispered. The door swung open, and two girls walked inside, giving us both a weird look. I saw one girl's eyes widened as she stared at me. I didn't notice what she was staring at until I looked down.

My skin was showing. The skin on my wrist. My scars were exposed, out the public for two strangers and Rose to see. Rose noticed that I was holding my wrist, trying to cover the scars. I was too late, she had seen my scars. She looked at me, and I could see something in her eyes that I had never seen before. I couldn't tell if she was angry or upset.

With my mind racing, I ran out the bathroom, folding my arms together. I was so scared, but I didn't know what for. I wondered if I could get in trouble for that or even kicked out of school. Three people knew something about myself that I kept from the world and those closest to me except Vlad. I stopped in the hallway, looking around for someone to cover me up and hide me. Everyone walked passed me like I was nothing but air. I looked around, not knowing what to do, or who to turn to. The bell rang loud enough to make me jump in place. It was time for the next class. How was I supposed to hide my scars?

***

Point out any mistakes. Also, why do you think the name Robert Parker shocked Rose :o Is their some history bewteen them? Is it good or bad? ;)