E I G H T

❝if you are broke
and they have left you
do not question
whether you were
enough
the problem was
you were so enough
they were not able to carry it❞
- Rupi Kaur;
Milk and Honey

Margo Frasier stood outside her bedroom, staring at the door of her parents room, her phone in her hand.

"Margo?" She hears, snapping her out of her trance.

"Coming," She calls and she makes her way downstairs, her school shoes tapping on the wooden crafted stairs, hands running along the banister railing.

She looks in the mirror when she reaches the bottom step. Her right hand lifts up slowly, pressing against the bruising around her eye. She winces in pain, her eyes brimming with tears.

She blinks them away as she walks into the kitchen cautiously.

"Margo sweetie," Her mother asks and Margo look up at her, bruised eye on show in the brightly lit kitchen.

"I know you hate your father, Margo, but he is the only thing keeping us alive, my business is failing," She says, holding a glass of water in her hand.

"Mom, honestly, its fine, its nothing, just a smack..." Margo says and her mother walks closer to her daughter.

"Time for school," She says and Margo nods.

Margo collects her leather backpack and bomber jacket and follows her mother out to her car. She climbs in the back seat and breathes deeply, attempting to cover the black eye with her hair.

"Are you okay?" Her mother asks with a worried look.

"I'm fine," Margo nods, smiling fakely.

Her mother sighs and pulls off, dropping her daughter off to school.

Margo climbs out of the car and heads for the school building, her hair falling down her back in smooth waves. She walks through the double door entrance and is met by the eyes of various other students. They all look at her questioningly, their eyes flickering over the girl, she served as a daily reminder that not all is bright and perfect.

Margo reaches her locker and empties some books into her bag. After a few moments of sorting through her things Summer arrives with a massive grin on her face.

"Guess what?!" She says, hardly able to contain herself as she claps her hands together.

"Whats up?" Margo asks and Summer grins even wider as her best friend closes her locker.

"Ethan asked me out, like properly!" She says and Margo allows a small smile.

"I'm so happy for you, Summer," She says and her best friend pulls her into a tight hug.

"It wouldn't have been possible without you," Summer says and Margo smiles.

"Hey what happened to your eye?" Summer asks and Margo shrugs.

"Walked into a door last night," Margo says, playing it off with a light chuckle.

"Were you sleep walking like you used to when you were like 8?" Summer asks and Margo nods.

"Apparently Mom heard me walking down the stairs and she found me in my dads study, I was curled up in his armchair apparently," Margo lies, thickening the story to make it sound more believable.

"Wow, sounds crazy," Summer chuckles and Margo nods.

"We have PE first, right?" Margo asks and Summer nods.

"Yeah, we're playing football today," Summer says and Margo just sighs.

Margo used to love football.

They get to the PE changing rooms and find it mostly empty.

"There's a drama trip today so a lot of students won't be in, so I'm going to allow you girls to have the lesson off," The teacher says and Margo smiles, she had been saved.

"But you'll have to go and sit in the sports hall with the boys class," The teacher adds and Margo's smile fades. Simon and all his friends would be there.

"C'mon we can see Ethan," Summer says to Margo and Margo gives her a false smile as they quickly walk down the corridor to the sports hall. They enter and find some of the boys sat on the floor, others were throwing basketballs around and then finally stood in the corner messing about were Simon and his friends.

Summer and Margo head over, Summer's smile widening when Ethan turns to see her.

"Hey Summer," He says and she smiles.

"Hey Ethan," She replies, cheeks blushing heavily.

Margo had gotten what she wanted out of Simon Minters so called 'friendship' and now that was done she could finally terminate the friendship- what she didn't take into account was the idea that Margo would have to spend more time with him now than before because of Summer and Ethan dating.

Summer stands with Ethan and Margo, Ethan's arm round her shoulders, she mouths a small thank you to Margo who just smiles in return.

Tobi gives Margo a smile and walks towards her.

"Can I chat to you, alone?" Tobi asks and Margo nods, following the slightly taller boy away from the group.

Simon watches closely as Tobi and Margo walk away and he sees Tobi pull her into a hug, causing his jaw to clench- surely Tobi wouldn't try to steal Margo off him?

Margo pulls away from Tobi's embrace, her smile faltering slightly.

"What happened to your eye?" Tobi asks.

"Sleep walking and doors don't mix well," Margo lies and Tobi chuckles.

"So you and Simon? Was that just a fling?" Tobi asks, sitting down on a bench.

Margo sits beside him and sighs, "To be quite honest, I don't know what it was, or is,"

"Simon's a kinda confusing guy sometimes, but trust me, you're probably a lot more confusing to him- he has no female experience what so ever, he's terrible with girls, so its a wonder he ever managed to attract your attention," Tobi explains and Margo smiles softly.

"Simon is different, he has something about him that just...Pulls me in, like the earth pulls in the moon, but the moon can't get any closer, because that'd cause the earth hurt...Which is why I'm pulling away, because Simon doesn't need anymore hurt from me," Margo says, looking over at the boy she had deeper feelings for, that even she didn't know about yet.

Simon laughs at one of Josh's jokes before turning his head to meet the gaze of Margo, his eyes almost twinkling at he looks at her.

"You two seem like total opposites," Tobi adds and with her gaze still on Simon, Margo smiles.

"We have our differences, but all that matters is that we feel the same way, that we look at each other the same way,"

_______________

I'm so sorry its taken so long to update this book!

Also the thing with Margo's black eye and her father hitting her will be apparent over the next couple chapters, and also some little twists and turns in the relationship of Simon and Margo.

I don't know how many chapters this book will get, but I normally aim for 20 when the book has chapters that are 1,000 words long and then sometimes have a sequel.

Either way, thanks for waiting for the update and thanks for reading!

~KatnissBajanCanadian❤