HEARING DAMAGE
TEEN NOLA - CHAPTER THIRTEEN !

            THE RILKE GIRL HAD been lost in thought later on that day. Her hands were languidly cleaning the clothes that dangled over the water filled basin at her feet. Her head was incredibly sore. Blood was rushing through her ears with each soaring pain that invaded her head. It truly did feel as though her brain was expanding and crashing against her skull. That voice was back once again, in full force this time which was the cause of her headache. It was practically screaming at her though in a language she didn't speak.

It was times like this that she cursed herself for not opting to take on French as a class.

            She wasn't aware though many of the others that sat surrounding her had noticed that a consistent wincing and hissing sound came from her direction. They all knew the sound was back and was plaguing her brain in the worst way possible. Mixed looks of both sympathy and unease were sent her way. Some were still of the opinion that Nola had been slowly going crazy ever since the crash, theorised to be a result of whacking her head, while others were more on the fence. So far both she and Lottie had been right about a lot of the stuff that had been going on.

            Surely, that couldn't have been a coincidence.

Her attention was thankfully pulled away from her thoughts by the sounds of whistles and cheers. The phrase ooh la la falling from the lips of Akilah had Nola grinning from ear to ear as she joined in on watching Natalie and Travis approach the cabin.

"Natalie and Travis, sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g."

Lottie was quick to speak up. "I think they were doing a bit more than kissing." She cheekily uttered with a small smirk aimed up at the pair.

Mari stared up at the two, though her gaze was mainly fixed upon Natalie. With a shit-eating grin, Mari rhetorically questioned, "Hey, Nat, what exactly are you and Flex hunting for out there, anyway?"

A small laugh escaped from Van before she exaggeratedly pointed her finger down at the girl and exclaimed, ""I hear it's beaver season!"

Natalie took their quips in stride. She returned a small smile of her own as she lifted up her middle finger and aimed it at the group. "Ah, sit and spin, assholes." She jokingly replied.

Her words caused another fit of giddy laughter to erupt amongst the girls. For a moment, they were able to laugh about something so trivial. Worries for their survival dissipated briefly. Someone was certainly not amused by the laughter the group shared.

"Is this why we don't have any food?" Jackie suddenly asked loudly, her sharp words cutting through the chuckles and rendering the group silent. "Cause you've been too busy running for mayor of pound town?"

Natalie's eyes narrowed. "Eh, go fuck yourself?"

A small bout of quiet followed as Jackie stepped around the small cabin porch, her feet thudding against the floor. She then nonchalantly leaned against one of the beams and folded her arms across her chest. A somewhat smug smirk curled upon her lips as she shifted her gaze up to the awaiting Natalie.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Nat's always down for a good time, right?" She sneered out at the bleached blonde.

The tension between the two girls was palpable. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, their eyes bouncing back and forth between Natalie and Jackie as they waited for their frustration to come to a head. They waited for the inevitable retaliation that was be doled out by the Scatorccio girl, who was known for giving in to her impulses.

              A wry chuckle emerged from Natalie. As her hands swung slightly at her sides, she responded, "I can't magically conjure a deer, Jackie."

            A single step toward Jackie later was followed by Natalie's continued reply. "But keep talking shit, I'll find something to shoot." She uttered with a sneer of her own, her smudged black eyeliner lined eyes narrowed harshly in Jackie's direction.

            The Taylor girl quickly scoffed out a laugh. "Oh wow. Oh, you're so tough." She jeered at Natalie. Jackie took a confident step forward until she was mere inches from the blonde. "I'm not scared of you, burnout."

            Deep down inside, where Natalie's insecurities festered, she could feel her emotions bubbling up as her mask of toughness slipped briefly from her face. "No. You're jealous. Cause you're an uptight—"

             Her bottom lip trembled as she continued to snap, "prudish little bitch!"

            Before the argument could carry on any further, before either girl could end up injured or someone said something they couldn't take back, Taissa quickly stepped in between them, pushing back Natalie as she uttered her final word. "Hey! Knock it off. Both of you." The Turner girl barked her order at the pair.

            Jackie stomped off back into the cabin, the girl refusing to be scolded for her reaction she saw as justified. Why shouldn't she be pissed off after all, it wasn't as if Natalie and Travis had brought food back for them and if the reason was truly because they were too busy having sex to bother, then she had every right to be pissed off, right?

It was just unfortunate that Jackie didn't seem to pick up on the hypocrisy of her words. Insulting the two for not helping out when she herself sucked at helping the group and relied on others to do everything.

All because she was just a teenage girl. As if that wasn't the case for them all.

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            DISBELIEF.

            Nola was in absolute disbelief. Her mouth had fallen open, her jaw slacked significantly as she struggled to rip her gaze away from the sight before her amongst the trees. The horrid taste of bile had begun to creep its way up the back of her throat, threatening to escape past her lips and spew into the mossy forest floor.

            Only a few minutes prior, she had been travelling through the woods, minding her own business as she attempted to locate some more berry bushes. She had assumed that maybe if she ventured further out from the cabin that she might be able to find some hidden away. As she had been crouched down, knees pressed into the dirt, her attention had been caught by the sound of Taissa screaming for Shauna as she rushed through the trees.

            She obviously had grown concerned and immediately began heading in the direction that Taissa went, following the sound of her yells. Nola soon wished she hadn't bothered. She quickly stumbled upon the very sight that had rendered her essentially dumbfounded.

Laying on a blanket, whimpering into her fist as she held back tears of fear and pain was her girlfriend, Shauna Shipman. Taissa had actually managed to find her and was slowly inserting a sharp wire deep inside of Shauna's vagina. Nola honestly couldn't believe her eyes. If it wasn't happening right in front of her, she honestly wouldn't have believed it.

            Part of her told her to simply look away. Tear away her gaze, walk away and pretend that what she was seeing wasn't real but she just couldn't. Her feet refused to budge so she just remained still, her trembling figure hidden amongst the vast greenery that surrounded her. She knew what was going on. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. There was only one reason why a girl would willingly risk inserting something so sharp inside of herself.

            Abortion.

            Suddenly Shauna let out a shriek of pain. "Stop, stop! Take it out! Take it out!" She desperately pleaded from Taissa which caused the girl to immediately retract the wire. Shauna pushed herself up while gasping out sobs. "I can't do it. I can't do it."

            Taissa wrapped her arms around Shauna right away, pulling the hysterical girl close as she continued to cry out, "I don't wanna die!"

            Nola couldn't stay there any longer. She needed to get away. Her feet that refused to move mere seconds ago quickly began to carry her away, her arms moving wildly in the air to brush back all the low hanging branches that threatened to hit her in the face. Twigs and sticks crushed and cracked beneath her shoes, echoing throughout the otherwise silent forest. Tears had begun to fall down her cheeks, the saltiness flowing through her still agape mouth and gathering on her tongue.

            No noise escaped her though. The pain and anguish that formed as a result of the betrayal she felt bloomed thick in her chest. Her heart pounded violently against her ribcage and blood rushed through her ears. But still no noise was heard from her.

            Once the cabin was within view, she quickly wiped away all of her tears and slowed her pace. Her once speedy walk, that was near enough a run, had eased into a simply walk as if she'd been taking a leisurely stroll through the trees. Her arms, that were now cut up from the numerous branches, fell to her sides.

           One of the worst things about her predicament, other than being cheated on and betrayed, was knowing that she couldn't tell anyone. Nola had to keep her mouth shut out of fear that she'd be judged. Her pain had to be locked away and she had to suffer in silence.

            While she walked into the cabin, the soles of her shoes audibly shuffling against the wooden floorboards as she made her way towards the ladder to the attic, a series of questions began to invade her mind. Why had Shauna done it? Who had she done it with? Had she known she was pregnant the whole time they were stranded?

It was as if she was on autopilot as she began to climb to the attic. The feeling of Shauna's hands from earlier in the day, when they'd been intimate for the first time in so long, now lingered horrible upon her skin. The once beautiful, comforting touch had morphed into a heavy and painful sensation. It now felt as though her skin had been burned.

As she stepped into the attic, Nola grabbed at her sleeping gear, bundling it all in her arms and throwing it down the attic's opening. The soft material thudded against the floor gently. When she also returned to the bottom, she gathered her stuff once again and brought it over to rest off to the side alongside everyone else's. When the sun would set in just a few hours and the chill of the night air brushed over her flesh, she would set up her stuff alongside Jackie once again. She couldn't stomach the idea of laying next to Shauna even for one more night.

While the brunette was crouched down next to all of the sleeping supplies, a pair of footsteps slowly approached her from behind. "What's wrong with you? Is being useless finally catching up to you?"

Nola just rolled her eyes. She quickly rose up to her feet and spun on her heel. Her tear stained face wore an expression that screamed how unamused she truly was. "I'm not in the mood, Travis." She croakily replied to the Martinez boy.

She knew he didn't mean any harm by his words, in fact they were said in a somewhat jesting way, but she just couldn't bring herself to indulge in a battle of wit with him in that moment.

A slight sigh left Travis' lips at her words. When she stepped closer to both him and the cabin's door, stepping further into the light of the sun, he couldn't help but notice the redness of her eyes and the streaks of dried tears that were painted upon her cheeks.

Crying girls were certainly not his forte. This meant that Travis' tongue felt like lead almost immediately. Still he thought he should inquire, no matter how much it pained him to. "Are you—you're not crying, right?" He shakily asked, gulping back hard against the lump in his throat.

"No."

Well, that's a fucking lie. Travis thought to himself. It was plain as day that she was crying, or at least had been. Still he decided to just leave the topic alone. The monotonous tone that Nola had spoken in told Travis that she didn't wish to discuss the fact that she'd been crying and he was more than okay with that.

            As the two stood there, quite awkwardly due to their less than civil previous exchanges, the discomfort was finally eased away by the arrival of Coach Ben on his crutches. "Travis, hey." The man greeted as he hobbled into the cabin living room. "You want to grab a seat for a sec? Been wanting to talk to you."

            A confused but amused smile tugged at the corners of the Martinez boy's lips. "Okay."

            Nola swallowed hard before sniffing. She was attempting to keep her cool in front of the two but knew that if she stayed around any longer her emotions would inevitably get the better of her. She slowly began to back out of the cabin, heading for the opened door while uttering, "I'll get out of your way."

           Coach Ben turned to glance her way briefly, shooting her an appreciative curl of his lips. "Thanks, Nola." He responded before shifting his gaze back to an awaiting Travis.

            The Rilke girl had managed to escape back outside with ease. Fortunately for her, no one was around to witness her flushed face and neck, no one to comment and question why she seemed so upset. She should have been thankful for that but why wasn't she?

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author's thoughts.
chapter thirteen. not proofread.
it's happened dudes. so she didn't confront shauna but she will at some point. a little moment between her and Travis as well because they're gonna be besties in season 2. I hope you enjoyed :)