Chapter 4: Unexpected Help

Aurora’s P.O.V

I thought I was going to be fine. I was used to things like this—people at Blue Hill Public High, especially in my grade, have never made it a secret that they didn’t like me, and I was used to being the butt of their jokes, their bullying.

So I thought I wouldn’t cry despite being humiliated like that in front of the entire cafeteria.

Oh, how very, very wrong I was...

The moment I left the cafeteria, the very second I stepped out into the hallways, away from their whispers and giggles, my eyes started to blur with tears.

I broke out into a run, making a beeline for the bathroom, where I locked myself into one of the stalls. I hadn’t been certain if the bathroom was truly devoid of people, but if my split-second scan of the area served me right, it was vacant. Still, I put a fist into my mouth as I sobbed, not wanting anyone to hear me cry.

I tried my best not to make a sound, but I couldn’t help the sniffles that escaped me. I couldn’t help the violent shaking of my whole body as I sobbed…and I couldn’t help my fragile heart as it broke into a million pieces.

If Caroline hadn’t helped me… I shuddered, thinking about that possibility. If she hadn’t helped me, I would have had to repay Mia by any means possible—which meant enduring twenty slaps in front of the whole school like a lunatic!

The pain from the slaps and from what my father had done to me last night combined together to form a painful symphony that made my entire head throb with excruciating agony.

But no matter how much she hit me, I just didn’t have that kind of money. Twenty bucks might sound like nothing to them, but to me, who had to work as a waitress after school, that was probably a week’s worth of tips!

My weekly salary was a hundred and seventy four per week from my part-time job, but after I had to pay the debt collectors and the bills for the house, I hardly had anything left to myself or Riley.

And then there were the occasional visits from my dad…

I could never refuse him anything, because if I did, he would just beat me up until I was unconscious and then raid my room for my saving. If something happened to me, who would take care of Riley by then? Because the last thing I wanted was for my brother to end up in the hands of such a horrible person!

With all this terrible shit happening to me, it sometimes makes me wonder what I was still living and breathing for. Was I seriously just meant to suffer in silence all my life? Was I only meant to take punch after punch and save my brother until he was finally of age?

And what if he deserted me too? What would I have to live for then?

If reincarnations were true, what grave sin had I committed in the past to deserve this horror show of a life?

Things weren’t always like this though. At least when my mom was still alive…my father was a decent person. But when she died…it was as if a part of him died as well. And everything went downhill from then on.

I yanked some tissue off the roll and used it to wipe my face free of snot and tears, not wanting to think about the past. I knew my eyes were bloodshot by now, and my cheeks were probably all blotchy, making me uglier than I already was.

But what was the point anyway? Everyone already saw me getting humiliated in the worst way possible…

A knock came on the door of the bathroom stall at that moment, making me jump in surprise.

Shit! Was it Mia? Did she come back to finish what she started?

I pressed myself further away from the wall, feeling weak and helpless as I looked around for a way to escape. Could I climb up into the next stall if I stood on top of the toilet?

But the knocking grew louder, making me feel even wearier. I stayed quiet, hoping to god that they would just leave me alone, but that didn’t happen.

“Aurora?” That voice—it was familiar. Who was it? It sounded like someone I know. “It’s Caroline.” Oh… wait— what? “Can you please open the door?”

Caroline? Oh god, was she here to pick on me like all her other friends? Will she show her true colors and beat me up now that no one was watching?

“Please?” she asked again when I didn’t respond. “I know you’re in there; I just want to talk.”

But why? Why would she want to talk to me of all people? Was it because she saved me? Did she want something from me in return now?

Oh…god…what did I get myself into?

“Please, Aurora! I promise you’re safe. Just open the door…please.”

Her voice sounded sincere, even a bit sad. So, against my better judgment, I found myself slowly turning the lock and pushing the door open. I walked out hesitantly, half expecting the hit to come as soon as I looked up. But much to my surprise, she held out her hand and in it was a packed sandwich.

I looked up at her in confusion.

“Here,” she said, attempting a smile. “Uh, I saw that your lunch got ruined too, and you weren’t able to eat anything, so I wanted you to have this.”

I blinked. Was I hearing her right? I only stared at her outstretched hand,  unsure if I was being pranked or not. She decided to take matters into her own hands and pushed the sandwich onto my palm.

“Take it,” she said. “It’s yours.”

I felt my heart skip a beat, gratitude welling up inside me until tears blurred my eyes again.

What exactly was happening right now? Nobody has ever gone out of their way to make sure I was okay. This has never happened to me before!

Why now? Why her?

“Why…” I found myself asking. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Caroline tilted her head to the side, confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.

I furrowed my brows, confused at her reaction as well. “I mean… everyone hates me. No one has ever come after me like this. So…why are you…?”

I trailed off, my ears picking up the sound of footsteps approaching the bathroom and I felt my heart speed up once again.

Just then, an oddly familiar voice sounded from outside, even though I couldn’t see that person. “Caroline, are you finished? We’re gonna be late.”

Caleb…I’d know that voice even in my sleep!

“One second!” Caroline called back. Then she turned to me again, this time with a smile as she said, “Well, I don’t know what you’re going through, but you should hang in there, alright? Everything will get better, I promise. For now, I gotta go! Bye!”

I stared after her as she turned to leave, wondering what her cryptic message even meant. Everything was gonna get better? How? And how could she promise that?

When she opened the door to leave, I found Caleb leaning against the doorjamb, his presence instantly sucking all the space in the room.

Our eyes met for a fraction of a second, and I felt a jolt of electricity surge through my whole body. I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but by the time I looked back at him once again, Caleb had already turned his eyes, and stretched out his hand to place it on the small of her back when Caroline walked up to him.

“Bye, Aurora!” Caroline turned to wave, but all I could see was Caleb’s hand on her waist as he steered her away from me, the weight of the sandwich in my hands suddenly unbearably heavy.