Jess woke with a start to banging on the door. It took her a moment to remember the night before. Looking around she saw the razor blade and the bloody tissue, her wrist ached. "Hang on." What was she going to do. She cleared up the 'evidence' quick as she could before looking in the mirror. Her cut lip had clotted together. There was a bruise forming under her eye. Some concealer from the cupboard and lip balm tidied it up to some extent. Finally she opened the door.
Harry was jumping from one foot to another. "I hate having sisters." He dived into the bathroom and slammed the door. Jess found it amusing that he hadn't even realised she was wearing the same clothes from last night. She pushed the door to her 'bedroom' open and changed into her nightclothes before getting into bed.
...
She only slept for a couple of hours. When she woke again she realised that it was only Saturday. She wouldn't be going back to her Mum's until Monday. She couldn't help but cry at the thought of being stuck for another two days. Her face felt twice it's usual size, no doubt Maria would have told her Dad a cock and bull story about her falling over, or walking into something. She reached and looked at her phone, there was two text messages waiting. The first one from Mum. "Morning sweetie, missing you. Hope all is going better than you expected. Love you. Mum." Jess didn't reply, she didn't know what to say. The second message was from Josh. "Oh you. Where was my text last night? Do you fancy doing something today? Dad is on a course...boring.... :P Hugs. J." Jess had to smile, Josh was the year below her but having parents who were teachers gave them something in common and she enjoyed his company. She quickly text back saying she would love to. Within ten minutes they had arranged to meet for a coffee in Rochdale. Jess felt a massive weight leave her chest. She was sure Josh could be persuaded to go shopping, that meant she could waste nearly a whole day.
...
Everyone had still been asleep when Jess had left the house. She was running slightly later than she planned as her make up had taken longer than normal to cover the bruising that was starting to show around her cheek. She hadn't woken them, the note on the kitchen table explained everything. She had shut the front door and walked the short distance into the town centre. Josh was waiting outside their usual coffee shop and he met her with a hug. Jess didn't want to let go, but she did. He didn't need to know quite how upset she was.
They quickly went inside and ordered before they sat down at a table. "So." Josh looked straight at her. "You promised to keep me updated..."
Jess nodded. "Sorry." She tried to smile at him. "I just lost track of time. She looked down at the table. She wanted to tell him everything, but she couldn't...not yet.
"So you had an argument then? Josh reached across the table and lifted part of Jess' fringe out of the way. He could see the bruising even through her make up. "Jess that's abuse...she can't keep getting away with it."
Jess felt a tear well in her eye. She knew that it was 'abuse' but the word stuck in her throat. The tension had been growing ever since the day Jess announced to the school that Maria was 'shagging her Dad.' Of course there were parts of her that regretted it, but she was young and angry. It had after all been true, however the relationship had got worse since then. Shouting, text messages, emails, pushing and then hitting. The most stupid thing was that everyone knew Jess as being strong, she wouldn't let anyone put her down. Yet when it came to Maria she felt so weak, some may have put it down to the pregnancy. Jess thought it was different, she was scared of losing her Dad. She knew deep down that he had already made his decision, but she wanted to put it off, she didn't want to hear him choose Maria over his own daughter. She still loved him...even if he didn't care about her.
Josh broke her thought. "Jess you have to talk to someone about this...it wont just go away. Your Mum needs to know..."
Jess shook her head. "She can't do anything, if it comes out now then it will just look like a teenage girl making up lies because she got pregnant and the custody agreement didn't go her way...I can't do that Josh." She felt tears well in the corner of her eye, she blinked to clear them.
Josh nodded. "Ok...but promise you'll keep talking. You can always stay at ours..."
Jess looked at him. "How about tonight?"
Josh smiled. "A night of chick flicks and popcorn it is then."
