𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝙳𝚘𝚕𝚕.

𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥

"Lou, get up baby, we're late for school." I woke up with Jason Carver towering over me. I was fully naked and my head was banging. "Fuck, how much did we drink last night?" "I don't know, but we're late." "Shit." I sat up, using the bedsheets to cover myself. "Here, put these on."

He tossed me my bra and underwear. "Thanks." I put them on underneath the sheets and got up, stretching. "Can you please hurry? I can't afford to miss this pep rally." "Sorry babe." I picked my clothes up off the floor and got changed. "C'mon, there's no time to eat." "But my hair Jase!" "Can't you do it in the car?" "Fine."

He grabbed my hand and we rushed to the car. My cheer uniform looked alright, it could have been a lot better but it wasn't embarrassingly bad my hair on the other hand, was a total mess. "Baby I look like a lion, please just give me five minutes." "Fine." I quickly brushed my brown curly locks and put them into a ponytail.

"Better?" "Yeah, much better." The fact that I was doing all this with a hangover was insane, But there was no way I could cheer without throwing up everywhere. "Jay, I don't feel good, I don't think I can cheer." "It's alright baby, just push through it. I know you can." He gave a light smile as we pulled up into the school parking lot.

I got out of the car and students were rushing into the gym hall, but I wanted to go the bathroom, I felt like I was going to throw up. As I was running to the bathroom, a familiar voice called from behind me. "Lou! Hey!" "Gare Bear!" It was my best friend Gareth Emerson. We've been best friends ever since we were basically born. "You okay?" "I'm having the mother of all hangovers right now, will you come into the bathroom with me?" "I can't come into the girls' bathroom!" "I don't care, c'mon." I grabbed his wrist and dragged him inside, it was empty because everyone was at the pep rally. I ran into a stall and crashed onto my knees, spilling my guts into the toilet.

"How much did you fucking drink?" "Too much, I can't remember anything but I think me and Jason fucked." "Have you never fucked before?" "Nope." "So then, how do you know?" "I'm extremely sore and I have a hickey on my lower back." "Can I see?" I pulled up my skirt and pulled down the white shorts to reveal the hickey. It wasn't weird for Gareth and I to show each other our bodies like this; As I said, we've been besties since birth, so we've bathed together as kids, showered in front of each other, and shit like that. Not in a weird way, just in a really close best friend kinda way.

"That's a gnarly hickey, your dad's not going to like that." "Shit, I forgot to tell him where I was last night." "You should call him before he pulls some crazy stunt." "Will you come with me when I go home tonight? He's less likely to do anything to me if you're there." "Yeah, sure." "I don't think I'm gonna go to the pep rally or the game later." "Well, you're literally throwing up your breakfast from last week so I understand." I laughed at his joke as I started to calm down a little. "How's Jason?" "His usual self. I don't understand how he got through that hangover like nothing." "Yeah, that's odd." I could hear people start to rush about outside, the rally was over and it was time for lessons.

Gare helped me up off the floor as I walked over to the mirror, fixing my face and putting on a little makeup. "You don't need all that, I think you're pretty just as you are." "Thanks Gare Bear, but I don't wanna look like I just crawled out of a coffin." He chuckled a little as he watched me put it on. As I finished, I got a good look at my face and turned to Gareth. "Pretty?" I asked. "Pretty. Now c'mon, let's go."

Gareth and I do this thing where I hold his pinky and ring finger in my hand, we've been doing it for forever and people often think I'm cheating on Jason when they see us but of course, I'm not. We began to walk to our next lesson, when someone I really cannot stand and is best friends with Gareth, decided to join us. "Emerson!" Gare turned around. "Eddie!" He pulled his fingers out of my grasp and ran over to him. I sped up my pace as I tried to get away from him. "Hey doll." He obviously caught up to me but I just ignored him as Gare stood beside me. "Hello? Anyone in there?" He waved his hand in front of my face. "What do you want?" "Why weren't you at the rally? I went especially for you doll." "Because, I just wasn't okay?" "Uh-huh sure, and what was Gareth doing in the bathroom with you huh?" "Nothing." We both said at the same time. "You sure? It didn't look like nothing." "Well it was, now can you please go away?" "I would, but I'm heading in the same direction." "Of course you are."

We walked in silence until Eddie reached his classroom first, "Cya later doll." I flipped him off in response and headed over to where I was going, Gare still by my side. "You okay?" "I'm fine, I just wanna get this over and done with." "Let me know how it goes, promise?" "Promise." We linked our pinkies together as he watched me walk into the room. "Hey Louisa, how's it going?" "Alright." "Allow me to explain everything and introduce myself, I'm Miss. Kelley, and this is just a safe space to talk, let your thoughts flow." I sat down in the chair in front of me as she continued to speak. "Do you know why you're here?" "Because I came into school with a split lip and a busted jaw." "Would you like to tell me who did it? What happened?" I took a deep breath in and collected my thoughts, then I began to speak. "My dad was drunk one night, came into my bedroom and started to tell me how I was worthless, and he'd prefer it if I died instead of my mom. Then he proceeded to beat me, telling me that it was my fault that he was doing this to me and other shit. Sorry for cursing." "It's okay, the cursing is just your anger and frustration coming out." "Yeah, I guess so."

"How long has this been going on?" "Since I was thirteen." "And you are?" "Eighteen." "So this has been happening for five years." "Yeah, five long, consecutive, years." "Are you in a relationship at the moment?" "I'm currently dating Jason Carver." "What's he like as a lover?" "Well he's nice, uh-" I paused to think about our relationship; Honestly, there was nothing good that came out of our relationship that you wouldn't get from a regular friendship, apart from sex. "That's pretty much it, I don't know why I'm still with him actually. He's just the same as any other guy." "Would you see your relationship in the future?" "No, actually I don't think I would." "That's interesting. Well, your session is coming to an end today, you did very well for your first." "Thanks." I grabbed my bag and walked outside.

The first thing I saw was Gareth leaning on the wall opposite the door. "Hey, how'd it go?" He asked, running up to me and engulfing me in a hug. "It was good, I have a lot of thinking to do though." "Why? What're you going to think about?" "I think I might break up with Jason."