Target Practice

~chapter 3~

Above is a picture of Julia.

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Walking into school this morning, I was greeted by my only friend who had been away for 2 weeks in Carolina. Lucky rich kid.

"Julia!" I screeched before running up to her and tackling her in a hug. Julia and I had been friends since Summer started being mean towards me.

flashback

Don't come near me. Don't talk to me. Hell, don't even look at me loser." Summer spat in my face and pushed me to the ground. I was too weak to get up. I could hear people telling me to show her I wasn't weak. But I was. The night before my parents had abused me to the max. They had hit me, burnt me, and cut me, along with throwing me down the stairs. They said it was my fault. That what happened to our lives was my fault. It will always be only their fault.

"Oh so the little nerd can't get off the ground. There's something new." Summer said, sarcasm dripping form her voice and she stood on my hand with her incredibly high heels. A crack could be heard l through the halls and I screeched out in pain.

"Hey are you okay?" I looked up and saw the new girl, Julia I think her name was. We had Art together. She obviously didn't know not to talk to someone like me. Someone who some days couldn't even afford to have lunch.

"What are you doing?" I asked in confusion, my eyebrows furrowed together as she bent down and reached out to me, hauling me to my feet.

"Helping you silly." She said, amusement clear in her voice. She was actually genuinely helping me. That's new.

"Now," she took me from my thoughts as we walked towards the front gates of the school, "Which hospital would you prefer to go to?" I didn't answer her. Either out of shock, or pain, I don't know.

"Okay, the Ferny Avenue Children's hospital it is." She announced almost.....proudly? I guess. As we walked towards her car, her holding me up by my shoulder, simply because Summer had pushed me over, and I was really not in the mood to walk.As I got in the car and buckled the seat belt around my body, I heard Julia speak again.

"So," she said, starting up the car, "you want to tell me why Summer hates you so much?" After finishing her sentence her eyes made contact with mine, eyebrow raised, and expectant look on her face.

A wash of surprise took over my features, and Julia obviously noticed it as she started driving away to the hospital she said,

"Don't look too surprised that someone actually cares about you."

After about a minute of silence and us still driving she snapped me out of my thoughts.

"So are ou going to tell me or...."

"Actually, sorry, but it's kind of hard to talk about. And I'm not really up for answering all of our questions so...Maybe another day."
She simply nodded her head at that and kept driving.

"That's okay. I wouldn't expect you to."

Wow. Maybe I had just made a friend. Someone that would actually care about me. Take care of me.

A true friend.

End of flashback

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Finally walking out of the school gates with a  few new bruises from the slap I got today, I started to make my way home. My comfy bed. My food. My wifi. My -