This Girl I Met

7

After training, as my friends are going with Danny in her car, I just tell them goodbye and start walking. I know Sonnett will probably head home as well, and since she prefers to walk rather than be taken to her house, that's the best way for me to try and know what's going on with her lately. It's quite a cold night just after training, and the moon is proudly rising in the starless sky. I sigh. 

When I finally spot her, I start walking faster. I know it's not a good idea : she doesn't know me that well, and probably don't wanna talk to anyone. When I arrive to her height, she just frowns and rolls her eyes. 

"Hey" I let out nonchalantly. 

She smirks. "What do you want ?" 

Her tone is cold. Ouch, you deserved it, you dork. My inner thoughts always make me angrier, but this time I need to keep cool. She won't give anything up if I'm still acting like a bitch toward her. As I am trying to catch her gaze, I realize her injuries are bigger than the day before. I start frowning, as she walks faster. 

I keep up. 

"Listen, I know you think nobody give a shit about you" I carefully start, while grabbing her arm. She turns around and stops, surprised, as I am not ready to let her go this time. "But I do, okay ? And I'm here to help." 

"You can't help me" she only responds. 

"I know you're scared" I try again, as she is just looking at me, standing still. "Your dad is a strong man, and you're scared that he might-"

"It's not my dad" she interrupts. 

Woups, I think, wanting to kill myself right now. I sometimes am so stupid that I wonder why my friends still are by my side. I frown, as she is just starting to walk away again. I walk as well, trying to come up with something clever to say. 

But nothing comes. 

"It isn't ?" I dumbly ask, raising my eyebrows. "I mean, usually it's the father that-"

"He's dead." she abruptly says. 

Good move Lindsey : you're getting worse and worse as the seconds pass. I slap myself in the inside. 

"I'm sorry to hear that" I honestly say. 

"Yeah." she sighs. 

I try to pull it together. "Listen, whatever you're going through right now, you don't have to keep it to yourself. You don't necessarily have to talk to me or something, but you should definitely talk to someone." 

"Great advice" she sarcastically says. 

As I am willing to open my mouth again, a window gets wide open. A woman's head comes out of this, looking at us with anger. I realize we're already in front of Sonnett's building, and that the woman is probably her mom. She seems quite old, and her eyes are darker than the frowning night. She looks exhausted, cigarette in hand. 

When she opens her mouth, a husky voice comes out of it, scaring the crap outta me. She looks like some sort of wizard. 

"You better get inside, unless you want me to kick you ass again" she yells at Sonnett, whose facial expression immediately changes. 

She's scared. I can see it in her face. 

"Hey ! That's not a way to talk to your daughter !" I yell back, truly angry at the woman now. 

I can feel Sonnett move next to me. 

"Please, don't." she orders. Her eyes are now like the one of a baby cow that knows will be killed in a few seconds. Her intense eyes are planted in mine, and I couldn't describe the feeling that's taking over my body right now. "You're only making it worse. I see you tomorrow at school."

"But-"

"Lindsey, I've got this." she says, quickly walking towards her house. 

When I look up again after she had disappeared in the building, the window is closed, and the woman has disappeared. Several seconds later, I hear a scream, a huge noise, and then silence again. 

My heart breaks a little bit. 

**

The next morning, she doesn't show up. It's already lunch time when I join my teammates in our usual table. I sit in between Cari and Moe, who look at me with surprise. I am so worried that I barely even spoke this morning, which isn't usual. 

Andi, who's sitting in front of me, asks : 

"What's on your mind, Linds ?" 

Everybody's attention is on me right now, as I am trying to keep it cool. I don't want them to see how worried I am for a girl I'm supposed to hate. 

"I think Sonnett's in trouble" I only say.

They all look at me, pretty shaken up. 

"I knew she looked like shit for a reason !" Cari exclaims. When Moe gives her an elbow in the roasts, she grins. "Sorry."

"Listen" Sam says, looking serious for once. "If she came to class toward the end of the morning, she's with Abby right now, and they are supposed to come and eat here. I think the best strategy is to try and make her smile and laugh, and not ask about what happened. We don't know her well enough for that, or even how she'd react."

"Agreed" Steph says, swallowing her apple. 

"Speaking of which..." Andi says as a warning. 

Sonnett is indeed walking next to Dahlkemper and Danny, and seems to act like what happened to her face isn't that big of a deal. When I see that her eye isn't even half opened, I feel a new anger grow inside of me ; the kind of anger that will not end up okay. The only thing I wanna do now is to go at her place and beat her mother up. But I can't do that : dad would get mad, and then Allie would just be ashamed. 

When the two others sit on the table, the blonde just looks at me, still standing on her feet. 

"Can I have a word please ?" she asks in a low voice. 

I know my friends are looking at me right now.

I am slow to get up, and follow her without asking any questions. She decides to go outside, as I am just following her steps. She looks beyond embarrassed, and also kinda scared. When she turns around, I can see the fear in her eyes. 

"Can I ask you a favor ?" she asks shyly, looking at her feet. 

"What ?" I immediately respond, my mind working 200%. "You want me to kick her ass ? Is that it ?"

"No" she sighs, and I can see how pissed she is. "I just... wanted to make sure you don't talk about what you saw to anyone." she requests. 

But I already stopped listening to her. 

My hand naturally end up on her face, my fingers slightly touching the corner of her eye. She shivers, and frowns. I don't even have the time to remove my hand to catch her gaze on me : she intensively looks at me while I am removing a little piece of dead skin that is hanging out in here. I then take my hand back, as she is blushing. 

"Fine" I breathe out. "But there's one condition."

"Lindsey..." she warns, rolling her eyes. 

But I'm not backing up. "Next time, when it hurts too much, just know.... You know where to find me." 

"O-oh, it's okay, I'm old enough to handle myself..." she starts. 

"Emily." I cut her off. Why am I calling her by her first name ? I ask myself, confused the slightest. She looks at me like if I'm some kind of an alien. "Promise me." 

She rolls her eyes. "I promise." She then awkwardly moves backwards, before facing me again several seconds later. "That's a deal then : that stays between us then."

"Deal."