Help Me Not Hurt

First Day of a New School

Tessa's POV

"Tessa, wake up. Please! Wake up!" Cried a small voice. Then two small hands grabbed the left side of my abdomen and started to shake me. I groaned and rolled over onto my back. I quickly sat up holding the back of my head in pain and brought my knees to my chest. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the hallway. Alyssa was sitting beside me with a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay?"She asked me in a quiet voice, which I greatly appreciated because I had a pounding headache from last night. But I didn't want to worry her. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She looked like she didn't believe me, but didn't say anything. She slowly stood up and she was towering over me because I was still sitting.

"Today's the first day of school."She said, her eyes sleepy. I stood up and grabbed her hand and led her silently to the bathroom and drew her a bath. I dried her and dressed her in the school's uniform. I got a shower and quickly got dressed. Fifteen minutes later we were standing on the sidewalk outside of our house, my bike in front of us. Alyssa was clenching her back pack to her chest.

"Do you have everything you need for today?" I asked her, making sure she will be ready to face the day. She nodded furiously. I smiled at her.

"Good." Then I lifted her body up and rested it on the bar handles of my bike. Then I hopped on my bike and peddled to her school. Once we got there I stopped my bike in front of the steps of her school that led to the front entrance. I got off and helped her down off the handles.

"Alyssa!!" A squeaky high-pitched voice yelled. I turned around to see a girl that looked Alyssa's age waving madly at her. I turned back around to Alyssa and gave her a hug before I started off to my new school.

"I love you." She whispered in my ear while we were hugging. I smiled and released myself from the hug and looked down at her.

"I love you too, sweet heart. Now go on and join your friends!" I said enthusiastically. She smiled at me then turned around and ran off to her little group of friends. I smiled at how cute she looked and I remembered when she was a baby and I had to look after her.

I glanced down at my wrist watch and gasped at what time it was. I only had twenty minutes to get to school! I quickly peddled off to my new high school. By the time I got there I was panting heavily. I quickly chained up my bike and looked around and sighed in relief to see that other students were still waiting outside.  I made my way over to the entrance, trying to avoid groups of people in the process. I made it to the entrance steps and sat down on them. I got my bag and started to dig around until I found my sketch pad. I grabbed it and started working on a drawing I've been working on for two days. I was so focused on the drawing that I didn't realize the shadow that fell over to me.

"Hey girlie, your new so I will give you a warning. My name is Aaron. This is my spot. Nobody sits in my spot. I suggest you move." A deep male voice said. I looked up to see a buff boy with black hair that fell into his green eyes. I sighed and stood up. I started to walk away slowly toward the small tree on the grass lawn of the school

"Wait" He said from behind me. I turned around to look at him.

"What happened to your throat?" He asked, noticing the bruises along my neck. I pulled up my hoodie.

"I was in a fight."Well it's not a complete lie....

He looked at me skeptically, but didn't press any further. Ten minutes later it was time to go in. I headed off to my first class and sat down in the seat nearest to the window in the back of the class. For the rest of the day I didn't see Aaron and before I knew it, it was time to go home. I got on my bike and peddled over to Alyssa's school.

"I had the best day ever!!" She said as soon as she saw me, her eyes live with excitement.

"Oh yeah? What happened?" I asked. She rambled on and on about her day on the way home. When we walked through the door I saw my mom there sitting in the kitchen. I went in there to grab a glass of water. My mom looked at me and her eyes widened at the bruises.

"Did I do that?" She asked. I just nodded, not able to look at her.

"Honey I'm so sorry-"

"Save it. Every time you apologize and you promise not to do it again, but you do. You do, and the worst part is I don't even care anymore. The only person I care for is Alyssa. You'll just go get drunk and do it all over again before the bruises even fade away. So save it mom, because I will not accept empty promises." I finally looked up at my mom to see she was crying.

"I don't know why I do it." She sobbed.

"You just make me so angry." She mumbled.

"And you get drunk. That still gives you no excuse. And the only reason I did not call the cops is because I don't want to be separated from Alyssa. She is the only reason, remember that." I said and walked away. I went into the bathroom because I knew that's the only place I could let my emotions take control and no one would see me, and I started to cry silently. Even though I said I don't care about my mom, I love her. I really don't want to, but I do and every time she hits me, it hurts me more emotionally then it does physically. Emotionally it feels like someone punched a hole through my chest that not even the best doctors could fix. So now I cry silently in the bathroom, holding my knees hard to my chest.