Hidden Beneath The Scars

Chapter 3

Week one: Freshman Year

I looked around and sighed. It felt nice to not cry myself to sleep. My mom was in her bedroom humming and putting away clothes. Dad hadn't come back.

I looked up at the ceiling until something floated into my vision. "Oh, holy motherf-"

"Calm down Rich, it is only me." The Squid thing said.

"Why do you look like Kermit the frog, but like, the evil verthion?" I asked. It sighed and looked at itself.

"My default mode. I also could be, Lady Gaga, Ben Platt, or Sexy Miss Piggy oh hohohoho!" It laughed.

"N-no! No, Kermit'th fine. Tho...you're in my head?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, I am here to help you improve yourself. Starting tomorrow."

"Cool! Tho I'll tranthform into thomething thuper chill like a tranthformer!"

"This will be harder than I originally anticipated."

The next day I woke up. "Hello-" I asked, nothing. Was it a dream? "Mom!"

"Yes sweetie? I'm in he kitchen!" She chirped. She sounded happier than she had in years.

"Uh, nevermind..." I looked around my room. My posters lined the walls. The Hobbit, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, Supernatural, a handful of really good movies. It was my sanctuary. I sighed and pulled a picture up on my phone, much like every morning to make me feel better. It was a nice girl who was topless and she was dancing. I unzipped my pants and started working.

Zaaaaap!

"oW!" I flinched and coward. "What the hell?"

"Every time you masterbate that's ten push-ups. Go ahead and start working. In fact every time you think about sex that's ten." I groaned and stood. I still was a little hard, but that faded when I was on my fourteenth push-up. I was out of breath. "You still have 17 more to do, but Rich, don't worry, you'll have pecks in no time!"

I groaned and hoped my noodle arms could hold me that long. Surprisingly it did. "You're called a thwip right?"

"No, I am called a Squip. If you call me by the that I will answer, if not you will revive a shock. We need to fix your lisp."

"W-what'th wrong with my lithp?" (I swear the people who came up with the word lisp hated people with lisps.)

"It is stupid, and unneeded. In order to became more popular you need to sound more confident. Your lisp holds you back, Rich, and your stutter."

"Okay...tho thmall s-stepth." I tried. "Firssst your nname. S-S qu ip...?"

"Acceptable, we will work on that. Next clothing," I walked over to my closet. I had a bunch of button-up shirts and a handful of tee-shirts. I had khaki and jean pants. My shoes were all old and worn. The Squip glided over and started picking through my wardrobe. "Out, Out, Put it in storage, Sell it on EBay, Leave it behind...Out, Out..." He tossed my clothes one by one into the garbage.

"H-hey there! Wait! What are you doing! Thothe are my clothess!" I panicked trying to grab my shirts out of the trash bin.

"Honey, is everything alright?"

"Rich, this would be much easier if you just used your mind to talk to me."

"EVERYTHINGTH FINE MOM, DON'T WORRY!" I shouted through he door. I looked to the Squip. "I can do that?" I whispered. It nodded its little muppet head. It was adorable.

'Okay...so like this?'

"Precisely. No one can hear me but you. All you've been doing this whole time is talking to yourself, so...don't." I sighed and nodded. It picked out a nice black button down with a dark red tee-shirt and dark blue jeans. I put them on and tried to button the shirt up. "No, leave it open." I did as it said.

I went to my bathroom to do my daily brushing. My mom had put a brand new toothbrush in the holder for me. That was really nice of her since I think dad would use my brush to sometimes clean the toilet after he vomited. (I wouldn't use it after that.) After I brushed I picked up my comb. My hair was a floppy mess on my head. No matter what I couldn't untangle it if I tried. "We are going to the mall after school." The Squip said floating around and looking at things in my bathroom. He picked up some of my dads deodorant and smelled it. "Use this." I took it and used it how I'd seen my dad use it and hoped it was right. I checked my face, as clean as ever. I washed my face every day to keep zits and crap off. Luckily I have my moms genes because she never really had acne when she was in high school either.

Once my new routine is done I wondered into the kitchen. My mom greets me with a wide smile. "Hey honey bee, come get breakfast." I smile and down the food on my plate. I love food so much.

After I kiss my mom goodbye, I give her instructions to lock the house after I leave and call the police if she hears anything.

I go to school feeling more refreshed than ever. The Squip must be something sent from God, like a Guardian angel came to watch over me.

When I get to the school the Squip looked around. "Put your hands in your pockets, stand up straight, puff out your chest and look relaxed." At random intervals through the hallway he'd tell me to stop and push back my hair.

I started getting careless and tripped over my own feet and fell. Shit...I just ruined everything. "OhmyGod! Are you alright?" A girl asked helping be back up.

"Say what I say."

"I'm ssso s-sorry, I'm just really broken up right now." I sniffed to really sell it. To my surprise it worked!

"Awe, you poor thing, what's your next class, I'll walk with you." She said leading me over to my first. "What happened."

"My girlfriend wath-uh was cheating on me."

"Who was your girlfriend?"

"Uh I'm no- Madilyn."

"That skank, she's been with practically every boy in the school! I'm Brooke, by the way. I'm sorry about your girlfriend." She left me to go to my first.

The rest of the day went as good as the morning did. People talked to me. I was noticed, the teachers payed less attention to me and more on people who were nerdy.

In earth science Jeremy got called out for slouching and Michael got detention for listening to music too loud. It's like I was cut out of the bottom of the food chain! And it felt sooooo good.

When I went home my mom was smiling. She told me she received the deed to the house and inherited a little money from a grandfather who passed away. It was about $4,000. Enough to pay the bills for months and lunch money.

She handed me $200 and told me to buy some new cloths. I happily obliged. Little did I know that my mom had started dating this super rich dude would was really nice, and that's how she got the money.