Beauty & Her Bruises

Chapter One

I flinched when I woke up and I smelled alcohol wavering through the house. Father must've been asleep from how much he drank last night or he was passed out at a strippers' bar. I felt my nose crinkle in disgust to be known as his daughter. No one deserved that title.

I slowly got up from my blanet on the floor and looked around. I didn't have much in my room since father would steal any money he found from me. On the floor was a thin blanet that mother had given me while I was little but that was all I slept on. No bed. No mattress. My clothes were thrown in a pile in the corner of my room and were diagonal from the dirty pile of clothes in my room. I only owned three pairs of pants and two shirts that were acceptable for school and had four other pants and one other shirt apart from school. Usually I just worse a sweatshirt with me so that nobody could tell I reused my clothes so often. Luckily, I had my own bathroom.

I walked in and shut the door behind me, locking it. Thankfully, father didn't find all of my money or else I wouldn't have half of the things I needed. I looked at my bright brown curly hair and began running my fingers through it. There was no use in brushing it because they would just tangle back up if I pressed my head against anything.

I quickly hopped in the shower and flinched when the water hit the bruises on my ribcage and back, the ones from father. The ones on my arms, legs, and face didn't hurt as much since Liam usually came to my rescue before the kids at school could beat me up anymore.

Liam was my best and only friend. At first I didn't quite understand why he wanted to be my friend because he seemed to be very popular at the time. Later I found out that he had a huge secret and that he would probably be bullied when someone found out. He's still pretty popular and girls go after him every day, but he likes to hang with me 24-7 and ignores any girl that tries to hook up with him. Honestly, he was the best thing that has ever happened to me. He's the boy who could get me to laugh even if I'm crying and in pain.

The only reason he's not bullied at the moment is because he's hot. He has huge biceps and a six-pack. That's also a main reason that the girls go for him. They always send me death stares when he's not looking but if they're caught, he'll grab me and head off.

He has caramel eyes that go smoothly with his tanned skin. He's one of the boys that look amazing with a clean-shaven face or with stubble. He has thin lips that he usually pulls into a smile, even if he's crashing down. His eyebrows are the ones girls would die for, same with his eyelashes.

Every year he has a new hairstyle though. It's a perfect auburn color naturally and is currently buzz cut. He likes to keep people surprised by what his new hairstyle is and honestly everyone enjoys the new surprise. He has yet to dye his hair, but I know it's only a matter of time.

Once I was done in the shower, I wrapped a thin and ratty towel around my small waist. I grabbed all of the clothes I needed and slowly dressed in front of the mirror.

My stomach was deeply bruised and has cuts on it. There usually aren't cuts on it but yesterday father got angry and had a glass beer bottle in his hand. One thing led to another and he threw it at me. It shattered onto my body and he managed to grab a handful of my hair and a shard of glass. All I remember was that he was smiling wickedly while he was cutting the gashes open on my stomach. I already has bruises on my stomach which made it hurt ten times worse.

I sighed when I realized that my skinny jeans were sagging. Father doesn't feed me much so I only get to eat at lunch with Liam. He usually packs extra things for me because I tell him I don't like the cafeteria food and that I was running late so I couldn't pack a lunch. He usually believes me and splits his lunch with me. Sometimes I feel bad because he told me all of his secrets and I have yet to tell him that father is an alcoholic who beats his own kid and that mother was a prostitute who did drugs and dropped me off the minute she had me.