THE PRINCE'S QUEEN | J.MAYBANK

[8]

JJ and I sneaked to the back of JJ's house the night of the movie and climbed through a window to his room. With a loud grunt from the blonde, I helped him through the open window, and he stumbled into his bedroom, collapsing on his bed. I looked around at his room and saw a queen-sized bed with the covers thrown askew. He had a bulletin board filled with posters, notes, and other papers. He also had many posters of girls in bikinis, which made me shake my head and laugh.

"Let's get you cleaned up," I said and was about to walk out to get a rag and ointment if he had any when he shot up from his bed with a wince and grabbed my arm.

"No, no, I'll get it," he rushed, and before I could argue, he limped out and closed the door quietly behind him. I didn't know why he made us crawl through a window, but he must've had a reason. Maybe he didn't want his dad finding out he's hiding a girl in his room? No, that can't be. He sleeps with tons of girls and has had to bring them over to his house and not just John B's.

I started looking around his room, occasionally running my fingers along the clothes he hung on his door or his old curtains that flown from the slight breeze. I walked over to the bulletin board and started glancing at the pictures and other things pinned to it, not really looking at them. But that's when I came across something that caught my eye.

I ripped the paper off the board and started reading it frantically. 

                           YOUR USELESS!                         
 YOU'RE A PIECE OF SHIT!
YOU WERE A MISTAKE!
WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?  
YOU ARE FUCKING WORTHLESS!

JUST KILL YOURSELF ALREADY!!!!!!

By the time I had finished, I had tears in my eyes, asking myself why JJ had something so cruel and self-abusive in his room. I kept reading it over and over until I heard the door open slowly, and JJ tiptoed in with a rag and some rubbing alcohol.

I refused to meet his eyes as a tear fell from my own and landed on the paper. "Hey, I'm back, so we didn't have anything fancy or shit, but I got what we had," JJ sighed and sat on his bed, setting the rag and alcohol down. He looked up at me, and once he saw I had my back turned towards him and a paper in my hands, he stood up.

He walked over to me and rested his hands on my shoulder, looking down at the page I had in my shaky hands. Once he read it, his breath hitched, and he was about to snatch it from me when I snapped around, another tear escaping my eyes.

"Why . . . . -- why do you have this?" I stuttered, "did you write this?" I added.

"Wha-what? No, no, of course, I didn't write it," He said and scratched the back of his neck.

"JJ Maybank, don't you lie to me!" I cried, and his face dropped.

"I didn't write that. Really, I didn't. And I have that in my room because . . . ." he trailed off.

"Because what?"

"Because my father put it there, and if I take it down, he just puts a new one up," he mumbled, and my jaw dropped, but I quickly brought it back up.

"What? Wh-why would he-"

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter. Why don't you fix me up? I don't feel like looking like a Kook can jump on me anytime," he chuckled to cover up his pain, which was crystal clear, and I took a shaky breath. Based on his expression, I knew he didn't want to talk about it, so I let it go for now.