I'm Home

Chapter 8

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. After school was over, I told Lucas that I wasn't feeling well, so I would just head home instead of going to the bakery. I went up the fire escape to my room instead of through the door so I wouldn't have to see my family. Once I got into my bed, I broke down crying. How had I let that situation escalate like that?! I had seen the signs: him moving closer, bashing Lucas, making himself seem heroic. I don't know how long I stayed like that, bawling my eyes out in my bed, but at some point, after I had pretty much cried all of my tears, I got up and walked over to my vanity. I moved all of my hair over to my left shoulder, so that the mark he had left was fully visible. I carefully touched it, the skin still raw. I was about to reach for the first-aid kit when I heard the window open. I quickly moved my hair to cover up the bite so that my friends wouldn't see it.

They all piled into my room, most of them just seeming worried. Maya and Lucas, however, also looked confused.

"Riley, what were you really doing during lunch?"

"What do you mean Farkle?"

"What he means is that you told me you were going to work on a biology assignment, while you told Maya that you had worked on a math assignment." I mentally cursed myself for messing up.

"Uh, I was just-"

"What's that on your neck?" Maya pointed out before I could make something up.

"Um, oh it's just a bug bite." Without letting me protest in any way, she stormed over to me and moved my hair, fully exposing the mark.

"Riles, that is definitely not a bug bite. What is it?" I tried to tell her, but instead I just broke down crying again. Farkle and Smackle came over and soothed me down enough that they could get a closer look at the mark. They looked at each other before telling everyone.

"It's definitely a bite, but not one from a bug."

"What do you mean, Farkle?"

"There are teeth marks. Someone did this to Riley." I saw Zay zoom over to the window to prevent Lucas from leaving. I looked back over to him. He looked like he was about to explode.

"What? Riley, who did this to you?" I took a couple deep breaths before telling him and everyone else.

"Charlie Gardner."