𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝔹𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕣𝕤

𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕪-𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖

Jack was right. Medda was horrified.

"Oh my gosh!" She cupped my face with her hand. "What the hell happened to you?"

"It's really nothing Medda-"

"It's absolutely not nothing! Mind telling me why your face is black and blue?" She looks at Jack. "Yours too! What have I said about getting into fights?"

"I'm sorry Momma," Jack starts. "It's just that there were some boys that thought It would be ok to mess with Toni." I look at my shoes. "We couldn't just let them do that. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Medda sighs. "I understand that you wanted to protect Antonio, and I love that you wanted to do that, but you need to be more careful, sweetie."

Jack nods. "Specs already patched him up, by the way."

"He always does," Medda calls over her shoulder as she walks out of the room. The three of us stare at each other in silence, not knowing what to say. They probably knew how shaken I was, but I don't think they know the full extent of it. I don't think I want to tell them. Once I finally look up, it looks as if Jack and charlie are communicating through their eyes. They're having a whole conversation with each other without a single word being spoken. My nails started to dig into my forearm as I stand up and run to my room. I didn't look behind me to see if anyone wanted to follow me. I didn't care. I just wanted to be alone.

And I got my wish. No one bothered me for a while. No knocks on the door. No random conversations that make us laugh so hard we cry. Just silence.

Until I hear knocking on the window.

My room is on the second floor, how the hell is someone knocking on my window? When I open the curtains, to my surprise, Albert is staring at me with a grin.

I open the window to let him in. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He sits on my bed. "Wanted to check in on you. You weren't answering your phone." Fuck. "I understand, though. It's your first time getting beaten up, you've gotta be shaken."

"It's not the first time," I say before my brain can tell me to stop. I slap my hand over my mouth. "Forget I said anything."

"No..." Albert looks at me with confusion. "What do you mean?"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm not getting out of this one. Before I get a word out, he holds up his hand to stop me. "Nevermind, I know. This," he gestures vaguely, "is a foster home. I'm guessing that ya old home wasn't the greatest."

"Damn. You're smart." I say, on the verge of tears. "Now can we please stop talking about this?"

He nods. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

I sit down next to him. We stay like that, silent, for a few moments, before he wraps an arm around my shoulders. My heart starts beating like crazy, and my face flushes a little.

"Wanna play some music and just vibe?" He says, breaking the silence. I nod, and he pulls out his phone. It isn't long before my room is filled with music, and I crack a small smile.

After a few minutes, I notice Albert has been singling along quietly. My heart soars. His voice is beautiful. I can't help but rest my head on his shoulder. We stay like that for the next hour or two.

"Uh, I should probably get going now." He stands up, heading towards the open window. "But this was fun."

"Yeah, it was." God, Toni, you sound so fucking dumb. He chuckles and waves as he heads out of the window. "Be careful!" I call out to him. Once he's gone, I flop on my bed with a smile. But when I do so, I hear a crunch. When I sit up, I notice a polaroid photo of us. I don't know how I didn't notice him taking it. I tenderly hold the photo in my hands, my grin growing bigger by the second. I throw myself on my bed again, clutching the photo to my chest.