Wanna Bet? (2 page)

As I leave the room I’m
stopped in tracks by the sight of Matt leaning up against the wall
in front of me.

“
Hey” I smile as I make my
way towards him.

“
Tucker gave me this to
give to you” he cocks an eyebrow at me as he hands me my phone
back.

“
Thanks I was worried about
that, I didn’t know when I would get it back”

“
Any reason why he had it?
I didn’t realize you two were friends”

“
We’re not, one of the
girls in the class text me asking who he was, I passed him my phone
so he could message her himself and when they left shortly after he
took my phone with him” I explain as we make our way outside and I
head to the coffee stand.

“
Well as long as it isn’t
your heart he’s breaking” he smirks at me.

“
I’m not sure I’m his type”
I return dryly, momentarily distracted by the smell of coffee
that’s strong in the air making me smile widely. Matt, used to my
addiction by now thanks to being in the dorm I share with Sophie
just rolls his eyes and chuckles at me. I playfully shove his
shoulder and jump in the queue.

“
So big party tomorrow
huh?” he asks

“
Uh yeah, something like
that” I’m not sure how much of my home life he knows about from
Sophie, I know she may have mentioned a few things to him in
passing, which I understand and assure her regularly that that’s OK
as long as he keeps the information to himself.

“
You know, I can always
help out if you need me, never be afraid to ask”

“
Never be afraid to ask
what?” comes from behind, causing both of us to spin around to see
Tucker standing there, eyeing us curiously.

“
Uh .. if she needs me and
Sophie to stay over mine instead of their dorm, you know if we get
too much” Matt quickly says, sending me an I-got-it-covered
smile.

“
Ahh so you’re a prude”
Tucker says swiping my coffee and taking a sip.

“
Ugh you can keep it” I
muttered backing away from the drink he keeps trying to hand me
back.

“
What?” he asks looking
offended but ruining the effect by looking slightly amused at my
reaction

“
I don’t know where your
mouth has been, and as far as I can tell you have no standards so
I’ll pass on that thanks” I state turning to get another coffee
hoping he will leave it at that, I’m not so lucky when I turn back
around he is staring at me open mouthed.

“
I have never been with an
ugly woman!” he argues.

“
You’ve never been with one
that can tie her own shoe laces either” I return with a wink and
walk off leaving Matt chuckling and Tucker mumbling about not
knowing if that is true or not. I grin to myself as I wonder
whether he was referring to me or himself not having that
knowledge.

* *
*

The next
morning I’m woken up by my phone beeping and a text message that
make me want to cry.

Luke: Sorry
hun, can’t make it today, went
to a party last night, Kate fell and broke her arm we’re
still at the hospital waiting for her cast to be put on
xx

Me: OK not a
problem. Hope she gets better soon xx

Sighing and
throwing my legs over the bed
, I sit up and glance at my wardrobe thinking about what I
can wear today that will be the safest option, not that what ever I
wear will save me. Defeated I get up and throw on a pair of jeans
and a t-shirt covered by a big woolly jumper. Grabbing a cup of
coffee I head out for the drive.

An hour later
I get the familiar queasy feeling in my stomach
that I always get when ever I’m near my mums
house, resigning to stay only for an hour or two I drag myself out
of the car and into the house.

“
Honey, I
missed you when are you going to start visiting more often?” My mum
cries as she throws her arms
around me, this of course is just a show for the group of
her friends that have made it over here before me, what they can’t
see is my wincing from her sharp nails digging into the back of my
neck and her harsh whispers in my ears threatening to behave and
not embarrass her. When she finally lets me go, I head into the
kitchen where my half- brother is making drinks.

“
Hey sis,
how’s life?” Phin asks handing me glass of orange
juice
. We take a seat at the
kitchen table and chat for most of the morning about school and
catching up in general, he asks a lot of questions about Sophie and
I can’t hide the smile that takes over my face whenever he talks
about my roommate, since meeting her six months ago he has had a
crush on her, which she finds adorable and flirts with him at every
opportunity.

I excuse my
self and make my way to the bathroom as the rest of the guests
arrive and lunch is being dished out. As soon as I make it to the
bathroom I am momentarily pushing back the stars that
have taken over my vision as I’m
slammed into the door from behind, a hand covers my mouth and I
stop breathing when a familiar voice is in my ear whispering
harshly. “In the bathroom now, not a noise from you” I nod and open
the door slowly, he pushes me inside and follows behind me not
taking his hand from my mouth. After he locks the door behind us he
kicks my legs out from under me. Slammed into the cold bathroom
tile I resist the urge to rub my knees from the fall knocking them
on the hard tiles. I look up and watch as my step dad leans over me
and pulls my hair. “I see you still haven’t changed, still the same
whore you have always been” he snarls at me spitting every time he
says something, I cringe inwardly at the spit that is gathering
around his mouth and my stomach turns. “Have you got a boyfriend
yet?” he asks me while pulling up the sleeves on his old grey long
sleeved shirt that has a few cigarette burns in the front. I know I
need to answer his question but as I take in his appearance from
his worn top to his equally old jogging bottoms and odd socks I’m
transported back to when I turned thirteen and my life turned into
this nightmare, granted he may never have raped me but what he done
to me on an almost daily basis is just as bad. Of course I could
have told but he threatened to kill me if I told anyone and on a
few occasions he used to take it upon himself to show me how much
he meant that promise by choking me until I started to loose
consciousness and then letting go and letting me come back to and
he would repeat the process three times, every time he thought I
was getting close to telling someone. I’m brought of out my
memories by a sharp blow to my jaw, my head slams to the side and
hits the corner of the sink, I can already taste the blood filling
my mouth but block the pain out. It’s then I realise he never
expected me to answer he was going to do this anyway, as a
punishment for leaving it too long since my last visit. He needs my
visits so he can exercise this control over someone, he doesn’t
hurt his son, he used to tell me how Phin is perfect and I’m
nothing but a dirty little whore, and I deserve to be with my dad.
Of course the irony is that I would have gone with my dad in a
heartbeat if I could have but he died when I was eleven. I manage
to block out the next few kicks and thankfully we are interrupted
by my mum shouting up the stairs for him to join them for lunch. He
leaves me lying on the bathroom floor and leaves the bathroom
silently. I wait a few minutes until I hear him talking beneath me
in the kitchen. Leaving as quietly as I can without whimpering in
pain and clutching at my side where his foot connected with my ribs
I make my way through the backdoor so I can leave unnoticed I get
back in my car and head back to my life, knowing that at least for
another month I can forget that the family I just left even
exists.

Pulling up in
front of the dorms I notice

Sophie’s car
is in the car park, not ready to try walking again I pull out my
phone and call her.

“
Hey Soph, are
you in the dorm?”

“
Yeah, where
are you”

“
I’m outside
init he car park if you need a lift to the party?”

“
Umm yeah do
you want to come up for ten minutes first, I know how you hate the
long drive back, is Luke with you?”

“
Umm no, he
couldn’t make it”

“
What?”

“
Katie broke
her arm they were at the hospital this morning so he couldn’t come
with me”

“
Umm ok, are
you going to come up?”

“
No, I’ll just
wait down here for you, if that’s ok?”

“
How bad is
it?”

“
I don’t think
I can handle the stairs”

“
Shit, we’ll
be down now”

“
Who’s
we?”

“
Just me and
Matt”

“
Great, just
be prepared when you come down Soph, It’s bad, I’m a bit of a
mess”

“
Do you want
me to stay in with you tonight?”

Sighing I
decline her offer and wince as I feel my lip.

“
See you in a
minute” she hangs up. Holding my breath I chance a look in the
mirror, cringing at how bad it looks, I start rubbing the dried
blood from chin and the cut by my eye brow, I’m not brave enough to
run a brush through my hair so I throw it up in a loose pony tail
but the lump on the back of my head is unavoidable, I immediately
pull my hair back down so it’s loose around my shoulders again,
remembering the nail marks that are no doubt visible in my
neck.

My passenger
door opens and Sophie leans in, I keep my head down and close my
eyes silently willing myself to keep it together at least until I’m
on my own.

“
Brooke look
at me” My head snaps up at the sound of Matt’s voice, I look around
but Sophie isn’t with him “I’m on my own” he informs me while
running his gaze of every bump, scrape, cut and already forming
bruise on my face, I don’t miss the way he winces when he sees my
jaw that has already started to swell. “Anywhere else?” he asks
looking as though he’s dreading the answer, I can only nod “Where?”
he concern is my undoing and I feel a lone tear run down my cheep
making me flinch when it touches the cup on my lip “My ribs, and
left an
kle” I whisper but
know that he’s close enough to have heard. I watch as he sighs
heavily and comes around to my door. He smiles at me and politely
ignores the way I flinch away from him as he lifts me from the car
and continues to carry me into the building and up the stairs to my
room.

“
How is she? I
ask as he sets me down on my feet and pulls my arm around his
shoulders to help me walk as we get to the door

“
Worried” he
says full of sympathy, I nod and take a deep breath as he opens the
door and we enter the room, he helps me walk over to Sophie’s bed
and sits me down. I manage to wince only once and hold back the
groan as my ribs protest at the awkward position.

“
Brooke, what
the hell were you thinking going alone?” Sophie demands as she sits
next to me on the bed and brings a wet cloth to my face to wipe
away any dried blood that I missed during my inspection in the
car.

I’m saved
from answering her when my phone rings, already knowing who it is I
prepare myself for the normal phone call I always get after my
‘visits’.

“
Hello”

“
Are you home
yet?” My step dad hisses into the phone.

“
Yeah”

“
Who’s there?”
he demands as usual.

“
Just me and
Sophie no one else” I reply knowing that if he knew there were any
men in my room, next time will be worse, I chance a glance around
the room Matt turns away from me not before I catch a glimpse of
the pure rage on his face.

“
Remember, you
tell anyone…”

“
Yeah I know,
I die” I finish for him.

“
Very well,
see you soon, wear something nice next time, I have something a
little different planned, something we have never done before, in
fact wear a skirt” he laughs down the phone at me before he hangs
up. I can only stare at the phone, he basically just told me in
advance that he’s going to rape me, he has never even hinted at it
before I don’t doubt for a second that he means it, I’m a little
surprised it has taken this long but that doesn’t stop my stomach
from turning. I somehow manage to throw myself off the bed and
toward the bathroom where I make it just in time to empty my
stomach in the toilet.

A few minutes
pass and I think I can hear Sophie crying softly but I can’t be
sure because there is a slight ringing in my ears, Matt comes in
hands me a glass of water and some tissue. I weakly smile my thanks
to him and think that he’s going to leave but instead he closes the
door and sits down next to me on the bathroom floor, I notice that
he is careful to sit a small distance away from me and makes sure
not to touch me, I can’t help the snort that escapes my mouth from
thinking that just a few hours ago I was in a similar situation but
yet completely different.

“
Any reason
for your sudden need to loose whatever you have eaten?” he asks me
softly.