Page 2 of Betraying Bexley

True. She would. As it was, the collar of her shirt had been stained along with a few drops that fell on the front of her shirt. Bex frowned. It was ruined. She’d never be able to get the blood out of it. Still, she couldn’t force herself to move.

“How about this,” Iliana started, “I’ll go grab some stuff to fix you up.”

“B-B-But the n-nurse,” she whispered, Iliana would never make it out of the nurses station with the stuff needed to fix her up.

“Let me worry about that.” Iliana grinned, patting her hand. Pain snapped against her skin, and Bex bit back a wince. If Iliana noticed, she didn’t say anything.

“Okay,” Bex agreed. How the girl would pull it off, Bex didn’t care. Wasn’t like they were best friends, or it would be any skin off her teeth. After next week, none of it would matter.

“Perfecto.” Iliana squeezed Bex’s hand and heat raced up her arm, settling over her heart, chasing away the ache. “Don’t go anywhere and keep pressure on your eye.”

Bex nodded, putting the wet square to her eye as Iliana walked out of the bathroom. Had that happened? Had someone from the school talked to her? No. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. She didn't have friends. No one cared about her. The warmth of Iliana's touch evaporated and the cold, icy shell surrounding her thickened. She should go back to class and when anyone asked what happened or where she'd been, which was few and far between, she'd lie like she always did.

With her mind made up, she started for the door and came to an abrupt halt when it swung open, and Iliana entered the small space. Bex stumbled backward, but Iliana was there grabbing her arm to keep her steady. Her heart pounded. When she was steady on her feet, she let go of Iliana and mumbled an apology.

“You were going to leave,” Iliana accused her.

Bex nodded. “W-What do you get out of this?”

Iliana shrugged. “Nothing. I hate seeing people hurt and you’re injured, Bex. I can help.” She pulled a couple of butterfly strips out of her pocket. “Have you used these before?”

“Y-y-y-yes.” Bex swallowed hard.

“Good.” She then pulled small alcohol swabs from her pocket and opened one. “This part is going to hurt like a bitch.”

Bex wanted to laugh. Pain was relative to her. “G-g-go for it.”

“Tough bitch.” Iliana grinned. “I like it. Hold still.”

Bex didn’t even flinch when the alcohol touched her cut. Iliana took her time to make sure the whole area was clean before she placed the butterfly strip, closing the wound. She then took the damp square from Bex and dabbed the area around her eye where the blood had trickled down.

“Should be right as rain in a few days.”

“T-thank you.” Bex glanced at her reflection and frowned. In the fifteen minutes since she’d entered the bathroom, the blackened mark around her eye had gotten darker. “I s-should go.”

“I can walk you to class,” Iliana said. “I don’t mind.”

She stared at the girl confused by her actions. What did Iliana want from her? Was she out to prank her? Use her? Worse, was she someone Bex’s father sent? The longer she stood there with the girl, the more she wanted to be away from her. “Nah, I’m good.”

Before Iliana said another word, she hurried from the bathroom and hobbled down the hall toward her classroom.So weird. She pushed Iliana out of her mind and steeled herself before she entered Mr. Aquino’s history classroom. Sasha, Valerie, and Marybeth were in her class along with Kenner, Matthew, and Dawson. The All-Americans and The Bitches. The rich kids. The do-gooders.

The biggest group of bullies the school had.

She kept her head down and took her seat, hoping she didn’t cause too big of a distraction for her teacher. As she grabbed her textbook and notepad from her bag, the student beside her winked at her. She frowned.I’m dreaming. I have to be. I need to pinch myself and I’ll wake up.After she closed up her backpack and adjusted it out of her way, she tweaked the skin of her forearm and winced.

It wasn’t a dream. She cut her gaze to the right. The boy who winked at her didn't pay her any mind. He appeared to be taking rigorous notes while listening to their teacher. Still, she studied his profile. He was Asian. He had an industrial piercing in his ear and a bolt at his brow. In the middle of his lip was another piercing. The back of his hand had a Yakuza tattoo. Her eyes widened.Yakuza? How?

The only reason she recognized it, was because her father a few years prior, had made her study all the different tattoos from different gangs/organized crime syndicates. It didn’t make sense why she needed to know about it, but it’d been fascinating, nonetheless. So, it begged the question, why was the Yakuza in Virginia Beach?It doesn’t matter, she chided herself. None of it did.

She started from the beginning with the notes Mr. Aquino had already written while playing catch up as the teacher continued to speak. Yes, come next week she wouldn’t have to deal with taking notes, nor would she have to worry about falling anymore or deal with the cut over her eye. It was, after all, for the best. This was her one chance at freedom, and she was going to take it.

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