Chapter 10

Renae sat down in art class just after finishing her lunch. She looked at the shape the desks were arranged and laughed to herself seeing the large circle.

"Renae! I'm so glad to see you back! Your dad told me what happened, I'm so sorry to hear you got hurt. I hope you gave those brats a good fight." The art teacher smiled and hugged Renae upon seeing her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little banged up but they got the worse of it. It's good to see you too Ms Hill." Renae smiled returning her hug.

The bell rang once more making the two look to the door "We'll talk more later." Ms Hill winked as she motioned her to sit down.

As Renae sat down she waited on Ms Hill as the other students talked amongst themselves. Renae scanned the room when she spotted the boy from the night before. Her heart began racing as she saw him staring at his phone and laughing.

Renae stood to her feet and walked over being as quiet as she could. She snuck behind him and glanced at his phone, she saw the picture he took of her in a conversation between him and someone named B. As the heat rose, she snatched the phone out of his hand and backed up.

"Who the hell-" He began to yell but stopped the second he turned around.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you? Gee, that sounds so inconsiderate!" Renae yelled at him. "Sounds a little familiar don't you think? I wonder from where?" Renaes voice grew louder. Almost everyone in the room had begun laughing at this point. Ms Hill was one of the exceptions, she walked over and guided the two into the hallway.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"She stole my phone!" He cried.

"He stole a picture of me in the middle of the night after stalking me through the window!" Renae matched his whine.

"Okay no, I don't get paid enough for this. Go to the headmaster's office. Now!" She pointed down the hall. Renae refused to give back the phone until she had an explanation.

After entering Jarrods office, he looked at his daughter and recognized the boy and knew immediately the trouble that was to ensue.

"You're the boy who came to my house last nigh-" He tried to speak.

"Dad, please. Now you have no choice. Tell me why you took my picture after stalking me through my windows! If you don't tell me I'll go through your phone and find out for myself. Or I'll just smash it!" Renae lifted it over her head.

"NO!" He screamed. He tried to tackle Renae for his phone with no luck as Jarrod pulled him off.

"Tell me then!" She yelled glaring at him.

"Okay! A bunch of guys in the male dorms wanted to know what happened and why you weren't showing up for school for like two weeks. A few of them who had a crush on you, who dared me to see if you were home a-and I had to get a picture or they wouldn't believe me. I wasn't stalking you, I just couldn't get a good picture through the window!" He cried.

"Now answer why you sent it in a text to someone. I saw the message, don't lie." She held the phone to her side and watched Jarrod let him go.

"This one kid, he wasn't here last night so I had to send it to him. He was the one who dared me, I didn't have a choice." He wiped the tears off his face.

Renae looked down at the phone and checked the messages that were left on the screen.

'Dude U did it! Good job bro U get bragging rites for the month'

'Thnks man'

'She pretty hot tho evn wth the scar on her face'

After reading the last message, Renae couldn't help but blush slightly "Okay... that checks out... I think." Renae shook off the blush before handing him his phone. "I want you to delete the picture, then I won't bother you anymore."

As he grabbed his phone, he deleted the picture from his album and from his messages before Renae let him leave.

"Before you leave Cam, I'm thinking of a phone ban, and I'm this close to explaining exactly why for this very reason. Stay out of trouble and my house." Jarrod said before Cam turned around and nodded his head before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"That was... weird." Renae sighed as she leaned against a chair.

"Yeah, looks like I need to watch you like a hawk now." Jarrod mumbled as he sat in his own chair.

"Dad, don't. Oh and that reminds me, a kid from my math class is coming over tonight to work on a project."

"Okay, that's fine." He sighed as he started diving into the paperwork piled on his desk. As he glanced up and raised his hand he flicked it, shooing Renae away.

"You know, you could use words like, you can go now." She glared at him.

"If you were any other student and pulled that trick in here with that boy just now, you'd be reprimanded. I should considering you showed me no respect in front of another student but I won't do that because I know you were kind of a victim in that case. Now please, go back to class." He looked back down at the papers. Renae rolled her eyes before returning back to art.

-

Even with anger fueling most of her day, Renae finished the school day. She ignored most of the laughing from other girls and ignored all the stares from boys. She walked home, tears occasionally falling. Before she could walk inside and face her dad she leaned against the wall just before reaching the door and looked up. She dropped to the ground and sobbed. Her emotions burned through her more then they ever had when she was living with Lisa. She dropped her head onto her knees and tried to control her breathing.

"Uhh, I didn't think I was that late..." Braxton said as he walked up to her on the ground.

"Oh, sorry... I just had a hard day." She wiped her face and stood up.

"Was it about that picture?" He asked wincing.

"Oh great, you've seen it too." She dropped back to the ground.

"What? No, I just heard some girls saying if they had there picture running around they'd be crying like babies." He knelt down in guilt.

"I just..." She sighed wiping her face again. "That picture was definitely apart of it. Did you hear anything else they were saying about me?"

"Do you really want to know?" He asked sitting down.

"No... I don't want to. Back home, I didn't have any emotions. I was shut down from the world but this place... I don't even know who I am anymore." She dropped her head on her knees again.

"I'm sorry. I really am. I don't have any sisters, I have a younger brother so I've never really had to deal with the emotional side of stuff." Renae looked up at him and felt her own kind of guilt.

"You're fine... I'm sorry I didn't mean to just unload on you. Like I said, I don't even know who I am anymore." She wiped her face again before standing and dusting herself off. "Are you okay?" She asked looking at him still sitting on the ground.

"Yeah, I was just thinking. Maybe I could help you get to know who you are." He scratched the back of his head scared to say anything else "So... did you still want to work on the project?" He asked standing up and dusting himself off.

"Yeah, just follow me." Renae wiped her face and squeezed her eyes a few times before opening the door to see Jarrod cooking.

"Hi sweetheart, when's your math buddy going to be-" He stopped once he saw Braxton in the doorway.

"Braxton?" Jarrod asked confused.

"Sir?" He replied out of respect.

"Okay, we'll be in my arm before you say anything to embarrass me." Renae grabbed Braxtons arm and pulled him out of the doorway and closed the door then pushed him towards her room.

"Door open!" Jarrod yelled as they got into her room.

"So that was weird." Braxton laughed as he took off his backpack.

"Yeah... My whole family is weird in it's own way." Renae said placing her bag on the floor.

"So is mine... So, did you want to work on the project or talk cause you still look a little upset?" He asked as he sat on her bed.

"Trying to read me like a book I see. Honestly? I kinda want to know what those girls were saying about me. Just so I can have an idea about what's going on. Do you want food now or later?"

"Later. That way I'll feel like I deserved it." Renae chuckled at his remarks as she made her way to her desk.

She pulled out graph paper and a few pencils and wrote their names on the top before pulling out her sketchbook and flipping to a blank page. She looked to see Braxton sitting not knowing what to do "Speak." She joked. He glared trying not to laugh.

"Alright, so there's this one girl has a weird crush on me, she told me and a few other kids that your dad is abusive and that's why you didn't show up till now and that you'll be leaving again, she also mentioned that she wouldn't be surprised if your bruises weren't from him and you weren't allowed to go to class till they were almost gone." He looked at her with concern.

"That's it? That's all they said? My dad was the one who had to save us from our psychopath of a mother. My dad was taken to prison because she wrongfully accused him. If they want to talk about my mother go ahead, I'll talk right with them and tell them all the stuff my mom did to us. How she beat us, burned us, even tried to sell me a few times but they do not talk about my dad like that. I won't let false rumors take him away from me again." Renae huffed squeezing her pencil.

She looked at Braxton to see pity on his face. "Go ahead and judge me. All I ever want in life is pity." She rolled her eyes and turned around before sighing in defeat. "I'm sorry. You were just telling me what they said and I blew up at you, I shouldn't have." She shook her head, still facing away from him. "I just get worked up when I see people stare at me like-" She was cut off by Braxton wrapping his arms around her from behind.

He didn't say a word, he just stood there hugging her. "What are you-" He cut her off again by spinning her chair around and hugging her again.

"I'm sorry Renae... I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to give you pity. I was trying to understand everything you must've gone through. I'm happy you're happy and safe with your dad now. I won't ever let her hurt you again, I promise." He spoke softly as he dropped to his knees and rested his head on her shoulder, still hugging her.

Renae couldn't fight the tears as he held her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him and let her emotions run. She cried till he whispered in her ear "It's gonna be okay." She pulled back and wiped her face.

"Ugh, I'll be right back." She shook her head and walked into her bathroom. She blew her nose and washed her face. She looked in the mirror to see her eyes were puffy, she ran the water cold and washed her face a little more till she was convinced her face was back to normal.