I nod. "What electives are you in?"
"Psychology, shop, biology and Spanish," he rattles off.
My eyebrows shoot up. "That's pretty diverse."
Luc laughs softly. "Yeah. I don't really know what to do with my life so I picked what I was good at."
"Me too," I say quietly.
We sit there in comfortable silence for a while.
I think about today, everything that's happened.
When Dominic first sat down this morning, I couldn't believe that I said something to him. He was nice. Refreshing. I love his accent. He's got like a country artist's perfect voice. I mean, daaamn!
Then there's Alec. He stood up for me in Art without hesitation. Despite being nervous talking to me, he helped me and took me to meet his friends.
The twins, Mason and Maverick are an odd pair. I thought Maverick didn't like me but it's also a possibility it was like Mason said—he was just hangry. Mason was really nice. He seems to have the personality of a puppy and a child wrapped up in one really hot package.
I know they didn't mean to push me. Any normal person would have jumped at the chance to be friends with guys like that. But I won’t. I can’t.
"What are you thinking about?" Luc breaks me out of mental pain. He waits patiently while I gather my thoughts.
"I met some people today who want to be friends," I say like that explains everything.
"And?" Luc prompts me when I don't continue.
"I'm leaving in five days. I have to go. I can't stay here. What's the point if I'm leaving?" I ask Luc.
Luc's silent for a moment. "Why not enjoy it while it lasts?" He finally says.
I can’t help but sneak a peak at him. He’s staring into the distance and there’s a wisdom in his eyes that I haven’t seen in someone our age.
Luc rubs his leg again and I wonder what he did to hurt it. Suddenly his eyes are on mine and I freeze because I’ve been staring. But he just smiles, it’s barely perceptible but I smile back.
. . .
It's almost dark when I pull up outside the house.
With everything that happened today, I almost forgot about what awaited me at home. I hate that word. It's not my home. I just live there. Well, not really. It's just somewhere I have to go back to for the next four days and one night.
I leave my backpack in my car and lock it, hiding the keys in a tree near the house.
I lost track of time with Luc. God, it was so nice butt I'm late. And it can only end one way. As I get closer, I hear music playing and people shouting. No, no, no, no.
I back away from the door and an arm snakes around my waist, roughly yanking me sideways. I try to scream but a hand tightly covers my mouth.
He pulls me around to the back of the house and slams me up against the wall. I whimper when my head hits the wall.
"Shut the fuck up," my father growls and I go as still as possible.
He takes his hand off my mouth and presses his arm against my throat so I'm struggling to breathe.
"Where the fuck have you been?" He doesn't wait for an answer and pulls his arm back, nailing my stomach. Something cracks and a fire of pain makes me want to throw up.
I struggle to keep from screaming but a sob escapes my throat. I press a hand to my ribs as pain explodes in my jaw. He grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks back. My head slams against the wall.
I bite my lip to keep from crying out. It only fuels his anger.
