Her Saving Grace

I was terrified all the time.

I couldn't go on like this. I was even afraid of my own shadow.

I heard a noise downstairs, and I knew Allan was home. He was probably searching the cabinets for his stash of alcohol. He was more violent when he was drunk. 

I heard my stomach grumble again. I was really hungry, but I couldn't go downstairs because he would see me and find a reason to hit me.

I really don't know why my mother married him. What had she seen in him? I don't know why I ask that question because I already know the answer. He was rich and my mother needed the money.

Dad died when I was ten, and we started to have money issues. My mother had to do something so that we could get by, so a year later she married Allan. She didn't love him, and I knew he didn't love her either.

Thinking about my mother, I touched the locket that was around my neck. My mother had given it to me when I was twelve. That was when she was healthy. Two years later, she became sick with lung cancer. Allan didn't even care. He didn't try his best to take care of her and pay for her medications. She died a year later when I was fifteen.

I opened the locket and looked at the picture inside. It was a photograph of my mother and me. We were both smiling widely at the camera. I was really happy that day. I sighed. I really miss you, Mom. I know you would never allow this to happen.

I closed the locket and went to lay on my bed. I was really thankful that tomorrow was the first day of senior year, so I wouldn't have to be home all the time with him anymore.

I remember clearly the first time he hit me. It was six months after my mom had died.

** Flashback **

I had just finished my homework, and I had gone downstairs to make myself a sandwich.

As soon as I stepped into the kitchen, I saw Allan, my stepfather, leaning on the counter, a bottle of whiskey in his right hand. I didn't say anything because he was like this most days. He didn't even talk to me anymore.

I went over to the fridge to retrieve the cheese, tomatoes, and mayonnaise.

"Kayla," I heard Allan call. I closed the fridge and turned around to face him. I waited for him to speak. "Didn't you hear me calling you?" He asked.

"No. I was in my room doing homework," I replied.

"When I call you next time, I want you to answer me." He said, stepping closer to me. I scrunched up my nose at the stench of alcohol on his breath.

"Okay, but I really didn't hear you," I said, confused about his behaviour. It happened so fast and took me by surprise, but the next thing I knew, I was holding my cheek. He had hit me and it hurt like hell. 

"Do you hear me?!" He roared.

I looked at him in surprise. Man, he must really be drunk. I never would've thought he'd hit me. He never had before. "Yes," I said quietly.

"Good. Now, I'm out of whiskey. I want you to go to the store and get me some more," he said, slamming the empty bottle on the counter.

** End of Flashback **

It had been two years since that happened. Two years since my life was normal. Two years, and my life hasn't been the same. I had thought that he had hit me because he was drunk and that it would be the last time.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

He continued to hit me for every single thing, and it only got worse. He had become a monster. I really couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't wait until I turned eighteen so I could get the hell out of here.

Him hitting me that day was the first time, but not the last. It was just the beginning.

I got up early the following morning and quickly got ready for school. As usual, I put on a lot of foundation and concealer to hide the bruises. I took up my bag and the house key and went downstairs.

My stepfather was sprawled out on the couch, an empty bottle of beer hanging loosely in his hand. He was fast asleep and snoring loudly. I tiptoed through the living room and head to the front door. I was really hungry, but I didn't want to risk him waking up if I cook breakfast. I opened the door quickly and ran down the porch steps and began my journey to school.

Since I got ready early, I reached school with a lot of time to spare. I walked past the parking lot, where a lot of students were gathered, and went into the school building. I then head down the hall to my locker.

"Kayla!" I heard my name being screamed. I knew exactly who it was immediately. I turned around with a wide grin on my face.

"Jazzy!" I greeted one of my best friends; Jasmine Thomas. She finally reached me and flung her arms around me.

"Girl, I missed you so much!" She exclaimed, squeezing me tight.

"I missed you too." I replied, then pulled away. "How was Thailand?" I asked.

"It was great. I can't believe summer's over." She said.

"Yeah, me too." I sighed.

"Hey, have you seen Kevin or Lucas yet?" She asked.

"No," I replied. Kevin Harris and Lucas Martin were my other best friends. It has always been the four of us since middle school.

"Hey, hey, hey. Look who's here." I heard a familiar voice behind me. Jasmine and I turned around to see Kevin strutting towards us.

"Speak of the devil and he appears." Jasmine teased, grinning widely.

"Kevin!" I said, an automatic smile forming on my face. I really missed him, even though we did see each other a couple of times during the summer.

"How are my two favourite girls?" He asked, hugging me and then Jasmine. The three of us then lapsed in a conversation about our summer vacation as we head to our lockers.

After we got our books, we stood in the hallway and continued talking. Class was not going to start for the next five minutes. I then looked down the corridor to see Lucas coming towards us.

"Lucas!" I greeted when he neared us. I then looked at him and frowned. "What the hell happened to your hair?"

Lucas smirked and ran his hands through his new hairstyle. His black hair was comb over to one side. Much like how Justin Bieber used to wear his hair. "I wanted a change. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Dude, you look ridiculous." Kevin stated.

"You're just jealous that I'm going to get all the girls now. I mean, no one will be able to resist this look." He said smugly.

Jasmine and I laughed. Lucas looked at us. "What's so funny?" He crossed his arms.

"Keep telling yourself that buddy." I patted his cheek teasingly. Okay, I was joking because any girl would want him, with or without the new hairstyle. He also knew how to charm the ladies. Kevin as well. After all, they were both handsome, intelligent and funny. However, Kevin was more of the flirtatious one.

"Whatever, you know it's the truth." He replied. Suddenly, the shrill of the warning bell cut off any more conversations. We began to walk to our homeroom that we were in together.

We went to the back of the class and sat down. Kevin and Lucas sat beside each other, while Jasmine and I sat in front of them. The teacher was not here as yet, so I got up from my seat and went to sit on Kevin's lap, so we can continue to talk until the teacher comes. Jasmine copied my actions and sat in Lucas' lap.

"What did you do for your summer vacation, Lucas?" Jasmine asked.

"Parties and going to the beach mainly." He responded.

"Yes. Lucas and I partied hard and picked up honeys at the beach." Kevin added, giving Lucas a high five. "We invited Kayla a couple of times though, but she only came once." He added, holding up one finger.

"I was preoccupied most of the time." I defended.

I didn't want to tell them the real reason I couldn't make it. It was hard to get out of the house during the summer, because of Allan. I would lock up in my room mostly. But I couldn't tell them that because my friends did not know what my home life was like. I was afraid to tell them.

"I wish I was here." Jasmine said. Just then our teacher, Ms. Baker walked into the classroom and Jasmine and I sprang up from the boys' lap and went to our seat quickly. Thank God we made it in time, before our teacher looked around and saw us. Ms. Baker greeted us and then began with roll call.

******

"All of the trigonometric functions of an angle can be constructed geometrically in terms of a unit circle centred at O," Mr. Malcolm, my maths teacher, was saying while I tried to keep my eyes open.

I don't normally sleep in class but, right now I wanted to sleep for two reasons. One, I could not sleep last night, because Allan was up all night, so I waited until he went to bed, which was really late. Two, I really, really hate trigonometry.

"The trigonometric functions are most simply defined using the unit circle. Let be an angle measured counter clockwise from the x-axis along an arc of the circle..." Mr. Malcolm continued. I rest my head on my hands and soon I didn't hear anything else as his voice trailed off.

"Kayla." I heard my name being called after a while, but I was too tired to lift my head.

"Kayla!" I heard again and I groaned. Just five more minutes, please.

"Miss. Green!" The person shouted and I shot up quickly, looking at a very frustrated and angry Mr. Malcolm. The students laughed in amusement. "Miss. Green, can you please solve this trigonometric problem?" Mr. Malcolm asked, crossing his arms.

I shifted my eyes from him and squinted at the board to the problem he pointed on.

Solve sin(x)+2=3 for 0°< x <360°.

Uh? Why is that equation so long? And is trigonometry really important in life? God, I really hate trigonometry!

Mr. Malcolm gave me an angry look. The look he gave me with his beady little eyes could kill. He began to tap his foot, waiting impatiently for my response.

"Um...six?" I said the first number that came into my mind. Mr. Malcolm shook his head and went over to his desk. I knew exactly what was coming next. He was the hardest teacher there is. He doesn't let anything slide.

With a detention slip in hand, Mr. Malcolm turned back to me. "Please come for your detention slip, Kayla." I got up from my seat and approached him. It didn't make any sense to argue because he would just give me another one. That was who he is. "Next time, please refrain from sleeping in my class. It's disrespectful." He added in a hard tone.

I took the slip from him, rolling my eyes at his comment. I made sure he didn't see me, because he would definitely give me another one for doing that as well.

I sighed. Great. In all my seventeen years of living, I have never ever gone to the detention room. Not only was it my first detention, but it was also on the first day of school.