CHAPTER 29: MIKE

"You were completely drunk!" Aaliyah points a finger at Joey, he gives her a look that

includes his mouth dropping open.

"I was not!" He tries to defend himself but even the dumbest of the dumbest would realise

that he was indeed very much drunk. He's never been very good at handling drinks, he's a

light weight and it's hilarious when he gets drunk. I snort and stand beside him, they were

that loud that I could hear them across the room! Joey glares at me, "are you picking on me

too, Claudia?" I give him a cheeky grin and shrug.

Everyone's heads turn to the door as a knock echoes and everything goes silent, oh my god

I hate it when you're the one on that side of the door and you knock and everyone just stares

at you. It's so uncomfortable! This lady looks to be in her late 40's, her hair is in a sleek bun

and she's wearing a pencil skirt with a shirt tucked in. She looks at my Business teacher and

walks over to her muttering something, the teacher looks at me. Why is she looking at me?

"Claudia, someone's here for you, he couldn't get a hold of you and wanted me to let you

know he's here," I try to hide my grin and I nod gathering my things in my arms and walking

out of the door. After I walked to my temporary locker to grab my my things and get my bag I

walk to an office, I'm practically bouncing on my toes in excitement when I enter the room.

But I freeze when I see who it is.

"Mike?" My fathers head snaps to me and his eyes hold a warning look, he gives me a

complete fake smile and walks over to me pulling me into a hug that isn't very good and

friendly. I push him away from me and he stumbles back, I shake my head at him in

disbelief. "You can't just show up here like everything's okay! Leave me alone!" I go to walk

out but he grabs my wrist in a bone breaking grip, I let out a pained noise and he smiles

sweetly at the lady at the front desk who is looking at me in worry. He drags me out and I

scream at him to let me go, he shoves me into the car when we exist the building and I gasp.

He gets in after me and orders the guy to drive.

The first thing he does is slap me, my head whips to the side from the force of it. I slowly turn

my head to look at him in complete surprise, "you little whore!" He screams at me. I cower

away in fear and scramble back, my back presses to the door and I take large breaths. "You

said all of that to the tabloids! You said I was a complete drunk, my clothing line is second

hand and I'm a cheating ass hole!" I look at him in confusion, he lunges at me and grips my

throat. I struggle to breathe, I try to pull his hands off of me and I make a small noise at the

back of my throat.

"N-no I didn't," I wheeze out, his grip tightens and tears make an appearance. Before I can

most likely die of suffocation he releases me, I cough and take sharp breaths to get air into

my lungs.

"Stop lying, Claudia. Who else would say that?" He doesn't even give me time to reply, he

slams my head to the door and I scream. "OF COURSE YOU DID!" He growls, I don't know

what I'm thinking, I don't know why I made this decision but I open the door to the car that's

going 90km per hour. And I jump out, my body slams to the road and the air drains from me.

My bag didn't stop the impact at all, with a blurry vision I look at the car to see he's stopped

it. No, no, no! I manage to stand up and run towards the woods and push past the people

that exited their cars to see if I'm alright. I ignore the pain that is running through my arm and

all the way to my shoulder, I want to scream but I can't- my throat is burning and scratchy. I

ignore the throbbing on my scalp and cheek and I run like Usain Bolt, everything's spinning

but I keep running. I can't stop running.

My foot gets caught in a root that's sticking out of the ground and I trip and roll down the hill

that was unfortunately there. When I reach the bottom I don't move, everything's screaming

at me to stay still. Everything hurts, I let out a quiet sob and my vision becomes darker. Then

I don't see anything.

"It's going to be okay, I won't let any harm come your way anymore." A soft voice murmurs, I

can hear the beeping of a heart monitor and I can smell medicines and cleaning supplies. I

can feel a warm hand grasping mine and I can feel the presence closely that it sends tingles

through my spine; Isaac. "Just please wake up Claudia, please. There's so many

unanswered questions and there's so many unspoken words that need to be spoken," he

pleads.

My eyes peel themselves open, the first thing I see is the white ceiling. The brightness hurts

so I shut them again then blink, everything goes silent and I turn my head to my side. Zac

looks at me and he lets out a sigh of relief, he has bags underneath his eyes and a stubble.

"Zac?" I croak out but immediately shut up when my throat protests painfully, he passes me

a bottle of water and I take it thankfully. I take note of the cast that goes from my shoulder all

the way to my hand, I stare at it in confusion.

"You broke your shoulder, elbow and wrist," he whispers quietly, I nod; that's why it was so

painful. A silence wraps around us and I stare at him, he stares back. "Claudia.... what

happened?" Uncertainty is laced in his voice, tears sting my eyes as the memories

resurface.

"They....T-They said someone was here to see me, I thought it would be you...... When I

walked into the office and saw him, my father I knew trouble was bound to happen. And

trouble I got; he dragged me out of school and shoved me into the car, he slapped me and

told me that everything was all my fault and I told reporters that he was a cheater, he sells

second hand clothes and all that. Then he slammed my head into the car door and I couldn't

handle it anymore," I sob. "So I opened the car door and jumped out landing on my arm, I

saw his car had stopped so I stood up and ran to the woods. I tripped on a root then went

tumbling down a hill and then I passed out cold," his eyes darken and his jaw clenches, his

breathing is heavy and he exhales.

"I'll kill him," he growls. He looks down at me, "he hurt you, Claudia. He hurt the one person

that I really care about, the one person that makes me sane and stops me from making

stupid decisions." Tears trail down my cheeks and he hugs me, I hug him with one arm back

and sob quietly.

"H-how long was I out for?" I whisper, he pulls back and stares at me with uncertainty. This

scares me, my heart rate accelerates and I look at him wide eyed. Oh god, was it long?

"Three years...." he whispers, I look at him mortified and a sob escapes my mouth. "I'm just

kidding, only two days. I wanted to make light of the conversation but I'm a f*ck tard so that

didn't work," I punch his shoulder with my good hand.

"You scared me!" He grabs my hand and looks at me intently.

"I'm sorry."