"It'll Be Our Little Secret, Okay?": Chapter 3
(Please leave us feedback)
My stomach dropped the moment I read the piece of paper. I knew exactly what this was about.
"Lys, are you okay?" she asked as she waved her arms wildly in front of my face. I lifted my gaze to meet her questioning one.
"Oh... yeah. Um…oh…I'm fine. Isn't this hilarious? Liv has been going around putting these in people's lockers. Totally hilarious, right?" By the expression on her innocent face, I could tell she bought it.
"OH MY GOSH! THAT'S SO FUNNY!" she squealed. The bell rang; Kate and I sang our usual chorus of goodbyes and parted ways. God, I was so tired of talking like that. What intelligent person squeals like that? As people started to disperse into their classes, I glanced at the crowd of faces surrounding me. Most of them seemed to be looking at me; which is normal of course. However, for some reason, I was noticing it more today. Was it because Harry said something? Oh God...do they know? They couldn't possibly. Then it hit me. What if they always looked at me like this? What if I was so obnoxious that they stared like this every day, I was just too caught up in my own little bubble to notice. I put my head down as I walked through the hall, suddenly ashamed to be seen by everyone as this perfect little airhead. That wasn't me. That was the Alyssa who didn't let anyone in, the Alyssa who had everything, the Alyssa who had the perfect family. They didn't know the real me, the one who stood behind stonewalls that I'd carefully built up. This bubbly, preppy, obnoxious personality that I showed on my exterior was such a joke. I acted this way so people wouldn't ask questions. I acted this way because if everyone thought I was perfect, maybe my family would become perfect. Maybe everything would become perfect.
I was honestly terrified. I felt like I plan my every move, as if my actions didn't seem "flawless" enough, people would figure out my secret. I shuffled through the hallway, making a feeble attempt to put a perky spring in my step. I jolted backward as, a hand tugged at my shoulder. Spinning around, ready to strike whoever had the nerve to put a hand on Alyssa Davis, I looked up to see my reflection in a pair of emerald green orbs. Damn it.
“What do you w…” My voice trailed off as Harry raised his eyebrows and held his left index finger to his lips. He motioned down the hall with his hand. Unwillingly, I obliged, shaking as I made my way behind him. I had never allowed anyone to have this kind of power over me, the power to make me crumble, to fall apart in a single instance, the power to dissolve the perfect image I had worked so hard to uphold.
He held open the door to the janitor's closet, motioning for me to enter first. Oh, so now he decides to be a gentleman? After I was snuggly inside, his tall figure followed me in, shutting the door gently behind him. There was a moment of tense silence as he fumbled around in the dark for the light switch. When the closet was illuminated, I immediately realized how close we were standing. My chin was nearly pressed against his chest, my feet crushing his.
"Sorry," I apologized for the lack of distance between the two of us. Naturally, I jumped backwards, trying to distance myself from him. As I forced space between our bodies, my foot hit the mop bucket and it toppled over, spilling onto the floor and trickling into Harry's shoes.
"Oh God. I'm so sorry,” I quickly apologized as I frantically tried to clean it up, as not to upset him. My voice faded off.
“Who taught you to be so obedient?” he smirked at me. I hated him. He was trying to anger me. I wasn't sure what he was playing at, but all I knew was he sure as hell wasn’t going to be nice about it.
“Don’t you dare,” I said to him, my voice shaky, tears threatening to spill. All he did was smirk and from that small gesture, I could tell he knew how to use this control.
I was beyond done being the curly haired dork everyone thought of me as. I was so much more than that. I was a talented, dapper, and quite handsome young man, if I did say so myself. I deserved to be recognized, and at this point, I was going to make that happen, no matter what the cost. Since you’re little, they teach you to treat others how you want to be treated. Alyssa treated me like her bitch and now, I was going to treat her like mine.
"Alright Alyssa, this is how it's going to work. You are going to do as I say, when I say it. Agreed?" I nodded my head slowly, unwillingly obliging to his demands. I hated being vulnerable; I had been all of my life. School was the only place that I had any control and now, I had none. I was, honestly, confused. What did I ever do to him? Well, okay, bad choice of words, but anything my so-called “friends” or me had ever done to him was certainly no cause for him to victimize himself like this.
"What do you want me to do?" I swallowed roughly as the words escaped my lips.
"Just, show everyone, that I'm not the little dork you always make fun of."
"And how do you expect me to do that?" I spat back, maybe a little too harshly considering the power he currently held over me. "Let's start with something easy." A devilish grin spread across his mouth and suddenly, those cute dimples didn't seem so friendly.
The door opened and rebounded off the wall to the left, denting the drywall.
“Alex, take Xavier, go upstairs, and don’t come out until I come to get you,” I said as I quickly ushered their small bodies over to the staircase.
“Hey..Aly…Alllyyyy…Lyssssss,” my father drunkenly stumbled into the house, knocking over the coat rack near the front door.
“Why honey? I’m perfectly fi…” his palms smacked the hardwood floor as his body suddenly succumbed to gravity. I was surprised he was able to brace himself in his wasted state.
“Hun, help your father up.” Hesitantly, I walked over to him and reached a shaky hand down. Using all of my body mass, I heaved him to his feet. Once up, he wobbled a bit until he was as steady as a drunkard could be.
“Dad, please, go to sleep.” He stumbled over to the stairs before I stopped him.
“Sleep down here. You won’t make it up the stairs and I don’t think showing up to mom in this condition is a good idea.” His head swiftly rotated to face me.
“Alyssa Anne. Let the fuck go of me and let me go to my room.” I didn’t want him to screw up his and mom’s relationship even more, but I also didn’t want him near Alex and Xavier.
“What did you just say?” he spat at me.
“No Dad,” I said with a little more confidence. His body weight shifted and I immediately raised my arm in defense, bracing myself for the blow, but at the moment, nothing came. Blinking a few times, I slowly opened my eyes.
“Now, Alyssa, please let me go upstairs to your mother and my own bed.” I shook my head in response. A firm hand latched onto my chin, forcing me to meet his glazed over glare. I couldn’t let him. He would do something stupid, so I slightly tightened my grip on his arm. He flinched and his rough palm collided with my back, knocking me to the floor. I resisted the tears that tried to pour from my eyes. My nails dug into the floor as I awaited what was to come. He heaved me up by the ribs, his fingers pressing firmly into me. I writhed in pain as he lifted me from the floor.
“Lys, can I go upstairs now?” I didn’t want him up there.
“No,” I said. As soon as I said, I shoved past him and bounded up the stairs. Rounding the corner, I fell into my brothers’ room and shut the door behind me. I could hear his heavy footsteps in the hallway.
“Damn kid…needs to learn…” He mumbled until he reached his room. As soon as he was no longer in the hallway, I let the tears trickle down my face.
“Lys, are you okay?” Xavier’s innocent voice inquired. They were unaware as to what our father does. Mom and I have hid them from him every time.
“It’s nothing Xav, go back to bed,” I managed to say in-between slowing sobs. I attempted to curl up on the floor, but when my body touched the floor, a sharp pain shot up my chest. Lifting my shirt, I evaluated the damage on my ribcage. Deep purple splotches marked my sides. The tears began to flow again. These were just a few more flaws to add to my imperfections.
"When the next bell rings, that's the signal for us both to head to science, am I correct?" She hesitantly nodded and I continued.
"When that bell rings, you're going to walk beside me to class."
"Is that it?" she questioned. I snickered.
"Oh, if only it was darling. You are going to walk beside me to class, you're going to hold my hand, and you're going to smile, is that understood?" Her face dropped.
"I asked you a question. Is that understood Alyssa?" She narrowed her bright blue eyes and stared directly into mine.
"If you think I'm going down without a fight, you're more stupid than I thought." I was taken aback. I thought this would be so much easier. I grabbed her face and looked her dead in the eyes.
"Alyssa Davis, you are going to do whatever I say when I say it. If I say jump, you say how high. That is, unless, you want me to tell the whole school about your little situation.” I felt her shudder under my grasp.
"It's not like anyone would believe you," she said in a shaky voice.
"Is that so? Well, maybe I'll have to dig up some proof then." She lowered her head and nodded.
"That’s my girl!" The bell sounded, "Now, perk up. You've got a role to play."
We walked to science class, my tiny hand swallowed by Harry's. I was once again aware of everyone's eyes on me. However, this time, they weren't empty stares. They were shocked stares. They were the stares of those whispering to their friends about Alyssa Davis being seen within two feet of Harry Styles, let alone holding his hand. Ignoring the snide remarks, I kept my head held high. I, Alyssa Davis, was not going to let someone as unimportant as Harry Styles shatter me. I smiled and laughed; I even waved to a couple of those who were gawking. As soon as our feet passed the threshold into science class, I dropped Harry's hand like it was scalding hot. Moving away quickly, I headed towards the other side of the room, but soon I felt the firm grip of a massive hand on my shoulder.
"Ah, ah, ah. Wouldn't want people to think you were faking out there earlier, yeah?" I turned towards him, but refused to look him in the eyes. He motioned for me to follow, and patted the desk of an empty seat next to his. Taking the seat unwillingly, I kept a fake smile plastered on my face. He can do whatever he wants, but I won't let him take my confidence, it was all I had left. If Harry wanted to play his little game that was fine by me, but little did I know, he wanted so much more than that.
