by Sammy King
Chelsea looked at him confused, she didn’t know what he meant. She hoped that she wouldn’t be put in the same position that Kelly was in order for him to take action.
“I know you won’t. I trust you” she said forcing a smile to her lips.
Mason put his forehead on Chelsea’s and kissed her lips.
“I love you” he said.
Chelsea’s eyes widened. They had only been together for four days, but it felt like longer, it felt like they had never been apart. They had been through so much together.
“I love you too” she said.
The words came out so easily. She had never said them to anyone, and she suspected Mason hadn’t either. He kissed her long and passionately rubbing her body. Chelsea hissed when he ran his hand over her wound.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry” he said with a frown.
Chelsea smiled and took his hand.
“It’s alright, it’s not that bad” she said.
That night they slept entwined in each other’s arms. Chelsea’s dreams were filled with men in patches and Duggar sneering over her ripping her body to pieces, swinging her limbs around celebrating. Chelsea woke up with a scream. Her body was soaked with sweat and she was shaking. Mason reached out and pulled her tight.
“It was just a dream baby, you’re safe” he cooed into her ear until she fell back into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
It felt like Chelsea hadn’t slept at all when she woke and got ready for school. Mason couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her either which didn’t help her want to go to school any. She wasn’t looking forward to having to deal with Maddison but she couldn’t put it off any longer. Chelsea glanced around the hall when they entered the school but couldn’t see Maddison anywhere. Chelsea sighed with relief as she put her books and bag in her locker and there was no nasty note or picture anywhere in sight. When she closed her locker she saw Lincoln walking towards her with a smile on his face.
“Hey Chelsea, are you going to come watch us at football practice tonight?” he asked.
Chelsea felt arms slip around her waist and the familiar chest of Mason press against her back. Chelsea smiled and looked up at him.
“You wanna come and watch? It’s not that exciting but you get to watch me be all manly and run around with other manly men” Mason laughed.
Chelsea barked out a loud laugh and nodded her head.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world” she said with a grin.
“Awesome. Anyway I’ve got English up first” Lincoln sighed “Worst subject ever”
Chelsea smiled and nodded, although she quite liked English.
“What have you got first?” Mason asked.
“Life drawing” she replied.
“Well that explains the smile then” Mason laughed.
Chelsea shrugged her shoulders, she loved all her art classes but her life drawing class was her favourite, it was an opportunity to put a lot of detail into her work and get lost in the picture.
“Do you draw nude people?” Lincoln asked his eyes widening.
Chelsea nodded her head.
“Sometimes. Today it is going to be a Turkish tea seat, not quite as interesting” she said.
“So are the chicks hot?” Lincoln asked.
Chelsea laughed.
“If you like fifty something old women with big sagging boobs” she said with a laugh.
Lincoln pulled a face and shook his head.
“Alright, you can keep that then” he laughed.
Mason shook his head and punched Lincoln in the arm.
“Come on let’s get going, you know how Mr Simon’s gets when we are late” Mason said to Lincoln.
They all said their goodbyes and Chelsea watched the two friends walk down through the hall. It was amazing to watch them. Both well over six foot tall and both built full of muscle, Mason with his long black hair that hung about his shoulders and Lincoln with his cropped blonde hair, they seemed to encompass the whole hallway. They drew attention wherever they walked, people stopped and stared and yet they seemed completely oblivious to it.
Chelsea was lost in thought when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She jumped and spun around to see Dylan standing beside her. He was like Mason’s polar opposite. He was tall as well but he was long and skinny, his arms and legs seemed to be too long for his body and he hunched rather than standing straight with confidence like Mason did. Dylan smirked when he saw the look of shock on Chelsea’s face.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to give you a fright” he said covering his mouth to hide his smile.
“Lucky I’m not a ninja, I would have karate chopped your skinny arse” she laughed.
Dylan erupted into a fit of giggles that had his whole body shaking.
“You’re little enough to be a ninja” he said faking a karate chop.
Chelsea narrowed her eyes and gave his backside a quick kick causing him to jump.
“You didn’t see that coming now did you?” she laughed.
Dylan laughed again and attempted to kick her back but accidentally knocked her leg. Chelsea paled with the pain and sucked in a sharp breath over her teeth. Dylan’s face instantly dropped as he realised he had hurt her, he took her by the arm and held up.
“Oh shit Chelsea, I’m sorry are you alright?” he asked as she stooped down to look at her leg.
She saw that it was starting to ooze blood through the gauze that Kelly had put on it that morning. Dylan caught sight of the wound and his face went the whitest shade of pale she had ever seen.
“Chelsea what the fuck?” he said shock written all over his face as he looked at the wound but saw for the first time the other scars that dotted her thigh.
Chelsea tugged at her skirt and grabbed his hand dragging him into the art room. She looked around but Brenda hadn’t arrived, which she was grateful for.
“Dylan please you can’t tell anyone, especially Brenda” she pleaded.
Dylan shook his head and pointed at her leg.
“Who did this to you?” he said through clenched teeth, his fists were balled tight.
“I did” she said dropping her head and looking down at her shoe.
“Chelsea? Why?” he said his eyes softening with sadness.
“It was how I coped for years. All the time that Carl was doing those things to me. Brenda saw them one day and she asked me about it and I made a promise I would never do it again. That’s why I draw the pictures I do” Chelsea explained.
Dylan nodded his head as the door swung open.
“Well don’t I have two eager beavers today” Brenda announced from the door.
Chelsea smiled at her, but Dylan couldn’t seem to wipe the sadness off his face. Brenda looked between the two of them.
“Alright spill it, what’s happened?” Brenda asked folding her arms across her chest and tapping her foot.
Chelsea felt panic rise in her heart.
“My dog died” Dylan blurted out as he dropped his face to the ground.
Chelsea turned and looked shocked at him.
“Yeah he got hit by a car last night, I was just telling Chelsea about it, she got sad too because she loved him just as much” Dylan continued, gently nudging Chelsea’s hand to agree.
The truth was that Dylan didn’t even have a dog. Chelsea nodded her head and felt relief flood over her that Dylan was prepared to lie for her, however, she felt awful for lying to Brenda, she had been a great confident and Chelsea broke her promise.
“Oh Dylan I’m so sorry to hear that, what was his name?” Brenda asked coming closer to Dylan and resting her hand on his arm.
“Nigel” he blurted avoiding Brenda’s stare.
Chelsea had to bite her lip to stop from bursting out with laughter of all the names he could have chosen, he came up with Nigel. Brenda looked between them with sadness in her eyes.
“Well I hope Nigel rests in peace. It’s so hard when we lose one of our fur babies” Brenda said sadly.
Dylan
nodded sadly and turned to face his work as the other students began to file into the room. She could see Maddison’s best friend Skye gossiping with their other friend Taylor, both girls stopped when they saw Chelsea and glared at her. Chelsea knew they were talking about her and tried to shake it off. She preferred being anonymous. No one bothered her. Now, however, she not only had the wrath of Maddison, but all her followers. Art was Chelsea’s only escape and seeing as they were in here in her class too, even this she couldn’t enjoy.
“Alright everyone settle down and get your art supplies out, we are going to be doing the Turkish tea set that you see on the table and we are going to use charcoal as our medium” Brenda spoke as the students organised themselves.
Chelsea was lost in her drawing and Brenda was stalking around the class as she did, giving opinions on each student’s artwork, sharing advice on how to better their picture when she heard an eruption of laughter bubble out from Skye and Taylor. Chelsea glanced up and saw them laughing over a piece of paper in their hands. Brenda stomped over to the two giggling hyenas and snatched the paper out of their hands opening it up against their protests. Brenda looked up from the paper and glared at the girls, before making a quick glance at Chelsea. Tension seemed to flow out of Dylan who stood beside Chelsea watching the drama unfold. Brenda turned back to the two girls who had paled and were no longer giggling.
“My office right now” Brenda growled spinning on her heel and storming for her office.
Chelsea had never seen Brenda yell, she had never seen her growl; Chelsea didn’t think she was capable of it. The girls lowered their heads and slowly followed Brenda into the office. Brenda slammed the door causing the window to rattle; Chelsea watched as she was animatedly storming around the small room, her hands moving at a hundred miles an hour, her face contorted into a frown and reddening. The girls continued to stare at their feet only looking up now and then to answer a question being asked of them. Brenda picked up the phone and barked something down the line before handing the girls the paper and reefing her door back open again. The girls scuttled out of the office and out the door of the art room without even so much as a second glance.
Brenda stepped out of her office sighing and running her hands through her hair. Chelsea watched her as she tried to mentally calm herself down. Brenda looked up and connected her gaze with Chelsea’s.
“Can you come in here a minute?” Brenda asked quietly.
“Want me to come too?” Dylan asked quietly behind Chelsea.
Chelsea nodded and Dylan followed in behind her as she went into her office. Brenda looked up at Dylan and nodded her head in approval of his presence.
“You were right it seems about Maddison having your book” Brenda said with a sigh.
Chelsea nodded her head.
“I got it back yesterday, Lincoln had seen it in her bag, she showed him the pictures and he took it back off her” Chelsea said.
Brenda frowned.
“Were any of the pictures missing?” Brenda asked
Chelsea shook her head.
“Only one. It was one I drew of Mason down by the pond the day it got stolen” she said.
Brenda nodded her head.
“Alright well I think I will have put a stop to it, but I think she may have made copies of one of the pictures, because it was what the girls had” Brenda said.
Chelsea frowned and shook her head.
“Which picture was it?” Chelsea said feeling panic rise in her throat.
“It was one of you cutting open your wrists” Brenda said.
Chelsea shook her head and slumped down in the chair behind her. She put her face in her hands. Chelsea didn’t know how much more she could take.
“When will this fucking stop?” she said quietly to no one in particular.
Brenda stepped forward and put her hand on Chelsea’s back, rubbing her gently.
“Well I rang Mr O’Ryan and told him to expect the girls with the picture. I told him that they had stolen it from you and were planning on using it to bully you. Hopefully that might nip it in the butt” Brenda said.
As much as Chelsea hoped that was the case she didn’t think it would make any difference at all. After all Madison Hartley was practically unstoppable, she was the niece of the headmaster, he protected her and she could do no wrong. If Skye and Taylor told him where they got the picture from he would just cast it off, probably tell the girls off but do nothing to stop Maddison. Chelsea sighed and stood up.
“Well it’s out there now and there isn’t anything I can do about it except face it and keep moving” she said squaring her shoulders.
She wasn’t going to let Maddison chase her out of the school and she wasn’t going to let Maddison break her and Mason up. She meant it when she told Mason she loved him and she wasn’t going to be chased off that easy. Brenda nodded her head and put her arm around Chelsea’s shoulders.
“It’s going to be tough, but I know you are tougher” she said.
Chelsea nodded and smiled at her teacher just as the bell went for the next class.
Chapter Fifteen
The rest of the day was uneventful and by her last class Chelsea had forgotten all about the incident with Skye and Taylor, in fact she hadn’t seen Maddison or any of her followers for the rest of the day and they didn’t even enter her brain. The closer to the end of the day the more excited Chelsea was about watching Mason at football practice.
When the final bell rang, Chelsea raced to her locker and grabbed her bag and headed for the oval. She sat down on one of the metal bench seats and saw Mason come jogging out onto the field, followed by the rest of the team. Chelsea couldn’t take her eyes off him, the way he ducked and dived and seemed to float over the football field. She was so lost in the practice that she didn’t hear Maddison step up beside her, until she sat beside Chelsea.
Chelsea felt panic grip at her as she set her jaw firm and squared her shoulders.
“Chelsea can I talk to you in private?” Maddison asked.
Chelsea frowned looking over Maddison’s face trying to read if there was a trick in the request. Chelsea glanced around over her shoulder to see if she could see any of Maddison’s followers but there were none there. Chelsea nodded her head and stood. Chelsea looked over her shoulder back at the football field and caught Mason watching her with a frown on his face. Chelsea nodded her head to let him know that she would be alright. She followed Maddison into the female changing room and it was as they rounded the corner she realised that she had been lead into a trap.
Maddison’s followers stood with evil grimaces on their face. Each girl stood in a semicircle as Maddison ushered Chelsea into the centre like cattle dog. Chelsea looked over her shoulder getting ready to run, but the girls surrounded her like hungry wolves, cackling like hyenas. Chelsea’s panic caused her body to tremble as she saw no way out. She looked around at each girl, trying to find one that had an ounce of sympathy, a weak link that she could break through. When the search found nothing, Chelsea felt her body freeze and tears hit her eyes, with the first drip it was like the red flag to the bull as suddenly Chelsea felt the girl’s hands on her slamming her against the wall of the showers. Chelsea cried out as her head hit the stained cold tiles. Like raving lunatics they began to pull at Chelsea’s dress unzipping her and tearing it from her body.
Chelsea stood completely vulnerable her back pressed against the cold wall in nothing but her bra and panties, completely exposed, trembling and tears flowing down her cheeks. Chelsea attempted a feeble effort of covering her scars from the onlookers, but there was just too many. She felt her thigh throbbing and looked down to see it oozing with blood, the gauze hanging off. The wound was opened further and looking angry. Chelsea groaned in fear and pain. Maddison let out a laugh and stood back. Her followers all drained of colour as they looked at the scars that dotted Chelsea’s body.
“Maddison” Taylor said quietly her hand flying up to her mouth.
Silent tears fell down Chels
ea’s cheeks as the girls all stood staring at her.
“He didn’t lie” Maddison announced triumphantly.
Chelsea frowned and shook her head. Maddison stepped closer to Chelsea and cocked her head to the side, putting her hands on her hips.
“Oh you didn’t know did you?” Maddison taunted with a smile.
“Maddison let her go, this is too much” Skye said picking up Chelsea’s dress from the ground and handing it to Chelsea.
“Shut the fuck up bitch” Maddison snapped, snatching the dress out of Chelsea’s hand and dropping it back on the floor, putting her foot on it so nobody else could pick it up.
“Now like I was saying, you didn’t realise that your little boyfriend and I have been fucking for years. He tells me he loves me, he kisses me, tells me how much he loves my body” she said with malice.
Chelsea frowned and shook her head. She didn’t want to believe that Mason would do that. He told Chelsea he couldn’t stand Maddison, why would he fuck her? Chelsea thought.
“Oh yes. And you are our favourite subject. You are our best joke. How did you think I knew about what you’ve done to yourself.” Maddison said waving her hand over Chelsea’s body.
Maddison pointed at the fresh wound. Chelsea felt her heart begin to tear open. She couldn’t believe that Mason would tell the meanest girl in school about her scars. He saw how much it hurt her to show him, he promised he would say nothing. She could have understood if he told Lincoln, but to tell Maddison.
“He told me how you did that to” she laughed. “You’re disgusting”
Maddison bent down and tossed Chelsea’s dress back at her, before turning and storming out of the change room, just as Mason and Lincoln came running in, followed by Skye. Chelsea looked up at them, Mason had a look of fury written all over his face, Lincoln stopped dead as he saw the Chelsea pressed hard against the wall, the scars etched into her body and tears flowing down over her cheeks. Lincoln turned and told the girls to get out of the changing room. They all dropped their heads and shuffled from the room, Taylor and Skye, both looking over their shoulder and looking at Chelsea sadly. Mason reached out for Chelsea and tried to pull her into his chest; she pushed him away and growled at him.
