“He ran into some of his friends from home so he is hanging out with them. But he told me to tell you all bye,” Annabelle mumbled, trying to contain her giant smile. Lucky for Jason, we pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store at that moment so the subject was quickly changed. I knew he didn’t want to talk about Annabelle and Kenny.
“I’ll run in and get you something to put on your hand. Anyone else want anything?” Jason asked as he opened the car door to head into the store. Kyle wanted something to snack on so he went in with Jason. I stayed in the car with Annabelle.
“I cannot believe Trent did that,” she said, turning to look at me.
“I know.” I filled her in on the rest of the conversation. “Yeah, I was upset that he was with his ex, but we weren’t exclusive so, technically, he didn’t do anything wrong. But then he lied to my face. That is what pissed me off. Oh, and the physical abuse. Yeah, that was bad.”
“You think?”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. What was going on with you and Kenny? I saw you two kissing in the corner.” I didn’t want to keep talking about that so I changed the subject. I was still shaking a little with adrenaline but that was beginning to wear off. I was upset and kind of scared. No man had ever laid a hand on me like that and I hoped no other man would. I couldn’t keep focusing on it.
“Really? I thought we were being a little sneaky!” Annabelle blushed bright red.
“Yeah, no! Everyone saw you, including Jason. He seemed really jealous.” I had just started to tell her about what happened when I met him outside but Kyle and Jason were heading back to the car.
“Okay, so the cashier gave us this small bag and we got some ice from the soda machine.” Jason handed me the clear baggie. “I also got you something for when the shock wears off,” he said, and gave me a pint of ice cream and two spoons.
I smiled from ear to ear. “You are quite possibly one of my favorite people right now,” I gushed, and rested the ice on my hand. I secured it to my wrist with a hair tie so that I could eat the ice cream. I removed the lid and Annabelle screamed.
“Don’t you dare eat that in my car!” She sounded a bit more like a school bus monitor than she probably intended to.
“Seriously?” I asked, showing her my best pouting face.
“I don’t want you to leave a stain in the car. We are, like, five minutes from the school. It won’t melt,” she insisted.
“Fine!” I slipped it back in the plastic bag. We dropped the boys off near their dorm and headed to the parking lot. My hand was really starting to sting. I guessed the adrenaline was officially gone. We parted ways after I assured her that I would be okay. When I entered my room, I sat on the floor and tore into the ice cream.
***
I really was not okay. For a few seconds there, I was really terrified. Trent’s face was filled with rage and his eyes, the eyes that I loved to look into, had turned a dark, cloudy color. I looked down at my arm and saw the imprint of his hand. It was starting to form a black bruise. This was not something I was going to be able to easily forget.
I had a few extra scoops of ice cream and put it away in the fridge. It tasted good but I was not feeling better. I grabbed my towel and shower stuff and headed to the bathroom. Hot showers helped me to think and unwind. But this time it didn’t work.
My hand was swollen and I had started to cry while in the shower. Unfortunately, I was not able to stop. I knew it was late but I knocked on Annabelle’s door in my pajamas. She opened the door and took one look at my tear streaked face. She opened her door wider so I could walk in and then she pulled me into a big hug.
“I had a feeling you weren’t okay.” She held me tight and we stood like that for a minute and then she let go. “Okay, so we have two options here. We can talk about it or we can find some trash TV to watch to distract you for tonight and we can try to talk about it in the morning when it isn’t so fresh. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of tears so I vote we find the last season of one of those dating shows.” She walked me over to her bed and handed me some tissues.
“I love competition dating shows.” I didn’t want to talk about it right this second.
Annabelle found a full season online and hooked her computer up to the television so we could watch it on the big screen.
Chapter 9
Annabelle and I didn’t make it past the second episode before we fell asleep. We both woke up around eight and uncurled ourselves from the pile of blankets all around us. Honestly, I was surprised we didn’t die of heat stroke last night. Annabelle went to shower and I headed back to my room to change out of my pajamas. We met up and decided to go to the cafeteria for breakfast.
On the way, we didn’t delve into any other topic besides the dating show. We had every intention of continuing the marathon after breakfast. Well, at least I did. It appeared Annabelle had a different plan as she forced me to go to the campus urgent care center after we finished eating. My hand was pretty swollen, and even though I wanted to pretend it was going to be fine, I probably needed to see a doctor.
She came with me and we decided what I was going to say.
“You should really just tell them what happened,” Annabelle insisted.
“Oh yeah! That would go well! So last night I went to a fraternity party and there was a lot of underage drinking. While I was there, the guy I have sort of been seeing grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go so I punched him in the face. That’s why my hand hurts.” I pursed my lips and raised my eyebrows at her.
“Okay, so maybe you shouldn’t go into exact detail like that.”
“I’m just going to say that I hit the wall when I was sleeping last night. I don’t want to make a big deal about this.”
“What if he does this to another girl?” she asked, getting serious. “Reporting it may help other girls.”
“I can’t, okay? I’m just not ready for that. Besides, I was drinking and I hit him, so I could get in a lot of trouble too.” We were standing outside the urgent care center and I was procrastinating going in.
“Okay. It’s your choice.” She opened the door and pushed me inside.
I blinked a couple of times and tried to keep the tears at bay. I didn’t want to talk about this with police or the dean. Hell, I didn’t even want to talk to Annabelle about it. The whole situation made me feel stupid and small. I should never have let it get that far.
As I signed my name on the check-in list, I heard my name called from the door. I turned around and the officer from the other night with Lola walked into the center.
“Officer Finn, what can I do for you?”
He looked down at my swollen hand and then up at my face. “No, what can I do for you? Are you all right?” He rushed over to me.
“Yeah, I just had an accident last night so I figured I should probably see a doctor about it.” I was hoping he’d drop this as I was already embarrassed.
“Let me deal with this,” Finn insisted, walking up to the counter. “We need a doctor now.” He was shouting at the poor secretary and I placed a hand on his forearm.
“It’s all right. I don’t mind waiting,” I told him, hoping he’d calm down.
“Well, I mind. You’re hurt and we need this dealt with.” Then, without another word, he walked me into an exam room without permission and settled me in to wait for the doctor.
“Thanks for doing this.”
“Of course. I’d do anything to help.”
“I can take it from here though. You don’t need to be around for this bit.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying if you want me to.” He reached out and placed his hand over mine. I tried not to rip my hand away from him since he was being nice.
“I’m sure, but I’ll let you know if I need anything.”
He winked at me and headed out the door.
Fortunately, the doctor believed that I was clumsy since I tripped over my own two feet when I walked into the exam room. He didn’t ask any
other questions about my injury. It helped that I had worn a sweater to cover the bruise on my other arm.
My hand wasn’t broken but there was a sprain. He wrapped it with a compression bandage and said I needed to wear it for at least the next week, longer if it still hurt. As we were leaving the urgent care center, we ran into Kyle and Jason.
“Did you really hit him that hard?” Kyle asked when they saw my hand in the wrap.
“I guess.” We started walking together and ended up going to the boys’ place. We spent the rest of the morning hanging out and watching our detective show. Turned out they did watch several episodes without Annabelle and me, but we played the pity card and they agreed to rewatch the ones we missed.
No one was really hungry for lunch so we just decided to have an early dinner. Afterward, Annabelle and I had homework we needed to finish so we headed back to our rooms to get that done. Lola was still not there but that was fine. I used the quiet time to work on math since I was still struggling.
***
I spent the next couple hours on the internet trying to research how other people solved these math problems. Several websites and videos later, I still was not getting the right answers. It was officially time to go see my professor. I sent him an email and asked if we could set up an appointment.
After putting my homework away, I got ready for bed and began writing in my journal. I started explaining the incident with Trent and tried to express my feelings. As I was writing, I noticed there were tears running down my face, but I kept going. There was something therapeutic about writing my feelings. It was almost as if I was letting go of the sadness and the fear as the words hit the page. Soon the tears were mixing with the words, but I didn’t care, and pushed on.
As I was trying to reread what I wrote, I realized it wasn’t my fault. I had done nothing to deserve his actions. He was the one who had lied to me, and he was the one who lost his temper. It didn’t matter that I was with Berneli and he was with Brittney. Trent never should have laid a hand on me, and he definitely should have let me go when I asked him to. This realization did seem to help calm my anxiety a little. But I was still nervous to see him.
Luckily, I had punched Trent with my non writing hand or this would have been a problem. I looked down at my injured hand and noticed that it did seem like the swelling had gone down. It still hurt but I didn’t like pain pills. They tended to make me sick to my stomach.
I took a sip of water and then looked at my other arm. The bruise was darkening and still very visible. I was definitely going to have to wear something with long sleeves for a while to ensure no one would see it. I sighed and put the journal down. That was enough therapy for today. I turned the television on and fell asleep as a reality show droned on.
***
I woke up and checked my email. As it turned out, Berneli emailed us and canceled class. He didn’t say why and I was extremely excited to crawl back into bed. Also, I was a little worried about what he would say if he saw my hand. Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell him what happened, but he seemed to know everything.
I spent the rest of the day meeting with my statistics professor and watching TV. I needed the mental health day and my nerves were still kind of shot.
The next day was the EET meeting. I was really nervous because I hadn’t seen Trent yet.
Annabelle seemed to pick up on this fear as we were eating lunch. “Are you going to be all right seeing Trent?”
“Yeah. I mean, he won’t be drinking. I think that was the reason he got physical in the first place. I’m not excusing it, but at least I don’t think he would hurt me sober. Plus, what could he do in a large group?” I wasn’t going to let him stop me from living my life. I wallowed enough yesterday and it was time to move on.
As if on cue, my hand started to hurt. I probably needed to ice it but I didn’t really want to draw attention to it. I would just have to suck it up.
“Just don’t go anywhere with him by yourself.” Annabelle gave me a stern, motherly look.
“I definitely don’t plan to.” I headed to the computer lab and Annabelle went to the executive board meeting. I needed to stop procrastinating working on a paper that was due at the end of the week. I was opening the door to the lab when Berneli called my name. I looked at him and he called me over.
“What happened to your hand?” He looked concerned. His brow was furrowed and his big eyes looked scared. My heart started pounding as I tried to avoid his gaze. His glasses were in his front pocket so his eyes were on full view. They were powerful enough to make me forget my own name, let alone that I intended to lie to him about Trent.
I shook my head and looked down at my feet. “I punched a wall when I was sleeping. It’s no big deal.” I tried to head to the computer lab in the hope of making it clear that the conversation was over.
“If that’s how you want to play it,” he said to my back as I started to walk away.
I kept going. I didn’t want to get into it again so I kept moving until I heard my name again. This time it was Trent.
I turned around and saw him walking toward me. He had sunglasses on but they didn’t hide the bandage on his nose.
“Not now, Trent.”
He ran in front of me and blocked my path. “I am so sorry about the other night. I texted you a couple of times trying to tell you that.” His sunglasses fell a little and his black eyes were on full display.
“What the hell?” Berneli yelled from behind me. My heart sank. Berneli must have noticed Trent’s face. “Why did she hit you?”
“I didn’t. Stop,” I begged, looking up at him. I did not want him involved in this. I shifted my gaze to Trent. He looked pale as a ghost, which only made his bruises all the more evident.
“Mr. Haven, I asked you a question,” Berneli bellowed, ignoring me.
“There was a misunderstanding and I grabbed her arm. Nothing happened. Like she said, it is not a big deal,” Trent said really quickly.
Berneli acted just as fast. He pushed Trent up against the closest wall and shoved his arm under Trent’s neck while holding him against the wall with his other arm. “You never lay a hand on a woman. If I ever hear that you have touched another woman against her will, I will make it so you never play lacrosse again.”
“Professor! Let him go!” My voice went up a couple of octaves as I tried to pry Berneli off of Trent. But with my hurt hand it wasn’t possible.
As I was struggling to get Berneli away from Trent, my sleeve slid up my arm and my bruises were apparent. Trent noticed them first and his eyes grew wide. Berneli followed his glance and I would swear smoke came out of his ears.
“I thought you said it was nothing,” he said with a snakelike accusation.
“It was a mistake, all right. I already told her I was sorry.” Trent had a look of deep regret in his eyes. I almost believed him.
“If at any time you attempt to contact Violet, I will not only report this incident to campus police, but I will also kick you out of EET for good. Our comedian is a woman, and as you clearly do not know how to treat women, you will have no contact with her. Am I understood?” Berneli was inches from Trent’s face but he was yelling as if Trent were down the hall.
“Yeah, I got it. Relax.”
Berneli relented and finally released Trent. He ran off down the hall and I turned to Berneli.
“Really? Was that necessary?” I stood with my hands on my hips and gave him a stern look.
“What happened?” he asked, me ignoring my question entirely.
“It is not your business. I handled it.”
“Oh, so you are proud that you had to hit him?” His hands flew up in the air in frustration.
“No, I’m proud that a man put his hand on me and I got out of it on my own. I didn’t need you to fight my battle for me then and I don’t need it now.” My anger was close to exploding.
“That was not just your fight. You realize that if he was willing to do this to you, then he is willing to do it
to another woman. It needs to be reported to campus security.”
“I can’t report it. I was drinking when I hit him.”
“Violet! You hit him in self-defense. They’re not going to care that you were drinking. What if he does this again? He needs to be taught that this is not the way to treat a woman.” He leaned against the wall and looked at me.
“So you did that for womankind? Seriously, that seems a little ambitious.”
“What do you want me to say, Violet? I saw red. No man should ever place his hands on a woman in anger. I don’t like seeing any woman hurt, especially not you.” He seemed to be a lot calmer and there was a sweet tone in his voice. Berneli looked down at his feet and then back up at my hand.
“More violence is not the answer.” I was calming down too. It was hard not to. Berneli cared about me. He actually cared. It was touching and I was having a hard time staying mad at him.
“I know. I’m sorry I lost it like that.” He reached out and slipped a few loose strands of my hair behind my ear. “Are you all right?”
“They said I sprained my hand when I punched him. Other than that I’m okay.”
“Good.” We looked at each other for a few more seconds as he seemed to be trying to assess if I was really doing all right.
“I promise, I’m going to be fine.” I stroked his arm gently and smiled up at him.
Berneli returned the smile but then quickly looked down at his feet again. “We should probably head into the meeting before anyone wonders where we are.” He then took my hurt hand and brought it to his lips. He placed a gentle kiss on top of the bandage and I almost swooned right then and there. Then we turned around and headed to EET.
To my surprise, Trent was nowhere to be seen. I guessed he wasn’t really in the mood to see Berneli or me again. I walked straight toward Annabelle and Jason. I sat down between them and Jason rubbed my back gently.
“Glad you’re doing better.” He smiled up at me. I tried to return the smile but my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking a little bit.
First Semester (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 1) Page 14