{31} ✔️

Dahlia's POV

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It was so much worse the second time around. They made sure to avoid kicking or punching anywhere near my head, and I wasn't knocked unconscious. They must've been beating the shit out of me for at least twenty minutes. They just kept going and going until they all were too tired to throw another punch. I laid there, curled up in a ball, crying as I waited for them to finish. I didn't let out a sound, afraid it'd make them more upset.

I stayed like that even after they walked away, tossing their tasers around as they laughed and teased each other. I wasn't listening to much they were saying, but I think they mentioned going to see something in the movie theater this weekend.

I was quickly reminded that it's still only Monday. Today had been so long. So much had happened and it'd felt like an entire month went by, but nope. It's still only Monday.

I laid on the ground, crying and trying not to move so much because I was scared if I did the pain would get so much worse, and I don't think I'd be able to handle that. I feel like I could pass out from the pain I'm feeling already, but my body won't just give up and let me slip into unconsciousness.

I'm so fucking scared.

I don't know where Kai is or what she's doing now, but I bet she's somewhere telling more people everything I didn't want them to know.

I don't know what my siblings are doing right now, but I hope they don't know about what Kai did yet. I hope they at least have a good night tonight. I hope they're not worrying about me. I hope they're sleeping peacefully.

I don't know what my dad is doing right now. I know he's at work, but I don't know what he's doing. Taking a break? Taking a piss? Designing? I hope he isn't stressing, no matter what he's doing.

I hope Caden and Cadence are laughing at some stupid show on Netflix or getting ready for bed themselves. I hope they're having another stupid argument about what's better; Snickers or Twix? Icarly or Victorious? Malcolm in the middle or Brooklyn nine nine?

I don't give a shit what Billie is doing right now. Probably some bullshit.

I needed her and she wasn't fucking here. I told her I needed her to come get me and she hung up on me, probably went to find Kai and threaten her again. That's just gonna make her angrier, and I'm just gonna get my ass beat again.

I cried harder as I thought about that. Is this gonna happen again? When I go back to school are they gonna do this again? Are they gonna follow me around and do this whenever they want? They must've been following me earlier, why else would they have been here? Nobody was at the park this late at night. They'd been watching me.

It took me a long time, but I finally got the energy to grab my cellphone, which was right beside me. I ignored Billie's texts and called her again. She picked up quickly once again, but she didn't say anything.

"I need you to come get me. Park." I whispered before hanging up. I grunted as I brought my legs closer to my chest and closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep. I did.

***

"Fuck!" I screeched as I shoved whoever's hands were on me away. I brought my own hand up to touch my rib, wincing as I felt a shooting pain as soon as I did. I looked around as quickly as I could and noticed that I was in Billie's kitchen. She was pacing back and forth in front of the stove, something boiling on it. I looked away from her and saw Finneas standing there, looking at me sympathetically.

"I-I'm okay," I mumbled quickly. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"You're fucking not fine! I've never seen so many bruises on one person in my life and that's saying something considering I—" she stopped yelling and cut herself off abruptly. I ignored her and kept looking at Finneas. "What time is it?"

"1 am. I called Denny and told him you're over here so that he could stop worrying about you, but I didn't tell him about any of this." He gestured to my banged up body. "What happened to you? Who did this?"

"I don't know. Kai's friends. Three of them. They jumped me twice."

"I'll murder them." I heard Billie spat.

Finneas shot her a look before glancing back down at me. "I did the best I could patching you up. I put some cream on all your cuts and some soothing ointment on your bruises, but I think you might have a broken rib and maybe a concussion. It doesn't seem like it, but I can't be sure. We need to take you to the hospital."

"They'll ask what happened." I shook my head.

"We don't have to go tonight, but we're going." He gave me a stern look. "First thing in the morning. You should be going right now, but I'll let you rest. I think you'll be just fine. You're just pretty banged up. Lemon water will soothe your throat. I'm boiling the water for it right now. Take these." He handed me two pills and I sat up slowly and did as told.

"Billie's gonna help you take a shower whenever you feel like you can—"

"I can do it myself." I cut him off, sending him a small smile.

"Dahlia, I don't know what's going on, but this is bad. You can't hide this from your family. You need to talk to them and then you need to talk to the police."

"I'll think about it." I lied. "Thank you so much, Finneas. I'm so sorry—"

"Don't even sweat it." He grinned. "It sucks that the one time I'm finally getting to hang out with you it's because you're bloodied and bruised and forced to sit there and listen to me. But I'll take it."

I laughed loudly and then winced, immediately regretting it. He patted my knee gently before walking out of the kitchen.

I wanted to beg him to come back, but I didn't want to bother him and I didn't have the energy.

I looked at the floor as I tried to pretend Billie wasn't in the room. I wanted to get off the kitchen counter, which is where they'd put me, but it's too big of a jump.

"Baby, please look at me." She whispered as she walked toward me. "I need to know everything you know about the girls who did this to you so I can find them and—"

"And what, Billie? Beat them all up and tell them that if they do it again you're gonna be real mad?" I rolled my eyes. "Where the fuck did you go after you hung up on me?"

She didn't say anything, just leaned next to me on the counter and stared at me.

"I just wanted to help."

"I needed you to come get me, not go beat the hell out of Kai." I muttered.

"I didn't beat the hell out of Kai. Not yet."

"Great."

She sighed before coming a little closer to me. "Do you know how much this hurts me? Seeing you like this?" She whispered.

"Not as much as it hurts for me to have to be like this."

She let out a small laugh and shook her head before getting serious again. "I'm sorry I hung up on you. I know that was a dick move, believe me. When you called me that second time and told me to come get you I knew something had happened—something worse than earlier, and I immediately started thinking about your voice...The way you'd told me to come get you because you needed me. I should've listened to you. I should've come and got you instead of hanging up on you and doing what I wanted."

"I get why you're mad at Kai, obviously, but why do you have to keep threatening to beat her up? Why can't you just let me handle—"

"You're not handling anything at all, Dahlia." She spat. "When you say you're gonna handle something it just means you're gonna beg like a little bitch for her to stop being a bully. That's not handling anything."

I didn't wanna cry in front of her, but that sure made the tears start burning my eyes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I'm just so fucking frustrated with this whole situation. I'm tired of Kai doing this shit and I'm tired of you letting her. She knows you're weak and—"

"Great fucking pep talk, Bil." I snapped.

"The truth is the truth. You need to toughen up. Trying to avoid your problems and act like they're not happening doesn't help anything. Hoping and wishing for the best doesn't always work. You have to learn how to be assertive, how to fight, how to be tough."

"You're tough. You're assertive. You know how to fight. This shit still happened. You beat Kai's ass and this shit still happened. She's fucking scared shitless of you and this shit still happened." I growled. "I know I'm shit at dealing with shit and I don't need you to shove that in my face, especially since you're apparently not great at dealing with things either."

She looked down and shut her eyes, letting out a small sigh. "You're right I'm not. That's why I went to find her instead of going to get you. I don't—" she bit the inside of her cheek to cut herself off.

"You don't what, Billie?"

"I don't...I don't know how to make things right. I don't know how to make people feel better when shit like this happens. I don't know how to be there for people when they're going through something. I just know how to fight."

I stayed silent as I took what she said in.

"I needed to do something. I wanted to help you, I just—the only way I knew how was to go find Kai and—"

"Did you hit her?"

"No, I cut her." She mumbled. My eyes widened.

"Billie, what the fuck?! Are you insane? She's gonna fucking call the police and get your ass arrested! What the fuck are you gonna do then? What are you gonna do if she comes back at you with another weapon, like a fucking gun or something? You don't know what she's capable of!"

"No, sweetheart. She doesn't know what I'm capable of. And neither do you."