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I take a breath, trying to calm down. I never lose my cool, and I just did. I can’t believe it. I’m the calm and collected one.
Walking away from the situation, I notice that Paisley and Kade aren’t here. Noticing me looking around, Luca taps me on the shoulder.
“Kade took Pai to get his spare set of gym clothes,”he signs.
Grabbing my backpack that I didn’t realize I dropped, I head to Psychology. Once I get there, the bell rings before I can make it to my seat.
“Mr. Wilson, may I ask why you were not in your seat when the bell rang?”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Maybe fifteen minutes into class, Paisley comes in and hands Mr. White a slip of paper.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Miss Matthews. Next time, I won’t allow you into class, even with a tardy slip. I’ll send you back to the office to sit until class is over.”
As she heads over to our table, I see Pai is wearing Kade’s workout clothes. She has rolled up his shorts a few times, and the shirt is super baggy on her since she is almost a foot shorter than us.
As she is walking back, a few people snicker and point at her because you can see even more bruises than before on display. She looks down in embarrassment, even though she shouldn’t. Even in my brother’s clothes, she looks like a goddess.
“Hey, everything okay now? I was worried about you,” I say as I bump into her shoulder, careful to do it as softly as possible so I don’t hit a bruise and cause her more pain.
She nods her head and grits her teeth as she gets her books and stuff out for class. All through class, I watch her, silently cataloging all the bruises I see so I can ask her about them later.
Once class is finally over, I grab Pai’s things and put them up in her bag.
“Before you even try…one, you have a cast on. Two, you winced just getting them out. I can only imagine how it will be putting them back in. And three, I want to help, so let me, please.”
I feel her apprehension leave her body after a few moments. She finally gives in and lets me carry her stuff too. Grabbing her hand, I pull her with me to the cafeteria so I can get her lunch. She needs more than what she has been eating.
“I’m taking you to the cafeteria, and you are going to get something solid to eat, because your body needs it to help heal itself, understand?”
Not letting her say no, I grab her hand and gently tug her with me, past her locker and into the lunchroom.
“Grab anything you want. If you don’t, I’ll just put things on the tray,” I tell her.
“I don’t want the food to go to waste. Please, just let’s go back to my locker and get my lunch. I promise it’s fine with me,”Paisley signs.
“Paisley, I’m telling you it’s okay. I want to get these things for you. Please let me take care of you.”
“Fine, but I’m only getting a little bit,” she signs, looking slightly irritated.
Going through the line, she grabs a banana and an orange. Frustrated, I put a piece of pizza and a bottle of water on the tray, grabbing some other things here and there.
“Let me take the tray. It’s the least I can do,”Paisley signs while pleading with her eyes.
“No, Pai. You have a cast. Let me carry it. Besides, you finally want to sit with us? Or maybe we can sit with you?” I ask her.
“Not today, please. I’m just not in the right mindset. This has already been too much. Please,” she signs to me.
Before I can even reply, she has already started to run away.
* * *
PAISLEY
Walking away from Atlas was the right thing to do.
I think.
