Beyond Our Lies

t w e n t y n i n e

Xander pulled me into the girls bathroom, rambling on about how I needed to clean my hands and face. When we got in he shut and locked the door, making sure no girl could come in since it was being occupied. He dragged me over to the sink and I sat on the counter nearby. "Pull your sleeves up."

My eyes widened and I shook my head. He would see my scars. "No- I mean it's okay if you get my sleeves wet I- I don't mind," I stammered.

He stared at me questioningly, "What? It's not only that but I need to make sure you don't have any cuts around your hands from their talons." If it wasn't for my nervousness, I would have laughed at the small joke but I just couldn't. He noticed my hesitation. "I won't do anything, I promise."

I slowly lifted up my sleeves and pushed them to my elbows. He nodded with a small smile and I gave a nervous and forced one back, biting my lip harshly.

While I was sitting, he stood in between my legs and got to work on cleaning my face. He used the paper towels and water from the sink to get the blood off. Xander's face didn't hold any look of disgust from the mess of mine and it made me softly smile, glad he wasn't judging me. I almost forgot who was helping me right now, the bad boy who was always getting into fights as we were underclassmen.

When he got to my lip, his finger grazed the cut that occupied the middle of my bottom lip. I flinched out of slight pain and gazed into his eyes to see concern flowing through them. "Why do you always have to get hurt?" He mumbled and snapped out of his trance, a slight tint of red placed on his cheeks.

I lightly laughed and winced at the pain, they managed to get a few kicks to my ribs when I was on the ground. My hand gripped onto my stomach as I spoke, "I didn't plan on going insane. I just wanted to bash their faces into the ground."

He laughed loudly and I watched his expression. "Wow It's clear you're perfect for our friend group." I smiled happily and nodded, earning a little chuckle from him.

When he was done with my face and neck, he grabbed my wrist with care and I harshly pulled them back instinctively. I realized what I had done and rushed an apology out. He shook it off and cleaned my knuckles, with me whining and flinching every second from the pain. I've gotten used to punching walls but people were a complete different type of pain.

Xander turned my arms around and I sucked in a breath. His eyes landed on my old and recent scars and his expression held anger but he was also deep in thought.

The intercom beeped twice before the voice played, "Can Juniper Matthews come to the office. Again, Juniper Matthews to the office."

Even though it was a terrible situation, I was thankful I could get out of Xander's glare. Pushing my sleeves down and hopping off the counter with a stumble, I forced a smile at him. "Well, I gotta go."

I turned around and attempted to make it out before he grasped my arm and I looked at him. "This," he pointed at my wrist, "conversation isn't over."

I gulped and nodded as he let go of my wrist. Rushing out of the bathroom, I heavily breathed and walked at a slow pace towards the office.

The stares of those around me varied significantly. I noticed that all the high in status students were not happy in the slightest at my presence. However, those who weren't as popular had looks of fear, proudness, and thrill. There were still people who waved at me and I shyly waved back, the complete opposite to my previous ruthless behavior.

I unfortunately made it to the office and the lady at the desk who was once polite gave me a glance over before rolling her eyes and pointing towards the principal's door. Well, okay then. With hesitance in my step, I walked into the room and saw all three girl's sat on one side and the principal Mr. Jackson was behind his desk sighing at them.