LWLU – Battered Heart

Everything was as good as Sara could ever hope for it to be. This was the best time to make things right with Michael. Now or never, right? He was adamant about his feelings for her and the fact that he wanted to spend forever with her. It might be one thing if she didn’t feel the same about him, but she did.

Besides, all the sneaking around to hide their relationship from their closest friends was ridiculous. It was time to put it all out there. What their friends thought about it didn’t matter. Sara and Michael’s relationship was as solid as any relationship could be.

But she didn’t say any of this to Michael, even though it consumed her thoughts over the past few days. She wanted to. It would certainly make him happy not to worry about any other fake dates like the one with Paul a few weeks back.

Yet…She couldn’t bring this up to Michael until she was 100 percent ready or he’d be shouting it from the rooftops. No. Sara had a loose end to tie up before she could go public with their relationship.

She needed to tell Nika first.

Sara found her friend reapplying her lip gloss in the bathroom just before lunch. “Hey, Neek. Can I talk to you about something?”

“If you hurry.”

That was weird. While Sara was at lunch, Nika had a math class. Since Nika could do all the work in her sleep, she didn’t care much about getting to class on time. “What’s going on? Hot date,” Sara joked.

A smile touched her freshly glossed lips. “You could say that. I’m cutting class to take a long lunch with Sucre.”

“But you aren’t allowed to leave campus for lunch. Only seniors can do that.”

“I’m not allowed to cut class, either, but I’m doing it anyway.” She fluffed her hair. “Between his job and being at different schools, I don’t get to see as much of my boyfriend as I want. When he suggested a romantic lunch picnic, well, no way was I saying no.”

“It’s freezing outside.”

She fussed with her bangs. “I don’t care. I’d rather be an icicle with him than warm and toasty without him.”

How had things gotten that serious between them in such a short amount of time? Sara was about to ask when she noticed a dark blotch on her friend’s wrist. She grabbed Nika’s hand away from her hair and pulled it to her for closer inspection. “What happened?”

“I’m clumsy. Bashed it into the wall the other day when I got in a hurry.”

That didn’t sound right. As if her beauty and brains weren’t enough to give Sara a severe inferiority complex, Nika was graceful. She didn’t trip over her feet and she sure didn’t run into walls.

Nika tried to pull her arm away. “Seriously, I’ve got to go while all the seniors are heading to their cars if I’m going to sneak out of here unnoticed.”

But Sara didn’t let go. Something was odd about the bruise on her wrist. It looked like…fingers? Is that what it looked like when someone grabbed you hard by the wrist and wouldn’t let go? Dread plummeted in her stomach and she shoved up the sleeve of Nika’s sweater.

“Nika…”

“Don’t start, Sara.” She ripped her hand away and tugged her sleeve over all the ugly bruises. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really? Because it looks like someone’s been hurting you.” Even without seeing it, Sara knew Nika’s other arm would look just as bad.

She sighed. “Fine. I was drinking a few nights ago and fell down some stairs. Not really something I want to advertise.”

“Nika…you don’t drink.”

Her expression hardened. “Look, Sherlock Holmes, you don’t know me as well as you think you do.” She tossed her makeup into her purse and snapped it closed with an air of finality. “As much fun as it is to have to fling accusations at me, I have to go. Sucre will be mad if I’m late.”

Sara barely touched her lunch after that. Luckily, Veronica was busy studying for a test she had next period so she didn’t notice the absence of conversation. Her concentration didn’t fare well in her next classes either. If her English teacher wasn’t giving them the class period to catch up on their assigned reading, she knew Michael would have realized something was wrong with her.

But his nose was safely buried in The Great Gatsby and her thoughts were free to turn over and over the Nika situation since she’d already read the book dozens of times.

Why would anyone want to hurt Nika? She was nice to everyone. Sara couldn’t think of a single person in their class that didn’t like her. Those ugly purple splotches just didn’t make any sense.

Her parents? Couldn’t be. In all the years she’d known Nika, her parents didn’t display any of the signs of an abuser. Maybe that didn’t mean anything, but it didn’t fit. If Nika’s parents were abusing their daughter, Sara would know it. She was sure of that.

Michael walked her to her locker after class. “You okay? You seem distracted or something.”

“Yeah. I’m just…tired.”

He moved closer to her and lowered his voice. “Do I need to stop sneaking into your room in the middle of the night?”

Ever since the night of their brief break-up, Michael made a point to climb through her window every night after her parents were asleep to spend a few hours with her. Usually they made love, but sometimes he would just hold her until she fell asleep. It was never enough time and it was risky as hell, but Sara loved it.

“Don’t you dare, Scofield. I need you.”

He grinned. “I need you, too.” His eyes darkened. “Same time then.”

The smile faded from her lips as soon as he was gone. If it wasn’t her parents hurting her, it could only be Sucre. But if he was hurting her, why was Nika so anxious to meet him for lunch? That didn’t make sense.

“Hey, did I miss anything in class?”

Startled, Sara dropped her books. Paul knelt to help her gather her things. “Um…not really. Pretty much the same thing as yesterday.” Did she even realize Paul wasn’t in class? She glanced at him. “You look like hell.”

“Gee, thanks. You really know how to cheer a guy up.” He gave Sara her things when they stood and sighed. “I drove out to visit my dad’s grave last night. Ran into my ex while I was in town and got stuck there talking to her most of the night. It was easier to drive back this morning and cut all my morning classes.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah. Apparently we needed to have the feelings talk so she could get closure.” He looked away and shook his head. “It was pointless. We broke up because I moved. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to be with her anymore.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have broken up with her?”

“And saddle her with a boyfriend who lives six hours away? I’d rather give her the chance to find a guy who can be there for her all the time. I love her enough that I don’t want her to be alone.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck.”

If she couldn’t be with Michael every day, would she be strong enough to let him be with someone else? Sara didn’t know. Probably not. Paul must be a much stronger person than she was.

She wanted to say something to cheer him up, but the buzzing of her phone in her purse distracted her. It was the middle of the school day. Everyone knew not to call her until after last period.

Sara answered the phone without bothering to check the display. Regardless of who it was, something was wrong.

“Please help me.”

She could barely understand the shaky voice. “Nika?”

“Sara…I’m scared. I need help.”

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