(chapter 4)

Rafe's back hurt. He had stayed in the same position for a few hours now. The sky turning brighter by the second, and even though he didn't want to, he knew he had to wake up Clara.

The mess of brown hair rested against his chest and shoulder, and he was sure he couldn't feel his left arm, but that didn't matter. After hearing the girl cry, Rafe laid down, bringing her with him. The dark sky full of light of the stars, and he started telling her the constellations he knew.

The blue eyed boy just hadn't notice that the meaning behind his action was to calm her down, but he felt proud when her breathing slowed down. It meant she was comfortable.

For Rafe, people always have the nervous — sometimes angry — aura, or whatever other repugnant feelings when they're around him. But never comfortable. He felt a warm inside of him with the thought of someone enjoying his company, without being only for parties or his money.

And he looked at her, the brown eyes admiring the passion behind his words, but keeping to herself. "What about the second star to the right?"

Rafe furrowed his eyebrows, confusion evident on his expression. "Don't think this one exist, Clara."

A hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes, and she pursed her lips, before looking at the sky again. "Show me the stars you know, then."

And he did.

Now Rafe couldn't see the stars anymore, so it meant they needed to go. His hand brushed the strands of hair away from her face, caressing her cheek lightly. Her eyes opened after a few seconds, and they were stinging because of how much she cried.

"Hey," he whispered, still stroking her face.

"Hi," she whipered back, with certain difficult, feeling her throat hurt.

"We need to go."

The feeling of Rafe's fingers against her cheek send shivers around her body, and she knew she was starting to blush. Taking a deep breath, she sat up, not without noticing where she'd been sleeping.

"I'm sorry." she said lowly, and Rafe sat up, opening and closing his hand until he could feel it again.

"Sorry for what?"

"Falling asleep on you, I know that sleeping on the sand is not very comfortable," Clara pointed it out, and Rafe shook his head, then stood up, offering his right hand to help her.

"C'mon, I'll drop you off."

And before she could retort, saying he didn't need to, Rafe pulled the towel, shaking it while walking toward the direction of her mother's house, pointing with his head so she could catch up.

++++

Clara stood in front of the full mirror, eyes fitting the purple bruises on her neck, the moon marks now scabs, and she gulped, still feeling the harshness of the hand around her throat. Now how was she supposed to hide this until it fades? No makeup was able to cover it, and the girl felt in the verge of crying again.

While she pushed her hair back, trying to recompose herself and stop the beginning of another meltdown, she didn't heard the knock, nor her bedroom door opening. Grace's green eyes searched for Clara, and it wasn't until she stepped further into the toom that she saw her, only wearing her shorts and bra, and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, what happened?!" Clara's head shot up, and she turned around, desperately trying to find something — anything — that could hide her neck. Grace walked closer, gripping her best friend's arm, forcing her to face her. "Clara, how did you get this marks?"

"It's nothing, Grace, I just fell down the stairs outside, it was clammy-"

"Fuck's sake, do you think I'm going to buy this bullshit?" She angrily asked, after hearing the hoarseness in the older girl's voice. Both hands now holding her shoulders, and Clara knew there was no pointing in hiding from her now. Grace's jaw dropped, and she hovered her hand above the marks, confirming the suspection that it was indeed a hand mark. "Your mom..?"

Tears filled up Clara's eyes, and she nodded her head, letting out another sob. Grace pursed her lips, bringing the girl into a hug, while she cried. It had been almost a year since she saw the older girl that upset after a fight, but God, she had every reason to be.

Susan Hughes was always concerned about appearences, so whenever she hit Clara were in places away from the public eye. The scratch mark on the girl's upper arm, a punch to the stomach, wooden spoon hits on her legs, and almost ripping her daughter's ear off. But that was new, and it showed to Grace that the woman was clearly losing her mind.

"I don't know what else to do, Gray..." she cried, holding her youngest friend more tightly. "I don't know how much more I can take."

Grace sighed, rubbing her back, "Have you told your dad?"

Clara snapped, pushing away from the girl, shaking her head, eyes filled with fear, "No, no! I can't tell him, he can't know!"

"Clara-"

"No, Grace, please! Him knowing will only make things worse!"

"He's your father! If you're really struggling so bad, you have to tell him! I'm sure that if you needed to he would let you stay with him again!" The braided haired girl rationalized, swinging her hands while doing it.

"If this was true I would still be living with him part time!" Clara yelled, knowing her mother had left from work so they were alone. "But I'm here, aren't I? I have to go through this alone!"

"You're not alone, Clara! You have me! You have Sarah, hell, even Topper! We care about you!"

"It doesn't matter in the end!" She stessed, wiping her tears with her hands, words rolling out of her mouth. "It doesn't matter because in the end of the day, you have a nice home to go back to, loving parents that would drop anything for you. And I know that your parents wouldn't let me stay with you."

Grace's eyes glimmered with tears, knowing that Clara was right. Her and her two other idiot friends had never went through what she is, and their parents wouldn't agree to house her, even with how much they liked Clara. Susan was too powerful, and what the woman says counts.

"Please don't tell anyone, Grace. Please, please, I beg you." Clara held Grace's hands in her own, her face now red from the crying, and Grace's expression softened.

"Of course I'm not telling anyone, Clara. I'm just worried about you," she said, tightening her hands that held the oldest ones. "Okay, lemme try to find a way to help you hide this, alright? Wash your face, try to calm down."

The girl nodded, and Grace left to grab a cup of water for her, deciding in getting a chocolate bar too when she opened the cabinet, along with an icepack.

When she got back, Clara was holding a painkiller onto her palm. She didn't know if she could swallow it, but it was hurting so bad. Grace saw Clara put the pill in her mouth and take a gulp of the water. The pain on her face was evident, but she managed, like always.

The youngest guided her to the bed, then handed the icepack, "Keep it for like, 20 minutes or so, we gonna keep repeating this for a little while for the next couple hours, so no more talking, alright?"

She took one square of chocolate for herself, then hand the bar to Clara. The girl popped in her mouth, knowing that it would need to melt. As Grace sat down, Clara's mind had another nagging question, so with a raspy voice she asked.

"Why are you mad at Sarah?"

The question had clearly taken aback the braided haired girl. The oldest had asked about the only thing Grace was trying to avoid. So she just furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not mad at Sarah."

"Now that's bullshit."

"Hey, no talking!" She tried, but Clara only rolled her eyes. Grace noticed that maybe it was the only other subject that would take her friend's mind out of what happened, so she sighed. "I'm not mad... just a little annoyed."

Clara tilted her head to the side, eyes telling her to continue.

"Since she starting dating Topper it's been so annoying. She takes him everywhere, we can barely catch a break!" Her voice got a little louder at that, and Clara couldn't help but think that it was jealousy. "I mean, she never has time for us lately, and she only spend time with us when she need something."

"Hey, that's not true-"

"It is though."

The older girl just sighed, changing the hand that was holding the icepack, "Topper is not that bad, but I understand where you're coming from."

"No talking."

"But if you miss spending time with her, why don't you talk to her about it? Sarah was the one who asked why you were avoiding her. She cares, and the relationship with Top is new, so she's like a lovesick puppy."

"I guess." Grace exhaled, moving around and getting more comfortable in her friend's bed, while grabbing the remote. "I'll talk to her later, now we'll watch Andrew's spiderman, then The Winter Soldier, alright?"

With a smile, Clara sank on her pillows, waiting for the Anderson girl to put the movies on.

++++

After a few hours, Grace had to leave, her mother called that they had to go somewhere, Clara didn't remember, her mind just turning around what would she wear to cover herself. So now there she was, trying out different outfits, and seeing that she had two crop tops with round collars, also that the social shirts she could use actually covered it up nicely, only needing to add a couple of necklaces.

Now she was downstairs, wearing a sweatshirt with a collar, as she looked at her dog eating his food. She loved the little one to death, and the only real reason for her to stay was him. Twix was a small spitz, yet the greatest comfort she had for the majority of the time.

A knock on her front door, following after the bell made Twix bark, and Clara made her way to the front door. Her eyebrows shot up when she saw the mess of blonde hair and blue eyes looking at her back.

"Uh, what are you doing here, JJ?"

"Well, Steven Hughes called me to cut your lawn," the boy explained, not without noticing the breaking in her voice. Clara was aware that JJ does a lot of gigs to have a little money for himself, and yet he never found a way to keep his savings. For JJ, money is always welcome, even if they come from Kooks.

"Oh, I didn't know, sorry." She explained, a small cough leaving her lips, then noticed her dog trying to go to the street. "Come in. Be careful, please, he likes to escape and walk around."

JJ entered the house, bending down and smiling at the little dog, who was more than happy to get more free pats. "Hello, boy. What's your name?"

"Twix," she said, a smile on her face, seeing the boy petting him behind the ears.

"Cute furball, you are. Interesting name, also."

"Well, I was eleven, and it's my favorite sweet, so you can't blame me." She tried, JJ getting up, taking off his cap while looking at her.

"I for sure can," he teased, seeing her roll her eyes, then waving her hand so he could follow her.

They entered the backyard, then Clara opened the storage containing everything he needed, and more. The boy whistled, looking at the equipment. "Got top quality things here, huh? What do you do with those? Let them accumulate dust?"

"My mom likes- liked to garden a lot, so she was the one who actually took care of the garden," she waved her hand to everything. "I guess she doesn't have time anymore, and I can't say I'm very good at it either. Every plant I tried to take care of died, except my succulent plant in my room."

"On the other hand, I'm amazing at keeping things alive."

"I sure hope you do. Anyone is better than me." JJ left out a snort, nodding his head at the thought. "Well, I'll leave you to it, if you need anything just call my name, alright?"

"Sure."

Then she bend down to take her dog in her arms, and very briefly JJ could swear he saw a purple bruise on her neck. He couldn't really tell, since the sweatshirt was covering her neck, but his eyes betrayed him, while he kept staring. Clara noticed his stare, so she tuck her dog's head under her chin, while Twix happily rested his head with closed eyes against his owner, and she walked fast back inside.

Her phone flashed up with messages, so she walked to the counter to see what was the notification.

Sarah💌
I talked to Grace
I'm sorry if I made you feel like I just wanted to hang out to have something in return
She also said you're sick, hope you feel better
3:27 pm

Clara looked at the message, then she smiled, typing back an reply. Not long after, the bell ringed again, and she could barely hear it since JJ started the lawn mower.

Opening the door was a delivery for her, it being only an apple juice, the only one she liked, and a couple of twixs. Putting it down on the counter, she felt the phone buzz.

Rafe:
Something to cheer u up. Yw.

And again, she couldn't help the smile so big she could feel her cheeks hurt. He remembered. After all those years, he still remembered.

Maybe Rafe Cameron did care.

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