"Wow, look who decided to show up."

Adira bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood and ignored Willa's greeting, continuing to her locker with her head down.

Kylie, who was changing the next row over, laughed a little. "I think our team super-star can afford to miss one practice. Gives the rest of us a chance to catch up."

"None of you need to catch up to me," Adira sighed, though a tired smile found its way to her lips.

Ella grinned at her from her place a few lockers down. "And she's humble, too."

She just shook her head and turned to the task of changing without letting her burned torso actually show.

Shirt off, practice jersey up to cover it up, arms in...

The jersey had been yanked out of her hands before she knew what was happening.

In a state of blind panic, she snatched her other one up out of her locker again, holding it in front of her as she turned to where Willa was holding the stolen article of clothing.

"And I'm sure your absence had nothing to do with your little habit there, huh?" she sneered.

Still holding the other shirt in front of her with one hand, Adira used the other to jerk the jersey away from her teammate.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She yanked it over her head before the other girl could try to reclaim it, turning away as she did. "I'm sorry I missed practice, guys. Family emergency. Won't happen again."

"Considering the only person who's mad about it has been on the bench the last two games," Lily fired back, "I don't think you need to apologize."

Willa rolled her eyes and stormed out onto the court, but Ella's wide, concerned eyes as she looked at Adira told her the bully had gotten exactly what she wanted.

time-skip sponsored by ghosties :)

 Reagan was asleep in his crib in the corner of the room. She'd had a miraculously light load of homework, and it was already done. It was only nine forty-five, and she had nothing else she had to do.

So, for the past fifteen minutes, she'd found herself sitting on the bed that was temporarily hers, leg bouncing, telling herself over and over again that she was not going to be the freak she was and hurt herself while she was in the Smallbone house.

It was bad enough that she had to keep taking that stupid medicine. Getting out the lighter or the razor she'd told herself she was only bringing so her parents didn't find them was too far, and it was not going to happen.

That was when a light tap sounded on the frame of the open door. Adira forced her leg still and a smile that she knew didn't look very much like a smile at all onto her face.

"Hey."

Joel looked down at her with a small, and actually real, smile of his own. "Hello, Love. What am I interrupting?" He kept his voice low as hers as been, obviously mindful of the sleeping baby.

She shook her head quickly, closing the laptop next to her. "Nothing. I finished a few minutes ago. You can come in."

It felt absurd to tell him that about a room in his own house, but if she knew him, she knew he'd wait for an invitation.

He nodded his thanks and stepped inside, pulling up the chair from the desk in one corner to face her. "I won't bother you for long. Just wanted to check on you."

She made a second attempt at the smile, and felt it fail even worse than the first one had. "I'm good. I... thank you."

She wasn't fooling anyone, and she knew it.

"How's your face?" he asked instead of calling out the lie directly.

She touched the spot by instinct, and cursed herself when she winced a little. "It's better." That much was true. It was still bad, but it was better. "That... that stuff you put on it... it works."

"Good," he affirmed. "You still have plenty?"

She nodded hurriedly. "Yeah... still... still a lot. Thanks."

"Good," he repeated, hesitating before asking, his expression serious and his tone gentle, "Are you sure you're alright, Love?"

She realized her leg had started to bounce again and desperately tried to make it stop. It didn't work. So she just swallowed hard and nodded again without looking at him.

"Positive. I... I'm fine. I swear."

He accepted the answer with a small movement of his head, but his expression was sad.

"You know either of us will listen if you want to talk?"

Yet again, she nodded, desperately fighting a rush of tears. "Yeah. Thank you."

He looked back at her trembling leg, and she swore there was moisture in his eyes.

Then, he glanced at the bed beside her, where she'd forgotten about the small, open bag that Ellis had given her, full of things to help her overcome the urge to self-harm. A rubik's cube to occupy her mind. She'd learned how to solve them when she was twelve and had finished it in under a minute. Rubber bands to snap on her wrists. Hadn't worked. A plastic card to run on it. Also hadn't worked. A pen to draw on herself with. Lines and dots and flowers were on her wrist, but she still wanted to take a lighter to it instead.

"Anything help?" Joel asked after a long moment.

She knew she should say yes, but she found herself miserably shaking her head, eyes fixed on the carpet, having to try even harder to avoid tears spilling out of them.

He nodded a little, hesitating before saying gently, "I'm proud of you for trying."

She didn't trust herself to speak.

He got up from his chair and held out a hand to her. "Moriah has that Boy Meets World look in her eyes again. Care to join us?"

Once again, she knew what she should say, what she should do, to prove that she was fine and let him get back to life without a broken little freak like her in it, but she also knew that if he walked out of the room without her, it would take less than a minute for her to cave and grab her lighter.

And she couldn't do that. Not here. Not here.

So, still staring at the ground, still fighting a losing battle to the water behind her eyes, she took his hand and allowed him to gently pull her to her feet.

From there, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her out into the hall.

"I know it's hard," he said softly as they descended the stairs. "But you're doing so well, alright? One day at a time. If you'll just let us help, today can be your day one."

The tears began to leak down her face despite all of her best efforts. "I shouldn't need your help to not hurt myself."

"You shouldn't have to carry half the weight you do at all," he countered. "It's too heavy for anyone, Love. Anyone would need help."

She squeezed her eyes shut, relying on his arm around her to know where she was going. "I told you."

Shut up. Why couldn't she just shut up?

"I'm not... I'm not worth that."

"And I told you," he replied simply. "Me and Jesus disagree."

He released her as they came into the living room, where Moriah looked up from her place on the couch with a beaming smile. "Hey, there's my Boy Meets World buddy!"

Adira offered her yet another pathetic attempt at returning the expression, water still running down her face.

Moriah's own expression changed to one of compassion as she indicated the spot next to her. "Ah, Mia. Ven aqui so I can hug you."

Adira didn't know what to do except stumble across the room in dejected obedience.

As she sank down next to her, Moriah's arms did indeed wrap around her shoulders and pull her close. She held her for a minute before murmuring, "You're doing amazing, mi amor. I swear to you, you are."

She wasn't. She was doing whatever the polar opposite of that was. She had to reach up to touch rock bottom.

But as Joel sat down on the other side of her, laying his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there as she continued to cry, she felt... safe.

And that absolutely terrified her.

That was freakishly short, but it exists, and it's kind of ontime, so I guess I'm just gonna go with it. Drop a comment or a hundred and make my day. Also, I was rereading Broken Lullabies' social media spin-off and got mad at the author for not updating, so then I updated. Hopefully more there, and one for the main book, will be coming very soon. Love y'all lots.

- Line <3