Excuse any mistakes you might find, I didn't get to proofread this chapter.🙏🏾

Three weeks later

Serenity, Mara and Sam decided to keep my company over video call while I travel home on a taxi from school.

I pay the man and exit the car. As I open the gate I see my mother's jeep parked to the side on three driveway.

She told me she had a training session today with a few rookies so she will be home later than usual.

I open the door to find her sitting on the sofa occupied by her phone.

"Good afternoon mummy" I greet but get no answer in return.

"Wah dis?" She suddenly burst out turning her phone to me.

I move closer and squint my eyes at the phone screen. The person looks like. . . Me? But who is he? And when did I wear that outfit is the million dollar question.

"Uhh. . . I don't know what I'm looking at" I choose my words carefully.

She scoffs and scroll over to a video. This time it's them kissing and the boy groping on her or my ass through the leggings.

It's funny that I don't remember any of this but clearly that's me in the video.

I swallow a few times struggling to find the correct words but I have none to console her. Instead I just stare at her and the phone blankly forgetting my friends are talking to me on my phone.

"I will ask you again Kay, what is this? And who that boy be?" She demands.

"Mummy me no know and this might sounds crazy but that's not me" I answer truthfully.

She starts laughing like a crazy person.

"Me dey a try work my ass off to support you and have enough funds to help you through college in case you don't get a full ride scholarship and this is what you're out in public doing?!!" She argues.

I end the video call because I know where this is heading.

She gets up from the sofa landing me a slap across my face.

I bit my lip to hold back the brim of tears.

"Is man I bring you Jamaica to come look?" She asks but I answer even though I know it's a rhetorical question.

"No mummy" I reply.

"Kay he looks like a grown ass man compared to you" she looks at her phone again and gets even more angrier.

She pulls out the baton from her waist and hit me across my side with it multiple times then once across my jaw sending me to the floor.

"Don't let me get anymore videos of you with any man otherwise I would bruk up you foot dem fi you. You got it?" She asks.

I nod swiftly "yes mummy".

Using my hands I grab hold of the chair bar and pull myself to my feet.

She didn't believe me.

I come straight home from gym and track training. I've been out with serenity once since her brother's party but it was for us to do our dress fittings for Sam's birthday luncheon Mara's is hosting.

My side hurts.

I can taste the odd mixture of iron in my mouth, the blood flowing from my bottom lip.

I slowly remove my uniform and stand in front of the full body mirror in my bedroom.

My side is bruised and it will discolour by tomorrow. I poke my finger at it and wince from the pain that caused.

I close my eyes and a tear glide down my face.

Serenity tries calling me back but I ignore it. She calls a few more times then gave up.

After showing I pull on my pajamas and climb into bed with a book in my hand. Reading helps to calm me and take my mind off of my dysfunctional family.

Valencia is home, I can hear her awful singing in the hallway.

My phone starts to ring. I check to see it's Mara calling. Just like serenity's call I let it ring out before placing it on Do Not Disturb.

Talking to them will only make me cry and I refuse to cry for something I didn't do. It will only make me look weak and innocent to my mother.

Someone knocks at my door, I ignore that too.

"Dinner is ready, Angela says to come eat" Val tells me as she peeks her head in through the slightly opened door.

"I'm not hungry" I tell her.

Val close the door and a few seconds after my mother opens it.

"Come go eat" she commands.

With my head still in the book I reply with the same unchanging voice "I'm not hungry".

My mother kiss her teeth.

"Stop being stubborn and come before I drag you out myself" she swings the door open wider.

I exhale and slowly climb out of bed. Any little movement makes my side and back hurts even more.

With every step follows a wincing sound escaping from my gritted teeth.

"Wah do you?" Val asks.

Why is she acting like she cares? She just wants to know so she can tease me.

Gyal fass you f*ck

I raise my head and her face falls at the sight of mine. "Who hit you?" Her voice laced with anger.

I'm taken aback by her change of character towards me.

Val doesn't stand up for me in any kind of way. I'm even surprised by her anger towards seeing me like this.

I gaze over at my mother then take my seat.

Val takes the hint.

"Angela you did this to Kay? You know that's child abused right?" My mother says nothing as she moves around in the kitchen.

I lowered my eyes while tucking my bruised lip into my mouth. It hurts so much.

Angela rest our plates on the island and walk away to her bedroom.

My appetite has depleted, I stare painfully at the food in front of me.

"Try to eat something and don't give her another reason to be mad at you" Val whispers.

As much as it pains me to say it, she's right. My mother will be mad if I waste her food.

For all I know there could be poison in mine.

I exhale and raise the fork full of rice to my lips.

Next Day

Serenity and Mara are waiting at the school entrance for when I come.

I look out at them from the taxi window and suddenly dread coming to school today.

I exit the van and keep my head low while taking the pain as I walk up to them.

"Good morning to you too" serenity was the first to speak.

"Good morning" I reply like I normally would.

"We tried calling you yesterday, what happened?" I raise my head and serenity gasps.

"Who did this to you?" Mara asks worriedly.

I sigh and begin walking to our home room.

"Wait!" Mara held my hand, stopping me.

"Please talk to us" seren pleads with me.

After exhaling I decide to open up. Hopefully it doesn't get thrown back into my face.

"It was my mother" I answer Mara's question. The grip on my backpack got tighter until I can feel the blood circulation weakening in my hands.

"What?!!" Serenity exclaims.

Followed by mara "Rass", both carrying the same expression. I hate it when people pity me.

"What did you do? The last we heard was her asking you about something on her phone" serenity says confusingly.

"Well. . . She showed me a video of a girl and a man kissing in public while he touches her inappropriately. The girl looks just like me, like a reflection of me but she wasn't me. I don't even owned the outfit she was wearing even though I do wear leggings to gym and to track and field training" I explain.

"Where was the video taken?" Mara asks and I shrug.

"Kinda looks like town but I'm not too sure, remember I haven't familiarized myself with the areas as yet" I return.

"Jah!" Mara extends.

Serenity loops her hand around mine touching my other injury by mistake causing me to wince.

She releases me instantly "where else hurting you?" She observes me.

"My side but I'll be okay, it'll heal on its own" serenity scoffs.

"Is this you speaking from experience?" She folds her arms across her chest.

"Maybe, let's just go and forget about me" lord please just let them agree so I can be over with this uncomfortable conversation.

Serenity whines but she doesn't persists any longer.

"Thank god" I mutter to myself. Mara shakes her head in disappointment.

The day was going by fine until now.

"Yuh cyaan see amir doesn't want you" Alicia approach me with her nonsense again. She loves to do this when mara and seren has a different class period than I do.

Currently I'm here underneath the flamboyant tree that we hangout by sitting around the picnic table.

"You're right I can't see maybe that's why I'm wearing glasses" silly old bitch .

Monkey know wah limp to jump pon enuh kay, my subrella quotes.

They sure do but I'm not inna any play play mood today so ley she come try me.

Alicia laughs "so yuh think yuh have jokes eeeh" .

Desperation doesn't look good on this girl at all.

"Desperation is not a good look for you Alicia" I repeat my thoughts.

"Who desperate? Mi no desperate me jussa tell yuh fi kip way from mi man that's all" she states.

I look back down at the pages in my book not paying her any mind. "Great! So tell your man fi keep away from me since a yours den, problem solved" I retort.

Her friend kiss her teeth in annoyance "since when you get so brave!" .

"Since dem start give weh audacity. I know you didn't think a you one did a get all" the sarcasm in my voice catches both of them off guard.

Alicia starts laughing "wah do dah British gyal yah".

"Ask yuh man and find out. His new bed must be more comfortable than his old one since I slept so peacefully on it" I tease and that's when Alicia lost all of her restraints towards me. She reach out to grab me and I knock her hand away with my hard cover text book.

Book tough like tone.

"Ouch!" Ali exclaims in pain.

"Don't ever try to put your hands on me again otherwise mi wul break it fi yuh" I say in a serious tone.

Alicia hold onto her damaged hand with the good one, kiss her teeth at me then walk away with her puppy dog wagging its tail behind her.

Damn crawsis.

• • • • • • • • •

I've decided to wear a full shirt today and long leggings to training.

My performance today will be a little under average but at least I am able to mask my injuries for now.

Uncle Wellington blows his whistle to gather our attention. "Today we will be doing 100m and 200m races, one on one" he announces.

Ughh. . .

Kill me dead

Literally

So much for hiding my injuries.

"Kay and Cardo you're up" he says. If he did match me to run against amir my loss wouldn't be such a surprise because he's the only person I can't beat here upfront.

Standing on the starting line, I exhale and get down into starting position.

Biting my lips at every shred of pain I feel.

"Bombonaawt" chappa shouts.

"Wah do Kay today" welly mutters.

Kaylani races against Cardo and loss which I know she could easily beat him.

She has been wincing nonstop since the start of practice; her lip is bruised.

She did her best to hide it until her race.

Something must've happened to her at school but why haven't I heard about it? Only Alicia is stupid enough to mess with her while my sister is there.

"Amir and Dwight you're up next" welly announce.

I walk in the starting line and get down into position.

"Ready , set" then the whistle blows. Dwight is the only person that thinks he can give me competition which I let him think he does, most of the times.

I easily win the race and break my old record. I can hear welly rejoicing from here.

"Yes! Yes! Mi tell yuh dat no de final record" he cheers. I walk back with a smirk on my face and I can hear Dwight scoffing beside me.

"Congrats" Kay says to me, this is the first time she's said a word to me today.

"Thanks" I smile.

Welly comes to show me the next record time. I beam at my new accomplishment.

He walks away then calls chappa and russian to the starting line. We all know who's about to win this race.

I sit next to Kay observing her body for other bruises. "First me a see yuh inna long clothes".

She looks down at her clothes like she's not the one wearing them then chuckle. Usually her smile reaches her ears but this one is forced.

"Need a ride home?" I offer but she refuses.

"Nah I'll catch a taxi" she answers.

"Yuh must be rich to be a catch taxi everyday suh" I tease, she roll her eyes.

"I can manage" she retorts, clearly I have offended her.

Training finishes, Kay and welly are in a deep conversation about something.

Kay seems to have built a bridge between her and almost everyone around her.

She has been telling him she's fine for at least five minutes now.

I've already pulled on my nautica short pants and rest my track back in the trunk of my jeep. I'm driving my Audi Q7.

Kay finally moves away, I can see Dwight standing on the other side of the parking lot seemingly waiting for Kay to walk away as well.

She looks up and her eyes lock with mine, she shakes her head in disbelief. "I'm fine" there she does telling lies again.

"Oh really" I smirk.

"Yeahhh" I can see her hurt on her face.

"Okay so get in the jeep then" I tell her.

She comes up with another excuse "I called the taxi already".

Feeling annoyed, my voice deepens as I say "get in the jeep, kaylani".

I watch as her eyes widened as she was caught off guard. She turns and gets inside of my Jeep. I jump in after and started it.

"Show me where is hurting you" I demand.

"No need, I'm fine" she lies.

"Kaylani" I say firmly.

She raise her shirt and turn her body slightly in the seat. The bruise on her side looks discolored which indicates it happened before today.

"Who did that? And no badda tell me yuh fine otherwise me mek yuh no reach a yard today" I warn her.

Kay eyes fill up with tears.

Jah jah.

"My. . . My mother did it" she says.

I know her mother acts like Mother Theresa sometimes but never would I thought she would beat Kay this bad.

"It will heal" she shares. I know it will, I get these bruises constantly.

"I know but I'll get someone to look at it still" I explains. She sighs but doesn't say anything else afterwards.

I take kaylani to my house and wait for Eve to come since my mother is a bit tied up at the moment.

Shortly after I've reached home, the security alert me that Eve has arrived.

I walk to the door to greet her. "Yuh nuh plan fi grow likkle more?" I tease, she hates it when I do it.

"No mi done funk a it dis" she replies making me laugh.

"So what is the emergency? You look fine" I'm shirtless and she cannot see any possible injuries on me.

"It's not for me" I step back and allow her to enter.

"Woww. . . This nice eeeh" she compliments.

"Thanks" I reply with a smile.

She spots Kay laying awkwardly on the sofa lounge. "No tell me yuh breed di people dem dawta" eve whispers.

"Cyaan breed a virgin" I retort and eve gaze at me surprised.

"Yuh no get none yet? A yuh wah mek the earth so hot lately" Eve jokes and walk towards kaylani.

"Hi sweetie, my name is Eve. What seems to be the problem?" Eve dives right in.

"I'm kaylani" Kay answers with a genuine smile this time.

Mmmm. . .

"Nice name" eve compliments.

Kay lift her shirt with her eyes closed, she won't say another word after this.

"Where did you get this?" Eve ask her and just like I've said Kay won't say another word.

"Can you check for any extent of her bruise and treat her? I'll explain the casualties after" Eve nods and pull a pair of gloves on.

"So kaylani I'm gonna press down on the bruised area. This might hurt so just bare with me okay?" Kay nods her head.

Eve press four fingers down on kay's side going down towards her hips.

"Aahhh" Kay groans softly.

There she goes downplaying her pains.

"Okay kay you might have some bruised ribs but nothing broken which is good news. I will give you something for the pain while your bruise heal on its own"  Eve explains to kay.

"Okay" kay mutters.

Eve wraps a bandage around kay's waist and secure it.

"You can remove it before taking a shower and rewrap it yourself or you can shower with it on but it will need to be changed by tomorrow" Eve lists two options to kay but she looks like she's out of it.

"Get some rest" Eve says when she realize kay isn't responding.

"So that girl where did you find her?" I knew she was coming with some ridiculous question.

I bypass her question and go on to explaining what happened.

"This was a case of mistaken identity. A video of another girl making out with a man in public was sent to her mother but it wasn't her and her mother is convinced it's her" I go on to explain.

Eve chuckles "what made you think this girl is telling you the truth?".

" 'Cause I know when she's telling a lie" is all I say then walk away to open the door while she takes out her medical bag.

On her way through the door she turns and grope the crutch of my shorts. "You owe me and I'll be looking forward to my payment".

I kiss my teeth, Evelyn just wouldn't change.

"Payment requires money, name your price and it will be sent to your account"I say and she turns around wearing a smirk on her face.

"This one doesn't baby" her tone gets low and seductive.

________________

Who knew Eve was an old flame from the beginning? 🙋🏽‍♀️

Angela wan somebody hide fi she body!