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Abbi looks worriedly at Tyler and then at me. Something is missing. What am I missing?
“Go ahead Abby, tell her.”
“One day after Ky’s mom left, Ky snapped. He became mentally unstable. Withdrawn. Angry. ”
I look over at him and he looks annoyed.
Abby clears her throat and continues and tells me more of the story about Ky and his mom. “When he was fourteen, she contacted him so she could meet up with him. He was nervous that he was finally going to see his mom again. He hadn’t seen her in three years. No visits. No phone calls. Nothing. It was always Ky and his father. His father is cold and distant. He has had multiple women come and go. The most they do is stay the night. Nothing serious. Anyway, all we know is that the day he was supposed to meet her at a café in town, she didn’t make it. She was killed in a car accident, and the worst part of it was that she was pregnant by a man she had married. Ky was always cold and distant when we met him, but when his mother died, he didn’t cry or show any emotion. I think he stopped caring. He doesn’t have girlfriends or girls stay over at his house. He was just …angry all the time. His father took him to a psychiatrist, and all we know is that Ky has…issues.”
“That sucks. I know how it feels to have a mother who doesn’t care.”
Tyler stares at his shoes, and Abbi’s expression softens as they hear me talk about the woman who had me and wasn’t supposed to. The one who hated my existence.
“Where is she now, if you don’t mind me asking?” Abby asks and Tyler clears his throat.
“She’s dead. She died of a meth overdose around the same time my stepfather landed in jail for child abuse.”
“I’m so sorry, Rubi. It was messed up to ask. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s cool, Abby. She wasn’t a good person. Let’s go say hi to Noah,” I say, changing the subject because I didn’t want this conversation to be this heavy on my birthday.
Tyler lifts his head as Abby walks away. “If you like her do something about it or someone else will…someone like Noah,” I tell him.
I’m walking out on the patio toward the pool when I see Ky standing to the side with Jen and Nicole, and they are playing around with the hose. Amber gives them a once over and waves at me sarcastically. Ky looks up and says something to her that I can’t hear.
“Hey, birthday girl, how about a swim?” someone shouts from behind me, and a gush of water in a powerful stream hits my back, and they keep walking forward, not allowing me to get out of the way. I can’t see, and I’m sputtering water from my mouth, trying to breathe, but I stumble backward and fall in the pool. Water surrounds me and I’m panicking. I thrash my arms until they burn and know that I have to remove my hoodie or I’ll drown. I manage to get the hoodie off, somehow, but I’m sinking.
Strong arms grab me and pull me out of the water until I’m lying in the fetal position on the edge of the pool. I’m coughing and gasping for air, and then I hear it. The gasps and voices of these strangers.
My braids are plastered to my cheeks.
“Holy shit!”
“Oh my God!”
“Are those scars all over her back?”
“Dude, it looks like she was tortured. Look at all the scars on her back.”
“Damn, that’s horrible. Who would do that to someone?”
Tears begin to pool in my eyes as I try to cover myself, thankful that I’m wearing a bra that covers my nipples, but my back is exposed, and everyone can see what I’ve tried to hide this whole time.
I can hear Tyler shouting. He is livid, and all I want to do is go home and cry in my closet because I know that the rest of the year at Westlake is going to be even worse than it already has been. I just want to go home. I want to go to sleep and forget about this day, about my birthday, because now I’m the freak they say I am.
Ky
I TAKE MYshirt off and hand it to Chris so he can cover Rubi. My eyes are trying to focus from the blind rage I feel from what just happened. I couldn’t jump in before Tyler because I snatched the hose away from Jen and Nicole, and was busy kicking them out of the house and telling them to never come back.
I hate her for leaving me, but I would never do something like that on her birthday, or any day for that matter. I promised Tyler I would be nice. I want to go to her, but I can’t. Tyler is in her face, and I can’t tear my eyes away from counting the marks on her back. There are so many. Raised scars in red and white colors that mar her beautiful skin.
It’s obvious why she wears the hoodies and never takes them off. It is why she looked at the dress Abby gave her with a sad expression because she knew she wouldn’t be able to wear it.
“What the fuck, Ky! Why? Why did you invite them? What have you done? I want to kill you! She could have drowned. She obviously doesn’t know how to swim, you asshole. I hope this wasn’t one of your pranks. I told you to leave her alone,” he says through clenched teeth.
Pain radiates on the side of my jaw, and I think Tyler just punched me, but I’m numb.
Chris appears out of nowhere, and I look at where Rubi is, and Abbi is making sure she is covered. Each of them are watching out for her.
