Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven Help Us ❯ I'm Not Okay (I Promise) ( Chapter 1 )

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Chapter 1
I’m Not Okay, I Promise!

Eliza Davis let a painful sigh escape her lips as she leaned back against her bedroom wall, looking above her at the My Chemical Romance poster on her ceiling. She was locked in a staring battle with the five handsome members. The song “Ohio Is for Lovers” by Hawthorne Heights blasted around her making the whole room vibrate whenever the bass struck a chord.

She had always believed there had been a hidden meaning in the song. Actually, it was quite clear in the lyrics--so cut my wrists and black my eyes–. She smiled bitterly to herself, recalling today’s events earlier at school.

Eliza had another run-in with Ashley, the queen of Halo’s Highschool, Camden, New Jersey, she was the ruler of the prep clique. Eliza’s bitter smile turned into a scowl at the thought of the sickly skinny girl. Eliza recalled the way Ashley had flipped her perfect platinum blonde hair, the way her beach tanned skin had made her forest green eyes stand out. And that smile, that damn pearly white smile, that never ended to piss her off.

Eliza never thought herself to be pretty like Ashley, but rather unique. She had natural jet black hair, which never ceased to draw questions wether she dyed it. It was in a common “Emo/scene” style with her bangs covered half her left eye, while some covered her forehead. Long wavy hair began past her nose and ended just above her breasts and middle back. That was not the only unique thing about Eliza, she also had two toned eyes. When she was born, instead of both her eyes being the bright baby blues most baby’s had, her left eye was a chocolate brown, and her right was an deep ocean blue.

Her parents were baffled, because they both had hazel eyes. Eliza now laughed whenever she imagined her parents shocked faces, and what could have been running through her fathers mind at that moment. She was often teased about it, but she really didn’t mind, it was just something else that made her different from the others, something that made her special.

Some of her friends often compared Eliza to Audrey Kitchen or Hanna Beth, excluding the pink highlights of course. Audrey Kitchen was one of Eliza’s idol, she was a well known internet model, and had a great taste in fashion. Eliza had a few piercings which included her ears, four times on each, and a small silver nose stud. Unlike most teens her age–seventeen–she had two tattoos. Eliza’s parents weren’t exactly pleased with that, but she could really care less. Her first tattoo she had gotten when she lost a bet to her friends on her “Sweet Sixteen.”Nothing had been particularly sweet about that Halloween day. Eliza’s parents were very religious and they had chalked up her dark personality to being born on the “evil/satanic” day. As if.

Back to the bet, it was actually more of a quiz, but instead of getting a slap on the wrists and a ‘F’ if you failed, you got a buzzing needle and searing hot pain. Eliza, and her friends Benjy, Sauna, and Vincent were all music fanatics. The quiz was that Eliza had to name the song and band of the lyrics they had given her. Ten questions in all. The first four were a synch! “Dead!” by My Chemical Romance. “Voices” by Saosin. “Calling All Cars” by Senses Fail. The fourth was “You’re So Last Summer” by Taking Back Sunday. The next five were hell to list, half of the songs Eliza had probably heard four-six times. Though she had a gift, she could hear something just once, and quote it word for word. Vincent had also come up with a rule that she couldn’t look the lyrics up on Google. Dammit, she had been counting on that.

Then, the final question came, this one was the biggy! She had guessed the band right off the bat, Story of the Year, but, here’s the catch. Eliza only knew two of their songs, and there was no guarantee that it was either one of them. She went with “Anthem of our Dying Day.” Benjy looked down traught, as if Eliza had guessed right, but then, he cracked a smile, which made his silver lip ring stand out more.

Eliza knew at that moment, that she’d be facing her fear of needles very soon. Benjy, Vincent, and Sauna got to decided where it would be put, and Eliza had begged to be somewhere she could cover it up when she worked at her job. So, they decided to get it above her right hip, Eliza luckily got to decided what was going to be permanently scarred on her body. She chose a clandestine. It was the outline of a bat, and in the middle was a black heart, but the left side was different then the right side. On the left side of the heart, was a skull.

Eliza still remembered when her parents found out, and how they round out. Throughout the entire week she had been taking Advil and other pain reducers to stop the stinging and the burning. She was glad she only had P.E. twice that week, and no one had noticed the new addition to her body when she changed into her gym clothes.

She had to ask her mother for more medicine, because her mother kept it well hidden. Eliza had claimed that it was her girly cramps, which her mother believed for the first couple of days. Then, she grew suspicious of Eliza, which she was aware off, and stopped taking the pills, deciding to be strong and deal with the pain. One night, Eliza fell asleep on the couch and her shirt rose to her stomach. Her mother went to put a blanket on Eliza, and happened to glance down. She was grounded for two months.

Her second tattoo she had gotten with Sauna, which had been a year later when they both had turned seventeen. They got matching tattoos on their wrists, on Eliza’s left and Shauna’s right. It wasn’t anything big, it was Actually a song title which encircled their wrists. It said in small print “Thank You For The Venom.”

“Ohio is for Lovers” gave out to Rise Against, a band she’d seen with Benjy twice. Eliza then began to think about Ashley again as the beating of the drums and the strumming of the guitars engulfed her. Ashley seemed like the perfect girl, practically every guy in Halo Highschool wanted her. Even Vincent, which upset Sauna when she had found out. Sauna had feelings greater then friendship for Vincent, but was too scared to say anything to him, afraid of getting hurt again.

Back to Ashley, she was physically perfect in every way, except for the “upstairs area.” And no, not her boobs, above her throat. She was ditzy blonde, not saying that all blondes are ditzy, but she could dig herself in a hole real easily, but she knew many people who could more easily dig her out, and put you in an even bigger and deeper hole. Oh! A perfect example, which had to do with today’s events.

Today, during Foods Class, Ashley decided to chase a senior, Brad, with some kind of Paris Hilton fragrance. Brad had locked himself into the pantry and Ashley stood on the other side of the door, trying to lure him out of the tiny closet. Brad just shook his head and refused.
“But Brady Baby, you’ll smell just like Paris Hilton, my idol. Some say I look just like her,” Ashley said, as if it were a good thing. Eliza roller her eyes and couldn’t help but say, “What’s that smell like? STD’s? Or is it going to cover it up? It must work for you perfectly, Ashley.”Ashley immediately stopped her pursuit of Brad and strutted over to Eliza. Ashley towered over Eliza’s 5"2 structure with her own 5"7 body.

“What was that, you little emo bitch?” But Eliza stood her ground and shook her head, not wanting to start anything, especially not in the middle of class. “That’s what I thought,” Ashley smiled as sweetly as she could, and with a flip of her hair went back to her pursuit of Brad, who still stood in the food pantry.

Eliza blew some of the bangs out of her face, knowing this wouldn’t be the end of this spat. Personally, Ashley wasn’t much to be scared of, she wasn’t all that strong. No, the reason to fear Ashley Blake was she could make your life hell, even worse then hell. That point was proven when Eliza went to meet Benji in their usual spot after school.

Everyday Benji would give Eliza a ride home on the back of his gold and black Kawasaki ZX12R Ninja 2006 Motorcycle. Or, as he liked to call it, “the crotch-buster”. She heaved her bag onto her shoulder, which Benji and Shauna had decorated in song lyrics, band stickers, and buttons. Benji had told her he might be a little late, a teacher wanted to see him after school, which couldn’t have been good.

Eliza sighed when she reached Benji’s “crotch buster”. The spot he parked in was pretty much secluded because he was paranoid that someone would back into it. Again. She pulled out her pink and black polka dotted razor phone, checking her text messages, hoping Shauna had replied back. She hadn’t seen Shauna all day on the account of she was at their rival school, singing her heart out. Eliza’s last text asked how her solo had went, and if she was coming over to hang out with Benji, Vincent, and herself.

Eliza’s text inbox was empty. She scratched the back of her neck and ran her dainty hands through her wavy hair. This movement was her “turrets” as Vincent called it. Eliza plopped down on the asphalt, waiting for Benji to be done with getting his ass chewed. Only three minutes had passed when she had a prickly feeling in the back of her head. Eliza had dubbed this the “Prick of Doom”. It got it’s name because whenever it happened, something bad was going to follow soon.

She immediately shot to her feet, and looked around as the “Prick of Doom” grew stronger. Someone was there with her, and there was nowhere to run. She was stuck between the open road and the back of the side of the school, where most students and staff had left, eager to go home and being their “social lives”. Eliza backed herself up into the corner, trying to hide herself, but instead had dug herself into a deeper hole.

She heard three pairs of footsteps and watched as Ashley, a senior that she couldn’t remember his name, and Ashley’s current piece of meat, James, stalk around the corner. Both guys were over 6" tall and had a good build. Go figure why they were the star receiver and quarterback of the football team. Ashley, who was being held around the waste by James released herself from his grip and walked around, as if searching for something.
“She’s probably looking for her virginity,” thought Eliza, remembering one time her and Benji had walked back here and saw Ashley making out with some guy. As if hearing Eliza’s thoughts, Ashley suddenly looked up and Eliza’s brown and blue orbs met Ashley’s forest green eyes. A malicious smile replaced Ashley’s frown as she called James and the other senior to her.

“Look what I found,” The same smile appeared on James’s handsome face as he stood next to Ashley. The same thing couldn’t be said for the senior, he actually looked, ashamed?

“Word has it that you have a problem with Ashley,” James said, as he took an intimidating step forward. Eliza refused to step down. She refused to give Ashley the satisfaction of seeing the fear she felt at the moment. Eliza was sure they could all see the fear in her eyes though, and the way her eyes kept darting from James, Ashley, and the senior to the little bit of free space. Eliza knew she might be able to make it through the gap, but she wasn’t sure. James might have been big, but he was just as fast. She turned her attention back to James, Ashley, and the other guy, wishing more than ever that Benji would get out here.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a problem,” Eliza said slowly, being cautious of the words she chose. “Maybe I can use logic and talking to reason with them.” But the “Prick of Doom” said otherwise. “I was just trying to poke fun, I didn’t mean any real offense in it.” As she was saying this, Eliza began inching closer to the gap. She now stood between Benji’s bike and certain pain.

“Well, I took it offensively,” Ashley stated, adding a sniffle to prove her point. This seemed to work, because James took another step towards Eliza, his face growing red.

“I think you should apologize. You should never insult someone better than yourself. Something bad might happen, right, Owen?” The other senior nodded, now identified as Owen.

“You’re right. What I said was totally uncalled for. I-I’m. S-so-.” Eliza couldn’t bring herself to say the rest. Not to Ashley. Never to Ashley. Eliza bowed her head, she could hear James’s heavy footsteps coming closer to her.

That’s when Eliza decided to take action. She swiftly dropped the bag on the asphalt and made a mad dash for the gap. Her black converses made a loud slapping sound as they pounded against the pavement. Her hair whipped around her head as she pumped her arms. Eliza thought she was home free until a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and then next thing she knew she was falling. James had caught up to the fleeing girl and grabbed her, then threw her on the ground.

Eliza hit the dark asphalt hard her chin hit the unforgiving hard ground and skidded. Eliza let out a gasp as she turned over on her back, tasting blood. She got on her cut and bleeding hands and knees and spit blood onto the ground. She grimaced at the pain and the blood she felt dripping down her chin.

“You know, all you had to say was that you were sorry,” James sneered as he stooped down to Eliza’s level. “We might have believed you, but now,” he yanked her hair which caused her to cry out in pain,”Own and I will have to make you sorry.” He almost said it gleefully. For the first time, Owen spoke.

“No way, man. I don’t hit girls. This is just wrong, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Fine then, leave. But if you tell anyone about this, the same will happen to you.” Owen quickly nodded and took one last look at Eliza. She knew he saw the pleading in her eyes by the way he grimaced, but he still did nothing. Owen just shook his head, mouthed that he was sorry and jogged off.

“Sorry for what?” Eliza thought to herself. “Sorry that I’m in pain? Sorry that James was going to beat me? Or sorry that he wasn’t a big enough man to stand up to James?”

Eliza’s thoughts were interrupted by a swift kick to her rib cage. She tasted even more blood as her vision blurred and darkness began to take over her. She eagerly welcomed the darkness, but before unconsciousness took her, she heard James let out a startled cry as someone hurtled themselves onto his back.

“Was it Owen? Had he come back to save me?” Was Eliza’s last conscious thoughts.


So, I began writing this on my way down to Texas for vacation, which was 12 pages in my little notebook. I really don’t know where I’m going with this, I will be writing the second chapter soon, I have the outline written down, now I just need details! I hope you liked it, now, you see that purple button at the bottom? The one that says “go”? Press that and leave me a nice little message. No flames. But criticism is welcome =]]