Leave the Pieces : Introduction

When you ask her Name,

She turns away.

When you offer your help,

She furrows her brows.

When you say Hello,

She runs away crying...

Who is this girl? Her name is Madeline May Storms.

And that girl is me...

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Steven Maxwell walked onto Campus at exactly 8:03, about an hour before the high school students sauntered in and took their seats.

His hands played a juggling game, as he shifted his lesson plans and the papers he graded last night from hand to hand, trying to locate his keys in the back of his jean pocket.

Mumbling curses to himself he placed the stacks of papers onto the hallway floor. Soon however, the 25-year-old teacher smiled and blew a lock of his messy brown hair out of his green eyes as triumphantly pulled out a small copper key from his pocket.

He was about to put the much sought out for key into the lock when he caught a small movement from the corner of his eye.

"Mrs. Storms? The minute a small grunt of acknowledgement was heard, he walked over...

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Maddy accepted his hand as she tottered to her feet. The long sleeve of her navy blue hoodie had gone up to her elbows while she had slept, and when she noticed she quickly pulled it down again, hoping to god that her teacher didn’t see the deep purple bruise that ran the length of her upper arm. She remained quiet through his, not-overly-concerned, interrogation, wincing at every step she took, soon remembering one of her many other injuries. This one happened to cover her entire left leg and was a mix of bruises and cuts along with a few old scars.

She saw his eyes sharpen to her limp and she stopped, assuring her teacher that she was alright, never answering any other question thrown at her. But she could tell that he did not expect more.

This, of course, was not the first time she had slept in the hallway, only to be awoken by an early teacher or a zero-period student. In fact, the janitor had began to leave the hall doors unlocked during the night, as he had so often found her slumped outside the doors long before 7 o' clock.

"Maddy!"
"Hey, Madeline!" She turned to see her two best friends rushing towards her. She brushed a stray piece of her auburn hair behind her ear.
"Early again, eh Madeline?" Jason asked, looking down at her from his height of 6' 7". He blinked his golden brown eyes at her, running a hand through his shaggy dirty blond hair. She blushed a bit,

Blinking right back at him, trying to figure out what to say at the same time fighting the tears out of her deep brown eyes at the remembrance of the night before.

"Yea" finally came the sad excuse for an answer.

"Aww, Maddy, Why do you insist to lie to us all the time. Your whole 'I like being here early' act is sickening. Something is definitely wrong. Is it really so bad that you cant tell your bestest friends in the whole wide world?" Emily put on her puppy dog look, her bottom lip quivered " Huh?"

Maddy laughed at her attempts, and despite the little nagging voice that told her to tell the truth, she said "Its not an act Em, Its nice to be here early and get everything in order, ready for the day"

Her friend only rolled her sea blue eyes at her , "Whatever."

Suddenly the mood changed from quite serious to silent as Em caught sight of Mr. Maxwell.

She swooned and flipped her head back to look at me, simultaneously slapping me in the face with her light brown hair.

"oww"

"That’s why you come early isn’t it? You're having a secret affair with Mr. Maxwell, Aren’t you?" She grinned at me. "I mean, he's gorgeous enough to wake up early for"
I rolled my eyes at her idiotic theory.
"Oh yea, I come every morning and make out with him for two hours...Note the sarcasm" I added the last part as she opened her mouth with an 'I knew it'' look on her face.

Jason let out a hearty laugh, and before I could count to 5 the topic had randomly changed.

About five minutes later

"Why do you always wear those icky Long sleeves and baggy jeans , Maddy? You look like a slacker." totally taken aback by the sudden inspection of my clothes I faltered
"I...I'

"Oh well, I can fix it. We'll just roll up your pants here, add a few accesories there and you'll have a decent outfit"

She reached down and began to roll my ill-fitting right pant leg up. I was still in shock, but luckily recovered right as she started to roll up the left.

I quickly pulled my leg away from her fashion sensitive hands.

But not quickly enough

'Shit'

Em and Jason had just seen a glimpse of my cut up leg.

"What the hell?!" Jason demanded and i shrunk away from his tone.

"Oh my gosh Maddy, what happened to your leg?!"

"It.. Its nothing you guys..jus-"

Jason cut me off,

He had grabbed my pant leg and rolled it up as far as my knee

"Shit" he cursed

'Just what i was thinking'

He looked up at me sharply

"I Know you didn’t do this Madeline,

So tell me who did and ill-"

"Please, Jason, Em, Its nothing reall-"

"Fuck Maddy , you look at your leg and tell me its nothing." He was really mad now,

steaming, as was Em once she realized all the possiblities of what could have happened.

Oh god,

My secret was out.

And it was hidden so well,

Hidden for 2 years now,

And now it was out..

WHAT THE HELL WAS I GOING TO DO?!