Chapter 10 - Edited Once

Stella (Edited Once)

“Skye?” I was utterly shocked to see my best friend in the same car as me. I stared at her then I found myself asking​ this idiotic question. “You’re Julian’s cousin?”

How can that slip my mind? She has the same last name as Julian.

Skye Woods.

“Y-yes, Stella, what are you doing here? You know Julian? Aunt Nancy, is she...” I waited for a few minutes because she looked at Nancy and Nancy nodded with a smile. Am I missing something? They looked like they were having a telepathic conversation or something.

“Well, it’s a long story,” I explained in short, and she just eyed me for a while. It felt weird to see my best friend with the new people. They were obviously her family, and I felt like an outsider, again.

Skye finally laid her back in the car seat and crossed her arms. “We have some talking to do, tonight,” she remarked, and I sighed, knowing I could not hide my bitter reality from her forever. The secret was out, and I hoped she does not get mad at me for not telling her. It was for her own safety. I did not know what Raymond would do to her if she knew.

Nancy ignited the engine and took off. We sat there in silence until she broke it. “So, are you two friends?” Nancy asked, then looked at me from the corner of her eyes.

“Best friends!” Skye and I said in unison then we smiled. Nothing has changed between us, andI’d like to keep it that way.

“How nice, what a small world we live in, isn’t that right, Skye?” Nancy directed her question to her, suggesting something else in her tone. I did not ask because I did not want to pry.

“Yeah...” Skye whispered, and we fell into an awkward silence. Again.

“Alright, girls, our mission is to buy Stella a new closet. Clothes, shoes, make up-” Nancy started listing to us, but I interrupted her, feeling triggered by what she said.

I shook my head. “No makeup, never. Please.” I desperately requested, and they looked at me in confusion.

“Why not?” Skye asked, linking her arms with mine.

“Because I don’t like how I look with makeup on.”

I hate makeup because Raymond forced me once to put it on when hisbuddiesbeat the

crap out of me, so it got stuck in my head as a trigger for their brutal abuse. They broke two ribs and bruised my stomach and back so badly that I had to crawl to bed.

“I am sure you would look more beautiful, but that’s your call. Now let’s begin,” Nancy linked my other arm with hers, and we entered the mall only to be flashed by the smell of all kinds of perfumes and new clothes. It smelled fresh. New. Like everything I never had after the age of ten.

“We don’t have to buy a lot, I just need one outfit, you know besides the one that I’m wearing right now, which belongs to Julian.” I pointed out then looked at myself in the mirror. We were in a cute store. It was my first time entering this shop.

I never got the chance to shop with others, I just shoppedonceevery three years with Raymond’s clutch on my body. He would tell me to wait outside a store and then would pick an oversized sweater or shirt so that I look presentable in school. He did not want me to draw unwanted attention to the situation at him. He was being nice.

But I had to stay quiet every time I go out with him and not complain because then, I would not ever get anything to wear. He was beingnicesince he could not hit me in public.

“Nonsense, you literally have nothing with you!” Nancy protested and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I don’t deserve this attention from a stranger.

“Okay, now I’m super curious, I want you to tell me everything in detail.” Skye crossed her arms with a pout.

“I’ll tell you everything, but not now. I promise.”

I ended up with ten hoodies, ten pairs of jeans and leggings, ten shirts, five pairs of shoes, plus three unnecessary casual dresses and one elegant dress. And undergarments. I was overwhelmed by the bags we had to carry, and guilty when I looked at the price tags. I could never repay them. Not in the near future at least. I had nothing.

They were so generous and stubborn, and I eventually let them do whatever they wanted. They seemed genuinely happy to buy me stuff, and I felt like I belonged.

“Okay, who’s ready to eat?” Skye asked, and we nodded. I looked at the clock, it was three in the afternoon. They also bought me a new phone. I felt so bad accepting it, but they insisted, saying, and I quote, ′How can we contact you without a phone?′

“I would like to have a burger and an orange juice, please,” Skye ordered, and the waiter wrote everything down on his small board, then he looked at me with a bright smile.

“And you ma’am?” he asked politely.

“I’ll get the same without the orange juice, please. A cup of water will do,” I replied then he looked at Nancy after writing down my order.

“I’ll get chicken wings plus Caesar salad and grape juice,” Nancy ordered.

“Coming right up,” he said, then took off to another customer who was waiting eagerly.

“Are you staying in the pac- I mean the family house?” Skye asked me while putting her elbows on the table, then she rested her chin on her palms. She looked like Cinderella when she was staring at the sky from her room’s only window. Beautiful.

“I... Um, Ah, I don’t know,” I replied, looking at my lap and playing with my fingers.

I have nowhere to go.

“Of course, she will stay there. She is now a part of the family, the Woods family.” Nancy pointed out with a genuine, big, happy smile. I felt defeated and weak yet relieved at the same time. I just nodded without saying any other word. After a while of chatting about random topics, our orders came with the same nice waiter.

“Ladies, I hope you have a wonderful meal and bon appetite,” he said, then walked away, leaving us admiring the delicious, tasty food.

“Shall we begin?” Nancy giggled, and I smiled.

I nodded, feeling less guilty about the money that they wasted on me, and Skye clapped her hands together. “We shall,” she replied, and we ate our food in peace.

Or so I thought.

“Not him,” I muttered when I saw him entering the restaurant. “He can’t see me,” I whispered real low, but it turned out not low enough because Nancy and Skye heard me.

“What’s wrong?” they asked, and I just stared at him with a shocked, panicked expression.

“H-he’s not s-suppose to see me,” I stuttered, but more to myself than them.

“Who?” Nancy asked. “Is it Raymond?” She placed her hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head with fear. “No.” As I replied, he turned his head and saw me. He smirked slyly, making me remember one of the worst assaults I had.

Why everything reminds me of the abuse?

He approached me fast. “Well, well, well. Look who’s here... Stella.TheStella,” he said in his hoarse, creepy, and unpleasant voice.