I'm still sitting on the bed thinking about Ethan's sudden strange behaviour when the door opens again after ten minutes and my new roommate, Grace walks in smiling.
" Hi Michael.", she says waving her hands at me and coming towards me. "Ahm...Can I call you Mike ?", she asks.
" Call me Nate ?", I ask.
" Oh..that's your second name ?", she asks. I nod.
" Okay Nate. My name is Grace Adams. Call me Grace.", She says and stretches out her hand. I smile and take her hands, carefully with my right hand, praying she thinks the blood stain as paint.
" You had arts last hour ?", she asks looking at my sleeves.
" Hmm..", I nod. " I'll g..go change. You please settle in by then. ", I say and crawl out of the bed. She nods and I quickly go to my cupboard and take a pair of clothes before escaping into the bathroom. I was careful to pick out a long sleeved shirt between. I shut the bathroom door behind and strip out of my clothes, stepping into the shower of cool water.
So I have lost my privacy. I've a roommate now. That too a girl. But it's kind of good. And Grace seems nice and friendly. She didn't make fun of me yet and she smiled and talked nicely to me. Maybe I can be friends with her.
What might have Ethan told her ? Did he talk about me cutting myself? No. If so she'd have asked me. Probably he told her that there's nothing between us like she thought. I mean she might have thought we are boyfriends or something. She saw us like that, Ethan was lying above me.
Maybe Ethan told her about my stammering problem. She didn't ask me anything about it yet. But then I didn't stammer much in front of her.
Wait ! Ethan promised me, he won't let them hurt me again. Will he keep that promise ? Probably he won't. He will break it.
When I come out of the bathroom after twenty minutes, Grace is arranging her things inside the remaining cupboards and shelves in the room. She turns and smiles at me whilst folding her clothes into an empty cupboard.
" You showered?", she asks. I hum.
" You are new s..student ?", I ask sitting down on my bed. She nods. " Senior ??"
" Yeah..", she hums.
" I'm also a new student. ", I say.
" Oh..I see. Great ! ", she smiles. " You got scholarship?"
" Yeah.", I nod. " You ?"
" No. I just transferred schools. I studied in New York last year. Now my Dad got a transfer to here. ", she replies.
" oh..Wh..what is your Dad ?", I ask.
" Commissioner of police.", Grace replies folding away her clothes in the cupboard.
" Wh..what ? Commissioner of p..police ?", I repeat in surprise.
" Yeah..", Grace smiles. " You heard it right."
" oh..I..okay.", I nod. " so um.. your family shifted to here."
" uhm..yeah..", she chuckles. " But my family is only me and my Dad. My Mom died when I was small. Dad didn't marry after that. So I transfer schools whenever Dad gets a transfer.", she says.
" oh..I'm..s..sorry.", I say.
" It's okay. My Mom died when I was very small, like three years. I don't even remember her. My Dad is my everything.", she says nonchalantly.
" Your Dad didn't come with you t..today ?", I ask.
" No. He couldn't. Unfortunately he had some urgent works. So I came alone.", she replies.
" S...so your Dad knows you are gonna s..stay in co-ed dorm ? He's okay with that? ", I ask.
" He actually doesn't know yet. But he won't mind it I guess. And you know Nate, I'm thrilled to share a room with a boy. It's my first time in a co-ed dorm. I didn't think I'd get the chance until I reach college.", she says smiling.
" Me too.", I smile back.
" Yeah..so let's enjoy this last year of high school together.", she says smiling widely. My smile might have faded a little at the word ' enjoy' that she frowns at me. I don't know whether that's possible for me. My school life is not meant to be enjoyed. It's meant to be bullied and tortured and hurt.
But now I kind of feel a hope. Since Grace is police commissioner's daughter, nobody will dare to bully her or go against he. So now since I'm her roommate, maybe people would stop bullying me. Maybe...
But then maybe she will get tired of me by today itself and she will change room. Yes..who would like to be roommates with someone boring and stupid like me ?
" Nate ??", Grace calls standing just in front of me, her face so close as she is bend down, looking at me.
" Hmm..", I respond flinching at her closeness.
" What are you thinking ? I've been calling your name two three times.", she says.
" Ahm...n..nothing.", I shake my head.
" So friends ??", she asks again stretching her hands with a beautiful smile playing on her lips. I smile and take her hands, nodding to her.
Grace then goes back to arranging her things. She doesn't have too much stuff. Only two suitcases and just enough clothes and stuff.
" So Nate, tell about you. Where is your home ? Your Dad, Mom ? Do you have siblings?", She asks.
" My home is in Oklahoma. Dad is an o..office clerk. Mom is a home maker. I've an elder s..sister. She is married and has a d..daughter.", I reply.
" Oh..I see.", She smiles. " So you don't go back to home on weekends since it's far ?", she asks. I shake my head 'No'. "Then what you did on last two weekends ?", she ask.
" I- I sat here and did w..works and s...studied.", I reply hesitantly. Grace just hum and continues doing her task.
"Grace...shall I help you ?", I ask.
" No..thanks.", she replies. " I'll finish this in ten minutes. Uhm..are you free now ?",
" Yeah..I'm free. Oh no...I'm not free. I need to r..write an as..assignment.", I say remembering Tony's English assignment.
" Is it your assignment or someone else's ? Ethan told me to tell you not to write that assignment someone called Tony told you to write.", Grace says.
" He...he told you about that ?", I ask surprised. " What else did he tell you ?"
" He didn't say much. He said some people here especially his football teammates are bullying you and are making you do their works. Also Ethan told about your speech deficiency and they all are making advantage of it to make fun of you and make you feel you are a stupid. And now you too have kind of started believing it. Nate, you need to stop believing all those jerks and you should start believing in yourself.", Grace says. She said the last two sentences carefully and unsurely.
So Ethan has told her everything in brief. Maybe even told about me cutting myself.
" It's not just his t..teammates. It's his friends who b..bullies me. His own g..gang. And he don't s..speak a word against them.", I say.
" Hmm..he said that. He told me all the things he and his friends did to you. And Nate, I hate him for all that he did. I told him, he was being a heartless jerk. And he agreed. And he regret everything he did. He said he is going to talk to his friends about this and he will make sure they won't bully you again. Don't worry Nate. No one will bully you again. You don't need to write assignments for anyone. And now, I'm also here, right ? You don't need to fear anyone, okay ? "
My mouth drop open in surprise. Is this real ? Is this really happening?
But Ethan ! Ethan is going to talk to them ? What will they do to him if he speak against them ? What if they hurt him ?
" Grace, where did Ethan g..go ? Did he go to talk to his f..friends", I ask in fear.
" No..he now went to his dorm. He said he will meet his gang after the football practice. It will end only at 6.", Grace replies. I leave a relieved sigh and crawl out of my bed to grab my phone.
" Where are you going ?", Grace asks.
" I need to talk to Ethan.", I say walking to the desk and taking my phone.
" Half an hour ago you were yelling at him to get out. You wanna talk now ?", Grace asks.
" I don't want him to t..talk to his friends for me. They....they might hurt him. They are really c..cruel.", I say.
" So you actually knows, Ethan isn't really a jerk ?", Grace asks. I doesn't reply but dial Ethan's number on my phone and place it near my ear, walking to the back balcony. Ethan answers the call after a few rings.
" Are you...going to talk to them for m..me ?", I ask.
" Yeah..", he hums.
" You don't need to t..talk to them. I can m..manage it myself.", I say.
" How ? By cutting and burning yourself?", he asks.
" S..someway.", I say. " You don't need to b..bother about me. Don't talk to your friends.", I say.
" I've decided already.", he says.
" Ethan, it's not b..because of you, I did that. So you don't have to d..do this for me. And You know...the c..consequences, right ? They might hurt you."
" I know. I'm ready to face any consequences. Anyway they aren't gonna kill me or anything.", Ethan replies.
" I said I d..don't want you to. Don't go to any of their d..dorms, atleast today. Please...", I finally pleads.
" Okay then promise me you won't hurt yourself again. Promise me you won't do such stupid things again.", he says.
I leave a sigh. " Okay.", I hum.
" Promise me."
" Okay. I won't h..hurt myself again. Don't g..go to them.", I say.
" Okay.", he hums. " I'm not talking to them for today. And Michael, you aren't writing his assignment. "
" Okay...", I nod.
" Okay. Ahm then bye. ",
" Wait ! Did you...did you tell Grace that I c..cuts ?", I ask.
"Ahm...she seemed nice. So I told. Sorry...I did it to help you Michael.", he says.
I sigh again in frustration and abruptly end the call. Why Ethan had to know ? Why he had to come here today ? And why he had to tell Grace ? I'm sure she is going to soon change room thinking I'll become a problem to her.