Chapter 2 Solace in Song

I stared at my reflection in the cracked bathroom mirror, gingerly prodding the fresh bruise blossoming along my jawline.

Mom's rings had cut into my skin again when she backhanded me for burning the toast this morning.

"Stupid, worthless girl," she'd snarled, her eyes glazed over with that dead-eyed drunk rage that always terrified me more than her wrath. "Can't even do the simplest tasks right. No wonder your useless father finally left."

Though my father had been gone for years, but her words pierced me like a knife.

I sighed, blinking back tears as I felt the corner of my eyes sting.

Can't let the floodgates open before first period, or I'll be a runny mess all day.

The hallway sharks will smell the blood in the water.

Speaking of which...I took a fortifying breath and squared my shoulders, mentally preparing for another gauntlet of torment.

Keep your head down, your mouth shut, and for god's sake, don't react no matter what Brittany hurls your way.

Today was my one escape, my sole respite from this unending nightmare, and I couldn't risk missing it over one of that bitch's petty outbursts.

The hallway was already swirling with overstimulated teens giddy for another week of adolescent misery as I shuffled through the double doors.

Locker doors clanged, raucous laughter and overlapping chatter echoed off the walls, and the permeating stench of Axe body spray and hormones hung thick in the air.

I kept my head down, scanning the linoleum tiles for any potential foot-related obstacles as I made my way to class. Just a few more hours until -

"Well, well, look who slummed her way in again!"

The grating nasal tones cut through the cacophony like kernel-studded nails on a chalkboard.

I resisted the urge to wince, my shoulders instinctively hunching as Brittany's posse of jackals converged around me with cruel smiles.

"Nice shiner, Loser Lucy!" Riley, Brittany's dumbest lackey, pointed a perfectly manicured nail at the bruise along my jaw. "Guess all that 'practice' is paying off in the sack, huh?"

A chorus of titters and snickers erupted from the harpies. I focused on a scuffmark on the tile between my feet, refusing to meet their mocking gazes. Don't react, don't react...

"Aw, what's the matter, Lucy?" Brittany crooned in that shrill baby-talk that made my molars grind. "Cat got your tongu- OOF!"

Her derisive coo was abruptly cut off as a solid form bumped hard into her shoulder, sending her staggering back a step.

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see you there."

The refined, familiar lilt of Chase's accented voice was seeped in the most insincere contrition.

A hush fell over the gathered jackals as he leveled his cool emerald stare at Brittany, one eyebrow cocked in obvious disdain.

Brittany's eyes narrowed to slits, her lips pursing into a petulant moue.

"You really need to watch where you're going, Transfer," she sneered, straightening her designer jacket with a disdainful sniff.

"My sincerest apologies," Chase rejoined breezily. His gaze cut toward me briefly, holding just a beat too long before returning to Brittany. "I certainly didn't intend to interrupt your...morning Constitutional. Please, carry on."

If looks could kill, Brittany's withering glare would have dropped him dead on the spot.

Unfortunately for her, Chase seemed infuriatingly unperturbed, regarding her with little more than vague disinterest.

"Whatever," she huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder with an exaggerated toss. "Just stay out of my way, Transfer Kid."

With one last contemptuous sneer in my direction, she pivoted on her heel and strode off, her faithful sycophants scurrying along in her wake like beaten dogs.

A few cast uncertain looks over their shoulders back at Chase, as if afraid he might pursue them like a vengeful demigod.

Chase watched them go with an impassive expression before turning to me with a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"Walk with me?" he murmured, gesturing with a slight incline of his head.

I blinked, taken aback by the unexpected overture.

My gaze flickered briefly down the hallway where Brittany and her crew were still casting suspicious glances in our direction.

As much as the thought of gaining a reprieve from their relentless torment appealed to me, I couldn't fathom why Chase would want to be associated with a perpetual punching bag like me.

At my hesitation, his smile widened fractionally, crinkling those absurdly long lashes.

"I assure you, there's no need to worry. Unlike some, I don't subscribe to this...antiquated primate social hierarchy."

A startled laugh escaped my lips before I could smother it. My shoulders relaxed slightly as his utter lack of concern for teenage posturing put me at ease.

This strange, intense boy couldn't care less about the rigid, self-imposed caste system that ruled Westbrook's halls - a caste system that had me permanently entrenched at the very bottom.

"How's your day so far?" he asked in that low, melodious voice as we continued down the hallway, the suspicious looks and jeers from Brittany's pack fading into the ambient noise.

I felt myself bristling reflexively as memories of my mother's venomous words and stinging blows resurfaced.

To my surprise, Chase's placid features only adopted a look of concern at my palpable tension.

"That troubling, I take it?" He arched one eyebrow in a wordless invitation to elaborate.

I opened my mouth, fully prepared to deflect and demur as I always did, the instinctive impulse to retreat behind protective walls nearly overpowering.

But there was something about Chase's calm, steady presence - something that beckoned to be met without preamble or obfuscation.

"My mom...she has a bit of a temper," I admitted, the words feeling clumsy and inadequate as soon as they left my lips. I gestured vaguely at the mottled bruise along my jaw. "She doesn't always intend it, but..."

But Chase's expression remained implacable, his eyes studying me with an intensity that should have been discomforting, yet somehow wasn't.

I trailed off, mystified by how easily I was permitting myself to disclose such deeply guarded personal vulnerabilities.

"I grieve that you must endure such abhorrent treatment, Lucy," he said at length, his voice barely above a murmur yet somehow resonating with profound empathy. "You are worthy of far kinder existences than these."

His words washed over me, permeating an indelible warmth I couldn't quite describe.

For the first time, my wretched circumstances were being acknowledged not with pity, but...something else entirely.

Something more profound, more elemental.

Chase regarded me silently for a long moment, seeming to consider his next words with care.

"If I may be so bold..." He paused, exhaling softly through his nose. "I find your stoic resilience in facing such ongoing cruelties to be extraordinary, Lucy. You possess a quiet strength that many would wither without."

The sincerity ringing in his voice robbed me of the ability to respond with anything beyond an inelegant blink.

I could only gape, utterly transfixed by this strange, intense boy.

An infinitesimal smile played across his lips as he reached out, brushing his fingertips ever so lightly along the exposed skin of my forearm - a simple, innocent gesture, yet it flooded me with a heat that had nothing to do with embarrassment.

We came to a halt outside my first period classroom. Chase withdrew his hand, his expression once again inscrutable.

"I'll see you later, Lucy," he murmured. I could only nod mutely, rooted to the spot as I watched him continue down the hallway until his form disappeared around the corner.

It wasn't until the tardy bell pierced the air.