Chapter 8 Movies And Shopping

We were seated at our table at lunch with our food in front of us, when I took out my phone and showed the text to Sam. I have read it so many times, it was now stuck in my head.

After reading the text, she looked at me and asked, "Who is Troy?"

I took a deep breath and began to tell a story I wish I could forget about. "He is my ex-boyfriend." She looked at me and nodded for me to continue. Stacy sat beside me with sadness in her eyes. She knew the story too well.

"Two years ago, my sophomore year, I met Troy. He was kind and sweet and we hit it off right away. I was overjoyed when he asked me to be his girlfriend, so I said yes. For the first month things were going great, but as time passed he became really possessive and started to tell me that I am his and he would get jealous if I was talking to other boys. He would get all angry and accused me of cheating on him when he saw me talking with another boy, even though I told him I would never do that.

"Anyways, one day I was at the library working on a group project with a boy and Troy came up there and saw us, he just gave the boy a glare and ignored us. I thought that he was over his stupid possessiveness, but I was so wrong. At the end of the day, I was walking through the halls to head home when someone grabbed me and pulled me into an empty classroom. I was shocked until I saw it was Troy. I smiled at him, but the smile fell from my face when I saw the angry look on his..." I trailed off and took another deep breath. Stacy reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. I smiled at her and carry on.

"He was angry and started accusing me of cheating on him with the boy. I was telling him that it was not like that but he refused to listen. The next thing I know, he slapped me across my face. I was so shocked." Tears started to run down my cheeks as memory of that day came flashing back, "he then thumped me in my stomach and said that the next time I should listen to him. I didn't know what to do, so I fell on the floor crying and he left with that warning. A few minutes later, I got up and wiped my tears and went home. I couldn't tell my parents because I was scared. He didn't do it again until two weeks after. He then became a habit. He would hit me for every simple thing and that is when I told him we were over. He didn't say anything, he just walked away and I didn't see him at school again the next day. A few weeks later, I heard that he moved because his parents got a new job. Now it seems like he is back."

Samantha who was sitting in front of me got up and came around my side to hug me from the side. "Oh God, Lexie. I am so sorry. I could never imagine what you went through." She said as she rubbed my back soothingly. Stacy hugged me as well from the other side.

"Don't worry, Lexie. I'm sure he won't be back here. He is probably messing with you." Stacy said reassuringly.

I lifted my head and looked at her, "I sure hope you are right."

It was after school and we were at the mall. We had been to two other stores before without luck, and I was getting exhausted.

"Guys seriously, we better find outfits in this store because I'm tired, sore and hungry." I said with a sigh.

"Stop behaving like that. Come on lightened up." Samantha said bumping her hips with mine.

"Yes girl, lightened up." Stacy added and then she shrieked, "Oh my gosh! Isn't this cute or what?" She asked as she took up a white top that has silver on the sleeves. She took up a black skinny jeans to pair with it and hold them up.

"Wow! It looks great." I said smiling. Sam nodded her head to agree with me.

"I know right! I have the perfect clutch that would go with this. I'm going to try them on." Stacy said excitedly and went in the direction of the changing rooms.

"Well let's continue looking and hope we get lucky as well." Sam said.

"I sure hope so." I replied.

Fifteen minutes later we all found outfits to wear to the party. I was happy with my pick. It was a cute strapless gold top that hugged my curves to my waist and spread out at the end. I paired it with a black skinny jeans and a gold clutch. Samantha was contended with her pick as well as we head to the cashier to pay for our items.

We then walked to the food court to get something to eat. We ordered burger and fries and sat down to eat.

"We are having a sleep over at your house tonight." Stacy said to me, then took a bite out of her chicken burger.

"Okay." I replied. I looked to my right and saw Erica and her friends. "It looks like Erica went shopping for the party Friday as well."

The girls followed the direction of my eyes and spotted her as well. Erica was standing off to the side talking and laughing with her minions.

Stacy wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up. "Come on guys, let's get out of here. I don't want her to see us and cause trouble."

"You're right." I agreed.