Eva by Nicole M. (books for 9th graders .txt) 📕

the computer, with his headphones in listening to music. I walk up behind him, and poke his shoulder, which startles him before he realizes it’s just me. Then he smiles.
“Natalie, what are you doing here? You know, you could’ve at least called!” He joked.
“Well, I had an argument with my mother, so I didn’t feel like sticking around in that house to make a call.”
“Your mom was up?” He sounded surprised.
“Yeah, complete bullshit, right? She’s never up. I was coming over to just hang out, but after I left, I realized just how gross I feel, look, and smell.” I laughed.
“So, you’re just using me to get in my shower? Hm, well I dunno if I can let you do that without paying me.”
“Paying to shower? Fuck you, I’ll do what I want.” I pushed him, laughing.
“Fine then, go ahead and shower for free, see if I care.” He laughed, and turned back to his computer.
I walked out of his room and to a closet near the end of the hallway to get a towel, before walking back into his room and poked his shoulder once more.
“Whataya want now?” He joked.
“Uh… I kind of need to borrow some clothes.”
“Again? God, don’t you own any? There in that drawer, get what you like.”
I opened it, grabbed a pair of boxers, a pair of blue jeans, and a white long, sleeved shirt that had a brown, short sleeved over-shirt attached to it. And I was off to the bathroom.

CHAPTER FIVE: FALLING

This bathroom has a long counter with two sinks, a body mirror that covers an entire wall, and a large shower, just opposite of the mirror. I began to undress myself, until I was completely nude. I decided to make sure nothing was seriously wrong with my body, using the mirror, to examine my skin. I had a lot of bruises, I don’t know how I got them. I was definitely dirty, my skin was discolored from sweat and dirt. I had several cuts along my arms, legs, neck, and face. There were few on my sides, stomach and back. Some old, most new. My fingernails yellow, with dirt shoved underneath them. My face is oily. My toenails are getting long. I’m wearing heavy, dark silver eye shadow, black mascara, and black eyeliner, all of which, are smeared and runny. My boobs seem to have gotten a bit larger.. I can’t complain. I have a bruise that looks like a heart on my stomach. My hair is oily, and very messy, my eyebrows are surprisingly fine. My legs however, are hairy, but with all the cuts on my legs, I think it’d be best to wait until they’re healed to shave. But I better shave under my arms or people will start thinking I’m a man, haha.
As I turned to the side, I can tell that despite the growth of my boobs, I have lost a lot of weight in my stomach area, and in my thighs. My face also, looks a tad bit thinner. But oh well. I turned and walked over to the shower doors, opened them, and stepped in, closing them behind me. My reflection in the mirror now just a blurry blob behind the glass doors. I turned the water on, and waited for it to warm up.
The second I stepped under the water, it seemed as if every inch of skin was burning. My cuts, the fresh ones at least, burned intensely. I didn’t like it. And I cursed to myself silently. I let the water run over my body, getting my cuts used to the water. I turned to the shelf and grabbed a bar of soap, and tried to wash the dirt and sweat off my body, ignoring the pain from my cuts. The water went from clear and clean, out of the showerhead, to brown and dirty going down the drain, but at least I’m getting clean.
I rinsed off my body, noticing how much nicer and more clean my skin looked. It felt really nice to be clean. I lathered my hair with shampoo, and rinsed. Next was conditioner, and honestly, this is like heaven to me. If there was such a thing. As I rinsed the conditioner out, I noticed how nice my hair felt, I didn’t want to stop running my hands over my hair, underneath the water. I grabbed a disposable razor out of a bag of unused razors, and began to shave under my arms. I haven’t shaved in so long, it feels weird to do it now. And it burns. Fuck.
I stood under the water, with my eyes closed, letting the water hit my face. The burning of my cuts finally died down. Now, I just have to get my makeup off. I rubbed my eyelids and around my eyes with my hands, stopping now and then to just relax and let the warm water run down my face onto my neck, traveling past my chest and stomach and trailing down my legs. I took the time to enjoy this much needed shower.
I stood in the same place until the hot water decided to die. Then I shut it off and step out, drying my body with the towel, before wrapping my hair up.
The jeans are a bit loose on me, but not to the point where I need a belt. That’s when I remember that Sadie’s mom and I have close bra sizes. I take the towel down from my head and wrap it around the upper part of my body before walking downstairs to find Sadie and his mother talking.
“I need a bra.” I bluntly say.
“Go to my bedroom and check the second drawer on the right.” She said, before turning back to Sadie.
Her room is different. Instead of white, cream, or light blue, her room is a dark navy blue. Different from all the other rooms in the house, and certainly the largest bedroom.
I pick out a sparkly green bra. 34B. It fits me exactly. I went from 34A to 34B. Interesting. Instead of wrapping my hair back up in the towel, I just threw it in the laundry hamper, and walked back upstairs to put on the shirt I chose.
Upon walking back downstairs, I saw that May was still asleep on the couch, and Sadie and his mom were waiting for me at the table. His mom offered me coffee, which I happily took.
“Now that you’re all clean, you look so much nicer. You have an incredible natural beauty.” She sang as she poured some hot coffee into a mug.
“Thanks.” I mumbled, looking out the large window next to the table. They have a large pool in their backyard.
“So, what kind of mess is that little girl in?” Sadie asked, drawing my attention back to reality. His mother handed me the mug of coffee, and sat down.
“Oh, uh, well you see,” I started, glancing from Sadie to his mother as I spoke, “Her name is May, and her mother drops her off at one of the parks early in the morning, and leaves her there all day, sometimes until 9PM or later, which is very dangerous. Not only that, but her mother had an affair, and is divorcing her father because he found out. Now, the guy she’s cheating on him with does.. things to May.” I finished, and they stared at me.
“Well, we sure can’t let things go on like this.” Sadie’s mother spoke. I took a sip of coffee.
“We could just keep her here, and when-if they file a missing persons report, we’ll turn her in, and explain to authorities what has happened to her,” Sadie paused, and looked to his mother, who was eager to hear what he had to say, “and maybe, talk to them about keeping the little girl here. You could explain to them your problem with having children, have them come and inspect the house to show that you’re a responsible parent, and then they’re bound to let you adopt her.” He searched his mother’s face for a reply.
She kept silent, as she got up and started to walk to the exhausted, mistreated body that laid asleep on the couch. A smile on her face with every step she took.
“I thought it was a good idea.” I shrugged to Sadie, as I took another sip of coffee and stood to follow his mother.
She was kneeling on the floor next to May, stroking her blonde hair. Her smile was still on her face, but her eyes were filled with worry that she’d never get to save the poor girl. I spoke up.
“Go to the police. Her mother will lose custody of her because she is unable to care for her properly. The man will be arrested for sexual abuse/harassment.. Her father will get custody, and then at least she won’t be around that awful place. It’s better than her being stuck with her mother. And if you keep her here, you can get into serious trouble here.”
“I know.” She sighed and sat quiet for several minutes before saying, “Well, you’re all cleaned up now. Why don’t you and Sadie go find some things to do. I’ll wake her up and get her clean, and then I’ll go to the police.”
I looked at Sadie, eyebrows raised waiting for a reply.
“Fine with me.” Sadie shrugged, “Come on Natalie.”
I got up and we started for the door.

We walked in silence. Neither of us wanted to speak, nor knew what to speak of. We didn’t know where we were going either, we just kept walking.
We were in the wrong part of town. No trees, no grass, just buildings and crowded streets shaded in grey.
“Hey,” A broken, raw voice came from an alleyway we had just passed. “Hey, you kids. Can you come back here for a minute?” An obvious Italian accent.
We looked at each other, neither of us showing any sense of worry or hesitations, we walked back and peered into the alleyway seeing a skinny, tall man who wore tattered clothes. He had a short grey beard that contrasted with his tanned skin. He was obviously homeless.
“You kids, come here. I got a question to ask of you.” There was that Italian accent again, “Either of you kids happen to have any money? I’m real hungry and I got no money to get any food.” He opened his hand out to us. We shook our heads no.
“No money? That’s a real shame. Well, the least I can do with a couple o’ kids here in my alleyway is have some fun.” He stepped so that his body was in the way of the opening of the alley. He began to close in, making Sadie and I stumble over our own feet backwards toward the back of the alleyway.
“Well now, what a pretty young girl.” He said turning to me, his dark eyes making contact with mine. He began to step closer to me, and lost Sadie from his vision. I looked over his shoulder as he came closer to me, and saw Sadie leap over him from behind, grabbing around his neck. The man struggled and twisted trying to free himself. I ran. I ran to the opening of the alleyway and looked back behind me. I could hear yelling. Sadie was on the ground crying out in pain, and the man stood over him, smashing his foot on Sadie’s head. I had to think quickly. I looked around and saw a metal pole leaning against the wall. It was somewhat heavy, but I managed to get a