Contradiction by Easy Ash (beach books txt) 📕

"Bye." I hang up. Rubbing my temples. This is why I kept him from all this, he's impulsive and blinded by rage. I don't think I want to talk to him for a long while. 

"You okay?" 

"Were you listening."

"No." Lex sits beside me this time, taking his plate of food in his hand. "And yes, you were pretty loud, so I heard most of it."

"Great...if you say anything similar to what he accused me of, I'll punch you in the balls."

He laughs, a creamy, deep noise. "Alright, we're friends." 

"Friends." I give a sly smirking go back to eating. Not feeling an appetite at all.

...

In the morning, I get a good look at a bedroom I stumbled into in darkness. Fresh white sheets, light brown bed frame and wardrobe, a window seat, cushioned, looking out onto the back of the house. A lake, pretty trees and grass that's meant to be in heaven. I feel strangely better, maybe I needed to left out my anger with Jim. Now, just put him out of mind since he was so paranoid and crazy. I thought he wasn't that type but hey, I only knew him a year so. It's not like I can't forget a guy. 

I skip breakfast, not being hungry, and go The the rock climbing room. Colorful rocks stick out like stepping  stones, but out of place, zigzagged on a flat, stone wall that circled the room. In socks, I approach the climbing rocks, slipping out of them. Lifting my hands up stone at a time, gripping, determined to challenge myself, to distract myself, to strain myself for relief since I wasn't having sex anytime soon. 

I get halfway to the top when a shout halts me. "DON'T FALL!" Lex yells up, a bit hesitant.

"DON'T JINX ME!" I hear the pulling of something below me, I look down to be a soft, huge mat, Lex set it up below me. "DON'T DOUBLE JINX ME."

"We need to get going on calling those girls. Fall."

"What the fuck, no,"

 "It's not gonna hurt, trust me, this mat is super thick." 

"I'll climb down."

"Pussy." I groan out in irritation, my legs wobble from the height I reached. "Oh, you're gonna let me get the last word. Cool. I win."

"FUCK." I let go of the wall rocks, and fall backwards, my hair whipping like crazy, covering my whole face, my neck relaxing, my mind relaxing, stress leaving my spirt." My body hits the mat, bouncing on softness. I laugh, my cheeks raising up high and tight. "you."

He extends his hand. "Feel better already, don't you?"

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot

 be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart" 

― Helen Keller (Chapters will be named after the feelings alphabet)

...

As we gathered in an office, I prepare myself. "Alright, leave the talking to me."

"Okay." Lex smirks. 

On the desk before me, I open one of the many folders piled onto it. I take a seat, in the softest chair I've ever felt, and clear my throat, my heart still racing from the fall. I dail a number of an Emily Cruz on my phone, hearing ringing. My mind goes to my roommates for some reason. I'd have to tell them later, if not I would worry about how they felt. It'll be fair, since I told Jim. "Hello?" A girl picks up.

"Hello, my name is Amanda Joy, and I like you, have been sexual harassed by Mr. Pierce. He will be outed soon on social media. We have files of twenty other girls who have received sexist and disrespectful labeling on their work documents to entertain the freak. We have proof. Will you join this cause?" 

There was silence for a few seconds. Come on, my mind pleaded, with much anxiety. "He threatened my family, I can't risk their safety." Lex came around to me and kneeled, pressing his ear to my phone to listen. "I'm sorry, I can't." The call ends. I sit there, my eyes wide and mouth dropped. 

"Try another one." He says, pulling away from the close range he had with me. 

"She said he threatened her family." I say in utter disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm not shocked..." He opens another folder. "Try again."

LEX'S P.O.V 

I watch as Amanda dials another number, and switch the phone to speaker. What if she loses someone. Even though her parents were dead, she had to have someone she cared about, family wise. Should she even be involved? She doesn't need to get hurt anymore. But how can I make that happen?She'll fight me over it. Maybe I should tell her to get her family someone safe, somewhere off the record. She talks to the next girl. Repeating the same words. Retrieving the same response. "Hey?" I take her phone before she throws it down. "Let's take a break."

"Of course they are scared and protective of him since he has power. Of course. Why couldn't I see that, being a psych student?"

"Listen...he's told them all the same threats. I know he has. I know you want more support with this, but, maybe if we post the files they will have the courage to join then."

"No...that would isolate their willpower and fuel their depression even more. That would force them to come out. No." 

"We need to show numbers, you alone won't turn as many heads."

"It's not about attention...it's about feeling safe with the choice to address it!" She snaps. "We're not doing it your way." Amanda opens another folder and punches in a number. 

I exit the office. Holding back the anger I felt with my father, with the two girls who opted out. With Amanda choosing to call and get the same response over and over. I needed a new plan. Amanda needs to go to her relatives and bring them here or to a hotel under different names since Bill would suspect this place as being a headquarter. Lizzie and I will have to go. In a library, circled with tall bookcases stacked with literature, I find Lizzie at a table, drawing butterflies. I watch her from the distance, my mind going back to if I should force the victims hands by posting. It'll be a rude thing but it'll pay off, it'll get the world on their side. Or am I being a bully if I do so? Would I be wrong...or right?

 AMANDA P.O.V

Again, another girls says no. Eight girls in a row. I take a break. Wondering if I should keep calling. Have hope. Keep going, come on. I check the time, it's noon. I stand and stretch, eyeing the trees outside the window. The sun glares in, covering my face. A ring hits my phone, I run to it, expecting to see a number I failed before. A number that would confirm that I should not give up. But instead, it's Maya. I answer.

"Hey."

"So, we planed a trip to Six flags, wanna come, we're heading out tonight." I think back to an early thought, about me not having fun. This would help me. This would be normal and predictable enjoyment. Maybe the girls I called had the right mind set. Put it out of mind and move on. Be strong for the ones you love. Accept that you can't risk anything. Would that be so bad of a thing to do? What if my roommates are threatened next. Or my grandparents. Then would it be worth the fight? Would it? "So.......yes or no? Please say yes, I actually kind of miss you." It was obvious she rolled her eyes while saying this. 

"Umm...I-" 

The door of the office opens, Lex holds his phone's screen to me. "It's done." He says in a slow, deadly calm.

"Who are you with?" 

"No you didn't!" I scream at him, dropping my phone to the floor. 

"It's done." He repeats. 

I stumble to the phone, reading a post on Twitter that tagged Strive Treat and Mr. Pierce...down to the stack of documents in a picture, and to my documents viewable. The caption reads: The owner of Strive Treat has sexually harassed twenty two girls, see my others posts as proof. #MeToo. My hand raises and I smack Lex, as hard as I can. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!! YOU HAD NO RIGHT!!!" I make to punch him but he catches my fist.

"SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FORCE PEOPLE TO BE STRONG!" He yells at me, squeezing my hand hard.

"IF I CALLED A FEW MORE GIRLS I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THEIR PERMISSION, YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE POWER TO SAY YES FOR THEM!!! YOU'RE LIKE YOUR FATHER!!" I push away, hyperventilating. 

Lex's eyes slit like a snake, his mouth works into a vicious snare. "THIS ISN'T IN YOUR HANDS ANYMORE! Go to your family you have left and stay away. I don't need you anymore." 

"You just did the worst thing possible, you're horrible, just like him."

Lizzie stands in the doorway, eyes tears and her arms shaking. "What happened?" 

"GO AWAY LIZZIE!" He turn on her, raging like a demon, making her run. 

"DO NOT YELL AT HER BECAUSE YOU FUCKED UP!!" 

He blocks me before I could go and comfort Lizzie. He takes both of my arms in his hard hands, hurting me with the deep indentions they made. "Let go of me." I kick him in the balls, swooping my phone up from the floor, and running out. Maya was still on the line.

"Maya, can you track my location."

Yasmine answered instead. "Are you okay?"

"Track my location." I hang up. "LIZZIE?" I run to the kitchen. She can't be around him, he's acting crazy right now. We can hide in the very last room of the house if we had to....until my friends got here." "Lizzie!" I hear crying a few feet away. Under the dining room table I find her. Streaming down waterworks and shaking uncontrollably.