Trigger warning: self harm insinuated, eating disorder behaviors, mentions of rape
and bullying/harassment
"Even though you're drowning in valleys and echoes, I believe there is peace in those
hills up ahead."- I Hurt Too by Katie Herzig
Mal noticed a change in the blue haired, brown-eyed angel. Long sleeves and downcast
eyes, she would offer everything but an apple at meals to the boys, who so eagerly
accepted it , without wondering what made Evie so insistent upon giving her food away.
The blue haired diva was losing weight almost as fast as Carlos had gained weight when they first moved to Auradon prep. hat she was going to do, or so she thought. She knew what Evie was doing, but no one else seemed to notice.
That night, she went to the cafeteria and got all of their favorite foods. Evie was going to eat if it was the last thing Mal ever made sure of. What she didn't know was how adamant Evie would be about not eating and what Evie would tell her that would sicken her to her core.
""For the 1000th time, M, I told you I'm just not fucking hungry," Evie tried to convey to Mal the lie she had been telling herself for weeks. What she didn't realize was that the sleeves of her favorite purple top had risen up and her hands were shaking.
"Bullshit, E. You know I love you. I always have. But I also know when you're lying." It was at that moment Mal realized how bad Evie's hands were shaking worse than they
ever had before. "You're shaking, babe."
"Evie just shook her head and said, "I need to go for a run..."
"Before she could leave, Mal gasped at the scars on her best friend's arm and grabbed
Evie's hand, "Baby, what happened?"
"I just fell, okay?" And before Mal knew it, Evie's hand had left hers and the blue haired beauty was out of sight.
Evie had to get out of there. She couldn't let Mal know what she did to her own skin. It would break her heart. She ran out of her room and away from her best friend, the one she had feelings for, and to the locker room in the gym, where she immediately went to her locker, changed into her gym clothes, a long sleeved sweatshirt and sweatpants.
Her phone buzzed a couple times before she put her headphones in. The name that came up was "Asshole." She knew exactly who it was. They had been harassing her with texts ever since the incident . She wasn't going to think about that now though...she couldn't.
She just put her phone in her pocket and put her headphones in her ear and ran around campus for what felt like hours and minutes at the same time. Once it got dark however,
Evie knew she needed to go back to the dorms because it would be curfew soon.
God, I hate it here, she thought to herself as she headed back to her room.
As Evie opened the door of her room, she saw Mal sigh with relief.
"Evie, I was so worried about you. You never run, or at least not until the past month or so. Are you okay?"
Evie looked the girl she loved more than anyone in the world and started tearing up.
"Evie, baby, what is it?" Mal questioned.
"I...I don't know how to say it." Evie's voice was quivering, "Something happened," as the last syllable fell from her mouth, Evie fell to the floor and started sobbing.
Immediately, Mal went to wrap her arms around the girl who had stolen her heart. She hated seeing Evie look so broken, but she didn't know what to do other than hold her.
"It's okay, baby girl. I got you," Mal assured the beautiful girl she was holding.
While still holding Evie in her arms, after the other girl's sobs had become more of a hiccup, Mal questioned "Do you think you can tell me what's going on now sweetie?"
Evie nodded into Mal's chest but instead of immediately telling Mal what happened, she grabbed her phone from her pocket, pulled up her notes on her iPhone and typed: I was
raped. The person who did it has been harassing me. I don't know what to do.
After typing it out, she handed the phone over to Mal and sunk her face deeper into Mal's chest.
Upon reading the note, Mal set Evie's phone down and said, "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that. No one does. Okay honey? And I also don't want to pressure you to do anything you don't want to do. But do you think you can tell me who did it?" Her voice was sweet, nothing like Evie had ever heard before and that just made her want to cry more.
With a shaky breath, Evie looked up into Mal's eyes and responded, "Doug."
Mal was livid. She had never liked that creep, but she thought Evie did. So she put up
with the little bastard. But now? Now that she knew what he had done, she wanted to
kick the crap out of him. Not only that, Mal wanted to do something she had never done
before. She wanted to fucking kill that son of a bitch.
However, right now, she needed to stay with Evie and protect her from anything she
could, even if that meant protecting Evie from herself.
"After a little while longer, Mal looked down at Evie who was all but asleep. The girl
looked so peaceful. She wished she had the strength to carry the sleeping beauty to bed,
but she wasn't that strong yet. Therefore, Mal gently nudge the sleeping beauty with her
elbow which seemed to jolt Evie awake, which resulted in an evil glare that Mal couldn't help but laugh at, considering she had received many evil looks from her mother that Evie would never be able to top.
"I know I woke you up baby girl, but we need to go to bed. Do you want to sleep in bed
with me?" After all, it was well past midnight. Evie solemnly nodded, her grimace gone,
and nothing but a sad smile replacing it. She grabbed her phone from where Mal had put it down and sighed
Another threatening text , she thought to herself, that's just what I need right now .
Mal heard the other girl sigh. She hated seeing someone so beautiful look so sad. But
determined to get to the bottom of everything, she asked Evie if she could see the
messages, to which Evie replied with a solemn nod, looking down at the floor.
She looked at the messages from Asshole , who she could only assume was Doug and was shocked.
He had sent her text after text telling her if she told anyone, he would post the video he
had a friend take of the incident to Facebook. It would be taken down as soon as possible, but that wouldn't stop perverts and weirdos from saving it. It would also make Evie the gossip of the school, which was the last thing anyone would want to happen, especially after something so horrible had happened. There were also messages telling Evie she was a worthless, no good dyke and that no one would ever love her. Bullshit, Mal thought to herself, I love her. I always have. However, at least now, she understood why Evie had been so quiet about what had happened and she also understood some of the behaviors Evie was exhibiting.
"Evie, before we lay down, do you think you can tell me who took the video?"
Evie shook her head and sighed, "I think I have some idea, but there's no way to know for sure. Can we just go to bed?"
The truth was, she knew EXACTLY who had taken the video. However, she didn't think anyone would believe her, not even Mal. Because he was running Auradon.
Mal sighed. She could tell the girl was lying, but she didn't want to force the girl to open up anymore than she already had.
That would have to wait until tomorrow, she thought to herself.
"Evie, I'm going to cut the lights off. Do you want me to leave a lamp on?" She only
asked because the girl hadn't been sleeping well and she was now guessing it was because of nightmares, and maybe having the lamp on would help.
"Yes, please Mal."
Wow. Mal thought. This has really damaged her. She's never said please before. I just
want her to be okay.
After the lights were out and they were in Mal's bed together, Evie nuzzled into the other
girl's chest and sighed.
"Before nodding off, Evie looked up at Mal and mumbled, "I love you, M."
Mal smiled to herself and said, "I love you too, baby girl."
Evie nuzzled even farther into Mal , who had her arms securely wrapped around one day. Maybe things would be okay again , Evie thought to herself, Maybe.
Before she knew it, she was fast asleep, securely in Mal's arms.