Diana

I sent the message, guilt piling up in my stomach. I winced as I trudged myself back home. Everything was not fine, and my mum knew it as soon as I walked in the door. She got ice packs out of the fridge and wrapped them in tea towels, instructing me to lay down on the couch and tell her where it ached most. She ended up getting out the frozen peas to and putting ice into a snap lock bag.

I had an ice pack pressed against my left cheek, two under my back and several on my shins. I could already feel the bruises blossoming.

'You bitch. How could Alan possibly like you?'

'Hayley, let them deal with her, we already know nothing verbally works.'

'Isn't that true. Her face, Mike, that's it.'

'Such an ugly, emo girl.'

'You're wrong, Stella, she's too ugly to be a girl. It's a transgender.'

'And gay too. Interesting. What? Did no guys like your face when you were male?'

Their taunting words rang in my ears, accompanied with the clanging noise as Mike punched me across the face, the force of it slamming me back into the lockers. My left forearm was wrapped in a bandage. Stella had come over and dragged her nails down my skin, breaking it. Blood had spilled and the culprits had walked off.

'Honey,' my mum said. She offered no more words of comfort, instead putting some of my CD's into the player and soothing me, sending me into a deep sleep.

My mum was shaking my shoulder. The ice had been removed from my body and I was covered by a blanket. My mum held out my pajamas and then turned her back while I slowly changed. I looked at my shins, how the skin had already surpassed being mainly purple and was now almost black, the edges decorated with the lighter colour. I knew I had a black eye and above my cheekbone was coloured too.

'You can come in now.' My mum said to no one in particular, walking off with the blood-stained clothes. I turned to the door, flinching as my back became twisted.

'Diana!' The ginger haired boy exclaimed, rushing to my side. I should have known it was Alan.

'What happened?'

I ignored his question, asking him one of my own in return. 'I told you I was fine, why are you here?'

'Stella dropped some pretty big hints. I was also threatened about being kicked out of the group if I didn't stop hanging around with "the transgender fag".' Alan said, putting in the quotation marks. He seemed unsure of whether to touch me or not, afraid he was going to hurt me. I sighed, knowing he was going to want an answer. I lowered my voice in case my mum was listening in.

'Mike got me at the lockers. I can't remember who else. Stella and Hayley were egging them on.' Alan's hand curled into a fist, but he took another deep breath.

'It's okay, just worry about Diana...' He muttered to himself. He opened his eyes, the gorgeous orbs blazing. He got his temper under control and started inspecting my body.

First, he kissed my good cheek, holding my hands.switching to the other side of my face, he placed tiny kisses from my brow bone to just under my cheekbone.

'That's a big bruise.' I murmured, barely feeling his lips on my skin. It felt nice though; that someone was being so gentle with me. Especially someone I used to argue with.

He went to my arm next, not saying a word. A look of deep concentration had cast over his features, and he unwrapped the soiled bandage, first tracing the angry marks, before kissing each of them in turn. He also, very discreetly, kissed my older scars. They were barely noticeable, just faint changes in pigment. His eyes met mine and I lowered my eyes to my lap. That was a bad idea, because he next went to my shins, pulling up the fabric of my pajama pants and silently telling me to hold them. He didn't kiss my legs, he just traced them, his slender fingers ending in bitten nails.

'Is there anywhere else?' He asked when he was done.

'My back, but I don't know how bad it is.' I lifted the hem of my shirt slightly, turning around. Alan put my shirt back down almost immediately, getting a quick look at the edge of the bruise.

'That bad, huh?' He didn't say a word, just leaned in and placed a kiss on my lips.

'I'm sorry.' He said softly, sitting next to me on the couch. My back was to him, and he lay me down, so that my head was resting on his lap. Alan retrieved a fresh bandage and secured it around my arm, before changing to playing with my hair.

'Shh,' he murmured, holding my good hand. His fingers still danced around the ends of my hair. It felt nice. I sighed contentedly and drifted in and out of consciousness.

- - -

'Wake up, Diana. Your mum says you've been asleep long enough.' Alan's voice broke through my slumber. 'She said you can relax, just not sleep. Oh, and you have to move around.' Alan helped me up into a sitting position and I stretched, wincing as my back started protesting. He got up off the couch and we took a stroll about the house, Alan getting a better look rather than the first time he was here.

'Do you want to watch a movie?' I asked, getting popcorn out of the cupboard as we made our way back to the couch.

'Sure, what movies do you have?'

'Dunno, check in the drawer next to the TV.' Alan ambled over as I put the microwaveable popcorn bag in, setting the timer for three minutes. While it was spinning around, I listened to Alan sift through our movie collection, commenting on each one.

'Hey honey,' my mum said, walking into the kitchen, 'what's Alan doing?'

'"500 Days of Summer?" No way!'

'Sorting through our DVD's.' I answered, stopping the microwave. There were no more popping noises coming from the bag.

'Do you mind if I watch it with you?' Mum asked, smiling and grabbing a bowl.

I shook my head, 'Not at all.'

'I've chosen the movie!' Alan announced excitedly, bounding into the kitchen.

'"The Lion King"?' I asked, raising an eyebrow.

'You told me that it was your favourite.' He mumbled, scuffing his foot and looking down at the floor.

'Aw, thank you.' I said, shuffling over and taking his head in my hands. I have him a quick kiss and turned back to pick up a bowl. I gave it to him while my mum took the movie. She put it in the DVD player while I hobbled back to my seat on the couch, Alan walking slowly next to me.

Notes

Title cred: Hakuna Matata - Pumba and Timon