The family secret

Shelly's POV

Shit. This could not be happening! What was my cousin Julian doing here? Here at my high school dance. He didn't even go to school here. Our eyes meet for a long second before I turn around and run. I run as hard as my legs allow it. I had to go away and fast. I push people away on my way to the the gym doors. Some shout insulting things after me. I don't care. I had to go away.

I made it outside somehow. The moon is high and shining on me. I have no time to look at the beautiful moon, that I never saw so bright before in my life. I start running again, but in the hurry, my legs dysfunction and I fall. Before my face hit the ground a strong arm wraps around my waist and holds me prevents me from falling.

'Be careful, Shelly. You could hurt yourself.' I know instantly who's holding me.

'Sam, let me go. I have to go home.' He let me go and looks at me from head to toe. I was wearing a long black dress with tights and my old Nike shoes. It was the only dress I owned. I tried to look nice for once.

'Already leaving? You didn't even dance with me.' Sam lowered his lip, looking sad at me. He was one of my two friends at school. He wasn't in my class because he was two years older than me. We met during detention and we started talking. He liked my drawings. For someone who doesn't trust people easily and doesn't talk at school at all, he made me feel safe somehow. He liked me for me. Not in a sexual way, but in a brotherly way. Sam was gay and was secretly dating someone.

'Sam? Sam, honey, where did you go?' A boy with black hair and a hat on walked outside. I looked up and our eyes met. I now noticed he was wearing fake glasses and the black hair was a wig. I recognize the eyes instantly. We had the same eyes. Julian. My blood leaves my face, making me paler than I already am. 'Shelly?' he whispered.

I just shake my head and ran away again. Julian is Samuel's mystery date. Sam is dating my cousin. Could this day get any worse?

2,5 hours earlier....

Nobody was home. This was my only change and I had to take it. This could be my only change to ever go to a high school dance. I grab the hatch in my closet wall and pull it away. I found the hatch last month in the laundry room. I let a bottle of fabric softener fall behind a small chest. The ledge wasn't even closed off, because I was never meant to find it. It leads all the way to my closet. I press myself into the small space and crawl to the laundry room. I close the hatch behind me. If you were wondering why I didn't just go through the door, well I wasn't allowed to leave my room after 5pm. My doors have a time censored lock on it and only could be opened from the outside or by someone with a key. Locked up in my own room since the day I was born.

I clean myself from all the dust, got my backpack I left in here this morning and walk into the hallway. The hall was a long sort of balcony that leads to a big staircase in the middle of it. Yes the kind of staircase you only see in houses of millionaires. My family is rich, very rich. I don't think they are even millionaires, I think they could be even billionaires.

When I come downstairs, the first thing I see is the alarm on the front door. Shit. I didn't even think about that. For a moment I think my plan was stupid and I should turn around. How could I forget about the alarms? Now I was never going to make it. Think. Think. Think Shelly. With my eyes closed I think and when I open them I type in the first thing that comes to mind. 5222000. The red tiny dot turns into a bright green. 'Thank you Harley.' I whisper.

My brother Harley died before I was born. The alarm code was his birthday, May 22 2000. I had never met him, but somehow it felt like he was here with me, helping me get to my high school dance. My first and maybe my last. I just turned fifteen years old, I never thought I would make it this far.

I put my warmest jacket on. I open the door and walk outside in the dark for the first time in my life. It kind of scared me to be in the dark. I had seen a lot of it. But this darkness was different. All the stars in the sky, it was so beautiful.

I hurried to the back of the house. My family owned a large estate and the house I lived in was one of three. It was surrounded by a fence. I couldn't go through the gate. One of the guards would call my mother or uncle in seconds if they saw me. Thankfully I was really thin and I could fit through the bars at the back of the garden. The garden looked so much different in this time of day. Walking through the bushes and three's I found the spot where the bars were further apart from each other. I pushed the bag I took with me first through the fence before I stepped through it. I was actually doing this.. There was no going back now.

I rode my bike in the dark and without bike lights, but I got at the school safely. Now how was I supposed to find my best friend Tia? I had no phone, no way to contact her, I only knew she was wearing a pink dress. So was half of the girls at the school I noticed when I walked into the gym where the dance was. I went to the restroom first. I was wearing black sweats and a black sweater, not something I would wear to a dance. Thankfully the restroom was empty and I took off my sweater and sweatpants hiding my black tights and dress underneath it. The dress was too big for me. It was a second hand dress, one I got from my sister. It was a simple knee length black dress. I pushed my sweats into my backpack, then I walked outside and went to the teacher's dressing room and dumped my backpack and jacket there.

I couldn't believe what I saw when I walked into the gym. There were balloons and there were streamers everywhere. Because it was almost Christmas, there were huge Christmas trees that were decorated with twinkling lights. For a high school that didn't have money for good books, furniture or even laptops to work on, I was surprised how well decorated the gym was. I had never seen something like this in my life. The lights were mesmerizing and I was frozen to my spot for a few seconds before I remembered I had to find Tia.

'Hi, stranger.' a familiar voice said next to me. I squealed because he scared me, what made him laugh. 'I didn't think you would come. Safe me a dance will you? I have to find my boyfriend outside. I think he is lost somehow.'

I softly giggled. Samuel was the only one that made me giggle. He always found trouble, now it seemed his boyfriend was the same. I never met his boyfriend, because he wasn't going to this school. I was happy for him. He seemed happy.

Before I saw Tia, I heard her scream from the other side of the gym. I grinned as I saw her pushing someone aside to get to me. She ran towards me and wrapped her arms around me. I tried so hard not to flinch when she touched me. I had a sore shoulder and had some bruises on my upper arm what she didn't know of. No one knew.

'I am so glad you made it!' Tia screamed over the music. I just smiled and nod. I never spoke out loud, not even to her. There was no way she would hear me over the music, so I didn't even try. 'Come, I will take you to the front. Soraya and Lauren are there. Do you want something to drink? Oh, I'm so excited.' Tia was jumping up and down. She had ADHD and I think she drank some kind of energy drink, because I never saw her this hyper before.

Special Needs High School of San Fransisco (SNHS) not only took teenagers with ADHD or dyslexia, but also had deaf children or with special needs. Someone like me. I just didn't talk at all. I'm no mute. I just didn't talk. That's it. They have tried me talk for years, they even learned me sigh language to communicate. I didn't even like school that much, but I was grateful I got to leave the house during the day.

Tia twirled with light pink dress. Her dark arms and legs were bare. In her black hair she had glitters, feathers and little diamonds. Her mother's African roots made her a dark beauty. She was my only friend. My best friend since the day I met her a few years back. I was actually held a year back and she was a year younger than me. Before that I never had a friend. Now I had even two.

Together with Tia I walked to the front. People were staring at me. Probably because I never went to a high school party before. There was a small stage where some girl from school was singing. A boy was playing guitar and another was playing on a keyboard. Soraya gave me a soft smile when she saw me and Lauren hugged me. They were Tia's friends but sometimes I sat with them during lunch.

I was afraid to dance. Afraid someone thought I looked stupid. I never danced before. I never listen to music either. Suddenly this felt like a stupid idea. Why did I even come here? Tia noticed I wasn't moving and took my hands in hers.

'Just feel the music and move.' She showed me some moves and I copied them. She smiled and her smile made me smile. Somehow we danced for a hour. Then I had to pee. Lauren got us drinks every ten minutes. I never drank that much and tried to stop her from getting drinks for me. She didn't though. I made my way to the restrooms. I peed, but when I tried to go back, I was pressed against the wall brutally.

'Look Silent Shelly is here. Since when do you come to high school dances?' Zeth McCain, my high school bully and one of a twin had pushed me against the wall. He kept watching me head to toe. He grinned wide at his twin brother Ty.

'Did you have fun?' Ty asked. I didn't answer. I just stared at the ground. 'You did, haven't you? Where is your Black Shadow?' He meant Tia with Black Shadow. A name she didn't deserve. They only gave her that name because she was friends with me and actually tries them to stop bullying me. But I was alone now. They knew it, I knew it. Leaving was no option. Suddenly the door of the restroom went open. One of the popular girls walked out, greeting the boys. She had a really short dress on, making them stare at her legs and breasts. I pushed myself off the wall and walked away without them noticing.

I walked through the busy hallway and stepped back into the gym, but was frozen to the ground. My eyes met one that where green as grass. It was only for a long second, but I knew instantly who they belonged to. My cousin Julian was here. My whole family had green eyes, including me. So, I ran.