Everything She Is

Chapter Four : Cooking and warming up

Jason's POV,

"Did you get the reports?" Nolan nudged me.

I just grumbled, still staring at Mr Whitewash writing Rydberg equation on the black board.

Who has a surname like Whitewash?

"Jason?" Another nudge. "The reports?"

Turning my head to face him, I threw him a glare.

"This is a serious matter, Jason." Another nudge.

He was getting on my nerves, now. Contrary to my dumb guy image, I actually enjoyed studying Chemistry and I would be enjoying it more if this fucker wasn't sitting next me, always trying to not let me pay attention.

Don't lose your temper.

"Jason, I am seriously considering punching you if don't answer right now." A hard jab in my stomach.

Don't lose your temper, Jason.

"The rep-"

Oh to hell with it!

"Shut the f**k up, Lan, before I make you lose your dick."

"Out of the class, Jason and Nolan." Came Mr Whitewash's deep voice.

Glaring at Nolan, I gathered my books and threw them in my bag and headed out of class, not before casting Mr Whitewash a glare.

Footsteps creeped behind me and I turned around to throw a punch in Lan's stomach. Hard. "Ow! What the f**k was that for?" He cried out, hunching over in an attempt to relieve the pain.

"For not letting me study and having Whitewash kick us out." I glared at him. He spoiled my slightly good mood.

"Whitewash?" He looked at me in confusion and then suddenly started laughing. "He - he, his surname is Whitmore." Oh. My bad then.

"Whatever." I grunted and turned around, walking towards my locker.

"All jokes aside," Lan caught up with me. " Did you bring the reports or not?"

"Yeah, they are in my bag. Let's go to somewhere privet."

I grabbed Naomi's reports from my bag after we had found an empty classroom and locked it from inside, entering it. "Here. The doctor says she doesn't have any physical injury that caused her to lose her voice, her vocal cords are a little damaged and seeing as she was badly beaten when I found her, something terrible must have happened to her and the traumatic event had to be the cause of her losing her voice."

"That means. . ." Lan looked up from the reports.

"That means, she can speak perfectly like any of us, but her chooses not to or she thinks she cannot. The problem is mostly mental rather than physical. Doctor said that many people go through this, it's normal for people who had been in a terrible accident or had witnessed something like that and had gone into shock. Their mental state had been affected severely by the incident and they may have actually lost the ability to speak for some time because of their shocked state and their brain concluded that they had lost their ability to speak." I explained to him what the doctor at our town hospital had told me and waited for him to process the information.

"I see, and what about her physical injuries? How bad are they?"

"That is a serious issue. Most of her injuries are older than the ones on her legs and arms. Most of her broken ribs have healed on their own but because she didn't get medical help, they are still very fragile, her spine is badly damaged and could be broken if not taken care of properly. We will have to have her take physiotherapy lessons to help her walk properly and something about hands and legs working good or whatever. She was suggested to rest in hospital for a few weeks but because of her fear of hospitals, I refused."

"God! This is all messing with my head, Jason. You finding her bruised and broken, her fearing almost everyone and everything, her similarities to my sister, her happily accepting the name 'Naomi', f**k! I'm going insane."

"She is not Naomi."

"Did you not yourself see her birthmark on her neck? Exactly where my sister had hers?"

"That could be a bruise. We can't say anything, the girl has been getting beaten for a long time, it could be a old scar. She is not Naomi, we ourselves saw Naomi's body being buried, I myself saw her trapped in that fire. SHUT THE f**k UP, LAN. SHE IS NOT NAOMI." I clutched my head, feeling it about to explode with all the confusing s**t going on right now.

"That's a mystery for another time, Jay. Right now, we should concentrate on helping this girl heal."

"Yeah."

"Good. Start teaching her self defense from today."

"What? Why me? You do that, you're the one wanting to keep her around."

"You're the fighter here, Jason." He deadpanned.

"Oh." Gritting my teeth, I clenched my hands to keep myself from punching the smug smile off his ugly face. "Now f**k off."

We spent the rest of the day hiding away from teachers and went straight to my place after school ended.

"What the f**k?" My eyes bulged out of their sockets as they took in the state my house was currently in.

Some of my dirty clothes were thrown carelessly on the couch, a lot of flour, vegetables and egg shells were lying on floor near kitchen . . . And oh f**k, the kitchen was worse than the living room. There wes cutlery everywhere and flour and broken eggs and a torn up packet of Cheetos scattered on the floor, some of irregularly cut vegetables lying here and there, and the cause of this all was sleeping like an innocent angel on my bean bag . . . Wearing my jersey and pants.

"Hey! Wake up!" I marched over to her and stood in front her sleeping frame.

Opening her tiny a*s eyes, she rubbed them with her knuckles but her hand halted on her eye when she saw me.

Quickly standing up, she stared at me.

"What the f**k did you do to my house?" I asked her sternly, ignoring Lan's protest when I swore. She got used to it already during the week she's been living with me.

Averting her eyes from my face, she sheepishly looked around the room and then looked at Lan. Stealing a quick glance at me, she quickly ran to him and hid herself behind him, hugging him from side.

That sneaky little . . .

"Lan's not going to protect you from me, you little . . . beast." I growled at her.

"Stop harassing Naomi, Jason. I am sure she just wanted to help." Ah! Always to little beast's rescue, Lan the great.

"No, she didn't. She just wanted to annoy the hell out of me, after all I am the f*****g one who has to clean this mess." I seethed at him all the while keeping my eyes at Naomi. " You. Clean this up this instant I say."

She shrank into Nolan.

That rat!

"You are scary the poor girl, Jay, stop it." Rat number two jumped in to defense her and smiled down softly at Naomi, pressing a kiss on her forehead. "I'll help you clean it."

Before I could say something Naomi ran into kitchen only to come out after two minutes with two plates in her hands.

She went to Lan and handed him one plate and walked up to me, holding the other out for me, still avoiding eye contact with me.

"Did you make this, Naomi?" Nolan asked taking a bite out of the mess of food in the plate. I mean, what the f**k did she even make? "It's tasty."

She nodded, beaming when he took another bite and praised her.

I stared at my plate suspiciously and looked at her. How did she know how to cook? That's exactly what I asked her and all I got was a blank stare.

Reluctantly, seeing as Nolan was still breathing after wolfing down half the plate, I took a bite out the food she made which tasted surprisingly good and like an omelette. Naomi stared at me, probably to hear me praise her skills. I snorted inwardly. Not a chance.

Ignoring Nolan and Naomi's endless talking, well Nolan's talking and Naomi's staring at him, I finished my food quietly and took the plates in kitchen. I was about to wash the plates but a hand on my arm stopped me.

Turning around, I saw Naomi shake her head and take the plate out of my hand, starting to wash it herself.

Frowning at her, I went out of kitchen where Nolan was sitting, looking deep in thought. "Do you think the people she used to live with or had to live with used to slave her?" He asked just what I was thinking.

"Possibly. But we won't be able to know anything if she never speaks at all."

"Yeah, I have got some money saved up for my car. We could use that for her sessions with psychologist."

"Do you think it's wise to send her to some stranger? She's still afraid of us even after living here for a week."

"Well, you do glare at her and scare her all the time."

"That's because she is annoying."

"Yeah, right." He snorted. "But I see your point. She trusts me the most but still sometimes flinches when I raise my voice or hand, even if it's not directed towards her."

"We could ask Carter to talk to her, he's studying psychology, right?"

"But he is not a professional. And he is not mature enough to handle Naomi if she goes hysterical."

"Well. . . I'll always go with her to her sessions. We don't have any choice."

"I can go with her if you want."

"I said I am going!"

"Okay, okay, geez. Stop being a demanding a*s for once." He rolled his eyes as I glared at him.

"I w-"

A hand poked me and I turned around to see Naomi looking up at me with her big a*s eyes. I hate it.

"What?"

She continued to stare me and then closed her eyes, opening her mouth and pretending to snore. A corner of my mouth twitched up a friction at her antics but I put it back in its place.

"You want to sleep?" She nodded. "At this hour? It's barely seven."

She stared at me.

Of course.

"I should be paid for babysitting you." I grumbled but pulled her to her - my room to sleep.

"Oh! Hi Lan. Your presence is totally not unnoticed here."

"f**k off, Lan."

"Am I missing something here?"

"Yes, your brain."

"Why are you going up with her if she wants to sleep?" I just grunted and kept walking, Naomi trailing behind like a puppy.

An unbelievably, ugly, unlikable puppy.

After putting her into bed and holding her hand tightly till she fell asleep, I walked out of he - MY room and down to the living room where Nolan was still sitting, looking like a deranged cow.

"What are you still doing here?"

"What was that about? Why did you go in her room and stayed for thirty minutes.

"Waiting for you to finally leave and giving me peace."

"f**k off, bitch."

"Atleast I am a sexy bitch."

"So . . . "

He won't leave it.

"She had a terrible nightmare the night we took her to hospital and woke me up in the middle of the night crying hysterically, saying that someone was in her room. She wouldn't leave my arm so I stayed with her till she fell asleep."

"And she had a nightmare today while wide awake, that's why you went with her. I understand. Totally."

"She started to leech on my arm and begged me to stay with her till she fell asleep after that."

Silence.

"Or. . . You went by yourself to sit with her till she fell asleep."

"No." Too quick. f**k.

"Uh huh, I totally believe you."

"Great. Now stop crowding my house."

"You are warming up to her. I'm glad." He smiled sincerely at me.

"Get out of my house."