BONUS: LIA'S HERO

"Lia, I brought you your favorite cake," Ben said and sixteen-year-old Lia came to hug her father.
"Thank you, dad. But you didn't have to"
"Nonsense, I will buy the whole world for you, if I could," Ben said.
Lia grabbed a fork and began to eat the cake. Just then Mabel appeared.
"Hello sir," Mabel said as she bowed her head to Ben. Ben nodded.
"You know, you guys don't have to be so formal around each other. We have been living together for a long time now, and you still won't call him father" Lia said.
"I guess I...I just can't get used to it" Mabel awkwardly laughed it off.
"Do you want some cake?" Lia asked.
"Y...uhm No. Enjoy yourself" Mabel was about to say yes but then she stopped herself because of the harsh glare Ben sent her way.
"Okay," Lia said and continued eating.
Mabel grabbed herself a bottle of water from the fridge and went back to her room.
...
Mabel was already preparing to sleep on an empty stomach for the third time in a row.
She closed her eyes and imagined herself eating a bowl of delicious soup, while her stomach viciously growled.
She chewed the sides of her mouth and drank all the water in her bottle, just so that she could feel full.
Mabel then heard a knock on her door. It was Lia, Ben would never knock on her door.
"Come in," Mabel said with no interest.
"Hey," Lia said to Mabel.
"..."
Whenever Ben was around, she would always act as if she and Lia were the best of friends to avoid getting a beating. But because Ben wasn't here she had no reason to do so.
"I brought you some cake," Lia said.
On a normal basis, Mabel would have refused it, but she was too hungry to say no to the mouth-watering cake.
"Give it," Mabel said and Lia gave it to her.
Mabel didn't waste any time before digging in. She took the first bite and she moaned at the taste. The cake melted in her mouth as she savored the taste.
"Do you like it?"
"Hmmn"
"I wondered why you told me you didn't want it, when cakes are like your favorite snacks," Lia said.
Mabel glanced at Lia and saw how wide her smile was.
***She is probably looking down on me. If I weren't so hungry, I wouldn't have accepted it***, Mabel thought.
"Can you leave me alone?" Mabel said with an irritated look on her face, causing Lia to frown.
"Okay," Lia said and left the room closing the door behind her.
Mabel finished the rest of the cake and reached for the bottle of water to quench her thirst.
Unfortunately for her, the bottle was empty.
"Great, now I have to get some water" Mabel muttered under her breath.
She left her room and went straight into the kitchen. She had run out of luck seeing as Ben was present there. And Lia was nowhere in sight.
Mabel gulped.
***All I have to do is go to the fridge and get a bottle of water. I would be out of his sight in no time***, she thought to herself.
Before she could reach for the handle on the fridge she had her hair yanked, and her face was smashed against the fridge.
"Ouch" Mabel cried out.
"What have I told you about taking what does not belong to you?" Ben whispered every word with venom.
"She offered me the cake, I'm sorry," Mabel said with tears brimming in her eyes.
"Why didn't you refuse it?"
"I was hungry" Mabel admitted.
"Stupid girl, you can't even bear for the night," Ben said as he let go of her hair.
"Don't appear in front of me until I call for you. Get out" Ben said and Mabel ran out of there.
She left without getting the water. She was going to have to sleep with her thirst.
"Why? ***Sob***...Why does it have to be her?***sniff*** ... I am your daughter, so why?" Mabel cried hard that night.
...
Lia was already seated in the dining, ready to eat breakfast, but she didn't want to eat alone. Her father had left early that morning because he had some business to attend to.
So she was waiting for Mabel to show up and finally, she did. Lia observed Mabel's appearance, she had on her face more makeup than usual.
Mabel hated the fact that she resembled Lia, so she tried her best to hide it with makeup.
But for today it was for a completely different reason. It was because she wanted to hide the purple bruise on her cheeks and the eye bags under her eyes.
" I was waiting for you, let's eat together," Lia said.
" Where is your father?" Mabel asked.
" He went earlier today, he said he had some business to take care of" hearing this made Mabel's racing heart calm down.
Mabel went into the kitchen and grabbed a paper bag.
" What are you doing?" Lia asked her.
" I don't want to eat now," Mabel said as she stuffed the bag with her sandwich and dumped it into her school bag.
"Well, can you wait for me to finish mine, so that we could go to school together," Lia said.
" No, I will go alone," Mabel said and walked out.
Lia let out a sigh. She just couldn't understand why Mabel was distancing herself so much from her.
...
***She is so ugly***
***I agree***
***I hate her so much. I wonder how Mabel can put up with that bitch***
Lia sat on her seat with her head placed on the table. Everyone else in the classroom formed their cliches of friends including Mabel.
Lia didn't understand why she had no friends, or why her classmates were so against her. But it didn't bother her so much, because she still had Mabel.
The class teacher came in with a new girl, while the students all went to their assigned desks.
"Good morning, Mrs. Han" The class chorused.
" Morning class. Here with me, we have a new student" The teacher then turned from the class to face the girl," please introduce yourself"
" Hello everyone, my name is Cleo. Please take care of me" the girl said and bowed her head.
" Okay, so you will sit next to...o Amelia. Amelia, please raise your hand" The teacher said and Lia raised her hand.
Cleo left the teacher's side and went to sit beside Lia. Since no one liked Lia, she didn't want to bother talking to the new girl. She would eventually get hated anyway.
"Hello," Cleo said.
Lia only flashed her a small smile.
"My name is Cleo, what's yours?" The girl continued. She didn't get the hint that Lia didn't want to speak to her.
Lia just guessed that she was trying to make a conversation with her because the teacher had already said her name. So it was pretty weird that she would ask again.
"Lia"
"Can you show me around the school during lunchtime?"
"I rather not. I am sure it would be best if you ask someone else" Lia said and Cleo frowned.
"But you are my only friend"
"..." Lia didn't say anything after that and she ignored Cleo throughout the first half of the day. After lunch, Cleo seemed to have already made new friends and didn't bother Lia again.
She didn't want to gain another friend only to be heartlessly betrayed once more.
...
"How is my princess doing?" Ben asked Lia who was working on an assignment.
"She is doing great"
"How was school today?"
"You know, the usual?" Lia said smiling. She never liked to bother her father with unimportant events.
"What's that on your hair?" Ben asked noticing a pink substance between the strands of her hair.
Lia took out a mirror from one of the drawers on her desk. She stared at her reflection and saw chewed gum intertwined with some strands of her hair.
Lia began to laugh." Oh, so that's where it went. Clumsy me" Lia said.
"Be more careful" Ben told her. Of course, he wasn't buying it. Ben was no fool after all.
He left her room and went straight to Mabel's room. Mabel wasn't there. She was out with her friends.
Ben's blood ran cold.
"Fucking bitch, it looks like I have gone soft on her," He said with gritted teeth.
Ben went back to Lia's room.
"Where is Mabel?"
"She went out," Lia said.
"Where did she go?"
"She said she was going to ferns karaoke"
"I'm going out," Ben said.
"Okay. If you could, please get some pizza for dinner"
Ben nodded and went to grab his car keys.
...
"Thank you guys, for showing me around. I enjoyed myself today" Cleo said to Mabel's cliche.
"No problem. Don't bother talking to that Lia girl next time. She is pure evil" one of Mabel's friends said.
" Yes. Do not worry, now that I know her true colors I will avoid her" Cleo said and they all laughed.
" She deserves to be alone," Mabel said.
"Your face," Cleo said and pointed at Mabel.
Her makeup was fading away. All her friends gathered around her and consoled her for her injury.
"It must hurt," one of them said.
"It does"
"How did you get injured?" Cleo asked.
"It was Lia. She pushed me and I fell on my face. But it is ok, I forgive her" Mabel said with a pity full look on her face.
" Mabel suffers too much"
" And she is so kind"
" Yeah, if I were her. I would have thought Lia a very good lesson" one of them said and they all nodded in agreement.
" I will take it upon myself to teach her a lesson," Cleo said.
" You don't have to," Mabel told her.
" It will be my way of proving to all of you that I am on your side"
"Ok, if you say so"
"Mabel it looks like your dad is here," one of her friends said.
"M...my dad?" Mabel gulped.
Mabel went to the window to confirm, that Ben was really there. Mabel's heart began to thump.
What is he doing here? How did he find out I was out? Did that bitch rat me out? These were all questions that Mabel had.
"Okay guys, I will be taking my leave now. See you all tomorrow" Mabel smiled at them.
She grabbed her school bag and left the building. She slowly walked to where Ben was waiting.
When Ben caught sight of her, he gave her a harsh glare and got into the car.
Mabel sucked in a breath and got into the back seat.
"Don't be stupid" Ben said.
Mabel already knew what he wanted. She came out of the car and went to the front seat.
She clutched her school bag tightly to her chest as Ben began to drive.
"It looks like I have been too lenient with you," Ben said with gritted teeth.
His veins were popping out on his head. Mabel could tell that he was angry, very angry.
She unconsciously let out a whimper.
"I haven't hit you yet and you are already crying? Weak slut. Clean your tears, you look disgusting." Ben spat out.
Hearing those words come out of Ben's mouth, only made her cry the more. But Ben endured it, he was driving, and he didn't want to lose control of the car because of a worthless tramp.
" If I weren't driving I would have given you a hard smack, maybe then you would stop bringing out tears"
...
Ben and Mabel safely arrived home and unfortunately for her, Lia was at their neighbor's house, helping the old woman.
It was a great opportunity for Ben.
Mabel tried to avoid him by going upstairs to her room, but he was inevitable.
Mabel was harshly thrown against the floor and before she could get up, Ben gave her a kick on her side.
Mabel groaned from the pain.
"Stupid girl. You allowed my daughter to get bullied at school. After all, I have done for you. The only reason I allowed you to go to a good school like that one, was so that you could keep the bullies away" Ben yelled as he yanked her hair.
"Ouch" Mabel whimpered.
"If you can't even do that, then what use do you have? Or should I dispose of you?"
"No, please. I didn't know that she was getting bullied, I swear" Mabel desperately lied.
" Liar. You both are in the same class" Ben said and gave her a hard slap on her face.
" You even dared to leave this house without my permission. It looks like you have grown wings, but don't worry, I will break them" He said again and gave her another slap followed by a kick.
He continued until he was satisfied.
" Useless thing. You can't even handle a beating. You won't be going to school until you have recovered and don't even think about saying a word to Lia or stepping out of this house" Ben said and left Mabel alone.
Mabel cried on the floor until she had gathered enough strength to get up. She limped to her room and locked the door with the key, just in case Ben was going to come back for part two.
"This is all your fault, if only you never came into our lives, then maybe he would love me," Mabel said with so much hate directed at Lia.
***The next morning***
Lia was wondering where Mabel was. She hadn't seen her since yesterday at school and she didn't show up for dinner last night.
"Dad, have you seen Mabel?" Lia asked Ben who was sipping his coffee while reading the newspaper.
Just the mention of her name irritated Ben to his bone.
"Ah yes, Mabel wouldn't be joining you for school for some time" Lia frowned.
"Why not?" Lia asked.
"She isn't feeling well, she needs to have some rest"
"Oh no, I have to see her"
"No, you go to school or you will be late"
"But..."
"Go, Lia"
"Ok, dad. See you when I get back" Lia said as she went to hug her father.
"See you too"
Lia left the house and Ben went to Mabel's room. He turned the knob and discovered it was locked.
"Open the damn door" Ben yelled.
Mabel heard him and ran to the door to unlock it. She didn't dare look at Ben, her eyes were on her toes.
"Let this be the last time, you lock this door" Ben warned and Mabel nodded.
"Use your words" He harshly said.
"I understand"
"I am leaving for work. This house needs cleaning, so get to it" Ben said and left.
Mabel let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
...
"Where is Mabel?" The teacher asked Lia.
"She isn't feeling too well, so she stayed at home," Lia said and the teacher continued to teach.
Lia noticed that Cleo wasn't in her seat, instead she was sitting closer to Mabel's cliche.
What could she expect? They were all bound to leave her anyway.
...
Lia was busy reading a book in the large and noisy cafeteria. She was the only one sitting at her table.
Mabel's friends including Cleo mocked her for being a loner and a dork.
" Everyone, the time has come for me to prove myself to you all" Cleo announced.
" And how are you going to do that?"
" Just watch me, I may be a good girl, but I hate people who bully others," Cleo said as she stood up and carried a cup of smoothie, she had specially purchased to humiliate Lia.
" Oooh, I support you on this one. Quick take out your phones and start videoing"
Cleo strode towards Lia.
" Hey Lia, do you want a dr... aa...aah" Cleo pretended to fall and all the contents of the cup spilled on Lia.
The whole cafeteria burst into laughter.
" Oh my God, Lia I am so sorry. Let me help you" Cleo said as she came closer to Lia but instead of helping she flipped Lia's full tray of food and it poured on her.
" Oh my. I am so sorry" Cleo said.
"No. It's okay" Lia didn't want to hear anymore. She was trying her hardest not to cry.
She stood up from where she sat and walked out of the cafeteria. On her way out she heard people calling her names like ***dumb slut***, ***bitch***, ***psycho***.
Only today that Mabel hadn't come to school, did so many bad things happen. Now Lia finally understood why Mabel always stayed with her group of friends.
To try to stop them from bullying her.
***Mabel is my hero***, Lia said in her mind.
If only she knew it was the opposite of that.