"No fücking way. Your Ellie's childhood friend. Your the one who I had a huge crush on" Mason says wide eyed.

"Wait, what?" Ellie and I both gasp at the same time.

Well shįt

Mason just exposed himself for having a childhood crush on me....

"Um, okay then. How about we do this homework" Ellie says as I shift uncomfortably.

"Uh yeah, that sounds good" I say taking out my finished math homework and 5 other sheets of it, copying down the answers for a bunch of Masons friends.

"Uh, Leah? What are you doing?" Ellie asks seeing the 6 copies of our math homework.

"Doing some of the jocks homework" I say finishing up one page of it.

"You still do that for them? Le, stand up for yourself" Mason says taking the pages away from me.

"Mason, incase you haven't noticed. I can't fight. I don't go to the gym or football practice everyday like you and the rest of the guys on your team. I'm the schools nerd who works two jobs just to make money to go to any college. I do what I have to to get by, and I would rather not add hospital bills on top of my car and boarding payment" I say standing up looking at Masons shocked face.

"You are so much stronger than you think. I remember when you and Ellie were inseparable and I just started playing and taking football seriously. I went up to you and you got mad at me for interrupting your conversation with Ellie. You punched me in the face. And damn did it hurt. I can promise you, I will stick up for you and you will not be the one paying or ending up in the hospital. If anyone ever lays a finger on you, I will not think twice about putting them in the hospital" Mason says anger flashing through his eyes at the last part making me flinch, squeezing my eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" Ellie says placing a hand on my shoulder causing me to flinch a second time.

"Um yeah, I just need to go to the bathroom. Where is it?" I ask and Ellie gives me directions.

"Thank you" I say rushing out and looking to see 5 missed calls from my mother and 6 from my father.

"Shįt"I mumble lifting up my shirt to see my ribs still severely bruised.Well, thats only going to get worse.

"Hey guys, I'm so sorry but I really need to get home. My parents are really mad at me" I say and they nod.

"Okay, I need to head to football anyways" Mason says grabbing his football duffle bag and I follow him down the stairs and watch as he fills up his water bottle.He is pretty damn attractive. "Stop staring" Ellie whispers in my ear winking at me causing a light blush to fill my cheeks.

"Lego" Mason says grabbing my hand with his free hand as we walk out the door.

We listen to music in the car and find out we listen to the same music.

Soon enough we are at the school and I start to feel nauseous at the thought of whats waiting for me at home.

"T-thank you Mas. I'll see you tomorrow" I say stuttering a little bit.

"Yeah sure Leah. Are you okay?" He says concern lacing his voice.

"Yeah of course" I fake smile and get into my car, watching Mason walk to the football field.

I speed home hoping that the faster I get home, the less I get struck.

As I'm getting out of the car my phone bings and I see I have a missed call from Mason and a voice mail. I'll listen to that later.

I walk into the house to see both my parents sitting on their usual spot with beer and wine bottles everywhere.

"Hmm, the little whore is home" My mother says slowly standing up, along with my father. Chills run throughout my body.

"Where were you?" My father says. It's just now that I realize the time. Shįt its late. I can't even say I was at work.

"I was doing some homework at the library"I say and they shake their head laughing.

My father slaps me across the face. Hard. Tears well up in my eyes and I feel something trickle down my cheek. Blood.

My father leans in towards my ear and bites my earlobe harshly. "Come home after 7 O'clock again and you'll see what happens" He whispers, slapping my ass hard. Something tells me it won't be a beating that time.

I quickly nod and run upstairs, ignoring the shortness of breath.

My bathroom is thankfully connected to my room so I go in there, turn the shower on and try to shower his touch off of me. And I thought it couldn't get any worse.

After my shower I observe the big red handprint on my face and the cuts it left. It's gonna take a long time to cover in the morning.

I go to my desk and quickly scribble down the homework answers, the hand writing shaky. Which in the jocks place, is probably more believable.

After I do my homework and study I put my headphones in and listen to Masons voice mail.

-------

Hey Leah. Just wanted to check on you. I hope I didn't do anything wrong or say anything wrong. Ellie said she wants to drive you to school tomorrow and talk to you about something. I hope to do this again sometime, it was fun. I'll tell Bella goodnight for you. Bye

-------

I close my eyes in an effort to stop the tears the well up in my eyes. But despite my best efforts one escapes.

If only I could fücking tell you why I act the way I do. You would understand why I flinched at that anger that I saw in your eyes today. That it reminded me of what flashes through my fathers eyes when he looks at me. That when Ellie touched my shoulder, It was where I got hit by my mother a week ago. Why I was so shocked at how neat your room was. All the excuses and stories I make up about my bruises or i juries. Why I would rather work overtime than go home to my abusive parents. Why I jump at every opportunity I get to not go home.

Maybe then you would understand why I act the way I do.

Hey guys, I'm so sorry about the update like a month later. It's been crazy in my house with family problems and the stress from that and school. I've had no time to write but I got around to it today!! I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to comment and vote!!

~Leah