Two weeks had passed. Two weeks of me acting like a zombie and dragging myself around town. Everyday, it seemed to get worse. I hadn't been able to focus at all and  I could barely manage to register what my friends were saying to me at lunch. As an added bonus to this seemingly eternal hell I had gotten myself into, I had to physically restrain myself from breaking down whenever a man was within a 6 feet radius of me.

It was terrifying and absolutely exhausting.

I studied myself in the bathroom mirror, hoping that none of my fellow students would march right in and find me in the middle of a staring contest with myself.

I ran a hand across my face, trying to fix my hair to the best of my ability. My appearance had definitely not been given as much attention as it deserved during the past weeks, I was looking more and more like a mess for every passing day and it was a wonder that no one had mistaken me for being a trash goblin yet.

I pulled out my phone and checked the time. 10:16, everyone was still in class and I wouldn't have to worry about being interrupted by any other students just yet. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention how messed up my attendance had gotten as well! Most days, I forced myself to go to school, mostly so my parents wouldn't worry, but also so that I wouldn't receive worried texts from my friends. I skipped a lot of classes though, and mostly hung out in the bathroom, feeling sorry about myself. My self love wasn't exactly something that had improved much either over the past weeks.

Every time I looked at myself, and recognized the person I was seeing in the mirror, I just felt so much disgust. I was disappointed in myself for letting me crumble in the way that I was. I was angry with myself for letting both my attendance and my grades slip. I was disgusted with myself for having let myself be taken advantage of.

Whilst I was busy internally listing the reasons why I hated myself, I failed to notice the door to the bathroom open. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a figure making their way up to me before I turned to recognize the figure as Ruffnut. Ruffnut smiled as she sat down on the counter, swinging her legs off the edge as she flashed me a lazy smile.

"Hey Asty, what's up?" Ruffnut asked as she turned towards the mirror to pick at something that was stuck between her teeth.

I shrugged at her response, trying my best to look as normal as I could. "Not much, just skipping Spanish."

Ruffnut laced her fingers together and furrowed her brows at me. "Again? You've been skipping quite a lot of classes lately, Astrid. Are you alright?"

Another thing I failed to mention: my friends had little to no recollection of anything that happened at Valerie's party after they had encountered the famed jungle juice. According to Ruffnut the only things she could vaguely remember were a lot of dancing, some random guys and a big crowd gathering in the front yard. Heather on the other hand, remembered a bit more, mostly because she got to make out with her ex-boyfriend again, which somehow improved her memory by a tiny bit.

Unfortunately for me, that wasn't the same for the rest of the party. Yes, there were a lot of people there who were just as gone as my friends were, but there were also many that remembered a scary amount of the events of that evening, which eventually led every student on campus to know about Jake Peters sexually assaulting me before attempting to take me 'home' without my consent. From what I had overheard from all of the students whispering about me in the halls, Jake Peters had been temporarily suspended from his college and gotten beat up by his former friends on the college football team. (Who coincidentally happened to know me through my ex-fiancé.) Did that bring me satisfaction? A little bit, yes, but also no.

After finding out about what had happened to me, Ruff and Heather had tried several times to convince me to report the guy to the police, but I refused. What had the police ever done for me? I knew exactly what was going to go down if I went there, they would jot down my name, get me to tell them what happened, spend months on paperwork and then finally maybe call me into a trial where I would go up against Jake Peters and watch him end up with the harsh sentence of 3 months of community service, you know, since he's a young white man with 'so much potential'.

I nodded as I forced myself of of my daze. "Yeah, of course I am. No need to worry."

"You don't look alright." Ruffnut jumped off the counter as she crossed her arms.

I shook my head and avoided her gaze. "Ruff, really, I'm fine."

Then she did something that surprised me, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a warm and comfortable hug. "I'm here for you, even if you don't think you need me."

"Thanks." I whispered to Ruffnut as I pulled away from the hug.

"No need to thank me, but I've got to get back to class now. Mr. Grimborn will flay me if I'm not back within the minute." Ruffnut winked at me as she calmly made her way over to the door.

I raised a brow at her. "Aren't you going to the toilet?"

Ruffnut let out a chuckle as she opened the door. "No way, I'd rather not get a buttload of confetti."

Ruffnut left the bathroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts and with one question floating around my mind. What did she mean by 'a buttload of confetti?' I figured I probably didn't want to find out what she meant by that and instead made the decision to go to class.

***

I climbed onto my bike as I put on my helmet. The school day was over, and I had made it through yet another Thursday at school. Quite frankly, I was proud of myself. Yes, I had wanted to cry several times that day, but had I done it? No.

I revved the engine of my bike, taking in the sweet sound that it made as I rode it out of the school parking lot. My bike might have been one of the only things I still found enjoyment in. The way the wind tugged at my clothes, the freedom of being able to freely move around and the dragon-like roar of the powerful engine were all big contributors to my intense love for the motorcycle.

As I rode out of the school parking lot, I caught a glimpse of the two people I had been avoiding for the past weeks. Yup, you guessed it, Hiccup and Valerie. After the Saturday at the cafe, I wasn't really in the mood to talk to Hiccup. The only reason he had wanted to hang out with me that Saturday, the only reason he had brought me home the night before ... it was all because he pitied me. Let me tell you one thing; I don't like being pitied.

So I avoided them, exchanging a few words with the both of them if I had to, but I ignored them nevertheless. I was in the process of becoming the exact same person I had been the year before, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. No wonder I didn't deserve Hiccup. No wonder he didn't like me back.

As usual, I arrived home to an empty house. I parked my bike in the garage and went in the side door through the mud room. I placed my helmet on a shelf above the hook I hung my leather jacket on it. I took a quick pit stop by the kitchen to pick up some snacks before making my way to my favorite location in the house: my dark bedroom.

I laid down in my bed, all the curtains still drawn from the night before as I began eating the chips I had brought along with me. I can't remember how long I laid like that, just staring at the ceiling as I slowly ate my chips, but eventually the familiar sound of heavy footsteps making their way up the stairs sounded through my ears.

I curled myself up into a ball as I hoped my parents weren't coming to see me, but as the footsteps came closer and closer to my bedroom, I realized it was hopeless. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing my parents carrying what seemed to be a rather large box covered by a white sheet.

"Honey, we're home!" My father chanted. "Thor almighty, what is that smell?"

"And why is it so dark in here?" My mother complained as she handed the box over to my father and went over to open the blinds.

"No! Leave it, please." I begged them as I sat up in bed and attempted to speak through the chips filling my mouth.

My mother raised an eyebrow before stepping away from the blinds. I let out a relieved sigh as I sank back down into my pillows.

"Anyway... guess who we brought back?" My dad grinned as he raised the box covered by a white sheet. He yanked the sheet off the box, revealing a cage containing a very familiar bird. "Stormfly!"

I sat up in my bed as my father let Stormfly out of her cage. The bird flew out and almost crashed into my face before she settled down on my shoulder and began nuzzling me. "Hey girl, I've missed you too."

In the months that I had been gone, my parents had been responsible for Stormfly. When I came back home for Christmas, Stormfly had been there and we had spent some quality time with each other before she got sick and we had to send her to the vet so they could attempt to find her a cure. After she started showing symptoms of her getting better, the veterinaries wanted to keep her there to monitor her illness and make sure that it wouldn't make a return as soon as she came back home. I was very happy to see my bird again, but I must admit that I hadn't really had the chance to think about her too much with all that had happened in the weeks we had been separated.

I ran a finger over her head as she chirped cheerfully. I glanced over at my parents, and found them smiling at the two of us. I raised a brow at them. "What?"

My parents exchanged a look before my mother spoke: "Nothing, we're just happy to see you happy. We've been really worried about you over these last two weeks."

I swallowed as I avoided eye contact with my parents. "Why haven't you said anything, then?"

"We wanted to give you your space and we wanted to see if you would come to us if anything was bothering you." My dad smiled softly as he and my mother sat down on either side of me.

I wanted to thank them for not trying to force me to tell them about anything, but I just couldn't. I didn't really like keeping things from my parents, especially not something as big as what I was keeping from them. Yes, I had kept my engagement from them previously, but had I been given more time I would've found a way to tell them about it without the ring slipping off my finger and falling onto the floor in front of them by accident.

I bit my lip as I focused on Stormfly, but eventually the need to open up to someone, the need for someone to listen ... it grew too strong. I fought to keep the tears at bay. "Mommy ... daddy, I ... I have something to tell you."

Once again, my parents exchanged a look before turning back to me. I hadn't called them mommy and daddy in ages. My father placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "What is it honey?"

I took a deep breath as tears began streaming down my cheeks. "Something bad happened, something really bad."

I cried as I told them the entire story. I told them that I went to a party, that I drank and that I got a little too drunk before I got roofied and eventually ... well, I think you know what happened. I left out the whole jealousy over Valerie and Hiccup part and eventually showed them the video that Heather had sent me.

It was clear that they were both in shock. I had unloaded a lot of shocking information upon them in a very short amount of time and I didn't blame them a second for struggling to process everything. Quite honestly, I was expecting to at least get yelled at for going out to party and drink, but it was like they had forgotten all about that part. Instead, they didn't say a single word, they just looked at me with furrowed brows and watery eyes as if they were struggling to find the right words to say to me.

Stormfly nuzzled me one last time before flying back to her cage, sitting on top of it as she watched the situation before her unfold. I wiped away my tears as I readied myself for a lot of anger, screaming and a good grounding, but it didn't come. My parents just wrapped their arms around me and held me silently as I felt as though I had become a child all over again, a loved child at that.

At first, it was strange, but eventually I just let myself ease into the embrace as I let my emotions flow freely. I didn't really remember much after that, but what I did remember was the three of us, crying silently in my room. I was in the arms of the two people who truly mattered the most to me and they didn't judge me, they didn't yell at me, they didn't do anything wrong at all, they just loved me.