I dabbed a little extra concealer around my eye and checked it a little more. With a nod I grabbed my powder and set it. I pulled the turtleneck I had on a little higher. My roommate was showering, so I still had a couple of minutes to move around so I could get used to the aches. I limped across the room and back. After a few trips I could walk without so much as a wince or weird expression. I bent over to grab my bag and hissed.

Last night was worse than ever.

I opened the door and nearly ran into my roommate. "Oh, sorry Sara," I said backing up.

She smiled at me as she passed. "It's no problem. Don't worry about it." She sat her things down and turned to me. "I can't believe you hid it that well."

I gave her a small smile. "It's just a little makeup and the right clothes."

"Don't go tripping down the stairs again," she warned.

"Don't worry about me," I said as I walked out.

It was always the same. We never acknowledged anything, never spoke about it, and she accepted any excuse I gave her, no matter how absurd. But I knew she was aware of what was happening. She'd been my roommate for over a year for goodness' sake. There was no way she couldn't have known. I was just too ashamed to admit it to myself. I wanted to keep pretending she was blind to it all.

I hitched my bag higher and walked a little faster, hoping to avoid Josh on my way to class. I was late and I didn't need to be any later.

When I neared the door to my classroom, I saw Josh leaning on the wall. His head was bowed so he didn't see me approach him. "What are you doing here?" I asked quietly as the professor was already beginning the class.

Josh's head snapped up and he took in my face and my sweater for a long moment. "I wanted to check on you. I couldn't get last night out of my head. I'm so sorry, Jes. I promise it won't happen again."

I sighed and let him kiss me. "Okay. Now you need to get to class, babe. It won't go over well if you're late again."

"It would be nice if you would grace us with your presence, Miss Chandler," my teacher said, poking his head out of the classroom.

I felt my face heat up. "I'm coming, sir." I gave Josh a small smile and turned away. "I'll see you later." I walked into the classroom, feeling like everyone was staring at me. My hand went to my eye, but I knew they couldn't tell. Nothing was visible. They couldn't see. I've always made sure of that.

When class was over, I tried to leave right away, but the professor had other plans. "Miss Chandler," he said. "A word, please." I walked up and he sighed. "I know you love your boyfriend, but please don't skip my class or show up late for that boy. It's not worth it. Think about your grades and your future."

"He was waiting for me," I said weakly.

He frowned. "Be that as it may, I still don't appreciate you being late for him. He's not the best student or even the best of people. I would recommend not giving him too much of yourself."

I felt a surge of anger. "We've been together for over a year, sir. I don't plan on ever leaving him."

His eyebrows rose. "Is that right?"

"It is. He's a wonderful person. He's sweet to me, however he might be in other classes. I need to get to my next lesson. I'll see you tomorrow, sir." I walked out of the room. Once I was out of his sight, I leaned on a locker and took a deep, shaky breath. How dare he tell me those things. Yes, he hit me sometimes, but it was only because he loved me. He got jealous easy and I did things that made him jealous. Not on purpose, obviously. Still, I knew he only did these things because he was so scared to lose me.

With a final deep breath, I went on to my next class.

---

Kolleen raised an eyebrow at me when I saw her that afternoon. "Who did you get all dolled up for?"

I shook my head as I tossed my bag into the corner of her room. "Do I need a reason to do my makeup? Can't I do it because I feel like it?"

She grabbed my arm and I hissed. She let me go immediately. "What did he do to you?" she all but shrieked.

I flinched and took a couple of steps back. "Nothing. I felt down the stairs is all."

She crossed her arms. "What stairs? You live on the first floor!"

I flinched again. There was nothing more humiliating to me than my best friend finding out what's been happening. "I was upstairs studying with a friend."

She pointed at the bathroom. "Go clean your makeup off. I want to see what he did this time."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!" I started to turn but Kolleen yanked me back by the hand. "Don't-" It was too late. She'd already pulled my sleeve up and seen it. She was staring at my forearm where Josh had left a bruise a few days ago. He'd grabbed me too hard to drag me to my room.

"Where else?" Kolleen asked, voice shaking. I wordlessly lifted the bottom of my shirt to show her the large bruises covering my ribs. Tears began sliding down her face as she dropped my arm and brought her hands to her face. "Jes," she breathed through her tears. "Is that it?" I swallowed and pulled down the turtleneck, eyes closed. I heard her gasp and released my shirt, reaching for my bag. "Wait," she said, tone pleading.

"I don't want to do this today."

"Please, Jes. I won't get mad, okay?"

"You never get mad," I muttered.

"I just want to ask something."

"What?" I turned to look at her.

"Are you okay with him doing this stuff?"

I furrowed my brow. It was the first time anyone had asked me that. "He does it because he loves me."

She visibly swallowed. "Because he loves you?"

"Yes, Kolleen. He loves me. I know you've heard the expression 'love is pain'."

"Yes, love can cause pain, but this is not what that means." Her voice was again pleading, but tinged with pain. I turned away as I felt tears well up. Who gave her the right to lecture me? "Please, Jessie. Please just hear me out."

"I don't feel like hearing this today. I'm tired." I opened the door and walked out. She didn't come after me as I walked down the hall, and I wasn't sure how that made me feel.

As I walked across the campus to my dorm, a guy from one of my classes fell into step with me. "Got a minute?" he asked.

I glanced at him. "What's your name?"

He frowned. "Louis. You know, the loser that-"

"I know who you are. I just didn't know your name." I stopped at the bench outside of my building. "What do you need?"

He sat on the bench. "I was wondering if I could look at your notes from today. I must have missed a lot. The assignment doesn't make sense to me."

I nodded and sat next to him. While I was digging around in my backpack I looked around the area. Josh wasn't anywhere. I let out a breath as I pulled out the right book. As we talked and I explained some of the things that the professor had gone over, I kept an eye out. I didn't want Josh to see me sitting here with this boy. He takes things the wrong way sometimes.

After I finished explaining what had been said in class and he'd copied some of my notes, I thought he'd leave. But, to my surprise, he stayed. "Jessie," he said. "Um, I know you have a boyfriend and I've heard he's very possessive, but I still want to ask if maybe you'd consider going out with me instead?"

I froze. "What?" Someone was interested in me? How?

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I get it if the answer is no, but I still wanted to shoot my shot. Never know until you try, right?"

"In this case, I would have thought you'd know the outcome before you tried."

He dropped his hand. "Oh, come on. You don't want someone who's your equal?"

"My equal?" What?

"You know. You're beautiful, I'm one of the best-looking guys in the entire city. We'd be a great power couple." He winked at me.

I suppressed the shiver that ran through me. His words were bordering on repulsive, but I was also curious. "You think I'm beautiful?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. Most gorgeous girl on campus."

I knew he was playing me, trying to get me to say yes, but Josh hadn't called me pretty since we had graduated. He'd definitely never called me beautiful or gorgeous. I took a deep breath to get myself to settle down before replying. "My answer is no," I told him bluntly as I stood. "You should have known you wouldn't get anywhere with me. Have fun doing your homework." I waved at him over my shoulder as I entered the building.

"Oh, come on," he said, following me. "Just give me a chance."

"Not happening."

He grabbed my upper arm and I barely held in my gasp. "Come on, Jessie."

I tried to pry his hand off my arm. "Go away! Let me go!" I blinked back the tears in my eyes. He was squeezing so hard the muscle was hurting.

"Enough," said a voice behind Louis. It sent a chill down me, but I was so glad to hear it. Josh would get rid of this creep.

Louis turned around. "Oh, hi, Josh. Me and your girl were just having a little chat."

Josh eyed my arm, knowing what lay under the guy's hand. "Let her go."

"Oh, come on."

"I said, let her go. You don't want to mess with me." Josh cracked his knuckles as the two of them locked eyes.

Louis looked at me, and I could see the mild fear in his eyes before he looked back at Josh. "Fine. But I'm not going to back down." He released me and walked out.

I was relieved to not have to deal with him, but all the fear and worry returned when I looked into Josh's eyes. They held a dangerous light. "Let's go to your room."