Three very long days have passed since Sophia's father was arrested for the second time. He is locked away in a cell again which means he can no longer touch any of his family members or hurt them again. That means they are safe.

For now.

Neither Sophia nor Bobby have been to school in these last three days. Sophia has skipped for obvious reasons whereas Bobby has been called out simply due to the emotional trauma seeing his father arrested again. He is too young to understand anything other than his father is a bad man and is going to go away for a long time.

Noah has reached out to Sophia several times since the incident. She has only replied once. She told him, respectfully, to leave her alone. She tried to tell him she just needs time to be by herself right now. Noah does not really understand that. He just wants to make sure she is okay. This is why worry filled messages fill her phone.

Noah:
Hey. It's me... need anything? I can stop by with ice cream 🍦 ??

Noah:
I hate to keep messaging you but I'm worried. How are you doing?
Is Bobby okay? How about your mom?

Noah:
You haven't been to school. Did you want me to bring you homework or anything?

As more messages pop up and flood her notifications, Sophia can't help but regret every agreeing to this plan in the first place. She doesn't want to do this anymore.

Sophia does not even know who she is anymore. She doesn't know how she can maintain a relationship if she can't even maintain herself.

Sophia would love to continue being friends with Noah in the future but she seriously needs to consider how she is going to progress with her life from this point on. She could either let this event define her for the rest of her life or she can use this to grow as a better, stronger person because of it. She doesn't know what she is going to do.

One thing she does know for sure is that she doesn't want to have to continue to put Noah through this. She knows that it isn't right to keep him tied down to her right now. She feels bad for putting him through this torture just to be in a fake relationship with her.

She knows she needs to finally pick up her phone and message him back. She wants to meet him somewhere so that she can break up with him in the most respectable way she can. She needs to do this face to face or else she will not be giving him the respect he deserves.

She knows that this decision will be the best for both of them moving forward. This relationship may be fake but she does care for Noah and doesn't want to leave him hanging. He does not deserve that kind of treatment and she knows it. He deserves better treatment in life and a better girlfriend than her.

She types a carefully worded message to him and holds her finger over the button before sending it. She wants to make sure she really wants to do this before sending it and ruining more things in her life. She sends the message and waits for a response.

Sophia:
I am sorry. I don't want to get into it now. Can we meet up some place to talk everything out?

Noah's response is almost immediate. Sophia is grateful for that. She wouldn't want to be left hanging like she left him hanging for three days. She respects that he still treats her well even though she did not treat him the same.

Noah:
sure. Where and when?

AN: how do you guys like this story so far? Please be honest! Feedback helps me write better!