(Emily)

When Ethan Montgomery raped me at the end of the summer before my sophomore year, I thought that my world was starting to fall apart. I couldn't tell my parents about the incident because I didn't know how to break the news to them at the time. Charlotte was just starting her freshman year in Jacksonville, Florida. I met her one summer when my parents and I drove down there for a getaway trip. At the end of her freshman year, she's moving to live with my parents and me. Her father is trying to get his degree so he can be a therapist.

Over the course of my sophomore year, I met Scarlet Lee and Raven Hamilton. They were the first people who found out that I was raped. Scarlet beat Ethan Montgomery's ass that very same day. I was so proud of her. So was Raven; she recommended Scarlet to join the wrestling team.

"Who's that?" Scarlet asks Raven and me as she points at one of the new freshmen. We shrug because we didn't know her name; we called her "Blondie" ever since. Once I got her phone number, I asked her if she would like to come to an end-of-the-summer party. She said "yes" after asking her parents.

I didn't know that she would be raped that night.

I was getting away from a drunk college boy when she rushed over to me. Her lipstick was smeared, tears were running down her face, and she was limping. Her clothes were rumpled. I knew the signs well. We rushed to find Scarlet and Raven, but they didn't want to leave the party. So we exited the party without them.

As time passed after the incident, I grew closer to Sera. She was able to be open with me, and I was able to be open with her. Charlotte was very talkative, but Sera put up with my annoying little half-sister. When I found out Sera's name, I realized how special she was in my life.

For years, I wished for a friend of which I could tell everything. Scarlet and Raven are great friends, but they drink a bit too much when they can drink. Most of the juniors that I knew were sluts or self-absorbed bitches. Sera was only a sophomore, and I understood her as she knew me.

After the party when I was raped, I had gone to see Elijah Brown, Charlotte's father. When I told my parents at the end of my sophomore year, they understood and signed me up for therapy. Elijah had moved into town and had given the rights of raising Charlotte to my parents.

"Hello. Emily Bradley, right? My daughter recently moved in with you and your family," he tells me, smiling softly. I realized that he was a kind man and I told him about when I was raped. I was taking birth control pills, and I had no sexually transmitted diseases. He listened to my story, genuinely interested.

"I'd say that you've moved on. You told me the story without tearing up or choking up. You didn't stutter or have a panic attack. But I'd also say that you may have a panic attack once a certain memory of that night is triggered to appear again," he says, writing everything that I told him down. I nod, listening.

"You only need one session as of right now. If you feel like you need to talk to someone, call me." He hands me his business card, and I put his phone number into my contacts.

My parents signed Sera up to see Elijah when she told them her story. It was after Ethan Montgomery had attacked her and Sera told him everything from her parents first telling her to stop talking to how she finally stood up to my sister's manipulative behavior. He listens, nodding and writing everything down.

"Only one session as of right now, but call me if you need any more help," he says. I give Sera his phone number from my phone, and we leave the office. When Sera got into the front passenger seat of my car, I got into the driver's seat.

When she tries to hold my hand, I feel my chest tightening. I have to shut my eyes. When I open them again, Sera is making me face her, and I calm down quickly.

"You had a small panic attack," she says. I nod, kissing her nose gently, "thank you for calming me down." She nods and smiles softly, her cheeks turning a light pink.

Around the end of the summer, we saw each other as often as possible. We grew closer than before. At a sleepover at my house, I came out to my parents. They accepted me, and they believed Sera when she came out.

"How will I tell my parents?" Sera asks me when we're in my room. I shrug, "don't tell them."

We've kept the secret that we're dating for months. Now we're starting the new school year. I'm a senior and Sera is a junior. Her cheek healed well from Ethan Montgomery's attack, and there's only a scar from the incident. The bruise on her wrist has faded away, and she looks like there was nothing wrong with her.

I knew otherwise.

Sera told me that she had started to self-harm because of her parents and I told my parents. They narrowed their eyes, saying that they can sue them for child neglect. I nod, Charlotte not caring. She's too worried about what the H's will think once they find out that she's gained weight instead of losing it.

"Why do you care what they think?" I ask her when she sips a glass of water and eats a yogurt.

"I care because some of the outfits that we have to wear will be tight around my waist if I don't lose weight," she says. Mom and Dad look at her and shake their heads.

"You're beautiful just the way you are," says Dad. Charlotte rolls her eyes. Little bitch.

Mom takes me clothes shopping two weeks before school starts back up. I'm glad to have new clothes since I gave my old clothes to Goodwill.