It was late at night as a 14-year-old Kianna and Desmond sat on their middle school roof. Kianna was leaning onto him as he had his arm draped over her shoulder. She yawned lightly causing Desmond to look away from the night sky to look at her calm, sleepy face. He chuckled lightly and pulled her in closer.

"Tired?" He teased with a smile as he continued to look at her.

"Yeah, the yelling between my dad and his new toy kept me up all night," Kianna responded groggily before yawning again. Desmond's smiled faltered a bit.

"Soon, you won't need to deal with that anymore. We will be on our own, in peace, before you know it," Desmond said softly as he moved a piece of Kianna's hair out of her face as she practically passed out against him.

"You would be in more peace if you didn't say anything," Desmond suddenly said in a dark voice. Kianna's eyes widened as she sobered up from her sleepiness. She sat up quickly and looked at Desmond only to see blood slipping down from the corner of his mouth as he looked at her with dark, dull eyes. He leaned towards her causing her to lean back in fear.

"You are only a burden to others, and you are going to pay for it," Desmond said as the wine-colored liquid darkened his shirt. Suddenly two feminine hands grabbed her from behind and pulled her back into darkness.

Kianna shot up from her bed, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. She slowly got out of bed and stared at the picture of her and Desmond on her nightstand before glancing at her clock to see it was 7 pm. She grabbed a grey hoodie and black shorts as PJs before walking into her bathroom. She stripped down looking at the mirror as she removed the gauze from her neck. She sighed in relief seeing that the cut on her neck was pretty much healed. A week ago she had removed the stitches. In fact, it has been a couple of weeks since she told Mrs. Gruwell what was happening, but during that time, Mr. Gruwell seemed to avoid his wife, not even looking at her. Kianna shook her head from her thoughts before getting into the shower.

Once Kianna got out, she got dressed and started to go downstairs but stopped when she heard talking at the front door. She went down enough stairs so she could peep past the wall to see. She froze as she saw her father talking with two police officers.

"Sorry for the trouble officers, you know how mixed kids can be. The teacher was too blind to realize it is from her messing around," her father explained with a lazy smiled as the officers chuckled.

"You gotta get that kid in check. The teacher has been bothering the social workers for a couple of weeks, so they finally decided to send us out. Anyways, have a good night Mr. Anaba," One of the officers said before they walked away from the door. Kianna's father closed the door and lost his smile before turning his head back and glaring directly into Kianna's eyes. She stood still in fear as her father walked towards her.

"Get down," Kianna's father commanded. Kianna slowly walked down the stairs. As she stepped down from the last stair, she was standing directly in front of her father. She stared at the floor as she felt her father's eyes glare holes through her head. He suddenly gripped her chin tightly and forced her to look at him.

"Did you tell anyone?" He asked as he tightened his grip on her jaw causing her to grimace slightly.

"N-No," Kianna said looking back into his dark eyes. He yelled in anger as he shoved her back into the stairs. Kianna groaned lightly as her head and back collided against the stairs. He pulled her up from the stairs by the front of her hoodie and brought her close to his contorted face.

"You fucking liar! I know you, you bitch!" He yelled into her face. Kianna stared into his face blankly, causing more anger to erupt within him. He suddenly smirked as an idea popped into his head.

"Time to teach you a lesson," Her father said before he started to drag her towards the garage. Kianna quickly tried pulling away. Her father turned around and slugged her across the face. He let her fall from the force before pulling her in by her feet.

After 15 minutes of being punched and kicked in the garage, Kianna was starting to pass out on the floor. Kianna's father looked at her, admiring his work, but something told him it wasn't enough. He glanced towards his hunting gear gear and eyed his knife. He quickly grabbed it before turning Kianna onto her back. He gripped her facing causing Kianna to zone back into reality.

"I think doing something to your pretty little face will teach you to shut your mouth," He said forcibly turning her head so the right side of her face was facing him. She started to try and push him back. Her father quickly straddled her torso, causing her to have a hard time breathing as he tied her hands together with her hoodie. He smirked as she stared up at him in fear while he tilted her head again and brought the knife to the top of her right cheek.

"This will remind you every day when you get up and look in the mirror," He said as he started to push the knife in, causing Kianna to scream out. He slowly cut deep from the top of her cheek to her chin, down her neck, and finally ending at her collar bone. The whole time Kianna cried out in pain until he stopped. He smiled as he saw the blood seep from the long cut. Kianna stared at him with dark cold eyes before she passed out.

Kianna had been missing from school for a week. Marcus waited at the front of the school until the late bell rang every morning for her. In the classroom, Mrs. Gruwell would stare at her empty desk, wondering if her student was ok. Eva would often ask Marcus if know anything only for him to look away sadly and shake his no. Other students in the class started to pick up on the situation when they saw how worried their teacher and fellow students were.

It was now Monday, Marcus sighed as the late bell rang and went to class. Everyone in the class was just chatting excitedly over the new, fresh books about gang life on their desks. Marcus went ahead and sat down like everyone else. Mrs. Gruwell looked at the empty desk of her student feeling worried before getting up.

"Okay, guys, gals. Listen up. The only problem with this book is it's about a gang member and there's-", Mrs. Gruwell started saying before she was cut off by the sound of the classroom door opening. A very similar figure wearing a black hoodie and navy jeans walked in, but the whole class froze at the cut going down from their right cheek. Stitches ran along the cut until it was hidden by the hoodie. Guilt washed over Mrs. Gruwell as she saw it, the dark, cold glare coming from her student. Mrs. Gruwell knew police were sent to Kianna's house after pestering the social workers for so long.

Kianna looked away from her teacher and walked slowly to her desk. She just dropped her backpack next to her desk before she plopped down, grimacing slightly in pain. The whole class continued to be silent until Mrs. Gruwell cleared her throat to get the class's attention.

"A-Anyways, there's violence in it, so you may not be able to read it as part of the curriculum. So, I'm going to try my best to get permission, all right? For now, go ahead and read some of it," Mrs. Gruwell said with a shaky smile as the students started to look over the book. She let out a shaky breath before walking over to Kianna's desk, where she was just staring out the window with a blank expression.

"Kianna," Mrs. Gruwell said to get the girl's attention. Kianna slowly glared at her before looking back at the window.

"C-Can we talk outside?" Mrs. Gruwell asked softly with a weak smile. Kianna sighed and got up slowly before motioning her hand for her teacher to lead the way. Mrs. Gruwell then walked them outside, the class watched silently the whole time, especially Marcus and Eva. Once the door closed, everyone muttered about the situation.

"Marcus, you know the girl. What's up?" Jamal asked, gaining the class's attention on Marcus.

"It ain't any of y'alls business. Besides, I don't know what exactly happened," Marcus said with agitation. He just wanted to bust out the door and comfort Kianna. Eva looked at Marcus, wishing he had actually known what happened.

"This girl been missin' for a week. The whole class could feel ya worryin' with the teach. Now she come back lookin' like something from Rambo," Jamal stated, trying to get Marcus to speak. Marcus stayed silent causing the rest of the class to mumble among themselves as they came up with their theories. Marcus looked up at Eva's gaze and shook his head, confirming he truly knew nothing. Eva let out a shaky breath and looked at the classroom door hoping Kianna was ok.

In the hallway, Mrs. Gruwell was looking at Kianna not sure what to say as she just continued to lean her back against the wall and glare with dark, dull eyes. Mrs. Gruwell felt herself shake lightly under the dark glare of her student as the guilt just continued to pile onto her. She let out a breath before straightening up.

"Did this happen becau-,"Mrs. Gruwell said before she was cut off.

"Yes," Kianna said sternly as her glare only seemed to harden.

"I am sorry, if I ha-"

"Had you known what? When will you learn no one gives a shit about kids of color. All it took was my dad saying 'Oh, you know how mixed kids are' for the police to just walk away," Kianna said loudly in anger. The class inside jolted when they heard her. The anger in her voice rattled the students. Mrs. Gruwell's eyes watered as the guilt finally broke her.

"I-I am sorry. I...I should have kept my mouth shut like I said I would," Mrs. Gruwell said looking at her student with remorse. Kianna's eyes softened before she pushed away from the wall and made her way to the classroom door.

"You should have," Kianna said as the respect and trust she had for her teacher went down the drain. At the same time, she knew it wasn't fully the teacher's fault. She mostly felt mad her teacher broke her trust. Kianna glanced at her teacher before walking into the classroom, leaving her crying teacher to let out her guilt.

A/N: Thank you guys for all your patience. Applying to colleges wasn't as easy of a job as I thought. On top of that I have been having a hard time in my life for a while now and that's still the case. But to make it up, I will be busting out as many chapters this weeks since it will be my last grace period. Thank you once again.