The second Kevin sat down in the vacant seat on my left the next morning, I wished for a hole to open up under me.

He walked into the classroom with a smug look, as if the rest of the class was beneath him and he could walk all over them without a second thought. He smiled at some girl in the seat behind him, then said something to Chris Owens, Captain of the Varsity football team, before falling into the seat beside me.

He didn't look in my direction. I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't feel a wave of relief wash over me over such a trivial thing. I saw those piercing blue eyes every time I shut my own. I had no desire to be faced with them now.

Mr. Nicholson stopped at my desk multiple times throughout class, as if he were afraid that I'd have another episode and cause a scene in the middle of his classroom. I couldn't really blame him. If I were being completely honest with myself I was shocked I hadn't had one yet either.

By the time the end of class rolled around I think both of us were letting out a shaky breath of relief. Rather than wait for Kevin to doddle and slowly make his way toward the door after making conversation with everyone in the room, I rushed for the hallway without looking back.

I collected myself once I reached my locker, resting my forehead against it as I inhaled a breath of fresh air then exhaled it. I slowly pushed it shut. The moment I glanced up, my heart lurched into my throat. Kimmy stood a few inches in front of me, clutching a red notebook tightly against her chest.

"Hey." She whispered.

I waited until I was able to catch my breath to respond. "Hey."

We stood there, inches apart, in absolute silence for a couple minutes before Kimmy closed the small gap between us, invading my personal space.

"I know what he did." She breathed.

My heart sunk into the deepest depths of my stomach as I swallowed the vile that had rose in my throat and met her dark eyes.

"What?" I said it so softly it was barely audible.

She looked me up and down, eying me skeptically. "Are you the girl he assaulted?"

My breath caught in my throat and for a second I was sure I stopped breathing in general.

Almost in slow motion, Kimmy became a blur in front of me. My hands started to tremble at my sides, the little I'd eaten churning in my stomach, easing it's way up, and all I could hear was a loud ringing in my ears.

"What are you talking about?" I was finally able to force out.

"Were you the girl he assaulted?" Kimmy repeated, as if saying it a second time would make it easier to understand.

I could feel a tight knot drop my from my chest to my stomach; I did the only thing I could think of.

I shoved passed Kimmy and took off down the hall without looking back.

*

"I want to hang that bastard and cut off. . ." Isabelle started, cracking her knuckles so loud I was sure the entire cafeteria could hear them snap back into place. Her eyes were burning holes through Kevin, who sat in his usually spot at the table in the middle of the cafeteria. The only unusual thing about it was that Kimmy was nowhere to be seen.

Isabelle had handled it fairly well, I suppose. She hadn't immediately gone for her stepfather's shotgun in the basement and went to shoot Kevin, which had honestly been one of the hundreds of scenarios of how she'd take the news that had replayed in my head for months. Instead, she had been extremely understanding and comforting and had even told me that she'd almost had the same thing happen to her at a party last year. She thanked me for opening up to her but told me she couldn't promise that she wouldn't hang Kevin by his feet and torture him.

Which in my opinion still wouldn't make up for half of what he did.

Just as Isabelle opened her mouth to finish her sentence, her eyes shot over my shoulder, followed my a tight lipped grimace. She rolled her eyes as a tray fell on the table beside me, a familiar manicured finger nail brushing the table top as she sat down.

Isabelle and I rose in unison, but Kimmy grasped my shoulder roughly and sat me back down with a pleading look. "Please, Avery, just hear me out."

My best friend shot me a confused look, but slowly lowered herself back into her chair.

Kimmy closed the small distance between us and shook her head as she spoke.

"I know you don't want to hear or talk about it, but I just wanted to tell you I was there. I was at the party. But I was drunk, and when I saw him push you, I tried to pull him off you, to get him to stop, but I couldn't. I'm so fucking sorry, Avery. I couldn't remember who it was, but when I heard about you freaking out whenever he was around, I realized I'd found the poor victim. I should have yelled for help. I should have done something more than just yell at him."

I couldn't force any coherent words passed my lips. My mind was blank. I felt empty.

Once Kimmy realized she wasn't going to get any sort of response out of me, she stood and squeezed my shoulder comfortingly. "I'm here to support you if you want to go to court. No girl should ever have to experience what you did."

With that, the cheer captain threw her untouched food into the trash and threw her hood over her head before walking out of the cafeteria with her head bowed in shame.

As if she were trying to lighten the mood, Isabelle let out a quiet sigh, still watching after the other girl thoughtfully and whispered, "Well, I guess it's safe to say those two are done."

*

I gave Isabelle a quick side hug the moment we stepped outside the school at the end of the day. I knew she didn't want to leave me alone, but she had to get home to babysit before her mother lost it on her again. She promised to call as long as I sent her a text I was safe as soon as my brother picked me up.

I slowed to a stop just before the curb, my eyebrows drawing in confusion when I saw a large crowd of kids gathering around a car at the front of the lot. My hand shot to my mouth the second I saw it was Kevin's Mercedes.

"My parents took the truck. They made me drive this little piece of shit. I can believe they actually think I did something." I heard Kevin venting to his friends.

"Who's bitch did you piss off?" One of his friends joked, this only pissed Kevin off more. It was when Kevin shoved the other guy that there was a break in the crowd and I finally caught a glimpse of what Bianca had carved into the car.

Going horizontally across was the word BASTARD and going vertically down was RAPIST. Both words were all over the car, from the sides to the hood to the trunk.

I stepped off the curb and into the street without paying attention, wanting to get away from Kevin as soon as possible, only to nearly be hit by a car. The car horn blared through the emptying lot, drawing all the attention to me.

But the only eyes I met were Kevin's dead blue ones.

His expression twisted at the sight of me, but one of his friends made some stupid joke that redirected his attention back to them.

I felt a hand touch my waist and spun, ready to shove whoever had touched me.

My heart warmed with relief at the sight of Colton before me. It wasn't Landon, but he was still my protection and my way out of here.

"Ave?" He touched my shoulder, clearly worried by my sudden hyperventilating.

He then took both of my shoulders in his hands and glanced over my shoulder. I watched as the pieces fell into place inside his head, his lips parting for a moment before his expression changed entirely. His jaw had clenched so tight that a muscle in it had started to twitch.

"Marshall did it?" He asked through his teeth.

I tried to break free of his tight grip, shaking my head, but my whole body tensed when I heard the sound of Kevin's laughter growing closer.

"Hunter! Hey, man, how are you?" Kevin asked. Colton kept his grip on my shoulders, feeling my entire body starting to tremble. Finally, Colt forced a grin and nodded.

"I'm doing alright, man. College and shit are getting to me. How about you? Your dad winning?" To which Kevin laughed and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Don't give a shit if he is. That sucks though, bro. We should hang sometime." Without a second of hesitation, Kevin turned his attention to me. Colton took it as his cue to clear his throat and nod.

"I don't think so. We better get going though, Marshall. Got places to be."

Kevin gave him a curt nod in response but didn't make any attempt to move.

Colton physically had to pull me away, then forced me back against his truck so he was blocking my view of Kevin and vice versa. He was standing a little too close for comfort, but my mind was racing for too much to care in that moment.

He took my chin in between his fingers so I was looking up into his eyes, which held so many emotions that I felt that he was seconds away from jumping back out of the car and killing the rich asshole across the parking lot.

Colton then dropped his arms from my shoulders to my waist and pulled me into his tight embrace. For the first time in months I didn't fight it, but buried myself deeper against his chest and cried.

***AN****

OMG GUYS I AM SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN SOOOO LONG! :( I have been so busy between finishing up high school, graduation, college prep, and working. 

I know this chapter probably wasn't worth the wait but hopefully I'll be able to update more consistently now. 

I'm so sorry again guys!

Let me know what you think/thought!