CHAPTER WARNING: this story has some mature themes in general, but just a heads up that this chapter contains some domestic abuse/violence. it's only one part, so it's hopefully not too bad, but for those triggered by such things i highly recommend skipping the chapter.

Phoebe was currently taking back what she'd said about not wanting to be alone. That was when she was hanging out with Tim, Joey, and Anna, people she actually wanted to be around. But now it was just her and Luke.

Tim and Anna had gone home to drop off their stuff and so their mom wouldn't worry, and she wasn't exactly sure where George went, but she vaguely remembered him saying something about booze.

"Babe, where the fuck is that red dress I left here," Bee yelled to Luke in the other room, rummaging through his closet for one of the dresses she'd left at his house.

"Fuck, I don't know. Did you check the drawers?"

She did not, but she wasn't giving him the satisfaction of saying that, so she just told him "yes" and quickly looked through his drawers. She let out a frustrated sigh when she got to the last drawer and still hadn't found the dress.

"Bee, I found it!" Luke comes into the room, holding out the red dress for her. She excitedly springs up from her place on the floor and grabs it.

"Omg, thank you! Where'd you find it?" She asks, already stripping off her clothes to change into the dress.

"I remembered my mom washed a bunch of your stuff. She put it all in a box in her closet for when you got back."

"Oh, that was nice of her," she distractedly said, looking at herself in the full-length mirror. She tenses as she notices Luke come up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"You really shouldn't have put on the dress," he mumbles, eyes looking her up in down in the reflection.

"And why's that?"

"Because now I just wanna take it off."

He tries slipping one of the straps off, but she steps away from his grasp, shaking her head.

"Babe, the others will be here soon." She smiled up at him, hoping he wouldn't get mad.

"So? Let's give them a show," he said in what he hoped was a suggestive and convincing voice, but she just scoffed.

"Luke, not now. Okay?"

Now it was his turn to scoff, clearly showing his anger as he turned his back to her and ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately. You know, you used to be a lot more fun before y-"

"Before what?" she demanded, too fed up with him to be cautious. "Before I almost died of an overdose? Before I went to rehab to get clean? Sorry that I'm not the same person I was when I was walkin' around like a fuckin' zombie!"

She heard the smack long before she felt it. It was quick as lightning, with no chance for her to dodge or block it. They both wordlessly stared at each other, her in pain and him in dwindling anger.

"Shit. Babe, I'm.....shit, I'm so sorry." He tried leaning in to hug her, but she moved away from his touch, placing a hand over her cheek as she was now starting to feel the sting. "Babe, come one. It was an accident," he said in a pleading voice.

She didn't have many options but to forgive him. She's played through the outcomes in her head several times before.

She could speak her mind, let him know she didn't deserve to be treated that way and break up with him, but she wasn't entirely sure how to survive without him. Would their friends side with him if they broke up? If they did, what would happen to her without her one form of protection. She's pissed off enough people to know it would be open season on her ass.

Or she could stay with him. Forgive him, again, and move past it knowing she'd rather risk it happening again than the possibility of being alone.

"Okay." She forced a small smile onto her face, unmoving as she let him wrap his arms around her. "It's okay, babe. I'm gonna go put makeup on, okay?" She pulled away from the hug and grabbed her makeup bag before quickly making her way to the bathroom.

God, what a fucking nightmare.

●◉◎◈◎◉●

"I cannot believe she said you put your body on display."

Bee was barely listening to the conversation, instead mindlessly chewing on the straw from the large Sprite in her hand. Putting on makeup had been a lot harder than previously anticipated, considering she now had a big red spot on her cheek to cover up, but she got it done. No one had made any comments about a mark on her face, so she assumed she did a pretty good job.

"But I'm marching into battle on Monday, bitch," Joey said confidently, bringing a small smile to Phoebe's face.

Joey's extroverted tendencies have caused her to get in trouble many times, though Bee found herself constantly envious of her outspokenness. She wished she had the confidence to defend herself, be a leader instead of just going along with whatever people expected of her.

"Don't worry, girl. I'll be right there with you," Phoebe spoke up. Joey looked back at the girl and sent her a grateful smile.

Bee felt a little bad for not sticking up for Joey earlier, so she was willing to go along with whatever the girl was planning.

"Awww, thanks, Bee."

"I can't believe you didn't fuck with her more today."

"Well, she couldn't. It was bomb day," Tim cut in, bringing everyone's mood down a bit.

Phoebe started chewing on her straw again, going silent in the new, tense atmosphere. She frowned when Luke's arm slipped from around her shoulders and he moves to stand next to Joey. Bee had been gone for months in rehab, so for all she knew, he could've cheated on her tons of times.

A part of her felt insecure about it, wondering if she was enough for him to stay loyal, but another part of her genuinely didn't care if he slept with someone else. The only downside she could think of to Luke cheating on her was if people found out and they started looking at her with pity. She fucking hated pity.

She lagged behind the group as they stopped at the corner, huddled together. She looked past them to see they were all staring at laughing at two Freshmen, one of which she was pretty sure had made it onto the "bomb pussy" list.

"Hot Asian Freshman. I love her." Bee scrunched her face up in disgust as George made his way into the party, following the (probably) innocent Freshman girl.

She followed the others going into the building but stopped at the door. The smell of weed was much stronger now, and she knew for a fact that much worse drugs would be present.

"Hey, Bee. You coming?" Anna asked, looking back at the hesitant girl with concern. Phoebe just gave her a small, weak nod and followed them in.

They made their way through the sea of teenagers to get to Grace so Joey could drop off the pregnancy test she got for the girl. Phoebe didn't understand how Joey still found the goodness in her heart to get Grace the pregnancy test after she'd implied she thought Joey had an abortion.

Looking around the party, Bee realized there were very few options for her. Her safest bet would probably be staying with her friends, but she knew for a fact they were all gonna get shitfaced and high and she wasn't sure she wanted to be around them for that.

Damn, being a sober teen is hard.

●◉◎◈◎◉●

Phoebe was chewing on about five sticks of gum at the moment. She needed something to distract her from wanting to snort the lines of coke on the table or down some shots of vodka. And her boyfriend, who was supposed to be there to support her in her sobriety, currently had a vodka bottle in his grip.

She trailed her eyes to where Luke was glaring and noticed Tim and Joey were leaving together. She shifted uncomfortably in her spot on Luke's lap from all the attention he was giving Joey that night. It was clear he was jealous of how close the girl was to Tim all day, and though it didn't bother her before, it was starting to now.

She didn't invest so much time and effort into keeping their relationship alive, into maintaining the persona she'd carefully cultivated for herself, only for her horny ass boyfriend to ruin it. Bee knew she didn't have to worry with Joey, the girl was much more interested in Tim than Luke or any other of their friends, but she couldn't say the same for any other girl Luke might set his sights on.

"They're being so extra with each other, right?" Anna plopped down on the couch next to the two, motioning her head toward where Joey and Tim just left. She looked over at the two and frowned when she noticed neither of them looked like they were having a very good time. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Mmmhmm."

Luke gently slid his girlfriend off his lap as he stood up, letting the girl settle into the spot he previously occupied. Both girls watched with furrowed eyebrows as he walked up to the railing overlooking the rest of the party and stood on the table.

"Yo yo yo! Listen up!"

"Oh, this dumbass," Phoebe muttered, springing into action along with Anna to control their drunk friend.

"Luke, get down!" Anna said worriedly as she noticed him wobbling a bit, but the boy just ignored her.

"Yo, cups up, motherfuckers!"

Phoebe frowned at the people cheering for him and enabling his idiotic behavior, but knew there was no point in stopping him. Anna was still trying in vain to get him to come down, but Bee had given up.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed George with his arm around the Freshman girl from earlier. She'd hoped he wasn't serious about his attempts to get with the girl, but honestly wasn't surprised at his behavior. It was just disappointing to see because the girl seemed sweet and she knew for a fact that George would completely ruin her.

"We didn't fuckin' die today!" Luke exclaims to the crowd. "And we're still here! And you know what? You wanna take us down? You're gonna need a lot more than a fucking bomb strapped to your chest."

The cheers quickly turned into gasps as Grace, the jealous bitch that she is, poured a drink on the Freshman girl's head.

"Yo, Gracie, what the actual fuck?!" Bee stepped in to defend the girl, absolutely fed up with her bullshit.

But of course, she was ignored and Grace moved to fight the girl. The Freshman quickly moved out of the way, but in doing so, bumped into Luke, sending him over the railing. Everyone raced to see if he was okay, though she wasn't sure how many people were genuinely concerned and how many just found the situation entertaining.

"Jap Pussy killed our fucking friend!"

Luke wasn't her favorite person, by any means, but she still felt a sense of dread seeing him sprawled out on the ground like that. Without thinking, she pushed people out of the way as she rushed down the stairs and to his side.

"Luke! Babe, come on. Please be okay," she pleaded, holding his hand. A sigh escaped her lips when he showed signs of consciousness and she wiped away the tears she didn't notice had escaped.

She felt frustrated that she had even allowed herself to cry over him, but that's just the type of person she is. No matter how much fucked up shit he does, there will probably always be a part of her that still cares.

A part of her that still loves him.

●◉◎◈◎◉●

a/n: okay another short chapter so im sorry about that, but i really shouldn't even be focused on writing right now when i have so much school work to do lol.

if  you enjoyed, please let me know by voting or leaving a comment! those are always encouraging and give me lots of motivation. ESPECIALLY COMMENTS!!! okay byeeeeee!!!