I woke up to a text from James, begging me to talk to him, to please give him another chance. "I'll do better, i promise i'll do better." I've heard him say that a million times before so i knew better than to feel sympathy for him but going against my better judgement, i still felt bad for him.

Maybe i was too harsh on him, maybe i should've listened when he tried to talk to me. A shiver went down my spine, reminding me of all the horrible things he had done to me.

I walked into english class and sat down at the back of the class, trying to avoid anyone talking to me today. I didn't feel good. James still had some sort of grip on me that i just couldn't shake off.

I was taken back to reality by a sharp voice calling my name across the classroom. "Do you know the answer Rachel?" I looked up to see Mr Jones look at me. He looked annoyed at my mental absence. "I don't, i'm sorry." I didn't care if he got pissed. He could give me detention for the sake of it, i didn't care. Not today.

I could hear him yell at me but i didn't listen until he made his way to my table. "If you're not gonna pay attention you can leave this classroom. I'm giving you one last chance." He said in a firm tone.

I couldn't care less so i packed my stuff and walked out. I made my way outside to smoke a cigarette. I didn't want to deal with anyone today and the urge to just go home was getting stronger and stronger.

I sat down against the cold brick wall of the school building when two pairs of heels stopped right in front of where i was seated.

"Skipping class again, i see." A way too familiar voice said.

"No, i was sent out." I said without giving her any recognition. I didn't have it in my to act all bubbly and happy.

"You need to get it together, Rachel. You only have 3 months left before you graduate, you don't want to fuck it up now do you?"

I rolled my eyes. The last thing on my mind was graduation. "Whatever." I stood up and grabbed my bags. I didn't need to be lectured right now.

"Have a good day." I said before walking off. I could hear Ms Lopez call my name in the background but i ignored it. Could she not see that today was just simply not the day?

Time went by slowly and none of my teacher were appreciative of my behavior today. I got sent out of all my classes and the same was probably going to happen during Spanish.

I walked past Ms Lopez to the back of the class. I could feel her eyes burn in the back of my head. I turned around to confirm what i was already thinking. A slight smile appeared on my face.

Once everyone was inside Ms Lopez closed the door and started her lesson. She was going on and on about the best way to form sentences in spanish but i lost her within the first 5 minutes of her explaining it. She has a good way with words and i probably would've been able to understand what she was talking about but i didn't bother to actually listen.

My phone screen lit up and the first name i saw was James. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I wanted to ignore him, or block him but i was too scared he'd show up to my apartment if i did. I sighed and read this text.

J: Don't make me come down there Rachel. Don't make this more complicated than it has to be. Just come meet me tonight. I miss you. I've changed.

I stared at my phone for a while. I didn't know what to reply or whether i should reply at all. I spend about 5 minutes writing and then deleting messages before Ms Lopez called my name through the classroom.

"What's so important on that phone that you don't care to pay attention to what i'm saying, miss Young?"

I sighed. "Nothing." She walked up to my table. "If it's not important then hand me the phone and pay attention." She held out her hand, demanding me to give her my phone. Her eyes still set on mine.

I slowly handed her my phone. I was about to press the on/off button to turn off my phone but she had already grabbed my phone from my hands and walked back to her desk.

I buried my face in my hands. My conversation with James was still opened and was now waiting to be read by Ms Lopez. I could only hope she had the decency to turn off my phone without reading what was displayed right in front of her.

I slowly moved my hands from my face to look up at Ms Lopez. I could see her eyes set on my phone. I groaned. She turned her glance to me but i turned my face to she side, not wanting to look her in the eyes.

Class was over and i walked up to Ms Lopez. "Can i have my phone back, please?" I said, still not looking her in the eyes.

"Please sit down Rachel." She calmly said.

"I rather not." I said. I sounded nervous rather than confident. She didn't say anything and just looked at me with her intense green eyes.

I looked her up and down. She was wearing tight black jeans with heels and a turtleneck and her hair perfectly fell over her shoulders. As always she was wearing a necklace with the letter A on it that now reminded me of the necklace Jade got me for my birthday.

"Fine." I eventually said and sat down at the table in front of her.

"Is this why you've been so distracted today?" She said while pointing at my phone. I knew exactly what she was talking about but i pretended not to know just in case she hadn't read James his messages to me.

"My phone? Yea sorry i was just texting a friend." I said.

"I've read the messages Rachel, you can be honest."

I huffed. "It's rude to read someone's messages without their consent." I didn't want to look at her. I was angry but i mostly hated that she saw the way James talked to me and still had a grip on me.

She ignored my comment. "Talk to me." She said in a sweet tone. I felt bad for being rude to her after hearing the tone in her voice. She was just trying to help me.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said.

She sighed and stood up. "Get up." She said in a demanding tone. I didn't move and looked up at her with a confused look.

"Get up or do i have to drag you out of your seat?" I hesitantly got up, not sure where this was heading.

She walked to the door and looked over at me. "Follow me."

"Why?" I said, still standing in the classroom. Her sudden actions made me anxious and i was scared she was gonna report back to the principal about what she had seen on my phone.

"Do you need me to hold your hand? Just follow me." I slowly followed her out of the classroom to outside of the building. We walked for about 5 minutes until we stopped right next to a bench.

I looked around me. I've lived here my whole life but i had never seen this place before. The bench looked over at a small pond surrounded by blossom trees, ducks and pretty flowers. The sky was clear and the sun was shining down on us making the sight even more beautiful.

She sat down on the bench and tapped her hand on the space next to her, telling me sit next to her. "Why are we here?" I asked her while taking place at the spot besides her.

"Because i'm trying to help you, but you won't let me so i'm gonna tell you something." I blushed. I felt stupid for being so mean to her when she only really wanted to help.

"I'm sorry i just—" She cut me off. "Don't, just listen."

I turned my body to the side so i was facing her. Curious as to what she had to say, anxious because i didn't have a clue what she was about to tell me."

She scraped her throat before turning her body facing mine.

"When i was 22 i had a boyfriend. His name was George and he was about 4 years older than me. I met him during college. He was a very popular kid and everyone knew him or had at least heard about him."

I straightened my back, confused as to why she was telling me this.

"We met through a friend that had introduced us at a party. We talked and clicked right away, so not much later we started dating. I was, just like you, in a weird headspace. I was struggling with several things at the time and he was there for me and he seemed to understand me. He became my source of happiness so everything relied on him. He held the key to my happiness and he knew that. He knew that and after some time he took advantage of that. He isolated me from my friends and family, he started getting manipulative and he started acting differently."

I gulped. I realized what she was doing

"I didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late. He started becoming abusive and mean and by that time i had no one else to turn to because he isolated me from everything. He had me under his thumb and i couldn't get away from it because he was all i had left. Fast forward, i finally told a friend even though i thought she wanted nothing to do with me. She helped me and after years i finally got out of this situation, but it wasn't pretty. It was mentally and physically damaging and it had left me with some severe problems."

She turned her face away from me and looked down at her thighs. I was speechless and what she just told me. She continued talking.

"I'm telling you this because i want to you to truly see that what James is doing to you is wrong. It's more than just wrong it's horrible and i don't want you to go down the same road i did. I want you to realize that in situations like this you need help. You need someone because you can't do this alone, and trust me you want someone by your side."

She looked back at me. Her beautiful green eyes held my gaze. They were begging for me to let her help me.

"But i already broke up with James." I said quietly.

She softly grabbed my hand. "I know you did, but i saw what he was texting you and i even though you didn't send it yet, you wrote that you agreed to meet him. I noticed how you were impacted by it. I can see he still has a hold over you and i'm worried for you. He has no good intentions Rachel. I know that's hard to hear but he doesn't."

I quietly started sobbing. She was right, in everything she just said but hearing it out loud was hard to hear.

She put her arms around me and pulled me into a warm embrace. We sat there for a moment until i was done crying.

I wiped my tears. "I'm sorry that happened to you Ms Lopez. You don't deserve any of that" She giggled. "Please for the love of God, call me Ava, especially after i told you this." I laughed at her comments. "Sorry, Ava."

She ignored what i said and just softly caressed my arm while i was still in her embrace.

"Should i take you home?" She asked after God knows how long. I smiled. "If you don't mind."

We grabbed our stuff and walked back to her car. Before we got in i gently grabbed her arm. "If you still want to, i'll gladly accept your help. I'm sorry for not letting you before.

A warm smile appeared on her face. "I'd love to help you."

After a fairly short drive we pulled up to my apartment. "I see you tomorrow. Thank you for what you did, it means more to me than you realize." I was about to open the car door but Ms Lopez stopped me. She pointed to a man standing in front of my door, constantly knocking and ringing the bell.

My heart dropped and i started to slightly panic. I didn't know what to do. I looked at the man still standing in front of my house. It didn't take me long to realize that the man was James.

I turned to Ms Lopez. "That's James." I tried to sound calm but you could hear my voice shaking.

She looked at me and then back at James several times. She probably didn't know what to do and i didn't blame her because i didn't know either.

She put her hand on my thigh and looked me right in the eyes. "You're coming with me."

I gulped. Is she taking me to her place?

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hi! i hope you like this chapter <3 thank you for reading and let me know if you like it! comments/votes are greatly appreciated xx thank you so much for reading it means the world to me