The car ride to Sophia's house was deathly silent.

Seth had stayed behind at the school to finish explaining everything about what he had seen. Then of course as soon as Drake found out what had happened, he was in the principal's office too, spilling everything that he knew.

Luckily a crowd of four was too much for the room, so Sophia sat outside and didn't have to hear all of the gory details. And Drake made sure that the principal heard every single detail and didn't brush him away like he did Zach.

In the middle of the debrief, I had begun to feel lightheaded, so I left with Sophia so that she could take me back to her house to rest. Which now brings us to this incredibly awkward, tense, and trainwreck of a car ride.

"And you were going to tell me about Chris when?" Sophia spoke, residual hysteria seeping through, for the first time since this car ride.

I shrugged and turned towards the car window. There was never any timeline for Sophia finding out. In fact, the plan was to keep it as much of a secret as possible from everyone. Somehow that plan has just slowly devolved into the mess we have now.

"Never," I whispered quietly, and then I heard her scoff sarcastically.

"So you weren't going to tell me that I was in a relationship with an abusive asshole?" She asked, and a hot flash of fire immediately ran through my body.

"He never touched you." I shot back in a raised voice.

When she turned to look at me with a blank stare, I sighed quietly, upset with myself for raising my voice. "I made sure of that," I whispered, a lot quieter now.

A flash of regret spread across her face but just as soon as it came, it left and she turned her attention back to the road while I turned mine back to the window.

When we got to her house, Sophia left the car without a word to me and I sat there for a few moments, collecting myself before following her in.

My reasoning for keeping everything from Sophia was never well thought out, but I did it with good intentions. I always felt that if she didn't know, then she couldn't confront him, and then he couldn't hurt her just like he did to me. However, at the end of it all, it seems like she doesn't even care about the physical damage that was done to her. It's her heart that's hurt.

After I made it through the front door, Sophia gestured for me to wait in the kitchen so I sat at the table. I watched her go down the hallway, probably towards the bathroom for the first aid kit. Before she could come back, I pulled Seth's shirt that he had given me as a replacement for my bloody one away from my chest, and inspected the cut.

It wasn't too deep, and it only hurt to touch. The worst thing about it was probably going to be the sting when Sophia comes to clean it. What was worse was the throbbing on my cheek, which has most likely already began to bruise, but it's not like Chris hasn't done worse than slapping before.

In the grand scheme of things that Chris has done to me, today definitely isn't that high up on the list of most painful interactions. There was no way I was going to convince Sophia of that though, and even if I did, I don't think it'd really matter that much to her.

Soon enough, Sophia came back with her arms full of medical supplies. I attempted to help her by relieving her of some of the items, but she just turned away from me and set everything on a different part of the table. I frowned at her back but otherwise kept my mouth shut. I have to remember that she has every right to be upset, I just hope it doesn't last forever.

As she dabbed me with alcohol, she kept her eyes trained on the cut. I tried to keep my winces to a minimum so that she could work both better and faster.

"How long?" She eventually asked in a quiet whisper, breaking the tense silence.

I know that there's no way that the answer to that question is going to make Sophia feel any better about the situation. However, at this point, lying definitely wasn't going to help the situation. Therefore, the best solution would be to just pretend I didn't hear her.

"Avery," Sophia spoke sternly. There goes that plan.

I looked up at the ceiling with a dejected sigh.

"Ever since freshman year," I answered quietly, foolishly hoping that would be the end of that that would be the end of it.

As I expected, the answer was not at all useful. I felt Sophia's hand fall away from me, and when I looked down at her, I saw that her head shaking, downcast towards the floor. Her arms were resting on the top of my chair, bracketing me in. So for lack of a better idea, I held my breath as I rested my hand on top of hers. This time she didn't move away.

"'Did it get worse when I broke up with him? When we started dating?" She looked up at me when she asked this question.

I couldn't even bring myself to look into her eyes anymore. Not while they were laced with tears and that much pain. I could tell that she was trying to blame herself for what happened, and that was the last thing that I wanted to come from this.

"Sophia that isn't important. What's important is-"

"Avery! He was going to kill you." She suddenly screamed, interrupting me, and I immediately drew my eyes back to her face again.

"He had a knife! He was going to kill you and I wasn't able to do anything because I was too stupid to notice anything." Her yell fell to a miserable whisper and her eyes dropped their gaze to the ground.

Sadness pooled in my heart and I instantly jumped up from my seat to wrap my arms around her. All of my plans to keep Sophia safe and happy have fallen through, all because I tried to do everything alone. Ignorance certainly did not create any type of bliss in this situation.

"Sophia none of this is your fault. I need you to understand that," I whispered into her hair, clutching her close.

She sniffled quietly shaking her head. "You're my girlfriend, I'm supposed to protect you. Even before that, you were my best friend and I just left you to fend for yourself." She argued with a slight hiccup in her voice.

"Soph, if you had stuck around, Chris would've bullied the both of us, and then I would've gone to jail for murder," I argued in a joking tone as I stroked her hair. In all honesty, it wasn't much of a joke but the goal was to make Sophia smile, and I succeeded.

"I'm sorry Avery." She spoke, looking up at me with unshed tears in her eyes. It was my turn to shake my head as I gave her a small smile, and brought one of my hands to gently rest on her cheek.

"Don't be Soph. It's all over, everything is over He can't hurt us anymore." I whispered, and even just by saying that sentence, I felt a huge weight lifted away from me.

The realization set in that I won't have to watch over my should anymore. There's not going to be anymore limping home. There will be no more bruises or cuts to hide. And best of all, Chris is going to be out of my life.

I never have to see Chris again.

Sophia nodded in agreement and then pulled away from me. I went to wrap my arms back around her with a small pout, but she just shook her head and stood away with a slightly amused smile.

"I'm going to finish cleaning you up and then you need to go rest." She explained with authority, walking over to the medical supplies on the other side of the table. I shook my head and followed her.

"Sophia, I'm fine. We can just-"

When she turned around and hit me with her signature sharp glare, I immediately closed my mouth. Her mood may have mildly improved, but I guess this still isn't the best time to argue with her.

I sighed and stomped my feet a little as I made my way back to my seat.

"I'm going to wait down here for Drake and the other two to come." She informed me, smoothing out a bandage on my chest.

"I want to stay up and see them." I groaned defiantly.

Sophia shot me a small look. "And I want Chris dead. Looks like we can't always get what we want." She muttered bitterly, throwing all of the bandage wrappers in the trash. I watched her with a small smirk, tilting my head.

"You know, you're pretty cute when you're angry." I teased, and even from halfway across the kitchen, I could see the blush that erupted across her cheeks. A large smile made its way across my face, and I couldn't help but walk over and cradle her in my arms.

God, she was so beautiful.

"Avery, stop it, and go rest." She squealed as I squeezed her tight. I smiled and placed a kiss on her cheek in response, fitting my face into her neck afterward.

"Fine," I mumbled in false annoyance and gave her a quick peck on her lips before heading up her stairs. As I walked up each step, I couldn't hide the smile that had made its way across my face. We are finally free and we were happy.

For the first time in years, life is truly good.