After a few weeks of court hearings, Chris Matthews was sent to juvie for the hearing. Not with the help from his principal or his parents, but at the end of it all, he was still sent. He was 17 so he wouldn't be in there for very long, but he was still far, far away from and I feel ten times safer than I have for the past three years.

"Avery what is taking you so long." Sophia wined from outside of my door. I rolled my eyes and threw on a random t-shirt, continuing to get ready.

Sophia and Seth wanted to go to the store and get food to make for tonight. Why couldn't we just order in? I don't know. Why I had to be the one to go with them? Because Ethan foresaw it and had left an hour ago to "go study", and Drake was just a lot better at saying no to them than I was. It didn't help that I was completely infatuated with Sophia and Seth has the best puppy dog eyes in the tri-state area.

"I'm coming, Soph," I called out, glancing around my room for a brush and a pair of shoes. I really should clean in here at some point.

"Can I come in?" Sophia asked in a loud voice through the door and I chuckled. Yes, it's a door, but it isn't made of titanium so she certainly doesn't need to yell as loud as she is. I'm sure my next-door neighbors could her question too.

I opened my mouth to answer, but my door was already being shoved open and Sophia strutted in with all of her glory. We stared at each other for a few moments before I looked away from her. Heat crept onto my cheeks when I realized how she was dressed and ready to go, and my hair was all over my head and my clothes were extremely wrinkled.

Great job Avery. Real attractive.

I walked over to my vanity, sitting down and pulling the brush through my hair. I glanced at Sophia in the mirror to see that she was walking over to me with a small smirk on her lips.

"Let me do it." She whispered, holding her open hand out in front of me.

I shot her a warning look, before cautiously handing her the brush. It wasn't lost on me that she could actually be asking for the brush so that she could beat me with us for taking so long.

Luckily for me, Sophia wasn't feeling particularly masochistic today. She ran the brush through my hair, gently untangling any knots and tangles that were there. She took one of the hair ties that were sitting on my desk and placed my brush down, now running her fingers over the top of my head.

She repeated the motion a few times, with us just staring at each other in the mirror. Over the next minute, an emotion built up inside of me and sat heavily on my lungs until I couldn't hold it anymore and I opened my mouth to release everything. However, Sophia beat me to it.

"I love you so much, Avery." She whispered shakily, her eyes stuck on mine.

I immediately opened my mouth to return the words that she stole from my throat, but she interrupted me.

"I do. I really do. I don't want another day to go by where you think that I don't. And I am so sorry that I missed out on three years of being with you because I was too busy dating some stupid, abusive psychopathic prick. I am so sorry Ave."

Hearing her say those words had my heart racing and tears streaming down my face.

I've never said "I love you," to Sophia before because I've always thought that it was too soon and that I would scare her off. If I'm being truly honest with myself though, I've loved Sophia before we even began dating. I loved her even before she started speaking to me again.

I've always been in love with Sophia Helms.

"Soph..." I was finally able to get out in a croaky voice, but I was interrupted again. She pulled away from me slightly to give me a small glare.

"I'm serious Avery. I'm never going to let anything happen to you ever again. Okay?" Though her voice was shaky and sad, I could still hear the sternness that she meant to have behind it.

I was speechless for so all I could do was smile and give her a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead. But I couldn't forget to return the words that I've been waiting for the past six years to say.

"I love you too Soph," I whispered with as much declaration and intent in my voice that my body had to offer.

A deep blush radiated across her face, and she leaned up to connect her lips to mine before we were interrupted again by a rude knock on my door.

"You two better hurry up! I am hungry and we needed to be at the store like two minutes ago! If you guys aren't out of there in the next two seconds, I am coming in there with a squirt bottle full for a mystery liquid!" Seth threatened with a low growl, banging his fist on my door as he spoke.

Sophia giggled in amusement, pulling away from me while I contemplated whether or not to smash a vase over his head. That boy always knew when to come in and ruin a moment. If I don't kill him before he ends up with Gabriella, I'll make sure and return the favor.

"I'll go wait downstairs, you finish getting ready," Sophia whispered, placing a gentle kiss on my lips, before walking out of my room. I watched her leave with a small smile and a warm feeling running throughout my body.

I can't believe that after three years of torture I actually ended up with the girl of my dreams.

Sure there had been a lot of bumps and nicks in the road, and there were a lot of tears throughout it all, I can honestly say that it was all worth it. Sophia is the only girl who I have ever truly wanted and now finally having her as mine has made me the happiest teenage girl in this entire world.

I couldn't tell you what it is about Sophia that makes me so happy. Maybe it's because she's always been my extremely bright light out of all this darkness. Maybe it's because she doesn't even have to be talking to me to make a smile spread across my face. Maybe it's because she's done something to this empty heart who's been alone for so long.

Maybe it's because she keeps me warm.