I neglected to tell Hayley about Melanie meeting me after school so she unknowingly left me in the clutches of a wolf.

I tightly gripped the handles of my school bag as I walked out of school. My hands were shaking and I was stumbling. The girls who loitered outside the school sniggered at me, thinking I was high or something but I didn't even care.

I didn't cross paths with Melanie until I was at the side of the school, heading down the path through the forest; a shortcut.

"Hello Ashley" her cold voice cut through me like blades.

I blinked furiously to get rid of the tears welling up in my eyes and I turned to face her "Hello"

She grabbed the straps of my bag and pushed me against the wall "You don't hit me and get away with it, NO ONE hits me and gets away with it" she hissed at me, pushing me harder into the wall.

I stood there like a coward, both my arms and legs shaking.

"W-What you-u g-gonna do about i-it Melanie?" I managed to stutter out.

An emotional I couldn't decipher flashed across her eyes and she punched me square in the face.

One arm held me against the wall while the other repeatedly bashed my face.

Blood and tears mixed together, streaming down my face and onto my clothes.

She wiped sweat off her forehead and eventually let me go "Don't you ever lay a hand on me again"

Then she just left me, scared and scarred, against the wall of the school.