Chapter five: "The benefit of the doubt."

FLASHBACK:

"Hey, Avery." I looked up to see who said it and I saw that it was Ethan. The golden boy of the school.

Why he was talking to me I had no clue but since I just wanted to have a friend I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Hi, Ethan." I smiled up at him since he was standing over my desk when I was trying to do the work that the teacher had set.

"So umm I was wondering if you wanna go to a party with me and my friends?" He asked.

A party. I haven't been to one in a looooong time. So why not go.

"Sure. What time and where?" I asked him still smiling.

"It's at nine pm and it's at mine," he said excitedly.

"OK, I'll be there." I already knew where his house was since I've been to a couple of parties there before but he had never personally invited me.

"John....?" I called John when I got home. He seemed calm so I wanted to ask him if I could go to the party.

He didn't say anything just looked in my direction which meant that he was listening to me. He has always hit me over how I never respond when he calls and yet here he is doing the exact same thing. John should at least practice what he preaches.

"I have a s-study group today at nine pm c-can I g-go ?" I asked him stuttering as always. Never in a million years will I tell him that I'm going to a party. That's just asking for a death wish. He would definitely beat me to death for sure if he ever found out.

"OK," John said turning to look at the TV.

Well, that was easier than I thought. But I mean what parent says no to a study group, anything to do with school and they're head over heels for it. I started to get ready. I didn't put anything too fancy just my usual ripped jeans and a cropped top that didn't look too old with a jumper over it since I didn't want John to get suspicious.

I left the house quietly and went to the party. As soon as I reached Ethan's house there were already so many people there. All were drinking, dancing, or probably doing the nasties in some bedroom upstairs.

I drank a couple of drinks but I was still sober.

"Avery. Hey, you made it!" Ethan shouted over the loud music.

We chatted for quite a bit. "Hey, I need to show you something upstairs."

So I agreed and went upstairs with him. He opened the door to a room that when he turned on the light it was actually a bedroom. I started to get a bad feeling about what he wanted to show me and when he closed the door after we went in the feeling started to get stronger.

"So. How come we don't talk that much?" He asked me coming closer to me. With each step forward he took I took a step back.

"I don't know," I said backing up. My leg hit the bed and I fell backward onto the bed my head hitting the fluffy quilts.

"I know what we can do instead of talking." He said as he crawled on top of me with a sickening stare that practically undressed me with just the look of his eyes.

I knew what he was going to do. I tried to push him off me but he just roughly grabbed my hands pinning them above my head.

He started to bring his head closer to mine and began nibbling on my neck. I struggled against his hold.

"Let me g-go!" I shouted but my shouts were muffled as he gripped my two hands in one of his and the other on my mouth. He ignored me and tried to kiss me but I kept moving my head side to side so that he couldn't. But he grabbed my chin forcing his lips on mine.

"Stop!" I started screaming and moving around wildly. The door suddenly opened and there was a girl at the door.

"Avery my mom said we have to go." the girl said and I noticed that she was one of the nice people in my school Samantha.

Ethan scurried off me. I ran out of the room.

"Are you OK? I heard you screaming." Samantha said worriedly. I was so thankful that she came when she did or I don't know what would've happened.

"I'm fine. Don't tell anyone please." I told her. She nodded her head and I told her goodbye before rushing out of the party.

When I got back home I stayed in my room and cried myself to sleep. If Samantha was even one second late he could've..... he would've..... You know what...

I woke up the next morning with my head throbbing from all the crying.

I quickly got ready for school so that I'd be gone before John woke up. I was almost at the door when I heard him.

"Where do you think you're going?" John asked from behind me and I turned to see him with his arms folded.

"S-s-school," I said.

"Why were you late last night?" John asked and I could see he was getting angrier by the second.

"Study went on longer than I thought." I tried to explain it quickly.

"Well I'm just going to give you a punishment to make sure you're not late ever again," John said taking his trusty old belt and I embraced myself for what was about to come.

I got to school a bit late.

"Why were you late Moneece?" my math teacher asks.

"I was busy Rodriguez," I say to her.

"Detention."

"Go to hell."

She sighed and went back to her work. As I sat down I could feel everyone's eyes on me but took no notice of it since it was what they did pretty much every day.

Soon enough it was lunchtime and I sat by myself in the cafeteria and I could still feel everyone's eyes on me. I saw Ethan and his friends start to come towards me but I couldn't escape because the usual stuck-up bitches that every school seemed to have cornered me.

"I heard you tried to get it on with Ethan." One of them said snootily.

"Who?" I said playing dumb.

"You know who."

Ethan now stood next to the girl and put his arm around her waist. "I know you like me but I have a girlfriend."

I scoffed. Is he serious? He came at me and almost raped me and now he's saying I'm the one who likes him.

I tried to calm myself down but my fist was itching to hit him. So I did.

Now you can guess what John did. I guess it'll be cool hard. (note my sarcasm).

END OF FLASHBACK:

I woke up drenched in sweat. My clothes were sticking to me and I felt really hot. So I got up and had a quick shower. I pot on my usual black jeans after with a white top and my black converse.

I went downstairs and found just Eli sitting in the main hall. I didn't know what to say because I'm pretty sure that he hated me but if I want to change for the better I've got to start.

"Good morning," I said quietly.

He glanced up from his phone and muttered good morning to me.

"Want anything for breakfast?" Eli said. I shook my head.

"OK let's go do some shopping," Eli said taking his keys. I followed him out the door to a garage while we were walking I looked behind at the house and realized how big it really was.

There were another really large outdoor pool and a small fountain.

Soon we were at the garage and there were soooooo many cars.

"Cool cars," I said trying to make conversation. I know two words to start a conversation aren't good but have you met me?

He chuckled. "Yeah, they are. Quite expensive too."

I almost smiled because we were actually talking. Almost.

"Guess which one this key opens." He says.

I looked at the key and saw that it was red and black so that meant the car was either red or black so the other colored cars were ruled out. The logo of the car was on the key and it was a Lamborghini since there were only two Lamborghinis I took a guess and chose the red one.

"Red Lamborghini," I said after a couple of seconds.

"How did you know?" He asked shocked that I was able to guess it.

"I'm smart," I said.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Eli said sarcastically rolling his eyes.

He unlocked the car and we went inside and began driving.

"You can choose anything you want and make sure you choose a lot," Eli said as went into a shop.

I looked at the clothes and chose a lot of things and tried them on. Since I wanted a change I decided to go out of my comfort zone and buy clothes that were colored brightly other than black and some skirts and dresses too.

While we were doing this we were also chatting and having a great time. Well, it was mostly him talking since I guess he copped on to the fact that I wasn't much of a talker.

When I was done trying the clothes it was time to pay. I had completely forgotten about the prices and when I checked them, they were far too expensive.

"I can't buy these. Let's go to a different shop. Or let's not go shopping at all." I said hurriedly.

"It doesn't matter. I'm still getting them."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Oh look there's a clown!" Eli exclaimed. I looked at the direction he pointed at oblivious to the fact that he was only doing that to distract me and by the time I turned around realizing he was joking, he was already paying.

"Bought it." he said.

When I was distracted he had bought the clothes. "I'm really sorry. When I can I'll pay you back." I said.

"No, you won't. Now let's do more shopping."

He dragged me around to like ten different shops and wouldn't let us leave the shop until I had bought the number of clothes he thought would be enough. And by the time we left I was staggering with a lot of bags in my hands.

"Need help?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Too bad," Eli said and walked into the house.

Again I almost smiled.

Almost.

"Aves you're back." The twins came over to me as soon as I entered the house.

"I'm going to put these in my room and I'll be back in a jiffy."

"What's-" Benji started.

"-a jiffy?" Alex finished.

"When you do something fast," I explained forgetting that I was in America and not England.

"Oh is that how-" Alex started.

"-you say it in English." Benji finished.

"We're already talking English you dumbos," I said almost laughing.

Almost.

I went upstairs to my room and began putting the clothes away.