• CH7:
    As my parents turned around I stayed frozen. Unaware of what was going to happen. My Dad’s face was red, my moms face was red too.
    “Give me a minute to talk with my daughter.” My dad said.
    My Mom probably wanted to scream at me but she didn’t say anything. She just left.
    My Dad sat on a chair and I sat next to him. This was going to be horrible.
    “Jessica, look at me in the eyes and tell me that boy wasn’t in your room.”
    I looked down,
    “Yea he was in my room.”
    “Did he stay the night in your room?” He asked.
    I looked completely the other way,
    “Yes” I whispered.
    “THAT’S IT! YOUR GROUNDED FOR 3 MONTHS!”
    My eyes widened.
    “What?!?!? Dad we didn’t do anything! He slept next to me for the night so what nothing happened he just slept over!”
    “OH SO HE SLEPT NEXT TO YOU, EVEN BETTER!” he was shouting way to loud.
    “Dad listen to me for a sec! He slept next to me but NOTHING happened, you have to trust me on this.”
    He was getting angrier.
    “Ok lets say for argument sake that he didn’t do anything, why the heck did you not tell us he was going to sleep over?”
    “Because first of all I knew you would say no.”
    “Listen young lady, your right I would’ve said no, but in this household you respect the rules! You got it!!”
    “Yea” I whispered.
    “If I ever see that boy again!….”
    “Dad! Stop it!”
    “Why should I?!”
    I hesitated trying to decide if I should tell him anything further.
    Then I said it quickly.
    “Because he’s my boyfriend!”
    I said it so loud my Mom heard too. My Dad and Mom were too shocked to speak for the moment.
    “Are you saying that gangster is your boyfriend?!!”
    “Yes and you have to respect that I like him more than anyone! And if you take him away I’ll still be able to see him, we can always find a way!” I screamed.
    “If I ever see him in this house again your grounded for a year!! You hear me? A year! You can talk to him in school but if I ever see him in your room, or in this house you can guarantee that a small cut from your mom is nothing compared to what im planning on doing to him!”
    I cried and ran upstairs. I didn’t want to hear anymore. I wanted to run away and be with Joseph forever. I cried all that night, and when I was finally getting some rest I heard my cell phone ring. It was Joseph I sat up straight.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey Jess?”
    “Joseph I’m so terribly sorry for what happened I didn’t mean for any of this to happen…” and before I knew it I was crying once again.
    “Jess, its ok, trust me I’m fine. It was shocking to see anyone react like your parent did but I’m fine.”
    “I cant believe you saw my parents like that. Its so embarrassing, and my mom hurt you are you ok? Did u get in trouble?” I asked quickly.
    “Look Jess I love you and your parents are just going to have to get use to that, I’m fine I needed some stuff to wrap up some damage but im good, and yea I got in trouble but its alright.” He said soothingly.
    “No, its not, I’m so sorry!”
    “Jess its alright, I need to go get some sleep I’m tired from today ,ill see you in school tomorrow ok?”
    “Oh ok I’m sorry ill see you tomorrow, bye”
    “Bye”
    I fell asleep the moment I hung up the phone.

    Ch 8:
    When I woke up I got dressed earlier than usual and ate breakfast. I ran past the house, I didn’t want to look at my parents. When I got to school I was feeling horrible for what I was putting Joseph through. He deserved better than that, he deserved better than me. As I started moving to my last class I saw Jake.
    Oh my gosh, what can he want with me now?
    Jake had his look back to normal. No more bags under his eyes, his hair was back to normal and silky and smiled when he saw me.
    “Get away from me.” I muttered under my breath.
    Then I saw Joseph coming toward me. He looked perfectly fine, as if nothing happened yesterday and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
    “Hey cutie.” He smiled when he said that, but when he saw I was talking to Jake his face became serious.
    Jake was stunned.
    “Oh your dating pretty boy now I see how it is.”
    “And what do you see?” I asked.
    “Your trying to make me jealous I see how you work baby, I knew you wanted me back.” he said all ‘suave’ as if he was some type of ladies man.
    “No, I actually like Joseph unlike you, see the difference?” I said sternly.
    His friends came and they were watching us talk. All of them looked like Jake, all trying to be cool.
    “Oh so now your playing hard to get, I like that.” he winked at me.
    I got frustrated.
    “Ugh, come on Joseph lets get away from him.”
    “No, he has to stop bothering you, now.” Joseph said sternly.
    Joseph grabbed Jake’s collar of his t-shirt and brought him closer to him and whispered,
    “You dare even talk to her again, and trust me, there will be serious consequences, I guarantee that.” Then he let go. Jake stumbled back a bit then smiled.
    “Oh you don’t have to look all macho in front of your girl, she likes every guy that passes by her. Isn’t that right Jess?” Jake asked.
    I was getting up to the point wear I felt like I was going to slap him again.
    I didn’t care if his friends were watching him or if anyone else watched, I didn’t care about the consequences of my actions. I walked slowly up to him and swung my arm as hard as I could and I slapped Jake right in the face with the back of my hand, maybe that would teach him a lesson. All the guys behind him were whispering, “OOOOH, Jake got beat up by a girl, that’s sad.”
    I ignored them. I walked back to Joseph and held his hand and pulled him toward the opposite way. And Jake was left there, embarrassed in front of his friends. I didn’t care I knew I would regret doing that, but it was about time someone taught him how to show respect.

    Joseph walked next to me completely silent as we held hands down the hallway. As I was about to turn around a corner in the hallway to head for my next class he tugged me a little. I turned around,
    “Hey are you alright?”
    “No, im not, I need some time to myself.” I whispered.
    He gave me a hug and that made me feel better.
    “Thanks” I said. “You’re the best.” We both smiled.
    “Well I guess ill see you at tutoring if that guy gets near you, you tell me immediately, I can just imagine how much anger he’s in right now, and I’m afraid he’s going to hurt you.” He lifted his hand so that it was under my chin and brought me closer to him. I smelled his cologne which smelled outstanding, then gave me a kiss on the forehead. He did all of this slowly as if trying to make this moment last longer. But then he backed away, we smiled at each other, then left for our classes.

    CH9:
    I spent the day frustrated and didn’t talk to anyone in my class. I hated Jake so much I cant even describe it. I walked inside my classroom, found my seat, then sat down. The day went by quickly today. And I don’t know why. When I finished gathering all my books I found Joseph outside waiting for me.
    “Lets go cutie.” As he said that he winked at me. I felt my face turn slightly pink.
    We walked down the hallway when we saw Jake. Joseph was right, Jake was not going to take this good. His eyes bulged out and his face was red, the moment he saw me he had this crazy look about him. I was scared, more than scared, super frightened. Joseph whispered, “Let me handle this.”

    Joseph was walking toward Jake when Jake just walked up to him and punched Joseph on the jaw. Joseph went down hard I heard his head hit the cement floor. Moments later I saw some blood trickling down from his mouth. I went to go help him, but what made me stop was Jake looking at me.

    “Oh poor prince charming, he’s not going to be able to save you.” He said.
    How he was standing looked like if he was going to pounce on me any second.
    “Your coming with me!” he growled fiercely. I was so scared every part of my body was shaking and seeing Joseph on the floor made it even worse. I saw he was trying to get up but he couldn’t, he hit his head so hard it probably hurts like crazy.
    Jake grabbed me by my arm by force. I started crying very quietly. My boyfriend was on the floor bleeding and now Jake is forcing me to go some wear.
    Jake pulled me forward even more and told me to hurry up.
    My arm was hurting, he was pulling it to much. We ran until we found a park and he forced me to sit down on the grass.
    When he sat down, he was breathing heavily and put his hands on his face. It looked like he was feeling rueful. After a while, he calmed down, he saw that I was crying.
    I saw his face soften when he saw me and with his hand took off the teardrop that was rolling down my cheeks. When he touched me I flinched away.
    “Don’t touch me” I grumbled.
    He sighed. It was about ten minutes and he didn’t say anything. The he asked,
    “What are you doing with him?” He asked looking down.
    “Joseph?”
    “Yea” he answered.
    “He is my boyfriend.” I said.
    “Do you love him?” he asked uncertain, I heard his voice crack.
    I started to feel a bit bad for Jake.
    “Yes” I whispered.
    He put his hands on his face, frustrated.
    “But I thought we had something together.”
    “That’s what I thought too, until you cheated on me with that Barbie girl.” I said.
    “But now I have lost you to another man.” He said sadly.
    He looked down and I saw a tear come down his face. He turned his head to another side so I wouldn’t see and he wiped it away quickly.
    “But..like…do you still have feelings for me in any way?” he asked nervously.
    “I did, but that one day took them all away. The only feeling I have for you is anger, you punched my boyfriend in the face.” I said with disgust.
    “Listen for a second, when I lost you at first I felt horrible then I felt angry at myself and I changed for a while trying to hide the pain I felt, so I acted like 'I was all that', when I know I’m not. And to see you with him brought me so much pain. It wasn’t even that you slapped me, it was because it was you who slapped me, and that proved to me you didn’t love me anymore at all. So I felt angry with myself and I…I guess I started blaming you and your boyfriend for what was happening to me.”
    He said all this with a quick rush as if trying to get the worst part over.
    “I’m not how you think I am Jess. How I reacted today was nothing on how I usually act like.”
    “And you can go back to your boyfriend now, I cant even believe I acted the way I did these last couple of days.”
    I got up slowly then turned around. Jake grabbed me quickly, turned me around to face him, then kissed me.
    His lips were soft, and I tasted the tears that had been there before. He put his hand on my back to pull me in closer and I didn’t know what to do. Should I pull away? Or stay how I am? He then backed out, and looked at me and put a hand on my face, and whispered,
    “I love you.” He said.
    Then he turned around and ran, leaving me here alone, confused, with mixed feelings. I sat down and thought about what just happened.
    And then I remembered Joseph was still probably on the floor with a concussion. I ran back near the school wear I found him on the floor, with a bloody mouth.
    I froze. I ran every wear calling help and soon enough the ambulance was there, taking Joseph away from me.

    To be continued....