The next morning I woke up to Jeff unlocking my bedroom door and yelling at me to get my chores done. I quickly took a shower and washed my hair. I got dressed in a pair of tight blue jeans and a black and red band t-shirt. I brushed through my hair and brushed my teeth. After a few more minutes of putting on make up and drying and straightening my hair I was ready to start another wonderful day…note the sarcasm.

I walked out of my bedroom and saw Jeff out of the corner of my eye eating breakfast. He used to appologize after we would fight, but now he doesn’t even bother. I did my chores as quickly as possible.

When I finished my chores I timidly walked into my parent’s bedroom. I wanted to see how bad Jeff had given it to my mom. I also wanted to see if I could get out of the house for a few hours. From the doorway I could see bruises on various places of her face and arms. I felt a tear slide down my face because I knew deep down that it was my fault Jeff had hurt my mom the night before. I walked over and sat down next to her on the bed. She woke up instantly and sat up quickly thinking it was Jeff. “Mom! Calm down it’s just me!” I said in a reasurring tone. I could tell she was trying to calm her breathing. I wanted to cry so bad. It was my fault that Jeff did that to her. “Mom I’m so sorry!” I whispered.

“Don’t be sweetie! It’s not your fault!” she said quietly. She reached over and grabbed her purse. She took out five twenty dollar bills. “I got a raise last night. $100 extra a month! Jeff doesn’t know about it yet. You can take it to go shopping. Tell Jeff to come in here. I’ll keep him busy while you sneak out the front door. If he asks where you are I’ll tell him I told you to go.”

“Mom…I can’t take this…” I said pushing her hand away.

“Take it now before Jeff comes in and you lose your chance!” she said sternly. I took the money and put it in my pocket.

“Thanks mom!” I whispered. I gave her a hug and got up to leave. I walked out to the kitchen where Jeff was still sitting.

          “Mom wants you in the bed room…” I said quietly as I sat down across from him at the table. He got up without saying a word and walked into their bedroom. I quickly slipped on my shoes and walked out of the house. I had to walk all the way to the mall, which was about 7 miles.

          When I finally got there I walked straight to Hot Topic. I went over to the music section and started looking at some CDs.

          I bought 3 CDs and a t-shirt. As I was walking out of the store I heard Adam's voice call my name. I looked up and saw Adam and 5 of his friends walking towards me. His friends didn't look happy to see me but Adam had a huge smile on his face. I smiled back at him and said, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

         "Just hanging out! We're on our way to the food court, do you want to come?" Adam said in his sweet voice. I saw a few of his friend's roll their eyes at him.

         I shook my head no, because I didn't want to annoy his friends. "No I should probably be heading home," I said quietly. He nodded his head with a small frown on his face. I smiled appologetically and said, "I'm sorry...maybe I'll see you later, bye!" I turned and started to walk away. I could hear him say something to his friend's, but I didn't hear exactly what he was saying. He ran up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I winced because of the bruises that were on my stomache and sides.

         "I'm not letting you go that easy," he whispered into my ear. I giggled a little bit and blushed. He turned me around to face him and said, "I told my friends that I wanted to spend some time with you, and I could tell by the look in your eyes that you were lying to me when you said you had to go..."

         "Was not," I said, cutting him off and lying again. I didn't want to make him feel bad, and it was scary knowing that he could tell when I was lying.

         "Lying is a bad habbit," he warned as he looked into my eyes seriously. I felt a little guilty.

         "I'm sorry," I said honestly as I stared back into his eyes.

          He smiled a little bit and said, "Anyways, as I was saying. I could tell that you just didn't want to hang out with my friend's so do you want to go to the food court alone with me?"

          "Sure," I said as I smiled at him. He smiled back and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me a little closer to him as we walked towards the food court.