Begin Again

Chapter 1

Punch after punch my dad collided his fist with my stomach. He'd done the same the night before. He slammed me into the wall behind me and continued punching me. Eventually he left me on the floor in agony to go to work. Trying to avoid hurting myself more, I shakily stood up. Justin poked his head in and said "Get out. Now."

While I was trying to fix my shirt, Justin grabbed a fist full of my hair and dragged me out into the hall. As Justin was closing the door I yelled "Justin! You're such an inconsiderate jerk!"

Kaleb walked out into the hallway, "What did you call him?"

"Nothing," I replied glaring at him. He returned my glare "Good. Now move, I got to get to practice."

Both Justin and Kaleb played soccer, well here it's football but whatever same thing! I used to play and I was actually really good, but once the beatings started I couldn't. Most nights I still sneak out to the back yard to practice.

Pushing past Kaleb, I went into my room and locked the door. Carefully I lifted up my shirt to expose my stomach. The scars from everything were covering my stomach and, no doubt, my back too. A black and blue bruise slightly smaller than a basketball was already forming where my dad had been punching me. A few scars were more distinct than the others. My dad carved the first letter of his name into my stomach and so did my brothers. So now there was a J, K, and D in the middle of my stomach. But there was one that wasn't visible at the time. It was an H. It was right on the back of my neck.

I shook the thought of all my scars out of my head and fixed my shirt. I fixed my hair a little bit before deciding to get out of the house. Without making a sound, I climbed out the window. Once my feet hit the grass I started walking down my street. I glanced over at Harry's old house. For all I knew his family could've moved, since I've never even talked to them. So I don't really know. It didn't really matter anyway.

I pulled out my cellphone and dialed my best friend, Bella. She answered awkwardly "Why hello there DJ!"

This girl could make me laugh so easily! I laughed "Hello! Can I come over? I need to get out of the house."

"Of course! I'll come pick you up at the end of your street like always!"

I said "Thanks! See you soon!"

She yelled "Bye!"

The phone clicked, alerting me that the call ended. I slid my phone back into my pocket and continued walking.

Bella has lived here her whole life so she has the cute British accent, unlike me who still basically sounds American. Her full name is Isabella, but almost no one calls her that. I never told Bella about being beaten. She stopped asking once she realized I would just avoid answering. It's fine that I come over all the time because her mom loves me and is more of a mom to me than my own mother. I reached the end of the street and just sat down on the curb.

A few minutes later Bella pulled up. She screamed " Get in!"

I laughed and climbed into the passenger seat. She started to blast One Direction. I had to try not to wince when Harry's parts would come on. Oh, did I forget to mention that Bella loves One Direction? Yay. Plus, she has no idea about how Harry hit me too.

She looked over at me with a giant smile on her face. I asked trying not to laugh " What's with the creepy smile?"

She smiled "Guess who got two tickets to One Direction and is bringing their best friend in the whole wide world!"

Inside I was terrified out of my mind, but on the outside I squealed " No way! That's so cool!"

"Yeah," she paused and said kind of seriously, "But there's one catch."