{A Wattpad Featured Story & Wattys 2018 Long List Book}
Highest Rank // #22 in Teen Fiction
Lennon Reese has always been quiet but after being sexually assaulted she has shut herself off from the world. She finds solace in writing all of her evasi...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Yesterday felt like a dream. I never imagined that Rowan and I would ever be a thing but it felt right. I was glad he understood that I wanted to take things slow. I still didn't know why he would want to be with a person like me. I was broken. It was like this, you buy a bag of chips and you expect the bag to be full but instead the bag is nothing but crumbled up chips. Most people would return the bag of chips and ask for a refund, but not Rowan. That's the part I didn't understand. Couldn't understand.
Raven had been giving me pity looks every time she saw me. Without even thinking about it I avoided her. I didn't want her pity. Never did I want anyone's pity. I just wanted people to be safe. No way was I mad at her about telling mom but I wasn't happy about her making me tell her. Her pushing me into it. I knew sooner or later everyone in my family would know but mom deserved to hear it from me and not her youngest daughter. It would have been hard but maybe she wouldn't feel as bad about it.
Jenny had been a great help. When we left the police station Jenny sat down and talked to my parents. I could see how hurt my mother was when she found out that Jenny knew about it before her. She went to her room soon afterwards and cried for hours. You'd think I would be the one crying after being told that I had no solid proof against Bradley and as of now he was a free man, while I was still trapped.
Jenny went to talk to mom alone after a few hours to make sure she was okay. I knew her story would help my mother like it did me. Mom finally came out of her bedroom and looked slightly better than when she left.
"Sorry." She apologized to everyone.
I excused myself to my room that night, I wasn't able to sleep and was exhausted the next morning. My parents didn't want me to go to school that Monday saying that it wasn’t safe for me to go. I tried to tell them that I had been going and facing him every day for months but they wouldn't hear it.
Finally, I talked my parents into letting me go back to school. I told them how me missing school was affecting my future and I didn't want him to take that away from me too. Rowan helped me by telling my parents that he would keep and eye on me at all times. Rowan watching over me made my parents feel like it was safe enough for me to return to school. I mean what else could happen? The damage had already been done.
But back to the date I couldn't believe Rowan asked me to be his girlfriend. In short time that I'd gotten to know him again, he'd been there for me every step of the way. I really needed that picnic date. It made feel normal again. A girl out on a romantic date with her boyfriend. It felt too good to be true.
A knock at my door interrupted my thoughts of the past couple days. My father stood in my doorway his eyes heavy with the need for sleep. I know he was taking the news hard but didn't want me to know about it. I think he blamed himself for not being able to protect his baby girl.
"Rowan's here." He said.
I must have been off in my own thoughts for far longer than I thought. The clock on my bedside table read 7:41. In twenty minutes school would be starting and Rowan would be for filling his promise to my parents that he would watch over me.
