Breaking Free

Chapter 20

Emily's pov

"I think you should leave." I say as I walk over to Asher's side.

"Em, stay out of this." Asher says.

"You better listen to your boyfriend Emily." Mr. Kingston says. "And as for you son, I must say I'm disappointed. First you ruin Cara's life, now Emily's."

"Shut up." Asher says. Then takes a step toward his dad. I grab his arm but he shakes me off.

"Asher, please." I say worriedly. He looks back at me then steps towards me.

"Sorry." He says then wraps an arm around me. "You should really go, I don't want any more trouble. I didn't even turn you in or anything."

"Bullshit." His dad says then lunges at us. He pushes Asher to the floor then starts punching his face.

"Stop it!" I scream then pull his dad off. He turns around and pushes me to the floor.

"You son of a bitch." Asher says angrily then tackles his dad. His dad pushes him over and starts punching him again. I stand up then pull his dad off again.

"Emily!" Asher shouts angrily then stands up. His dad goes to push me again but Asher yanks him away. He grabs me then pushes me toward the door. "What the hell are you doing?" His dad pulls him backwards before I can answer. Asher turns around and punches his dad to the ground. After a couple punches, Asher stands up and walks over to me. His dad groans and tries to push himself up off the floor.

"Come on." Asher says then pulls me out of the room.

"Oh my god." Raven says as she runs up to us with a campus security guard.

"Inside." I say then the guard walks into the room.

"I'm sorry." Raven says. "I shouldn't have told him you were staying here."

"Don't be." Asher says. "It's not your fault."

"You should go get yourself checked out this time." I say. "This is the third time you've gotten into a fight this week."

"Seriously, no offense, but you look like a bloody mess." Raven says.

"Yeah." I say then smile. "You two coming?"

"Of course." I say.

"Yeah, I'll come." Raven says as the security guard comes out of the room with Asher's dad.

"Once you guys get checked out I'll have to have you come down to the campus security office. I'll need to question you all about what happened." The guard says.

"No problem, we'll be there." I say then he walks off with Mr. Kingston.

-------

"So just keep an eye on the busted skin, if anything starts to look infected come back in. And because the skin was repeatedly busted open without proper healing time, there will most likely be scarring." The nurse says as we get ready to leave.

"Thank you." Asher says. "I'll keep an eye on it." We walk out of the campus hospital and out onto the sidewalk.

"I still can't get over how big this school is. You have your own hospital." Raven laughs.

"Yeah." I laugh. "But having so much on campus really comes in handy."

"This may not be the best time to bring it up, but this girl named Alexa asked if I wanted to go to a party at Conner and Isaac's this Friday night. I told her I'd probably be going with you or Noah but she could join us." Raven says.

"Actually, Noah and I have a thing this Friday night." I say. "I would've told you about the party but I didn't know if you would want to go if neither of us would be there."

"Oh, that's fine." She says. "So what are you and Noah doing that night?"

"Dinner with his mom and my uncle." I say.

"So I never really got the story straight between you and Noah." Asher says. "You two broke up because his mom and your uncle but why was it such a big deal. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad you two broke up because then we'd never be together now, but you guys were dating first and it's not like it was his mom and your dad."

"Well after my mom died my uncle Finn sort of stepped in as my new parent. I lost my mom and my dad was great but he always loved my mom way more than me. He held it together for a couple weeks then started to fall off the wagon. He got involved in some messed up stuff and he's still working his way out of it. Anyways, Finn helped me through it all and became like a parent to me. We grieved together I guess. His sister died, my mom died. Then after we finally seemed to get through it, his wife died. So we went through the grieving process again. After that my uncle Finn became the most important person in my life. When Noah and I introduced our family together at a Fourth of July party, Finn and his mom, Sarah, really clicked. Once I found out I ended things with Noah immediately. I didn't want to stand in the way of Finn's newfound love. And with time I figured out it was definitely the right decision." I say.

"I'm sorry about your mom." Raven says. "I don't know what I'd do without mine."

"Thanks." I say with a small smile. "Now can we talk about something else before I start crying?"

"Yes." Raven laughs.

"Hey, I came as soon as I heard." Noah says as he runs up behind us.

"Hey." Raven says as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"You're a little late." Asher jokes.

"My bad." Noah says. "How's your face feeling?"

"How do you think?" Asher laughs.

"Right." Noah says.

"We're going to the campus security office for questioning." I say. "Also about our dinner with your mom and my uncle, I was thinking maybe you could invite Raven."

"Oh, it's fine." Raven says.

"No you should come. That's a good idea Em." Noah says.

"Okay." She says with a wide smile. "As long as it's okay with your mom and your uncle."

"Don't worry about it, they'll love having you." I say as we reach the security office. "In we go."

"Good luck, I'll catch up with you guys later." Noah says.

"Bye!" Raven says as we walk up to the doors of the office.