Disclaimer – Although my dreams like to delude me to think differently, I own nothing ’

Cody was walking towards her house when she saw Frankie coming out of her house. She knew she should go see him, but instead she turned and ran the opposite way. Cody slowed her run down to a fast walk as she entered a building; Cody was too busy thinking about every time that Frankie had hit her to even notice where she was. She suddenly crashed into someone else. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to…Cody??”

“Nate??” Nate smiled before taking Cody in his arms. He pulled back immediately when he felt her wince. “Cody, are you okay?”

“What? I’m fine. I ran into a poll the other day and my stomach’s still a bit sore from that.”

“Oh, okay.” Nate didn’t believe Cody, he knew her well enough to know that she was lying, but maybe it wasn’t his place to know the truth anymore. Maybe she had a new confidant. Cody stepped towards Nate again and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hugged him through the pain, and for the first time in two months and 8 days, she felt safe.

Nate closed his eyes as he held Cody against him. She smelt so good. He’d missed her so much. Nate had convinced everyone that he had come back to catch up with his Dad, but he knew the truth, he was back because he missed Cody. Nate had denied it for almost a year now, but seeing Cody again had brought back his feelings full-force. He still loved her.

Frankie watched as Cody and Nate stood together in their embrace. Cody was going to pay, but first he had to make sure that the guy knew that Cody was his. “Ahum, you wouldn’t be trying to steal my girlfriend now would you??” Cody sprang away from Nate as if he had burnt her. “Frankie! Hi! Um, this is Nate, he’s an old friend.” Cody reassured.

“Old boyfriend?” Frankie asked suspiciously.

“No! Just a friend.” Cody jumped in before Nate could say anything.

“Okay, good.” Frankie’s voice was almost menacing, and as he said it he slid his arm around Cody and pushed on her stomach, causing her to bite her lip to stop from screaming. “Well, we’re going to get going now.” Frankie began walking away, taking Cody with him.

“Yeah, bye Nate, we’ll catch up later.” Cody called to Nate. Her voice was cheerful but Nate saw the fear in her eyes

“Who is he Cody? Ha? Are you cheating on me you ungrateful sleaze?! You’re nothing but an ugly slut!” Frankie’s face was red from anger and his hands formed fists as he spoke.

“He’s no one! He’s just a friend! I promise!” Cody was scared. She’d never seen Frankie so mad. If he could hurt her so much when he was calm, what would happen when he was angry?

“LIAR!” He spat. He reached down and tried to pull off Cody’s shirt. Cody screamed and struggled against him, but that just made Frankie smile. He wrapped a hand in her hair and pulled, hard. Cody shrieked in pain. “You wanna play rough?? I can do that. In fact I like to.” Frankie began to punch Cody repeatedly as she yowled and begged for him to stop. He succeeded to rip her shirt from her torso and began to unzip her pants. Cody screamed again and used all her strength to kick Frankie in the nuts and run. She didn’t care that she was half naked, she just ran. She debated going to Squib, but he was probably out anyway. So she ran to the only other place she felt safe. Using all her remaining energy, Cody fisted her hand and knocked against the door. When the door opened she collapsed, but Nate was there to catch her.

Nate threw open the door to find Cody there, shirtless, with swollen skin, bruises, and blood all over her. For a moment she looked as if she was going to say something, but then she just collapsed. Nate caught her, and as he carried her into his dorm, he had never been so scared.