Shayla Reed kissed her boyfriend, Jake, goodbye and wished him luck as he ran to join his teammates in the lockeroom.
As he turned his back she silently prayed that he would get hurt. Shayla felt little remorse as she looked down at the neon cast on her arm.
"Thanks Jake." She thought as Josh Morgan walked by. As she sat on the bleachers waiting for halftime of her schools girls basketball game to end ,
She thought back to that night in July the summer before 10th grade, this summer ………
She looked in the mirror and her reflection made her wonder why Jake liked her. She had straighted her hair, but it still looked stringy. She looked at herself in the red dress she bought two days ago and looked at her legs. She thought" Man, I'm so fat."
Her cell phone rang and she jumped to answer it. Jake said "Are you ready? I`ll be at your house at eight."
Shayla said "Yeah, almost. Ok Jake I`ll see you at eight." Jake replied "Ok. Love you." Then with a grimace Shayla replied "Love you, too."
Then she pressed "end" and sat her phone on her bed. She knew she didn`t love him. She grabbed her purse and ran down the stairs as Jake pulled up.
She opened the door to his truck and got in. Jake said "Are you sure you`re ready, this may be a wild party." Shayla replied with an unsure expression, "Yeah."
Shayla thought inside, "NO IM NOT READY BUT I HAVE NO CHOICE `CAUSE YOU'RE A SELF CENTERED JERK AND YOU NEVER LET ME MAKE DECISIONS FOR MY SELF!!!! " But she stayed silent.
Jake pulled up the driveway to an old barn. Someone had set up speakers and lights. When they walked into the barn, she could smell the stench of alcohol.
Shayla already didn`t like this. Jake saw some of his friends and walked over to them.
Then he got in a truck with them and left. As she watched him leave, Shayla became infuriated.
How dare he leave her at a party with strange people! At least she has his keys. As she reached for her purse, a strange guy snatched it and ran to his laughing friends.
"Crap," Shayla thought, "Man I`m going to kill Jake when he gets back." She turned around to look for Jake when Josh Morgan, one of the hottest seniors at Springville High, said" Hey Shayla or can I call you Shay?' Shayla knew he was trouble so she tried to walk away but Josh grabbed her arm and spun her around.
Shayla said" Leave me alone." But as soon as she said this, Josh put his arms around her and kissed her lips.
She could tell this kiss was different from the ones she and Jake shared. This one was harder as Josh pressed his lips on hers.
She tried to push away but Josh responded by pushing her on the ground. Now he was on top of her. He pulled his shirt off and threw it on the ground."
As his hands went toward her jeans she screamed" NO! GET OFF OF ME!" Josh kept going.
Just as he reached for his jeans, Jake pulled him off of Shayla and wrapped his arms around her.
Josh jumped up and grabbed a baseball bat from one of his friends. Josh swung at Jake but missed and hit Shayla.
The bat was metal and Jake heard Shayla`s arm give way to the swing. Jake grabbed her and they ran for his truck.
When they got in the truck Jake said "Gosh Shayla what the heck were you doing?" Shayla said "What was I doing?
What were you doing? You left me! He tried to rape me! And you're mad at me! You are unbelievable!
Could you at least have the decency to take me to the emergency room? I think my arm is broken."
The rest of the trip was silent as Jake took her to the hospital where she received a neon orange cast.