"If I'd only known…." Austin interrupted my story.

"Austin there's no way you could've known…I made sure of that." I replied back.

"But Ally why didn't you tell me…at least up until the moment I found out." He finished, eye's darting to my broken arm and bruised face.

"Because I didn't want you…or anyone else to know." I answered.

"Why not, Ally she could've killed you!" Austin replied back.

"You'll find out later in the story, I promise." I answered back

*back to the story*

I was jolted from my beautiful sleep by a loud bang (my door slamming open) and being pulled off my bed by my wrists by my mother.

"Get up!" she barked.

"Time for you to make breakfast, you no good lazy girl!" she finished.

I winced from the pain of the bruises and walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

I took out a tube of biscuits, a package of sausage and bacon out of the fridge. From the cabinet I grabbed the gravy mix and set about my usual morning routine.

After I'd finished breakfast I let my mother know breakfast was ready.

Without a word she came into the kitchen grabbed a plate helped herself and sat down at the dining room table. I paused, not sure if I should reach for some food myself and risk punishment for some reason, or leave.

"Well what are you staring at?" she grumbled at me.

"Get out of here, go!"

I got my coat, boots, and purse (with my book in it) from the closet and started to head out, when I was at the door I heard my mom yell from the kitchen.

"If you're late getting home again tonight it'll be no dinner for a week!" she barked.

"Yes ma'am." I answered quietly, it was ok, I would just get some food from the food court anyway.

Upon reaching sonic boom, having an hour before Austin or anyone else would show up I ran up to the practice room, got out my makeup and covered up the bruises from the other night. Afterwards I walked back down to the register to wait for Austin, or Trish. It wasn't long before Trish showed up.

"Guess who got a job at the shoe store!" she beamed. Wearing the store shirt and a pair of boots.

I smiled knowing that she'd be fired from the job by the end of the day; she never had a job any longer than a day, maybe two if she was lucky.

"Congratulations!" I grinned.

"Ugh these boots are killing me!" she wined.

"Uh, then why did you buy them?" I ask, laughing.

"Uh duh they were half off!" Trish replied, posing in the boots.

"By the way, you didn't come to the team Austin meeting last night, what happened?"

That means Austin forgot to tell her! I panic.

"Uh, I had an upset stomach, yea I didn't feel good and decided to stay home." I finished, maybe a little too quickly. Trish looked at me the way she does when she knew I knew something she didn't.

"Ally…is there something you want to tell me?" Trish asked.

For a split second I almost tell her everything, but I stop myself, NO-ONE could know. Trish, Dez, and ESPECIALLY Austin, were the only people, since dad, that made suffering through the abuse worth it…if I told anyone, it would mean Foster care since I'm under 18….and who knows where child services would send me, having an abuse free home would mean nothing to me if I could never see Austin again. Or Trish or Dez for that matter…but mostly Austin.

"YO EARTH TO ALLY!" Trish screams at me.

I shake my head, and bring myself out of my thoughts.

"So you're sure there isn't anything you need to tell me?" Trish asked again.

"No, nothing, I promise." I grinned

"o-kay." Trish said in a slow unsure tone.

Suddenly Austin and Dez walk through the doors of Sonic Boom.

I grin, seeing Austin always made my day brighter.

"Hey guys!" I exclaim.

"Hey Ally, I really missed you at the team Austin meeting last night." Austin replied as he wrapped me in a hug.

"Awww, I'm sorry, I just REALLY didn't feel good last night, bad sushi I guess."

"What does make sushi a bad sushi?" Dez asks in his usual clueless way

Austin looks at him and raises his eyebrows.

"Well this time, I was thinking that maybe I could just come over to your house for our writing sessions, what do you think?" Austin asks.

I try to keep my eyes from widening in horror from the idea; I swallow hard and compose myself.

"Um, I don't think that will be a good idea Austin, not a good idea at all, our house is really, um, messy, and it's not in a good neighborhood and really just, no it'd be better to keep having our team Austin meetings here at sonic boom, yea." I finish half nervously. I could tell Austin wasn't buying it.

"Whoa, ok calm down, we'll keep doing it here at sonic boom then…are you ok today ally you're acting really strange today." He asks worriedly.

In that instant…part of me wants to tell him, wants to run to him and hide in his arms for protection, but telling him would mean exposing myself to child services, and I wouldn't let that happen.

I felt tears coming, tears of frustration, tears from the pain of last night, tears of guilt, and tears of appreciation for Austin, all coming, all at once.

"No, no I'm fine…could you please excuse me for a minute." Before anyone answers though I run up the stairs to the practice room wiping away a lone tear that had started to run down my cheek.

"Must've been something you said" I heard Dez say to Austin before I close the door quietly.

*end story*

By this point in the story I had started to cry again, out of guilt.

"I'm so sorry Austin, I wanted to tell you, I did, I just…I couldn't" I choked out between tears.

Austin carefully wraps me in a hug.

"Shh shh, it's ok, it's ok…" he whispers in my ear squeezing me just slightly tighter while rubbing my back.

"So what happened after that?" one of the officers asks.

TO BE CONTINUED