My heart was pounding so hard that I barely heard myself when I spoke. "Before I tell you mom, I want you to know that I'm sorry," I said, looking at the floor.
"Dawn, look at her when you're talking," I heard David say. My eyes slowly wavered to my mom, who just looked utterly confused.
"What's going on? Why are you apologizing, Dawn?" My mom asked worriedly.
David looked at her and said, "Maybe you should let her continue." David offered me an assuring smile before he gestured for me to continue. "Mom, do you remember that guy you met during the dance competition? The one that was offering me a ride home? You told me to stay away from him," I explained. It was unbelievable that my mom had detected his true colours since a while ago, and I blindly believed his good nature facade.
Mom looked confused for a few seconds, then widened her eyes in realization. "Yes. I do remember. Something about him ticked me off. What about him?"
I hesitated for a long while. "Well...he was my boyfriend," I admitted softly in fear and my eyes were on the floor again.
"What?!" She yelled. David looked at her and tried to calm her down but she stood up from the sofa and continued to yell. "Why would you go behind your mother like that?! I told you that your only priority should be school, and nothing else! Dawn, you're so lucky that I let you enroll in your little dance competition, but this?!" Tears were already falling out of my eyes. I knew she'd react this way.
"Johanna," David said standing up, "I think you should listen to what she has to say."
"Listen to her? She hasn't been listening to me for almost her life, and you want me to listen to what she has to say?" She looked at David incredulously. A sob was caught at the back of my throat.
"Johanna, I understand that you're angry but sometimes it's important to know what your daughter is feeling as well. You need to understand what she wants and what her emotions are. Give her a chance. It's really important."
"Mom, please," I sobbed. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. It's all my fault..it really is...all I'm asking is for you to listen. After that, you can punish me for however long you want."
She stared at me angrily, and then sighed, gesturing for me to continue. "Look mom, I love you and I know you love me too. It's just that...you can be really strict sometimes, and I find myself not being able to be free and have my own fun. I always have to follow your rules. I can't even join a dance club without your permission, mom. I know you're thinking about ny safety, but it gets a bit much, mom." I eyed her throughout my speech, and her expression seemed neutral. I wiped my tears before I continued.
"I didn't even plan for Kenny to be my boyfriend; he just came out of nowhere. He asked me out one day, and I decided to give him a chance, because he seemed so genuine and caring. I gave him my trust, mom." She looked at me, and I took in a huge breath. "I didn't really like Kenny, I pretty much had no feelings at all for him but I still gave him a chance. And...yes...I did sneak out a few times to go on dates with him." My mom grew furious again, but stopped herself.
"Everything was fine until Ash's birthday was nearing around. I wanted to go to his party, and when I told Kenny..." I stopped, memories of him abusing me flashing in my head.
"What? What happened?" My mom asked. David genuinely looked interested as well.
"...He threatened me and told me to stay away from Ash. He hurt me, and told me that I was his; that I belonged to him," I said, tears spilling on my cheeks. "He made me feel as if I was some sort of property. I hated it. I hated that I trusted him so easily. And I was so scared, I didn't know where to go, or who to speak to." Mom looked shocked, and surprisingly she was starting to cry as well.
"Then, he tricked me sometime this week to go over to his parent's place...but he actually drugged me and took me to an abandoned house in a remote area..."My mom gasped. "And he was nearly going to rape me." I sobbed. "Oh mom, you have no idea how scared I was, mom. But-but luckily, Ash was there and he brought out my confidence and I defended myself and beat him to a pulp. I knocked him out, unconscious." My chest was heaving due to the heavy amount of crying, and I wiped my tears.
"But now, David recently got news that Kenny's escaped." My mom's eyes widened. "He's out there somewhere, mom...I'm really scared. Please. I know I'm a terrible daughter and I keep lying to you, but please, mom, I've realized my mistake and I should have listened to you from the start. I'm sorry, mom..." I said sadly, as I resumed sobbing again into my palms. Even though I was crying, it honestly felt good to let it out. A weight was lifted off of me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I reluctantly moved my palms away expecting to see my mom, but it was David instead giving me a small smile.
My mom was not facing me, but the window. "...Mom?"
"Is there anything else you want to say?" Her voice sounded disappointed.
"Actually...yes. Ash is my boyfriend now." She spun away from the window and faced me, looking at me as if I had grown two heads. "It was bound to happen. I always had feelings for him, even when Kenny and I were dating, I just never realized it."
"Are you insane? Are you aware that he has a girlfriend?!" My mom yelled.
"Serena means nothing to him, mom."
She scoffed, not believing my words. "It's true, mom!"
"You're practically helping Ash cheat on Serena!"
"Mom, you don't know Serena!" I retorted. "She's a two faced demented-excuse my language-bitch that's extremely possessive over Ash, and get this, she's the one cheating on Ash!"
"Then why doesn't he break up with her?!"
"I don't know, okay?!" I sighed. "The point is that he's the one that I want to be with...so please don't stop me, mom."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Who am I to stop you? You don't listen to me anyway. It's evident that you just don't care about me," she said, tears dropping.
"That's not true," I said sadly. "I'm really sorry."
"Save your stupid apology, you should use it for someone who you actually care about."
"I do care about you!"
"Then why, Dawn?! Why would you do this? You took advantage of me several times, and went behind my back. Do you know how disappointed and upset I am? And I'm even more upset that you didn't tell me earlier. Of course I would be angry earlier too, but not as much as now."
"I know..." I said, my head drooping down.
Mom looked like she wanted to yell at me again, but then she stopped herself and gave me a look of sympathy, something I probably didn't deserve. "I know I'm a bit rough on the parenting. But it's only because I love you so much...and I don't what your father did to me happen to you too. I don't want you to be heartbroken like I was."
I looked at her, sympathy in my eyes. "It won't. I'm positive Ash would never break my heart. And if he does, I swear that I'll break his legs."
She managed to crack a very small, sad smile. "I hope you know what you're getting into."
"I do. I'm really, really, really sorry, mom," I said. I promise to never, ever go behind your back again. And I'll tell you everything from now on. I promise to change. Just please forgive me..."
My mom didn't respond but instead opened up her arms. My lips lifted into a smile, and I ran up to her as she enclosed her arms tightly around me. "I'm sorry too, Dawn," she whispered. "Maybe, things should change," she said as we released. I looked at her in curiosity. "You promised me that you'll change a little. It's only fair that I should start to give you more freedom-"
"Oh, no, mom. Forget about freedom, look at where it's gotten me. I was nearly raped because of wanting to have my own freedom."
"Which you were never really privileged with. I'm sure, that if I wasn't so hard on you, that you would have come to me as soon as this happened. It's because that I'm strict that you were afraid of telling me, right?"
I never predicted that my mom could have been so understanding. She understood my thoughts completely, and I smiled as I nodded. "I was stupid not to tell you."
She shook her head. "It's not your fault, Dawn. It doesn't matter whose fault it is," she said. She then looked at David, who was seated in the couch listening to his headphones, trying to give us some privacy, "And now that you've told me, I actually couldn't me more prouder of you, Dawn."
I smiled. It was unbelievable that mom forgave me so easily, but it was pretty much of a relief itself. Now the only problem was Kenny. I walked up to David, and he removed his headphones. "Thank you. We talked it out, and she understood me."
He smiled. "That's a relief. I'm glad you were able to understand your daughter, Johanna," he added, looking at my mom.
"You were able to understand her more than I could," she reminded him.
"Better late than never," he stood up. "Okay, now, Dawn, now that your mother knows about Kenny, it's really important that you're staying indoors almost all the time with her. When you go to school, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, since it's pretty secured, but even then, I will be speaking to your principal regarding your safety, and I will report what Kenny did to you."
"Okay." I nodded.
"A few of my team mates will be here, to ensure that Kenny doesn't try to sneak up on you. I'll try to be here as well."
"Will you be here for me, or for mom?" I wiggled my eyebrows, and mom shushed me.
He chuckled, and I didn't expect for him to respond. "Both."
It was about 2am when my eyes jerked open. My feet were cold, so I spread the blanket open, and then I heard my mom open the door. She looked at me, and asked if I was okay. I appreciated her concern and told her that there was no need to worry. She smiled, and closed the door. My eyes were closing, but then I heard a tap on my window. Startled, I sat up against the bed. Hesitating, I opened up the blinds, and gasped when I saw Ash. He gestured for me to open the window.
"Oh, good, you're still awake," he said.
"Ash! What-" I groaned, "It's 2am in the morning. What are you doing here at my window?"
"Well, the party just ended, and I felt like seeing you. Besides, you don't have your phone. Is it really a crime to see your girlfriend?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes. "It should be at 2am. Now please, I wanna go to sleep," I said, reaching to close the window. But he grabbed my hands to stop me. I groaned. "Ugh, you're annoying."
He chuckled. "You're a bit grumpy. Is there something ticking you off?"
"Yep," I said, and then I pointed. "You."
"Ouch," he placed a hand against heart. "You wound me." I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'm sorry. But is everything alright? You seem worried."
"Yes," I admitted. I sighed and then told him. "Kenny escaped."
"What? Are you serious?"
I nodded. "Yes. My mom's boyfriend is a police officer, and he was investigating the abandoned house, and apparently, he wasn't there."
Ash scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "But...how? He was knocked out unconscious! There's no way he could have woken up so easily."
"Yeah, but we left him there, he would have woken up anyway, right?"
He didn't say anything, and he saw me tense up. He took my hand, and kissed the palm of my hand gently, and that simple kiss sent down heat in my entire body. For some reason, I felt safe already. "Don't worry. I promise you that it'll be okay eventually. He'll get what he deserves for messing with you." He then kissed my forehead while I closed my eyes. He made me forget; forget for a while.
The next school day, my mom had told me to be extra careful at school; she thought the idea of walking alone was dangerous for me. I offered for Ash to drop me, and fortunately she wasn't against it. I appreciated the fact that my mom was starting to be a little laid back. When we approached the school building, I saw a couple of police guards looking at our direction.
"I'm guessing those are the guards that David sent to keep watch on me," I said to myself, but Ash had heard me, and nodded in agreement with me. We both got out of his Mercedes vehicle, and nodded at the guards before walking inside. I looked at the time; there was a couple of minutes before homeroom.
"What's your first class again?" Ash asked.
I was about to reply when my eyes caught David exiting the principal's office. He caught the sight of us, and approached us. "Hey, guys." We greeted him back and then he continued. "Well, I kept my word and talked to your principal about the whole situation. The prinipal is looking to expel Kenny for his impulsive behaviour, and will ugrade to a higher security system to ensure your and other student's safety," he explained, looking at me.
I was really grateful for what he was doing. We had only just met yesterday and he had already done so much. "Thank you so much."
"No problem." He smiled, and then looked at Ash before at me again. "Don't hesiate to tell me anything if Ash does anything," he joked. I giggled in response.
"Trust me officer, I'd never hurt Dawn," he said, grabbing my hand, causing my heart to skip a beat. David smiled, looking satisfied.
"Well, see you later kids. There's a lot of work pending." We both nodded in understanding before he walked past us and outside the school.
"So he's your mom's boyfriend?" Ash asked, glancing at me.
I nodded. "Yup. And I have to admit, I like him. He's a great guy."
When it was lunch, May and I were talking about what had happened over the weekend. She had told me about Ash's party, which by the way she had mentioned was lit, and I told her about Kenny's sudden disappeaance. She seemed genuinely worried, but I assured her that I was safe. We talked some more before we noticed a flyer on the wall.
And the results for the first round of the dance competion is in! These are the list of people who will be moving to the second round and they are: Zoey, Gary Oak, May Maple, Misty Waterflower, Anna Stewart, Drew Larousse, Dawn Berlitz, Ash Ketchum, Lindsay Smith, and Michael Adams. Congratulations! For those of you who didn't make it, thanks for participating.
The second round will be held next week Saturday, and this time, the contestants will be in pairs doing a dance that will be given to the pair. But here's the catch: each contestant will have to find his or her partner based on clues given by your dance instructor. Yes, we're that evil. Good luck!
I scoffed. "What the hell? What is this, a scavenger hunt?"
May snorted. "Whatever, the point is that we both made it to the second round!" she squealed.
"Of course we did." I replied smugly. I then widened my eyes to see Barry running while hyperventilating, and we both moved out of the way quickly before he'd crash into us.
"Outta my way, outta my way!" he exclaimed before looking at the flyer. He read across the flyer excitedly, and scrumched his eyebrows in confusion. He read it over again and then exclaimed, "Hey! My name's missing!"
"Yeah...no surprise there," May said.
"It must be a mistake! It has to be!" Barry yelled in frustration. I face-palmed. "They must have forgotten to print my name, it's the only logical explanation!" We both gave him dubious looks. "Okay, geez, I didn't make it for like, the third time in a row. Whoop de doo," he said sarcastically.
I offered him a smile. "Don't worry, Barry, maybe dance isn't really your thing."
"It isn't," Drew said, approaching forward. Barry gave him a killer look, as Drew ignored it and instead looked at the flyer. "Sweet, we're in," he said, looking at May. "This calls for a celebration."
May gave him a look. "Didn't Ash's party just happen over the weekend?"
"What?!" Barry yelled. "Ash's party?Why am I just hearing about this?"
Drew rolled his green eyes and looked at May. "Come on May, don't kill the vibe. We can celebrate by ourselves if we want."
"Sounds like fun, but I have too much on my mind right now," I said. May nodded.
"Yeah, the competition can wait for now." May added. "Dawn told me Kenny escaped."
Drew looked at me, and face-palmed. "Oh shit, I almost forgot that Ash had told me already. It's okay, no worries. We can always celebrate another time. Dawn is more important." he smiled at me, to which I returned.
"Wait...who's Kenny again?" Barry asked, resulting in all of us to sweatdrop.
The final bell had rung signalling the end of the day, and I was placing my books in my locker. The school day had turned out to be pretty good, and nothing really unusual happened, to which I was grateful. As I was about to close my locker, I saw a note on the ground. I reached my hand to grab it, reading it out of curiosity.
Watch your back.
Looking at the note in confusion, I simply thought this was a prank somebody was pulling on me, and ripped the note into tiny shreds before disposing of it in the trash can. As I was about to leave, I saw a familiar redhead heading my way.
"Oh shit, I forgot," I said sheepishly reaching into my backpack for Zoey's notes that I had borrowed. "There you go, thanks for your notes, it really helped."
"No prob, Dawn, anything for you. By the way, is everything alright now? I overheard Ash and the others talking about how Kenny escaped."
"Yeah..." I sighed. "I know I'm safe especially with the security and everything, but you never know..."
"What did you ever see in Kenny?" she asked incredulously. I shrugged, laughing and she shook her head in disbelief, smiling as well. "I sure hope Ash doesn't treat you the same way Kenny did."
I shook my head. "No, I'm positive that Ash would never do something like that. He really cares about me."
Zoey nodded. "Yeah, he does." She then chuckled. "In gym today, he was fantasizing you in a cheerleading outfit."
My cheeks burned. That didn't really surprise me since Ash was a bit pervy. "How would you know about that?"
"Because he asked Gary how you'd look in a cheerleading uniform, and he seemed a bit dazed. It was really funny, you should have been there!" Zoey said, bursting into laughter. My blush deepened a bit. "But yeah, he's crazy about you, Dawn."
I smiled. He didn't know that I was probably crazy about him too. "Good."
When I got out of the school grounds, I noticed a police car enter the parking lot, and I briefly wondered why the vehicle looked so familiar. My question was unintentionally answered when I saw David exit the vehicle, as he took off his sunglasses, eyeing around for someone. His eyes wavered until they caught mine, and he smiled.
I approached him, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Your mother thought it was a good idea to pick you up from school," he said.
I nodded in realization. "That's sweet and everything, but Ash can drop me home. I'm just waiting for him to get out of basketball practice."
"How long will that be?" He asked.
"Maybe about a half hour."
He shook his head. "It's getting late, you can't be here right now. Everyone left already, and you're here alone, that's dangerous, Dawn."
I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of affection that I was receiving from him. He seemed really concerned about me...almost like a father. But he also had a point. "You're right, I don't know what I was thinking. But I can't leave Ash hanging, and I don't even have my cell phone to text him."
And then, out of seemingly nowhere, he pulled out a phone, making my jaw drop in shock once I realized that it was my phone. "We retrived this phone in the abandoned house that we had a search party in. I assumed it was yours, since it had a picture of you as your wallpaper."
I took the phone in my hands. "Wow...thanks. I didn't think I'd get this back."
"Now you can let Ash know that you're leaving with me. And tell your mom too, just in case you think I'm actually a kidnapper in disgiuse kidnapping you," he joked. I laughed, and then texted Ash.
Hey sorry, imma leave with david instead. just lettin u know. I got my phone back btw :p - Dawn
I then dialled my mom's number and she answered on the second ring. "Hello?"
"Hey mom, it's Dawn. Officer David came to pick me up from school."
"Yeah, I sent him because I was stuck at work. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, mom. It's totally fine."
"Okay, be safe. I'll be home around five,"
"Okay, see ya." I hung up and faced David. "Okay, let's go."
"So, how was school?" David asked while we were in the vehicle. It felt a bit odd to be seated in a police car, next to a police officer. I almost felt like a criminal who'd been handcuffed and was being driven off to the police station.
I shrugged. "It was fine."
"Anything happen? By that, I mean anything unusual."
I shook my head. "No not-" I then remembered the note. "Oh, well I saw this note that had dropped out of my locker. It said 'Watch your back.'"
He scrunched his eyebrows, looking at the road, but glanced at me quickly. "Huh. Interesting. Do you have the note with you?"
"Nope, I threw it away. Do you know how many times people have been pranked with a note in their lockers at my school? It's pretty ridiculous," I said, scoffing to myself.
"How can you be so sure that yours was a prank?"
I rolled my eyes. "Most of the time it is. I'm not the type of girl to fall for that."
David chuckled. "If you say so."
Later that night, mom and I had dinner together. We offered for David to stay over, but he had work pending and couldn't stay for long. He told us that his team hadn't really found anything else worth mentioning except for my phone. They had to track where Kenny was, but they were having some difficulties, as Kenny had just mysteriously disappeared, leaving no clues behind.
I tried not to think about it too much. My house was guarded with two to three police officers who were armed with tazers and guns, just in case anything peculiar occurred. David had instructed them to keep their eyes peeled, and to always be prepared.
It was honestly a bit heartwarming. David's fatherly instincts got me to appreciate him even more, and we had only met yesterday. Regardless, I knew without a doubt that I wanted him to stick around.
My thoughts were interrupted when I got a text.
Oh hey, sorry, i forgot to txt back. Got busy. R u okay? - Ash
It's fine and yeah, i'm okay :) - Dawn
Cool. so what r u doing? i mean besides being sexy - Ash
I shook my head in amusement as I typed a reply.
Nothing rlly. just thinking. - Dawn
About me, eh? I knew i was always on ur mind :) - Ash
Ha ha, funny. note the sarcasm. anywayz, no i was thinking abt officer david. - Dawn
Why? - Ash
Well he's rlly nice and stuff and he cares abt me and my mom a lot. He's been acting more like a father than a police officer to me. - Dawn
Well isn't that good? - Ash
Idk. i mean, i only met him yesterday. he's a great guy, not saying he's terrible or anything. But what's rlly important is what my mom thinks. Idk if she's willing to settle down with him. - Dawn
Well i personally don't know either but like u said, its ur mom's choice. - Ash
Yeah...mayb its too early to be talking abt this :/ - Dawn
Yeah. Probably. - Ash
My eyes were drooping when I received that text from Ash. I'd have loved to talk more, but I decided to call it a night. I sent him another text.
Well i'm sleepy rn so I'm gonna head to bed. Goodnight xoxo - Dawn
I set my phone on the bedside table, and waited for a reply, but five minutes had passed, and there was no reply. I decided to brush my teeth, so I walked into my bathroom. After about a few minutes, I changed into a black nightgown and let my hair loose before lying down on my bed. I was about to fall asleep when I heard my phone vibrate.
I grabbed it from the bedside table, expecting it to be Ash, but it was from an unknown number instead. Curious, I read it.
'Watch your back.' - Unknown
I widened my eyes in shock, and instead of letting my fear taking over, I decided to let my mom know immediately. I kept myself calm as I got up from the bed, taking my phone with me and looking at the text message. But then...something weird happened.
The message deleted itself.
Dang, all the mysteries with this story. Ooooohhhhhh.
I am back with updates, and yes, it's a little late but I'll have you guys know that I was pretty busy. After my exams, I've been spending more time with my family, and I went to the city to visit my cousins for maybe two weeks. After that, I've been dealing with the struggles of trying to get my documents done so I could start applying to universities. Also, I've been trying to type this since maybe the past two weeks or so, but I needed some more ideas and something always came up.
Also on the 24th was my birthday, I am 19 years old now. Omg. Why. I prefer to be a teen, I'm not ready for the adult life. :(
Also important note, I will be going on vacation from this Sunday. So don't really expect any updates.
I will hopefully update around August or September. We'll see. Hope you guys enjoyed the update and leave a review. See you guys next time! :D