It's been almost a month since school started and I miraculously managed to get used to getting up at 7. Luckily, it was finally the weekend. Patrick and I made plans to go out to the cinema tonight because he wanted to see a new movie which had just come out. Once again, he told me he'd pick me up from my house. It was getting close to 7 o'clock when I heard his car. At the time my mom and I were having some tea and I managed to steal a cookie from the cupboard. Naturally, I placed my cup into the dishwasher and starting to put my jacket on when she stopped me.

"Where do you think you're going at this time?" she enquired.

"To the cinema with Patrick. I'll be back before 10"

"Why don't I know about this? You know how I feel about you going out late!" her voice rose. I knew exactly where this argument was heading and it wasn't gonna be pretty.

"Mom, I asked you yesterday after dinner whether I can go and you said that I can…"

"You never told me that you would be getting back so late!"

"You didn't ask! Plus, I'm gonna be with Patrick the whole time, nothing's gonna happen."

"Really?! How can you be sure?" she was really getting angry now. I get that she was worried but I don't think she took into account the fact that this wasn't California.

"Mom, you're overreacting." I said simply.

"I'm not overreacting! I just don't want a repeat of what happened in California!" I knew it was about this. She's already told me millions of times that I should be more careful out, and I always was. She wasn't the one who was majorly affected that night. She wasn't the victim! I was!

"Well moving me half across the country obviously didn't help now, did it?"

"I did that for your own protection and you know that!" She was full on rage.

"It's not like whoever did that to me is going to follow me all the way here just to finish what they started!"

"Do you know how scared I was when the police called me telling me that you were in the hospital, Joanna? I was terrified! How would you react if someone called you telling you that your only daughter was attacked? I was not going to let you stay in that place and allow those monsters to come for you!"

My mom was crying. I couldn't believe this. Never in my 17 years of existence have I ever seen my mother cry. This was surreal. My words were stuck in my throat as I stood in front of her speechless. My eyes fell towards the ground and I tried to keep tears from escaping. I couldn't face her like this.

I wasn't used to seeing her so fragile, she was always the strong one of the family. She was the one who spoke to the doctors when I lay on the hospital bed. Not my dad. My dad refused to leave my side. He was the one who held my hand in a tight grip when I woke up.

"I can't do this. I'll stay over at Patrick's tonight, mom. I'm sorry I just can't."

And with that I left. I hurried towards Patrick's car and quickly got it.

"Hey, you alright? You took your time." He smiled one of those kind Patrick smiles.

"Let's just go." I said not facing him. One look at me and he would know exactly what's wrong so I added a hurried please at the end.

We drove for at least ten minutes in silence. That's when Patrick decided to put on some music. The lovely sound of Never Shout Never filled the car and one single, cold tear fell from my eye. I tried to wipe it discreetly yet Patrick noticed this but decided not to say anything. And I was quite grateful for this. Soon he pulled up near a park. This confused me, for obvious reasons.

"Why did we stop here?"

"Well I thought that this would be more appropriate given the situation." He said calmly. I guess it was easy to notice that something was wrong.

"There's a nice coffee shop across the street and we can sit up on the hill. I've got some blankets in the back of the car." He continued.

"Why do you have blankets in the back of the car?"

"I forgot to return them to Bob." He said as he took them out. "Come on; let's get some food and coffee." He put his arm around me and I leaned into him as he guided me towards the small shop. Once inside we ordered some coffee to take away as well as some cake and other food which we took to the park.

Patrick decided to fold one of the blankets so that we wouldn't feel the cold coming from the ground and sat on it as I placed the food on the edge which wasn't taken by him. However, with his long legs and him stretching out there was barely any space left for me so I walked around to sit in his lap. We then took the other blanket and luckily it was larger than the other therefore covering both of us and providing us with warmth.

We then took held our drinks in our hands to somehow warm them up even slightly. The semi-comfortable silence was then disrupted by Patrick.

"So what happened?" He looked at me with the same concerned look I saw after the pool incident.

"My mom and I got into a fight. "I said. I sipped on my coffee for a while before Patrick asked again.

"How come?" The worry didn't leave his voice.

And that's when I broke down.

Patrick pulled me into a tight embrace as I sobbed into his chest. He didn't say anything. He just hugged me and gently rubbed my back. We sat like this until I calmed down.

"You don't know the real reason I moved here." His embrace on me didn't loosen. He still held me with the same support which made it a lot more comfortable to speak.

"I was attacked."

He stiffened slightly. I could feel him pull me closer and his other hand went around me too. He pulled the blanket closer so that my whole body was engulfed in the wool material.

"I was just making my way home from a friend's house when a group of people, I'm guessing near our age, just attacked me. They basically dragged me into an alley and beat me up. I was also stabbed on the back of my shoulder."

I moved from him only to pull down my top from my shoulder to reveal a jagged line on the back of my shoulder. The doctors said the scar might stay with me forever but at this point who cared about the details.

"The police said it was lucky that someone actually noticed me in the alley because it was so dark. They still don't know who might have been behind it."

"Shortly after, my boyfriend broke up with me and I stopped going out. Someone always had to pick me up to and from school and I guess eventually my parents had enough and decided to move."

"My mom didn't want me to go out late because she's scared. Today was the first time I've ever seen her cry. I never knew she was so worried."

The tears started again. I didn't think I would be sharing this with anyone here. There was something about Patrick I knew I could trust. Maybe it was the fact that we've been friends from day one. Maybe my small crush was a factor. But even if I were to ignore both of these points, Patrick was an amazing, caring guy.

"Hey... Hey. It'll be alright. No one will get you here. I won't let anything happen to you, okay? I promise."

After a while I stopped crying. I didn't want to get so worked up about this again. I already did enough of mourning at the hospital.

I stretched out trying to get cherry Danish but couldn't reach it. Patrick laughed at my feeble attempt and passed it to me. Slowly we ate the rest of the food whilst talking about school and such.

My eyes slowly closed and I found myself practically lying on top of Patrick once he leaned back onto the blanket. I must have drifted off into sleep because the next thing I knew was that I was in the air. Startled I opened my eyes just to find myself in a bundle with the blanket whilst Patrick carried me to the car. Once inside I snuggled into the seat as Patrick strapped me in with the seat belt.

The next time I woke up I found myself in someone's bed. My jacket was gone and so where my shoes, leaving me in just my top and jeans. I sat up and looked around the room. It wasn't messy, that was the first thing I noticed. There was a large bookshelf filled with some great books which I could see from the bed. On the desk I guess were school books and such.

And then right next to the bed on the floor was Patrick. He looked so peaceful in the little cramped space between his large bed and the wall. I slid out from beneath the covers and crouched next to him shaking him gently by his shoulders.

"Hmmm…" He turned around onto his other side to face me. He sat up when he noticed that it was me. "Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Why didn't you just sleep in the bed?" I smiled. It was a nice gesture and all which I guess would be considered very gentlemanly but I didn't want Patrick to have to sleep on the hard floor when the other half of his bed was unoccupied. He smiled back and ran his hand through his hair as he tried to find the right words.

"Get into bed, there's enough space for both of us."

He stood up and got under the covers on the other side of the bed as I also got back in. I shuffled slightly so that my head was lying on his chest as he put his arms around me and both of us closed our eyes. His breathing slowed down and I realised he had fallen asleep. I snuggled into his chest so that I was able to hear his heartbeat. I listened to the sound of his heart as the thumps slowly lulled me to sleep.