Author's Note- This chapter is a lot shorter than the first one but I wanted it to be over with already. I appreciate the reviews, as always. It's Mitchie's POV again. Enjoy :)

The next morning was actually pretty tense. I knew Alex was still thinking about what she mentioned the night before and I knew she was playing on the thought of bringing it up again. I kind of wished that I hadn't of waited around for her to wake up and instead just left like I was considering when I woke up before her that morning. The only reason I decided not to was because I didn't want to leave without knowing where this whole situation stood. I didn't want to leave before making sure she wouldn't push this any further.

We were sat at her dining table eating breakfast when she finally did bring it up again. Her mom was out so it was just the two of us in the house. It's not as though there was any sort of awkwardness between us prior to her mentioning it again but there was certainly some sort of atmosphere between us that whole morning. We were both aware of what we were both thinking but it was unspoken until that moment. Alex was messing around with her food and her foot was bouncing off of the floor.; something she always did when she was holding something back.

She eventually looked up at me and sighed. I was already looking at her. I had been watching her for most of the morning but she hadn't noticed. I had been waiting for it to come up again, and I knew Alex would have brought it up eventually in the space of when I would wake up to when I would leave.

"Mitchie." Her voice was exasperated and I felt guilty for waiting for her to be the one to bring it up again. I knew it was bothering her a lot considering how distant she had been. I didn't say anything for a moment. We shared eye contact silently but I knew what she was thinking. And I could only bet that she knew exactly what was going through my mind, too.

"Don't make this any harder Alex. Please." I knew it was such a suckish thing to ask of her. I couldn't ever imagine being in a situation where I would have to keep such a thing from everyone if it were Alex in my position. But at the time I was absolutely convinced that I was doing the right thing and I was protecting myself and my dignity. Whatever I had left of it, anyway. Alex's eyes looked sad and it tore me apart. I had to look away from her.

"I can't keep doing this for much longer, you have to understand that." My lack of eye contact didn't last long. I looked up at her quicker than I looked away.

"What?"

"I can't keep hiding this Mitchie." She was getting distressed. But then again so was I.

"Alex no." I was serious. It wasn't often I was ever this hard nosed but she needed to see how much this meant to me. How much her being quiet about it meant to me.

"How is this fair to me?!" She sat upright in her seat opposite mine. I put my face in my hands and let out a short groan.

"Alex." I had no argument against her. I never did. We both silently knew that Alex was always in the right when it came to this argument. I would never admit to it out loud though and she never needed to. Besides, she's too kind to outright say it anyway. I lifted my head to look at her again but I kept my chin resting on my hands. I didn't know what to say. I just stared at her speechless, hopelessly trying to come up with any words. But I had nothing.I could feel the panic start to fade away but what came instead felt a lot worse. It was all starting to hit me at once. I was scared. I started to worry. I could feel the sting in the backs of my eyes and my chest was tightened. I started to cry. Nothing else would come out of me but my tears. "Alex, you can't."

She sighed again, but this time is was sympathetic. I felt like an absolute idiot. She was silent for a few more seconds whilst she looked at me with sadness. All I wanted at that point was to be as far away from that situation as possible. But there I was; right in the smack bang middle of it.

"You never talk to me any more." I levelled my breathing.

"Alex, I really don't want to talk about it." She leaned forward in her chair and she held her hand out for me to take. I wiped my teary cheeks with my left hand and gave her my right one. She held it tightly with the both of her own and looked me in the eye.

"Mitchie... If you're not going to let me tell anyone about what that man is doing to you." I looked down at the table. I hated that she couldn't even call him my dad. I couldn't blame her though. She paused and sighed once more. "Mitch you have to come to some sort of compromise with me if you expect me to carry on keeping this a secret." I looked back up at her. "It kills me enough knowing what I know and not being able to do anything about it. At least, please, let me be there for you." I hated it. I hated feeling like some sort of vulnerable victim. I felt nauseas and ashamed and embarrassed. I retraced my hand from hers and sat back in my seat. She looked surprised at the sudden change of my demeanour. I rolled my eyes casually.

"It was just same old same old, Alex. He drank a little too much and took his miserable frustrations out on me."

"Mitch you know that's not what I mean. I want you to actually open up to me once for god's sakes!" My need for crying was gone. I slammed my hands on the table in front of me and sat up.

"You want me to open up to you? You want me to tell you all about what happened Alex? Huh?" She stared at me, mouth open but speechless. Not that I waited for an answer. She was pushing me and I couldn't deal with it. "You want me to tell you all about how my father, my dad, threw me into a wall and sprained my wrist? I couldn't move it for days afterwards." I laughed. I knew I shouldn't have because that's something that has always upset Alex. She hates when I laugh in the middle of arguments and I know it upsets her but sometimes I just can't help it. I was angry. I was selfish. "And would you like me to tell you all about how he stood on my wrist once he knew it was hurt, too? He loved that one. I bet it made him feel like a king. Being above me like that. Having all of that power over a whole other person. It's funny though, because after he finally shoved my face into the living room floor and forced me to tell him how lucky I am to have him around, he fell asleep on the couch and I was the one with all of the power. He was passed out drunk and there was his lighter and a half empty bottle of whiskey sitting right in front of him on the coffee table." My tone was partially sarcasm, mixed with anger. I don't know why she put up with me for so long. "I thought about lighting the place but I realised… Ultimately, he was the one with all of the power. Unconscious or not, I am nothing without him. I have no one. I have no where to go, Alex! If I ever torched the place, there would be no point in me leaving to see the next day."

I didn't wait for anything. I bolted it upstairs to her room and put on my shoes. I snapped up my phone from her bed and by the time Alex had gotten halfway up the stairs, I was already going back down them. I rushed passed her and she slammed her foot down into the wood underneath her just before I was about to reach out and open the front door.

"Mitchie stop!" I did. I turned around and my sudden stop made me realise I was out of breath. My chest rose and fell deeply. She probably noticed from where she was stood. "You can't go back there if this is happening again." I pinched the top of my nose and scrunched my eyes together. I had a migraine coming on.

"I live there Alex." She didn't say anything. I could see that she was trying not to cry so I forced myself to leave.

It was never a secret for long with Alex. It was about six months into our friendship when she caught on. We did spend most of our free time together so it was inevitable, really. I was always still so careful about it though. I always knew it was going to happen at some point, but I still attempted to hide it from her for as long as possible. So when it did finally happen, I didn't see it coming and I freaked out.

She managed it all so well though; for a fourteen year old anyway. But Alex was always insanely intelligent. She always knew how to handle more challenging situations better than a lot of people our age. She had always been really mature for her age, too… when she wanted to be, anyway. Not that she was ever a prude or boring or anything but it was like she could just swap her mindsets whenever she wanted to. And she would… constantly. She always had many different personalities. Depending on who she was around or what mood she would be in, she would change her personality to reflect that. But I don't even think she ever even realised that she would do it. Like it was just natural to her.

"Mitchie, what is that?!" Alex's voice screeched and I was more than quick to quieten her down. "Mitchie, you tell me where that's from right now." My hands were shaking and my ears were deafened by the thumping of my heart. I froze. I couldn't utter a single word as Alex stood in front of me, waiting for some sort of explanation. An explanation I knew I could no longer keep from her. I went light headed and I shut my eyes tight and cursed myself for being such an idiot for slipping up. I held my hand over my forehead in some sort of effort to contain myself and I looked forward.

"Lex please don't tell anyone." I remember feeling the lump in my throat as I spoke those five words. It was so big that it hurt the insides of my ears. I remember seeing Alex close her bathroom door through my teary eyes. I blinked and they fell, clearing my vision of her walking towards me before embracing me in a slightly awkward, overly careful hug.

"Who did this to you?" Her voice was slightly softer than before but I could still hear her shock. I shook my head into her shoulder and closed my eyes tightly.

"Alex I can't." I didn't mean for my voice to sound so… sad. But I guess after years of having to keep it to myself, someone else finally knowing was sort of a relief I guess. Terrifying; but a relief, no doubt.

"You have to, Mitch." She pulled away from me and I looked to the ground. My bare feet were cold against the tile floor. "Is it your dad?" I gulped.

"Please don't tell anyone, Alex." I looked up at her again and I remember feeling surprised at how mature she was handling the situation. Her face was stern as she held eye contact with me. She nodded her head but before I had a chance to ease up, she held her finger up to me.

"But only if you tell me what's going on." I expected it. It was only fair. I nodded once and raised her eyebrows. "And I mean everything."

"Okay."

There have been plenty of times when I've regretted nothing more than that night. But maybe it was never such a bad thing that it all happened, I'd probably have gone through a lot worse if I never had Alex to go to at three in the morning most nights and hide away at her house for a couple of days at a time until my dad calmed down.

Alex had left me in her bathroom to let me continue changing my clothes. I still can't believe how I was so reckless for her to see my bruised back. I was always so careful. But on that one occasion I forgot to lock the door and she just happened to have wanted something from in there. I remember stalling for so long. I don't know why I bothered to wait behind that door for so long; I was never getting away from it and I knew that. I guess I was building up the courage to open it.

When I eventually reached my hand out to twist the door knob, it was shaking. I took in a deep breath and just did it. I almost whacked myself in the face with the door, I opened it that quick. Alex wasn't looking up at me so I was thankful I avoided that embarrassment. She was lay on her bed, with only the bedside lamp illuminating the room.

I walked around to the other side and got onto her bed beside her. My heart was racing and I was sure I was about to pass out at any second. I clenched my fists and held myself together. She switched off her phone and put it under her pillow, something she always did. I remember my shoulders actually started to hurt due to how tense I was keeping them. Alex turned to me and I already felt like I was going to start crying again. She grabbed one of my hands and I sat up a little straighter.

"Start from the beginning." Her voice was soft and encouraging, but I wasn't expecting anything else from Alex.

We were up for hours that night talking about everything I was going through. I told her about my mother dying when I was ten. Non Hodgkin Lymphoma... not that I had much of an idea of what that meant at the time. I told her how my dad had turned to drinking and he moved the two of us away from our other family. I told her about the first time he ever hit me; I had just turned eleven. He slapped me across the face, so hard I fell to the floor and then he locked me inside a tiny storage cupboard for about four hours. We talked about how he gambled away all of my mom's savings that she had been working on for five years. It was originally supposed to have been for my college tuition but he blew it all in a week. We talked about how after the first hit he ever gave me, it turned into something frequent; along with his drinking. He wasted the last of our savings money and we had to move to a small apartment in Jamaica, Queens just before I was due to start my first year in high school. And then I met Alex.

"So this is why you never wanted me to go to your house." I nodded my head. I somehow ended up laying with my head on her leg. I couldn't handle looking at her face any more as I told her everything It was hurting too much to see how much she was getting upset. "This explains so much." Her voice was quiet and I wasn't even sure if she was actually talking to me or herself. I looked up at her and returned my gaze when she felt my head turn against her leg.

"What do you mean?"

"I just mean the way you are sometimes. You'll disappear for days and then show up at school and you won't talk to anybody. And you're always all over the place and Caitlyn told me you always skip P.E." There was a pause between us and I turned my head back to where it was before. I felt Alex's fingers run through my hair and I closed my eyes, willing myself to not get upset again. I was too exhausted to cry any more. "I always wondered about these things but you're always so closed off… and well, now I know."

"Nothing's going to change is it?" I don't really know why I asked her that. I admit, I was sort of afraid that I was going to lose her over it but I knew that was ridiculous to even consider. She sighed and my eyes opened again.

"Mitch I really think you need to tell somebody." I sat up and looked at her in a second. She stayed calm, though.

"Alex, do you know what will happen if I tell anybody?" I was trying not to raise my voice too loud, it was late and the last thing I wanted was to wake her parents. "I'll either be sent to live with some family member who hasn't bothered to look for me for the past or I'll be sent to some weird care home for kids. I can't deal with either of those options, Lex." I felt like I was guilt tripping her into keeping quiet about it and I hated myself for it. I didn't want to be that person, but I could barely cope with the thought of going off somewhere strange by myself, I knew I wouldn't last a day. "Please don't tell anyone, I'll do anything Lex." I waited anxiously for a response. She was silent for a moment whilst she thought of something and the anticipation was agonising.

"If you promise that you'll come to me when it gets too bad and you don't keep anything from me about this, then fine, I won't tell anybody." I felt surprised by her agreement, but I obliged. "But Mitchie, I swear if it ever gets too bad." I nodded. I didn't need her to go on, I knew what she was thinking. Her eyes began to water and I realised she only stopped talking because she was holding herself back from crying. She composed herself and took in a breath through her nose. "Mitchie, I swear if he ever seriously hurts you, I'll kill him."

I felt… bad. Just bad, in every way possible. I never wanted to put all of that on my best friend. It was a struggle for her just as much as it was for me sometimes, I think, and there have been a lot of times where I've wished I could take everything about that night back. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have always been so grateful for Alex and everything she has ever done for me and the way she has handled this for the past two and a half years and the way she has handled me. She has been an absolute saint and I can't fault anything she has ever done. Of course it's gotten between us before and it's been the root to a hell of a lot of our issues, but I understand that I can't blame her for that; it's not her fault.

I didn't speak to Alex for the rest of that weekend. I wasn't angry at her any more; I probably stopped feeling angry about an hour after I left, but I felt too guilty to text her or anything and I knew that if I went to go see her again we would probably just argue some more. I did get a text message from Shane, though.

I was at work when I got his message. My manager would never be around so I had it pretty easy. It was only minimum wage job at a 24 hour convenience store but it got me away from home. Plus, the money in my pocket helped an awful lot too, considering I pretty much had to provide for myself anyway. I was restocking some shelves in the back of the store when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a pretty small store, so there was never really too much work to do, but it was enough to keep myself occupied. I put down the scissors on the floor that I was using to cut open the boxes and pulled my phone from my pocket.

Shane: what did you do to Alex?

Mitchie: what are you talking about?

It was about five minutes before he replied again but I wasn't worried about what he said. I knew Shane well enough to know that he was never a serious person, so if something was really wrong, I would know about it.

Shane: she's been miserable all night

Mitchie: what does that have anything to do with me?

I figured, if he was asking me what was wrong with her then she obviously wasn't telling him and I was in no position to decide on Alex's behalf what her friends know about her business.

Shane: you were the last person she was with

Shane: plus she gets all weird whenever you're mentioned

Mitchie: where are you?

I was only curious because he said I was being mentioned and I think any normal person would be curious, too. I put my phone on the floor beside my knees and carried on working. It was always quiet at this time. We would never get more than a couple customers come in at once. My phone buzzed against the hard floor

Shane: me, Alex and Caitlyn are hanging out at Denny's

A few minutes passed and I still hadn't replied. I had nothing to say to him, so I just got back to work. My phone vibrated against the floor again but I had no intention of picking it up. I did look down at my screen every time it lit up, though.

Shane: I will find out what's going on

Shane: I'm watching you, Mitchie

Shane: I'm aaaalways waaatching

After that, he proceeded to send me about eight different emojis but I just put my phone away and got back to work. I didn't want to think any more about Alex. I knew she would have been fine and I knew I wouldn't see her until we get back to school so there was really no point in getting myself worked up any more than I already was. I felt bad enough and I didn't need the added guilt from thinking about how much of a lame friend I was being.