Songs for the chapter:
Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks
Dollar For Your Sadness by Unlike Pluto

I skipped school that day.

I never skipped a day of school in my life before that.

I felt absolutely rebellious, and I loved it.

Noa made me forget about what had happened with Ripley and my father. She made me feel as though I could do whatever I wanted and be whoever I wanted to be. I was free with her.

We drove around the town, high on cheap nicotine and the recklessness of teenage oblivion. With the windows down and the car stereo turned all the way up, we sang our hearts out, embracing the cold wind whipping through our hair.

Once the sun began setting, I finally parked the car near our favorite spot: the park bench by the ice cream shop. Noa was the first out of the car, running towards the bench before wiping the snow off of it and lying down on it. Once I made it over towards her, she began to light another cigarette.

She glanced over towards me, her eyes still glossy from the previous high. "There's a reason you didn't pick me up this morning."

I lifted her head up, placing it on my lap as I sat on the bench. Stroking her hair, I said, "you're still upset about that? Noa, I said I was sorry."

She took a puff of her cigarette. "I'm not. I was before." She then closed her eyes, as if savoring the moment a bit before looking back up at me. "What happened last night Rhett?"

"With us?" I asked, hoping to not go into the details of what happened after our intimate moment the previous night.

She sat up at my question, shifting her body so she was sitting on my lap. I had to take a couple deep breaths to calm myself down. "After you dropped me off. Something happened...I can tell."

I shifted my gaze over towards the small pond where frost had begun to cover the blue waters. "My dad. That's all."

Her hands cradled my face, making me look back into her gray-blue eyes. "Rhett. You can be open with me. Hell, I've been pretty open with you--more open than I've been with anyone."

She was right; she had been incredibly open with me recently about things, but even then, I knew there were things she was keeping to herself. I never pushed it out of her though.

Tears stung at my eyes, and I tried blinking them away as I spoke quietly. "He hurt Ripley. My mom called me after our date that Rip was in the hospital--" tears continued to stream down my face, "--Rip ended up with a broken arm and some bruises, b-but it's my fault. I was too much of a coward to stand up to my father before. Ripley wouldn't have been hurt if I would've just been strong enough to stand up to him all of the other times before. I--I can't let him hurt Rip again, Noa. I-I..."

I scrunched my eyes up as I cried. Her hands had snaked around to the back of my neck as she leaned her forehead on mine. Her breaths were calming, and as I had opened my eyes back up, I saw she was crying too. I lifted my hands to her wet cheeks, wiping away the tears. She had leaned into my touch with a soft smile before it was replaced with her look of determined rebellion.

"We're not going to let him do that to Ripley or you ever again. Do you hear me?" Her tone was so serious, that I actually believed her. At that moment, I felt she could save me from him.

I only nodded my head in response, still blinking away the hot and stingy tears.

Her hands were now cradling my face, her thumb stroking my stubbly cheek ever so softly. "Rhett. I know you don't want anyone to know but maybe we should tell--"

My eyes met hers with steely hardness. "No. I won't---I can't---tell anyone. He would find a way to make himself look good, and make me look like a delusional idiot. He's great at manipulation."

She took her hands from my face, her eyes drifting around the empty park. "Then you have to get him so mad to the point where he's about to hurt you. You need him to do it in public--"

"--he's not going to hurt me in public! The man is an arsehole but no idiot." I had cut her off, earning a dirty look from her. She hated whenever I cutted off her sentences.

She stood up then, placing herself in front of my sitting form. She took her burnt out cigarette, throwing it onto the ground before crushing it under the sole of her boot. With a fiery look in her eyes, she said, "Next time he's at your house, I'll be there, ready with a camera. I'll be hidden--or at least the camera will be--and you need to do something that you know will make him go off on you. And once we get enough evidence, we're sending it to law officials. You and your brother will not be hurt anymore. Not on my fucking watch."

My heart pounded in my chest ferociously at her words. I believed her. I believed that once we'd get the evidence we needed, it would be over for him. He would no longer be that ever-growing thorn in my life; constantly pricking at my skin, opening and reopening wounds. My scars could finally heal.

If only it had been that easy.

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**unedited**

A/N: so sorry for this overdue update! Been in a funk and have had an incredible writer's block. Thank you to all my friends and readers for continuing to support me, this work and my passion for writing! I'll try to be consistent with posting a chapter a week!❤️ much love, Madelyn Joy