WARNING!!!

This story does contain abuse. It's only a character looking very beaten up and explaining to her friend what happened. If you don't want to read that, leave.

Another thing: This story contains two gay teenage girls. Don't like that? Leave. As in, now. Unless you want to say something 'mean.' Then go ahead. I could use a good laugh.

XX

"Come here," I whispered. She had started to cry, and I hated the sight of those beautiful green eyes being so sad. She walked over to me quickly, and put her arms around me. I did the same, holding her close. She put her head on my shoulder, and I could feel her uneven breathe on my neck. I rested my head on hers, and we just stood there, her crying and me holding her tight whispering in her ear.

I suppose I should tell you how this started. It's a sad story, but one that hopefully has a happy ending.

Willow is my best friend. We met on our first day of high school. We were both new, and we had all the same classes. We became friends quickly. About a week after the first day of school, we were at my house, listening to music in my room, when she told me she was gay.

"I've never told anyone this before," she'd said. "But I really feel like I can trust you. Please don't hate me, Saph." Sapphire was my real name, but she always called me Saph. I loved it; it was her name just for me.

I walked over to wear she was sitting on the floor by my bed, and put my arm around her. "I could never hate you," I told her, looking into her eyes. Even then I was captivated by them...They were so green. "Besides," I smiled, "I'm gay too. So there's one more thing we have in common."

She smiled and started laughing at me and my lame line.

Our coming out to each other was something that only brought us closer. From then on, we were almost inseparable. Almost.

There were times when her father would call, and she would have to rush home, saying she had forgotten to do something and her father wanted her home right away so it got done. She was lying. I always knew she was, she was so awful at lying to me. I never said anything about it though, knowing that if she wanted me to know she'd tell me.

The school year passed by pretty quickly. Soon it was summer, and Willow and I spent almost the whole time together. She wasn't called home as much, so I figured things were getting easier at her house, or with whatever it was that was going on.

The next three years passed by mostly the same. We always had a lot of fun when we were together, and we were almost always together. Away from school, we spent most of our time at my house, or at the park. Even after three years of being amazingly close best friends, I had only seen her house three or four times, and we never hung out there. I never asked why. She never told me.

At the start of this summer though, something began to change. Her smiles didn't always reach her eyes like they used to. Her laugh usually sounded fake. Every now and then she'd wince when I touched her, or just pull away. Then, she showed up at my house for a sleepover with her wrist wrapped in an ACE bandage, saying she had fallen down the stairs last night and sprained it. A lie. This time, I had to ask. Something was very wrong.

"It's nothing," she told me after I asked what was going on.

"It isn't nothing," I replied. "You're not acting like you used to. You aren't as happy."

"It's nothing." I looked at her face, and she looked so angry. Even her eyes were a few shades darker. Then her face softened. "Please, Saph. Don't worry so much. I'm fine. My father is just having a harder time at work, so I've had to pick up more at home with chores, and I've been tired. I'm sorry." As she said this, she hugged me, and I couldn't tell if she was lying or not. So instead of trying to figure it out, I just hugged her back.

"Don't be sorry. Just know you can always come over here whenever you want to, and you can tell me anything. Alright?" She nodded against my shoulder.

The next day, she was so much like her old self that I had forgotten anything had happened. Late in the afternoon, though, Willow's father called, and started yelling at her. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but obviously Willow could.

"Okay," She said to him after he stopped yelling. "I'll be right home." She turned, and she looked at me, and the look in her eyes almost made me forget to breathe. She was afraid. No, it wasn't just that...she was terrified. After a second, she blinked and looked down. "I have to go..." Without waiting for a response, she got up and almost ran out of the house.

After that, I didn't hear from her for a week. We hadn't gone so long without talking and seeing each other since we met. I was worried sick. No matter how many times I called her, her father always said she was busy. My parents asked about her several times, but I couldn't tell them anything. I didn't know anything.

Then, this weekend, my family (my parents and my little sister) went to visit and stay with my aunt. I had decided not to go, knowing that I would only drag everyone down with how worried I was about Willow. I didn't really want to leave anyway; what if she called and needed me, and I wasn't there? It turned out to be a very good thing I didn't go.

About an hour after my family left, Willow came over. She surprised me. I hadn't been expecting her to just come over.

When I opened the door, she was looking down at the welcome mat we had, with her hair covering her face. She wasn't standing right, I noticed. She seemed to be leaning more to one side...Then she looked up, and all other thought left me. Her face was covered in bruises. Her lip was cut and swollen, and both her eyes were ugly shades of bluish-purple. And she was crying.

We just stood there looking at each other for a minute. Finally, I held my hands open, and she immediately rushed into them. I held her for a minute, and then had to push her away. She had to tell me what happened.

"Why don't you go wait in my room, okay? I'll be right up." I knew my parents were gone, and we wouldn't be interrupted wherever we were, but I also knew she'd be more comfortable in my room. Quickly, I closed and locked the door, and put some water in the microwave to boil. After that was done, I made Willow some hot chocolate, something that always seemed to help her calm down, and hurried upstairs.

She was in her usual place on the floor, leaning against my bed. She had her knees drawn up to her chest, with her arms on top of them and her head resting on her arms. She was facing away from me, and didn't seem to know I was there yet. Her long dark hair hung down her side, and I noticed it had lost some of its shine. I quickly walked over to her, and sat down next to her.

"I brought you hot cocoa," I said softly. I put my hand on her back, intending it to be a comforting touch, and she winced. I pulled my hand away, unsure of what to do. She turned towards me, and whispered a thank you when I gave her the cup. She drank some of it, and set it beside her. "Please," I said, now whispering as well. "Tell me what's been happening." She nodded, and more tears came down her face.

"I...It was my father," she said, looking away. "Since after my mom died, he's been getting drunk a lot, and he'd hit me sometimes. He'd say I reminded him of her, and seemed to think hitting me would change that. Eventually, he stopped getting drunk so often. He was nicer. I'd thought things would change. He'd still hit me sometimes, but not as often. But then, this summer, it started getting even worse. He..." After she looked away, she'd started talking really fast. Now, though, she paused, almost like she wasn't sure if she could go on. "He...started rapping me, and hitting me even harder." She stopped talking. She was crying too hard to get any more words out.

I put my arms around her, and she leaned into me. I held her lightly, not wanting to hurt her. I finally understood that she pulled away or winced when I touched her not because she didn't want me to, but because it hurt when I did. She, however, held onto me tightly. After a while, she pulled away, and then just rested her head on my shoulder. I didn't know what to say. I held her hand, as it seemed to be the only part of her I knew wasn't hurt, and moved my thumb over the back of her hand.

"We have to tell someone, Willow..." I hated having to say that without saying anything to comfort her, but there was nothing else I could say. "And I'll have to take you to the hospital, to get you checked out and make sure you're okay." She nodded, not moving her head from my shoulder. She didn't say anything, but I knew that she knew what I was saying was right. And that she'd do it. I opened my mouth to say something else, but the phone rang before I could. Willow pulled away from me, silently telling me to go answer it. "It's probably my parents calling to tell me they got to my aunts. I'll be right back..."

I was right, it was my parents. They just wanted to tell me they had gotten there safely, and to see how I was doing. I told them I probably wouldn't be home most of the night, and I might be gone tomorrow as well. When they asked why, I just told them that some stuff was going on with Willow and I had to take care of her. It was the truth, and, thankfully, they didn't press me. They just told me to call if they needed my help or just wanted them home.

I walked back to my room. When I stepped in, Willow was sitting on my bed. She looked at me when I appeared in the doorway.

"Come here," I whispered. She had started to cry, and I hated the sight of those beautiful green eyes being so sad. She walked over to me quickly, and put her arms around me. I did the same, holding her close. She put her head on my shoulder, and I could feel her uneven breathe on my neck. I rested my head on hers, and we just stood there, her crying and me holding her tight, whispering in her ear.

After a while, I knew we had to start moving. I gently pushed her away so that I was no longer hugging her, but I kept an arm around her waist. We had always been touchy-feely-ish, and I was hoping it would help her to feel a little better now.

"I have to take you to the hospital, okay?" She nodded, and I started leading us to the kitchen for my car keys. I wasn't really sure what to do first, whether or not I should take her to the hospital, or the police, or what, so I just decided on the hospital, thinking they would know what to do, who to call, and all that.

The ride there wasn't very long. And when we got to the hospital, we didn't have to wait very long either. When the nurses saw Willow, and I kinda skimmed over what happened to her, she led us to a room and promised a doctor would be in soon. She was right. The doctor came in, examined her, and said that she didn't have any broken bones, and her body would heal. He told us we could stay in the room and wait. The nurse had called the police and they'd be here soon.

Like with the doctor, we didn’t have long to wait. The police came, and Willow told them what happened. It took a while; every now and then she started crying too hard to continue. I was glad they let me stay with her, even though I hated seeing her like this. Afterwards, Willow was allowed to come back home with me, though I think that has more to do with the fact one of the police men and I spent half an hour arguing about it. I repeatedly told him that Willow would be plenty safe at my house, especially since they had already arrested her father.

When we finally got back home, it was well after midnight. Willow fell asleep in the car, so I carried her inside, and up to my room. We fell asleep on my bed in our clothes. When I woke up, Willow was already awake, with her beautiful green eyes staring at me. Sometime while we slept we had gotten tangled up with each other. Seeing I was awake, Willow smiled. And then she did something I was really not expecting.

She kissed me.

On the lips.

It was bliss.

“Sapphire, “ she whispered, pulling away. Again, she looked into my eyes. “I love you. I’ve always loved you, and you’ve been so amazing to me, and such a good friend, and—“ She wouldn’t stop talking, so I kissed to her make her stop.

“Willow, I love you too. And I will always be here for you, no matter what happens. I love you.” Once more, we kissed. After she pulled away, Willow snuggled into me and fell asleep. For most of the day, we stayed like that. Eventually, my parents came home, and found us in my room. I heard my mom say something like ‘finally,’ but I might’ve imagined it. She smiled at me, blew me a kiss, and left, closing my door behind her. I heard her tell my dad and sister not to bother us. I smiled, and fell back to sleep with Willow still in my arms.

XX

A/N:: If this doesn't flow very well, or something, it's probably because I didn't read over it. I'm sorry. I did put it through spell/grammer check, so (most of) that stuff should be taken care of.

Hopefully, the end was at least a little unexpected. Sapphire never said she loved Willow during the story, so that might have made it a little...unbelieveable?

Well, please, please, please tell me what you think!!!! Reviews make my day. And, if I decide to write more of this, I will give all reviewers cookies. Many, many cookies.

OpalRose