Perfect

“This was such a bad idea Claire,” I whined, my stomach churning as the sound of the music got closer.

“Oh, stop being a sook Bella! It’ll be loads of fun!”

“That’s what I’m scared of. Not to mention the fact that I’ve got a wild zoo running around in my stomach.”

She giggled at me and gave me a weird look as though to try and figure out whether I was possessed by aliens or not.

“I’m not kidding Claire!” I moaned giving her my best pleading look.

“What happened to all that confidence you had when we got into the car Princess?”

“It went out the window Michael, that’s what happened to it. Now any tiny shred of confidence I had left is getting trampled by the zoo animals stampeding in my stomach.” I exclaimed, pouting my lips and crossing my arms over my chest. Both Claire and Michael gave each other a look and burst out laughing. “Come on guys, this isn’t fair. Maybe we should just turn around and go home?” I asked trying to look somewhat hopeful and praying that maybe Michael would agree that it was a bad idea.

“Nope,” Claire said while making sure to pop the ‘p’. “You’re going in and that’s final.”

“I agree with Miss Claire Princess, sorry!” Grumbling incoherent words as the car pulled to a stop I let her drag me out of the car into the street, cars were parked everywhere filling up any empty space available and red plastic cups were lying on the road. “Have fun Princess,” Michael whispered out of the window, just enough so Claire and I could hear him, “I’ll be waiting here if anything happens and you need a ride home!”

“Thanks Michael, I appreciate it.” I said while getting dragged away by Claire.

As we approached the house the music got louder, vibrating my body. There were drunk teens passed out on the ground in the front yard and red cups littered the grass, just as much as they did the street. The stench of alcohol, cigarettes and other things I do not want to mention wafted up my nose. I’d never been to a High School party before considering it had never been on my list of things to do. Claire still had a tight grip on my hand as we climbed the stairs towards the front door. It wasn’t like my own mansion but a large bachelor pad and simply by that I knew Jason or his parents had some serious cash.

We squirmed through the sweaty bodies on the dance floor while listening to ‘Where Are U Now’ by Justin Bieber. Finally breaking through the crowd, we made it to the drink table. Claire found a bottle that wasn’t open and grabbed two spare red cups. “Okay so you know the rules Princess. Don’t put your cup down or it might get spiked, no taking drugs and no having sex with boys.” She said these things with such an intense stare that I wanted to laugh at her.

I knew she was only trying to look out for me but the prospect of this party scared me and hearing her say that so seriously, like it could happen, made the idea of laughing go away quickly.

All I could do was nod at her, so she took that as an answer and started pouring us drinks and soon enough I was slowly on my way to being drunk as hell. We’d met up with some girls out on the dance floor and we were all having a hell of a good time, I’d have to get their numbers. The music was blasting in my ears and soon enough I felt a pair of hands grab my waist, I was too intoxicated to care at the time but in time his hands were roaming places that snapped me right back to reality, quicker than clicking your fingers together. I hadn’t noticed but he’d slowly danced me all the way to the side of the room away from the safety of my friends. I don’t blame them for not noticing but right at this moment I wish they would turn around and notice I wasn’t there dancing happily with them.

“Hey baby.” The guy from behind me slurred, his putrid smelling breath making me gag. I stared towards the dance floor and waited for my friends to notice I was gone, completely ignoring him. This seemed to make him mad since he tightened his grip on my hips making me wince. I knew I could call for Michael and the bodyguards but god, would that cause even bigger problems.

“Let me go please.” I asked nicely, turning around to acknowledge the disgusting boy behind me. I took a good look at the clothes he was wearing and what stood out most was the varsity jacket he was wearing; Northside? But we were rival schools especially with the football boys I was told by Claire. I was also told to stay far away from them since they were pigs and constantly crashed all the Southside boy’s parties.

Pulling away from the drunken boy I tried to walk away from the situation but that just earned me a swift slap to the cheek, “I’m not letting you go anywhere honey, I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name loud enough for all of America to hear.” I panicked, almost losing my shit right then and there from the words that came out of his mouth. He started planting sloppy kisses down my neck, towards my collarbones and down my now exposed chest. His right hand was squeezing my butt while the left was roaming widely up the inside of my leg. I couldn’t take it anymore, it felt so wrong but I kept myself from breaking down into a ball and crying just like last time.

I replied to his actions with a gruelling right hook to the jaw and a hard jab straight to his nose to finish it off. He abruptly let me go and stumbled backwards swearing. Blood was running freely from his nose and down his face and he looked me dead straight in the eye before stomping off like a ten-year-old child, “This isn’t over whore.”

Shivering at his use of language I could feel the tears starting to dry on my face. I looked down at my knuckles which were red from the impact to his face and covered in his blood. Letting out a long sigh I decided it was time to go back and find my friends. Weaving back through the crowd to find Claire and the girls, who as I suspected before were starting to look around for me with worried expressions on their faces; I started to feel a sharp sting on my face as the adrenaline left my system. I reached them just as my face came into the dance floor light and Claire took a sharp intake of breath when she saw me.

“Bella, you do know you have a red hand mark on your face that looks like it’s going to turn into a bruise, and why having you been crying? What happened oh my gosh?!”

Shrugging at her questions not really wanting to give an answer I looked towards the floor, finding it suddenly very interesting. But I knew Claire wouldn’t take that for an answer, she then proceeded to pick up my hand, “And please tell me this is not your blood or I swear to the lord almighty.” I giggled at her use of words and shook my head but didn’t get a reply from her since I saw the girls faces pale and even Claire with her unwavering confidence was cowering away from whatever stood behind me.

Whipping around I found myself looking into the same poop coloured eyes of the sickly teenager that had just threatened to rape me.

“I see I left a mark for you to remember me by babe.” He spat. I glared at him but before I replied I took a good look at his face and a victorious smirk started to tug at my lips. His nose was clearly broken and he was starting to sport a nice bruise on the side of his jaw. Nice handy work Isabella, I thought to myself before I was quickly brought back to the present due to the sight of his fist advancing down towards my face. I braced myself for the hit but didn’t feel it. It never came.

Not daring to open my eyes I stayed completely still until I felt a warm hand that sent tingles through my body roughly push me behind their body, for protection I’m assuming. I heard a low, dark and angry voice rumbling from the person in front of me, “Don’t you ever touch her Wilson or you won’t know what hit you.”

I felt another hand come from behind me and I clearly knew this person didn’t want to hurt me but my first bodily instinct was to flinch and I probably jumped a mile in the air, shying away from the touch. I couldn’t open my eyes and a severe headache was starting to form. My hands fisted in my hair as memories and nightmares started to flood back into my mind from that night.

A new voice spoke this time and it came from the one who’d just made me flinch, “What did you do to her!” He roared. I heard Claire come up beside me before I heard a thunderous crack, I knew that sound and someone had just thrown a punch. This forced me to peel my eyes open one by one and I was staring at the Northside footballer on the ground knocked out by a raging Seth. It took two seconds before one of the Northside boys jumped onto one of the Southside boys throwing wild punches and a massive brawl had broken out within a mere matter of minutes.

By now partiers had left and the only people left were the footballers who were apart of the fight and a couple of girls. Looking madly around the room I noticed two of the Northside boys had advanced towards some of the girls and cornered them so they couldn’t escape. I could clearly see who had come to my rescue now and it had been the boys but they were clearly busy fighting off the others so this was my job. Shaking my arm out of Claire’s vice grip, since she was distracted by the scene in front of her, I strode hastily over towards the girls pushing them into a bedroom nearby and told them to climb out the window if the boys made it past the door. Nodding they closed the door, locking it behind them.

Turning around I faced the two jack asses who thought it was a cool idea to advance on the two girls. I was shit scared but I was also livid. Taking out all my anger on them I roundhouse kicked the first one in the head knocking him unconscious. Sliding on the floor I tripped the next one over with his own two daft feet watching as he stumbled backwards onto his back. I walked after him, straddled his torso and smashed my fist repeatedly into his face. Tears started streaming down my face after a while and I felt a vice like grip on my arm just as I lifted my arm up to throw the last punch. I looked up to find Cameron with a stone-cold expression on his face, his facial features softening instantaneously when he took in my state. His grip on my arm lessened as I stood up and looked at the boy I’d left on the ground. A loud groan erupted from his throat which made me kind of unhappy to know he was alive but also glad to know I wasn’t going to be pressed with murder charges anytime soon.

I spotted Claire running out of the crowd with open arms and I accepted her invitation, more tears streaming down my face. I loved her warm hugs and it soothed me quickly. She seemed to be having an intense conversation with Cameron over my shoulder but I wasn’t paying any attention since I didn’t care.

A couple of seconds later she pulled away and gave me that questioning look but I just shook my head at her, looking towards the ground at my feet. The boys from Northside were being dragged out by the team members of Southside Varsity at this certain time but the boys and Claire were all standing around me with that questioning look.

“You know we all need to know what happened to have caused this big of a fight Bella? What did he do to you?”

I was still looking at the floor shuffling my feet.

“He tried to rape me,” I mumbled quietly just enough for Claire to hear. The boys deserved to know why they got into a fight for me, considering Jason had a split lip, Jace was sporting a growing black eye along with an identical split lip to Jason’s, Seth’s cheek had a large bruise forming on it and he was limping on his right foot. Then there was Cameron, he was sporting a small bruise on his jaw and I could see a bruise forming on his abdomen under his shirt where it was raised slightly. I guess I owed them the explanation.

I cleared my throat, “He tried to rape me.”

A series of curse words went around the circle of boys and a loud band was heard from Cameron’s direction. He’d punched a hole in the wall, I flinched at the sound and Claire already had her arms around my body comforting me in ways only she knew how. She’d helped me get over my first sexual assault and now she had to help me with my second, what was wrong with me?

“I’m so sorry Claire.” I sobbed silently into her shoulder, I felt like a horrible friend and I just couldn’t fathom the reason as to why she’d stayed with me all these years. I was broken and falling apart, it may look like I have the perfect life but I’d been through things no child or women wants to go through. “No sweetheart,” she cooed, “don’t you dare apologise for something that wasn’t your fault.”

Looking up, I scanned around the room for the boys but it seemed while I was having my mini breakdown they’d left the room. I wasn’t crying particularly loudly but I’d heard Claire mumble something while I was sobbing into her shoulder which sounded a lot like, ‘Can you give us a minute.’

I looked back up at her face, “This is the second time Claire. Do you remember how long it took me to get over it the first time and the number of nightmares and therapy sessions I went through. This is going to be worse than last time and I’m sorry for dragging you into all of it.”

“Princess Isabella Rosléin Marie Evans, I have vowed my life to you as your best friend and your hypothetical sister. I will never let you go through these times alone and I will support you no matter the cause of your pain. I will always be by your side Bella. Don’t ever forget it.”

Giving her the most affectionate look I could with my tear stained face, I jumped straight back into her arms. We stood like that for a while in each other’s embrace before I remembered how stressed out the boys had been about the whole situation.

“You being the confident one and all Claire, how about you go let the boys know I should be okay and I’ll go get a glass of water because I’m kind of needing it.”

Claire laughed and nodded her head at me before walking out into the back patio where I’m assuming the boys had disappeared too; probably to get some fresh air. I headed off to the kitchen eager to tend to my parched throat but instead ran into yet another hard chest.

Cameron.

I slipped around his largely defined body that was sending the butterflies in my stomach off into a wild frenzy, making my hairs stand on end. He obviously wasn’t happy with that since he sighed loudly and followed me back into the kitchen.

Filling up a cup of water I leaned on the sink, staring out the window slowly sipping the water from the cup but that wasn’t going to quench my thirst fast enough. Soon enough I was on my third cup of water and I heard muffled laughter behind me.

I glared at Cameron who was on the chair behind me having a jolly good time with a beer in his hand. “Having fun?” He asked raising an eyebrow in the direction of the water that I now noticed had spilled all over my dress.

“Yes, lot’s. Thanks for asking.” I replied sarcastically chucking the cup in the sink and walking towards the back patio out of the kitchen. I passed Cameron on the way obviously but he grabbed my hand before I’d reached the archway that signalled the end of the kitchen.

The simple action set a bunch of animals loose in my stomach, along with the already wild frenzy of butterflies and goose bumps rising along my skin. I looked down at the hand he had on my arm, who knew you could feel so much with one touch. Wasn’t I meant to hate him?

But he saved your life.

So, what?

So? You could’ve been raped and killed?

Good point. He threatened me as well though.

Get over it, you respect him, even after all that he’s done to you. He saved your life and makes you feel alive.

Doesn’t take back what he’s done.

“Bella?”

“Yeah, sorry what?” I said, thankful that I was shaken out of the absurd mental conversation I was having with myself. I’m going insane.

“I asked if you were okay?” He stated with a concern look etched across his perfectly chiseled face.

“Do you want the truth Cameron?”

“Yes Bella, I do.”

“Then no, I’m not okay. This isn’t the first time I’ve been sexually assaulted. The first time was hard enough to get over and now I must learn to be at peace with it again. I’ll be looking over my shoulder, barely getting any sleep. I won’t be okay at all, not for a while Cameron.” I tried to say firmly, but my voice failed letting me down at the end by cracking.

I heard a chair screech and before I could calculate what was going on, I was engulfed in a hug. This time from Cameron Stone himself. Letting myself embrace his warm hug, I hesitantly wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head onto his chest. His arms were wrapped around my waist and I knew I was tense but how could I not be. His hands connecting with my skin sent tingles erupting throughout my body, which reminded me that it was just Cameron. I relaxed into his hug and that one nagging thought came back into my mind.

Maybe Cameron Stone was more than the egotistical jerk I’d come to define him by?