Her bottom lip shook violently, as her aunt continued to yell at her out of nowhere a hand swept across Katie's face. Her chest heaved up and down as the tears rolled down her face. Before she could get hit again, she jumped up and ran out of the house crying.
"Get your little ungrateful ass back here!" her yelled at her as she ran down the street.
Hearing the rage in her aunts' voice made her run faster and further from the place where she never really felt wanted. The oncoming ache in her legs made her stop running and take a look at where she was. It took a minute for her to take in her surroundings, once she calmed down she realized she was standing in front of Ashtons' house. Ashton had been her best friend since grade school, he knew everything about her, including how her aunt had been abusive to her ever since her mother had passed away. Katie went over to the side gate, opened it up and made her way to the side door. Opening up the screen she tapped on the main door and waited for someone to answer. Two minutes had passed before Ashton appeared in the doorway.
"She hit you again didn't she?" he asked, noticing Katies' freshly bruised lip.
"Yeah, do you mind if I stay here tonight?"
"You know you're always welcome here, come on in." Ashton replied moving out of the doorway so Katie could enter.
Katie walked up the couple of stairs that led to the kitchen, she took a quick glance around and her shoulders relaxed from the sense of security that she felt in this house.
"Are you thirsty?" Do you need anything?" Ashton asked as he grabbed himself a pop out of the fridge.
"No, I think I'm just going to go to sleep."
"Alright, you take my bed and I'll take the couch."
"Alright, see you in morning Ash." Katie said making her way up the stairs.
On her way to Ashtons' bedroom Katie stopped in the bathroom to take a look at her face. There was a small bruise forming under her left eye and she had a busted lip.
"I'm never going back there again," she mumbled to herself.
She walked into Ashtons' bedroom and climbed into his bed to try to get some sleep. Moments later Ashton walked into his room wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a wife beater.
"Hey, what happened to your couch." Katie asked Ashton as he sat down on the bed.
"Shit, I got rid of it because i got a better one on the way."
"Well you take that side and I'll take this side." Katie said scooting over on the bed to make room for Ashton.
Climbing into the bed Ashton looked over at her and sighed "You know you have to tell someone about this right?" This has to stop, what if she really hurts you the next time?
"But then where would I live? Who would even believe a word that I say. It would be her word against mine."
"You can live here if you want, I'll take the couch for a while."
"Nah, I'll take the couch there is no telling you've had in this bed. I'm going to need a long shower in the morning just to wash off whatever could be in here."
"I always changed my sheets after ever girl, so shut up."
"I hope so, anyway goodnight." Katie said tuning on her side.
"Yeah, goodnight." Ashton said turning in the opposite direction.
In the middle of the night Katie started to scream at the top of her lungs. Ashton jumped up and lightly shook her shoulder to get her to wake up.
"Katie! Wake up! You're fine look!" Ashton kept repeating over and over trying to get her wake up.
After about ten minutes of shaking her shoulder, Katie finally opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings trying to clear the fog from her head.
"Sorry, another bad dream." Katie said a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, just try to get some sleep." Ashton replied wiping his eyes.
Katie laid back down and went to sleep once more. Ashton looked at her for a while and then turned over and went back to sleep. Sunrays came through the curtains and directly into Katie's face.
"Ugh, the sun, it burns!" Katie said groaning being in direct contact of the sun."
Before getting up out of the bed she stretched her arms and legs, stopping once she heard the popping of her bones. Ashtons' side of the bed was empty. She sat up and looked around the room, Ashton was no where in sight. Knowing how much of an early bird he was Katie just assumed he had taken his shower and already getting on with his day. It took a couple of extra minutes but Katie finally gathered the strength to get out of the bed and slowly made her way over to Ashtons' dresser where she kept some of her belongings. There was still some pain in her legs and thighs from all the running she had did last night. Grabbing herself a towel and washcloth from the hallway closet Katie made her way to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. A little over an hour passed before she was ready to exit the shower, the hot water did her aching muscles some good. After drying off and getting dressed, she decided to apply a little make up to cover up her small bruises. Katie emerged from the bathroom looking and feeling like a whole new person. As Ashton walked into his room he had to do a double take just to make sure that the person he was looking at was indeed Katie.
"What's wrong?" Katie asked taking in Ashtons blank expression.
"Nothing, you just look different today that's all" he replied still staring at her.
"Good different or bad different?"
"Good different, like more energetic or something."
"Well I don't feel more energetic but thanks for the compliment." Katie replied giving him a small smile.
After leaving her aunts' house last night she had turned her phone completely off so no one would bother her. Grabbing her phone off the dresser she powered it back on so she could check her messages. To her surprise she only had one message and it was from her boyfriend Calvin. She read the over the message, sent a reply and placed the phone in her pocket.
"Are you going to tell Calvin about your aunt and what happened?" Ashton asked plopping down on his bed.
" I'll tell him after we come back from breakfast."
"Does he know that you aren't at home right now?"
'Yeah, I sent him a text and told him to come pick me up from here."
"Do you want me to go to your aunts' house and bring back some more of your clothes?"
"Only if you have the time otherwise don't worry about it. I'll deal with it later."
Katie took a peek out of the bedroom window and noticed Calvin's blue hummer coming up the street.
"Be back later to pick you up for practice." Katie yelled as she made her way down the stairs and out the side door.
When she got to the hummer Calvin was standing on the passengers' side with the door already open for her. She climbed up into the seat and buckled herself in while Calvin closed her door and made his way back around to the drivers side.
"Hey, babe where do you want to go eat at this fine morning?" Calvin said kissing her on the lips.
"How about some IHOP?" Katie suggested looking out the window.
"I'm cool with IHOP, their pancakes be on point."
IHOP was about a forty five minutes drive from Ashton's house on a good day. Katie turned the radio on and 112's Dance With Me started blasting out of the speakers. She started singing and bopping along to the beat.
"I see you looking at me and I can tell by your eyes that you're feeling me and I really want you to get close to me so won't you dance with me, dance with me." Katie sang out like she was an original member of the group.
The engine stopped on the hummer, cutting the song off prematurely. Looking over a Katie with a grin Calvin said "We're here superstar, are you done with your concert?"
"I'm sure my fans will be fine with me taking a brief intermission to stuff my face." Katie replied giving Calvin a wink and taking her seatbelt off.
Calvin and Katie walked into the IHOP hand in hand smiling and laughing. As they made their way to the line to be seated they talked about random stuff that was going on in their school. Five minutes passed before they made it to the front of the line.
"Table for two please." Calvin said smiling at the hostess at the stand.
"Right this way," she replied grabbing two menu's and smiling back at them.
They were led to a table for two in the middle of the restaurant and their menu's were placed on the table top for them to look over. They sat down across from each and quickly glanced at their menu's even though they wouldn't need them. A waitress approached their table with a pen, pad and a huge smile on her face.
"Good Morning, can I take your orders or do you still need time to look over the menu's?" the waitress asked glancing between the two of them.
"We are ready now, can we have one order of strawberry banana french toast and one order of strawberry banana pancakes and two cups of orange juice? Calvin recited their usual order to the waitress.
"I'll go give your order to the cook and be right back out with your drinks." the waitress replied and then left.
"Calvin I have something to tell you and its not really easy for me to say, but before I tell you I wanted you to know that I'll be moving in with Ashton temporarily." Katie stated as she played with her fingers.
"Why? What wrong with living with your Aunt Karen?"
"Remember all those times I was bruised up and limping around?"
"Yeah, I remember I kept asking what happened but you would never say."
"Well they came from Aunt Karen and last night she slapped the fuck out of me."
"What the hell is wrong with her? Why is she putting her hands on you?!"
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