Chapter 1 He pushed me to the ground of the dark, vacant hallway, my skin burning from the friction across the ground. I looked up at his dark face, a malicious grin injecting fear into me. He kicked my side and I rolled over in pain, my hand clenching onto my sick where his foot had made contact. “Get up you worthless bitch!” he commanded. When I didn’t obey, he pulled me up by my hair, causing me to scream out in pain. He threw me into a locker and I slammed against the door with a loud bang, then fell to the cold floor once again. I closed my eyes trying to imagine the good old days before the pain, but that didn’t last long. “When I give you an oder I expect you to follow it!” he yelled at me, “Now stand up!” I struggled to stand up, but somehow I managed. The moment I got to my feet I felt his hand make contact with my cheek. Tears began to well in my eyes at the burning sensation tingling its way around my cheek. I looked into his dark eyes, wondering what could’ve happened to make him like this. “Scarlett?!” someone called from the end of the hall. I couldn’t see him, but I knew exactly who it was. “Liam!” I screamed back. I needed someone to be my savior, and I knew he would be that someone. As Liam began to run down the hall towards me, my bully looked at me with pursed lips one last time. Then he walked away, but not before pushing me over once again. Liam finally reached me and kneeled down at my side. “Why do you let him push you around like that?” Liam asked me like he always did when he found me like this. “You know why,” I told him grimly. “I know, but I don’t understand. I mean, after all, Louis’ your bully.” “It’s a complicated concept,” I offered as an excuse. Liam shook his head at my stupidity, but I didn’t blame him. I knew I was being anything but smart by letting Louis walk all over me. There was just, something inside me that said he still had good in his heart. “Why don’t we get you home?” he suggested, and I didn’t argue. Liam slid one hand under my knees and the other around my ribcage, and picked me up. He walked me out to his car and placed me in the passenger seat before sitting himself in the driver’s position. He started up the near silent vehicle, and I was becoming tired from the gentle motion. I closed my eyes trying to forget the pain. I was now in the hands of someone who I knew cared, but still I felt the presence of danger. Those dark eyes and that evil smile had been scorched into my mind along with the pain, not just from this one time, but from all the times Louis had beaten me up. He was building my pain like a mountain; it just keeps growing and growing and none of it goes away... ever.