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Matthew had gone over to Danielle's place after school to apologize to her — he knew he should've listened to Noel — the thought made him feel worse. Knocking on her door, Danielle opened it before she saw Matthew, she went to close it but Matthew stopped her, "Look, I'm — I'm an idiot okay? I saw the tape and I freaked out..." He sighed, "I'm comin' in, can...can I come in?" Danielle stepped aside and let him in, "Look..I..I've just been crazy lately." He looked at her, "I mean..this whole scholarship thing, you know? It's, I mean...it's killing me, you know?" He shook his head, "But I'm not...I'm not even thinking about that." He took a step towards her, "The only thing I care about is you — y'know? All I want is for us to go back to normal again."
Before Danielle could respond, a male voice spoke from behind Matthew, "It's a real nice place you got here D." Matthew turned and looked at who it was — a guy with a rocker style stood there — "I..um..can we talk about this later?" Danielle asked and Matthew nodded at her words, "Yeah. Sure."
——
Walking out of her home — Matthew was filled with confusion. Did she move on that quick? The door opened behind him and out stepped the man he saw inside — pulling out a cigarette, the man sat down on the steps leading inside the house — he lit his cigarette with a large metal lighter. He gave Matthew a smile. "I like that." Mathew furrowed his brow, "What?" Kelly motioned to the door, "What you said in there." Matthew nodded, "Thanks..." He was still so confused. "Kelly." The man said before holding his hand out for Matthew to shake. He was quiet for a few seconds before he shook his hand, "Oh, Matthew." Kelly nodded, "Mhm. So you're friends with D huh?" Matthew nodded at his words, "Yeah."
Matthew then corrected himself, "Well um, we're — we're kinda going out." Kelly grinned at his words — the door opened behind him and both males stared as Danielle stepped out, "Look at you. You are a forest fire." Kelly complimented as he stood up. "Are we going?" She asked and Kelly nodded before looking at Matthew, "You comin' with us?" Matthew shrugged, "Where you goin'?" Danielle cut Kelly off before he could answer, "He can't. He has school tomorrow." The two walked past him but he quickly stammered out an excuse, "No, no — I'm cool. Like...where are we goin'?" Kelly gave him a smirk.
Matthew had no idea how this would change his future.
——
Noel lay curled up in her bed. God, she hated Kelly with her whole heart yet the man had her wrapped around his metal ring wearing finger. It was an unhealthy power dynamic — the man was in his late twenties while she was eighteen for crying out loud. She couldn't help but feel safe around him yet she knew how unsafe he was — it's like he was training her to be his slave — his pet. She shivered at the thought. Noel hated herself for thinking like this but, she couldn't tell anyone — unless. Grabbing her phone and pressing on the one contact she knew could help her, she waited for the person to answer.
