"Hey there gorgeous," I heard behind me and

as I looked, a boy with cool brown hair walks

up to me. I blushed and backed up to a wall as

he got closer.

"Leave me alone." I said.

"Don't worry cutie, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I

can't hurt a cutie in her cute glasses."

I blushed and hide my face with my book. "Go

away.

He grabbed my hands and forced them from

my face."don't need to be scared."

I started to squirm.

"HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE

DOING?!?!" I looked up and saw Brad

approaching us in an anger mood. He grabbed

the guy's collar and lifts him in the air. He

then started to punch him in the face very

hard. He kept punching until he starts to

Scream.

"BRAD! STOP IT!" I yelled.

Brad dropped him on the floor and lifts his

head facing me. "You see that girl over there?

No one touches her! No one hurts her!" He

then slammed his head on the floor and

dragged me away from them.

This is just great, now everyone is avoiding

me because of what my bulky boyfriend did to

that flirt. I mean, he deserved it but he doesn't.

That beating was too much-

Bang! I jump and look up to see Brad in front

of me.

"Hey baby."

"B-Brad.."

He fix my glasses and kiss my lips but I push

him back (which he didn't move an inch).

"You're so strong baby," He says chuckling.

"S-Shut up. How could you beat the guy like

that?"

"I didn't hurt him that bad."

"Brad! He's at the hospital!"

"Well at least it wasn't worse than the last

guy."

"Okay, that was not called for at all. All he

asked was for my homework."

"He touched your hand Ash. No oe touches

you. No one hurts you."

"Brad....you can't be so protective. You might

kill someone."

"I love you and I never want you to be hurt."

I sigh, smile and kiss him.

Bell rings and Brad leave for his class and I

leave for mine. As I get in my seat Veronica

poke me.

"What's up Veronica?"

"I heard what happened today."

"Of course you would."

"Don't feel bad Ashley. At least you got a bad

*** boyfriend to fiddle with," Haley says

"Don't feel bad? All boys are avoiding me like I

*** boyfriend to fiddle with," Haley says

"Don't feel bad? All boys are avoiding me like I

have STDs."

"Hey Ash, he's just protecting you-"

"He's overprotective!"

"Shhh keep it down, you don't want this going

round the school."

"Look, I love Brad..but he's gonna end up

killing someone because of me...and I don't

want that to happen.."

"Aww Ash. Brad wouldn't break you like that

so don't worry about it."

"..okay"

Later on in the day, I walk out of school and a

boy grab my arm and squeezes it.

"O-0-Ouch i-it's hurts stop!"

"Shut up nerd!!"

Ijump and whimper. He then grab my shirt

collar and shake me until my glasses fall off

from my face.

"Fucking nerd! Just because you have a

tough guy as boyfriend doesn't mean you're

important you get that!?!?!"

"Y-Y-Yess."

Brad come out of nowhere and pull him away

from me. I fall on the floor and weep because

of the squeezing on my hand.

"What the **** dude?! Did you just hurt her?!"

I look up and see Brad holding him up and

squeezing his skull with his bare hands. He

starts to scream and tries to escape.

"B-Brad..please...stop.don't hurt him...-let

him go.."

Brad look around at me then back at him. He

sighs and push him away from him. "Never

touch her again!! You hear me?!?!"

He was trembling then he runs off. Brad

walks up to me, picks up my glasses and fixes

it on me.

"Are you okay Ashley?"

"Yes, I am. T-Thanks Brad."

He kisses me and hugs me. "I don't want

anyone to hurt you."

I sob and hug him back. "B-Brad?"

"Yes baby?"

"Promise me something."

"Anything baby."

"Promise you won't kill anyone....because of

me."

He looks down then at me, "I promise you."

I smile and kiss him very deeply.

I am walking home only to see a text from

Brad saying I should go over his house. I blush

as I fix my glasses on me and I reply why

should I(because I wanna act sassy). He text

back he need help with something. So I reply

okay and go straight to his house.

I knock on his door. "Brad?"

"Come in baby."

"Okay."

I turn the knob as I push the door and I see

Brad reading a..love novel?

"Br-Brad"

"Come here."

I walk over sitting next to him. "Wh-What's

wrong?"

"Nothing, just need your point of view on this.

It's a story about a girl with glasses, a cute

girl as a matter of fact who got out of a rough

relationship and trying to recover. It was then

she saw this guy who was a bad boy in the

school and she had a thing for him but just

doubtful that he'd even date a girl like her."

Is he talking about..?

"Until then her friend who was a party beast

took her to one at a highschool couple miles

from theirs where she unexpectedly met this

guy face to face. What would you have done

in that moment?"

"W-Well..Instead of losing that opportunity

I have...I.just take it...and tell him how

I feel? T-To see how it goes from there?

Because...what Vero used to tell me is that.You

can't judge a book by it's cover.."

He smiles taking my glasses off and puts it

on his table as he kiss me passionately on my

lips. "The answer I was kinda looking for."

I blush. "Br-Brad...you were talking about..?"

He nods.

"But what was this book about?" I point at the

novel.

"Oh this, I haven't read one letter in this book

yet."

"Wh-What?" I begin to laugh.

He smiles pulling me in his lap and I kiss him

then pull away from him.

"What's wrong Ashley?"

"I have to go home." I get up and grab my

glasses.

"I can drive you-"

"No Tm okay Brad. It's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes baby."

"Okay. I love you baby."

"I love you too." I leave his house and run

straight home.

l inhale, exhale and go inside. As I get in, my

father gets up and storms to me.

"Where the **** were you?! It's 5 in the

fucking evening!"

"D-Dad I was-"

He slaps me hard on my cheek and I fall on

the ground. My glasses fall from my face as I

land and Dad grab hold of my hair. I cry out

until he slaps me hard again and yells "what

time is your curfew?!"

"4.4:30." I say to him and he jabs in my belly.

I cough and curl up on the floor. He walks

away from me and Mom helps me to my

room. She puts me on my bed and rubs my

belly.

"Tl bring dinner to you in a minute okay

Sweetie?"

"W-Why can't you leave him M-Mom?"

She looks down and leaves the room. I

guess....Brad could solve this problem of mine

but I respect my parents and I love them very

much...but Dad....I'm also afraid of how Brad

will handle it...it's best if I keep my mouth

shut..

The next morning I get up, take a shower, put

my casual wear on and leave the house for

school. I walk halfway until I realize I was

missing something. "Oh yeah. My glasses." I

turn back and go for my glasses in my room.

As I am about to go back out, I bump into Dad.

"M-Morning Dad."

"What time should you be here?"

"Um 4:30."

"Not a minute..?"

"After."

"Good. Now get the **** out of here."

I put my glasses on and walk straight to

school. I reach about 8AM and class starts

that same time so I run to class. I sit down and

Veronica and Haley was paying full attention

to what the teacher's saying and I listen to the

teacher.

Lunch time me Veronica and Haley get our

lunch and sit at a bench.

"Ashley?" Veronica call.

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your cheek?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's swollen red."

Haley take a pic of it and show me.

"Oh my God," I say covering it.

"What happened?"

"N-Nothing..."

"It almost looks like a handprint."

I look away.

"Was it your-"

"No it's not-"

"Yes it is. Would Brad slap you like that? And I

know your mother wouldn't do such a thing."

"Don't tell Brad about this..."

"Why-"

"You just can't...

"Ashley, Brad can fix this problem-"

"I don't want him to. It's going to end up bad."

"I understand how you feel but we all know

you live pretty far so you can't reach home by

4:30 you know that."

"I can't tell him that-"

"You must Ashley-"

"He smack me cross the face, don't you think

he'd do it again?!"

"Haley, we have to talk to him."

"HOW will that change anything?!"

"Ashley we have to do something. We're your

friends and we can't just sit here knowing you

have a crack head dad who expects you to

speedy home and reach 4:30 when you can't.

We're talking to him and that's that."

"Please don't.."

"We're doing this because we care Ashley."

I get up and walk away. They call me but I

didn't answer nor look back. I get outside

of school until a boy push me down and my

glasses fall off.

"Hey, watch where you're going nerd."

I get up but he push me back down and

pick my pocket. He take my money out of

my pocket and walk away from me. I yell

Brad's name and mysteriously he came out of

nowhere and come to me.

"Ashley what happened? Who slapped you?"

"it's that boy over there, he slapped me to

the floor and took my money," I lied (because I

had to)

Brad gets up and charges after the boy. Brad

then grab him, take the money back, give him

couple hard punches and throw him through

a house window. He runs back to me, puts my

glasses back on me, helped me up and puts

the money back in my pocket.

"Next time be careful okay?"

"Alright, thank you Brad."

"Anything for you baby."

He kiss my lips and walks off to where he

came from.

Wow, lucky me. Now Brad knows that boy was

the one who caused the red mark on my face,

he won't think it's one of my parents. He can't

know about my dad.

Time pass school has dismissed and I hurried

home. When I reach inside, my dad was

already at the entrance and he hold on to my

collar.

"Fucking nerd! You're ten minutes late! What

was the fucking time I told you to come

here?!"

"I-I tried Dad I really tried-"

"Shut the **** up!" he yell throwing me to

the table and I tumble over everything. He

walk up to me and grab my hair roughly. "You

ruined the table you-"

"Larry! Stop! Stop hurting her!"

He throw me to the ground and slap Mom.

He then storm up to his room and I get up to

Mom. She hug me and cry on my shoulder.