CHAPTER TWELVE

Sapphire tried to sleep that night but after a couple of minutes of tossing and turning, she figured that she couldn't. Memories from a year ago kept plaguing her mind. She rubbed her temples. It got better after a couple of months, but after the shock that she experienced a couple of hours ago, it began to come back. The horror...the pain...the humiliation...
She closed her eyes as the painful memories replayed themselves in her head..

A year ago, Sapphire was just like any teenage girl. Obsessed about her hair, the newest trend, the prettiest clothes, and of course, the hottest guy at school. She was pretty, but was quite shy so she didn't approach anybody and in return, nobody approached her too. She was the pretty and mysterious girl that everybody noticed but forget seconds after they saw her.
She was okay with it, even though she didn't have friends. 
Sapphire sighed. If only things stayed like that.
Anyway, one day, she was almost late to class when she bumped into someone. When she looked up, she saw the hottest guy at school, Charles McBride, staring at her. And that was when everything changed.
Charles invited her to every party and made everyone treat her well. In short, he made her very popular. It may sound as if Charles was a really nice guy, but in reality, he was a ing mothering . He treated everyone like dirt and thought of himself superior to everyone else. He was just interested in Sapphire because of her willingness to do everything he says. It that she didn't open her eyes wide enough to see the stinking garbage that he was. 
Everything was turning out so well, until their first kiss. Sapphire's heart was in . The moment he kissed her, it was perfect. He was gentle and soft and...perfect. After a couple of seconds, he started getting grabby. At first, she laughed it off and figured that he was being cute but he kept doing it and she kept pushing him away. 
When he figured that she didn't want to do it with him, he got mad and stormed off, calling her names and threatening her.
She thought he was just spewing crap, so she just ignored him. 
But when she got to school the next day, people began making fun of her. It hurt, but she just held her chin up. 
It stayed like that for a month until everyone gave up because of how unaffected she looked. But that just fueled Charles anger. He got so mad that he hired a gang to stalk her...and...and...beat her up. They then...forced her...to do things she didn't want to do. 
She was found in an alleyway the next day, half and crying with bruises all over the place. 
They caught the culprits a month after the accident, and yeah, it did feel good that they got caught, but she was already broken by then.
After a couple months of recovering physically and mentally, her parents decided on moving. She asked them why and they told her that they wanted a fresh start and that one of the most praised psychologist lived here. 

One of the reasons she didn't want to get involved with Mark was what happened to her. Okay, she knew that Mark wasn't Charles, but that didn't make her less apprehensive. 
Sapphire sighed and felt tears trickling down her face.

When will she feel whole again?