Teen Ink

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There was no way I was going to tell her all that. So I skimmed it and gave her what she wanted to hear.
“I met him and gave him my number.”
“Okay. So after that what happened? When was it that you first started noticing he had bad tendencies?” she questioned. I smirked at her. Eventually she would end up like all the rest and give up on me.
“Can you hurry up? I want to make sure we have time to see that movie tonight,” Daren whined at my slow pace.
“Well, I’m sorry, Daren, that I’m so slow. If you could do it better and faster, why don’t you?” It was a rhetorical question and I said it in a joking tone but all of a sudden his face lit up.
“I can and I will!” he shouted at me. With his shoulder, he shoved me away from my locker and ripped my bag from my hands. The force of his huge frame shoving against mine sent me sprawling onto the floor. Stunned, I watched him rip the books from my locker and jam them into my bag with ferocity. Once he was finished, he slammed my locker door and turned with a hard expression, anger still filling his caramel eyes.
It was weeks after my first day that Daren asked me to be his girlfriend. He treated me like a princess, giving me small gifts he bought and leaving little trinkets in my locker in the morning before school. He walked me to every class and showered his adoration on me. I was feeling better than ever before. I was meeting new people, creating friends, and learning to fit in.
Then, a few months into the relationship, I started noticing little things: like the way he would lose his temper easily and raise his voice over trivial things. But every time he would smile crookedly at me my heart would melt. But not this time.
I leapt to my feet. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I screamed as I reached for my bag. I slung it over my shoulder and turned, walking away. “I’m leaving.” Suddenly, his fingers enclosed over my left wrist. Being so much larger and stronger than I was, he jerked me backwards. My wrist throbbed as he twisted my body to face his.
“Where the hell do you think you are going?” he yelled at me, rage screaming clear and wild in his honey eyes. My eyes widened and I couldn’t speak. He had gotten mad before but never quite like this.
When I didn’t answer he took hold of my shoulders and shook me, hard. My teeth rattled in my scull and my head snapped back and forth on my neck.
“Stop!” was all I was able to choke out while he continued to violently shake me. Suddenly, he froze and stared into my eyes with viciousness. Then without warning, he shoved me backwards into the lockers behind me. My head snapped back and hit the metal with a loud bang; I stood there dumbfounded and frightened while my head pulsated; he stared maliciously at me. Then, just like it had appeared, it was gone.
“Oh, Abby! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that. I promise I will never do anything like that again!” He took me into his arms and held me, repeating those phrases over and over again. My heart pounded behind my ears and my breath came in short gasps. But I forgave him.
Nothing to that extent ever happened again while we dated. But he would always scream at me for the littlest things, push me around, and try to control every aspect of my life. All these issues followed us into the summer. And one day I had finally had enough.