The two girls arrived in the hospital by the ER. There were lots of people there, and it became overwhelming for the poor girl. She was accompanied by Chris inside the waiting area, and the staff there were too busy attending the ones that had a real emergency. "You okay?" her best friend asked.

"I'm just a bit nervous..." Erika choked since she was feeling very tensed, yet she knew she had to do it.

"I get it." Chris held her hand for comfort. "Anyway, I'm just gonna go to the ladies' room real quick."

"Okay."

Once Erika was left alone. She was feeling more tensed as she looked around the patients and their worried loved ones with them. All of a sudden, she happened to hear a conversation of two women sitting behind her. "Have you watched the news this morning?" said one female. "It's so disturbing."

"Oh, about those home invasions? Yeah," said the other female. "Family were gassed, and God, what they did to the daughter. They assaulted her sexually. Ugh... I just can't."

The topic was really disturbing that Erika was getting more stressed that she crossed her legs and held them tightly together. "I can only imagine what they're all going through right now," expressed the first female.

Chris came back and sat down with a clipboard in her hand. "Hey, I managed to get you a form."

Erika jolted as she turned to her best friend with this flustered expression in her face as she looked at the form. She was about to reach for it, but then after hearing those two women talking, she decided to back down instead. "I'm sorry." The poor girl quickly stood up and stormed out to the main entrance.

Clueless from what went on when she was gone for about five minutes, Chris got stunned and just chased after her best friend. Eventually, she found her distressed friend by the parking lot pacing and was about to cry again. "Erika, what's wrong?"

"I can't do this," Erika panted. "I change my mind."

Chris was shocked to hear that her best friend backed out all of a sudden. "Wha... why?" she questioned.

"I... I just can't." Erika became teary-eyed and frantic again. "If I do this rape-kit, what's gonna happen next?"

The confused gal friend shrugged. "We're gonna report it, just like we planned... right?"

"Noo..."

"Okay. I don't get it. What's going on? Tell me."

Erika released a heavy sigh. "My parents, and Shay. I don't know if I want them to know that I was raped."

"But what about you? You're gonna let that... rapist walk like nothing happened?" Chris asked.

"It's better than making the people I love suffer." Erika glanced over to the hospital, the first step where she could get the justice she needed or walked away from it, but she chose the latter. "I can't put them through this."

The best friend was not happy about it, though she knew she could not force her to do the right thing. "Okay," she nodded. "If... you're sure."

"I'm sorry, I thought I couldn't do this, but I can't... I don't want them to know."

"Erika, it's okay, I get it."

Erika turned to look at the hospital again, and her decision was final. "Let's just get out of here," she weeped.

"Okay, okay, let's go."

The girls returned to the Row's house since Erika's mother was not home yet anyway. They were in the kitchen, and the best friend made tea for both of them. "Here you go," Chris said as she placed a cup for the poor girl.

"Thanks, and thanks for being here," Erika sniffled as she contemplated her decision, then took a sip of her tea. "Do you think I should have done the rape-kit?"

"Yeah, but that's up to you if you... You really want to do it."

"I... I just couldn't go through with it, you know. I hate this! Ugh! I wish I hadn't heard those women talking earlier. Maybe I would have gone through with the rape-kit."

"Sweetie, don't beat yourself up. It's really not that easy, regardless, if you heard them or not. You know, not a lot of... victims don't come forward right away. "

"Which is why rapists get away with it," Erika added, then it hit her. "Which also means my rapist can get away with it."

The best friend could not respond to that. "Yeah..."

"Oh, my God, what did I just do? I just... I just couldn't do it. I don't want anyone to know. Not my family, and especially not... Shay. How on earth can I tell him? How will he...?"

"Erika, listen to me, Shay loves you. You guys trust each other, right? You should tell him. He has to know about this."

"How? I barely see him because of the training he's doing for the tryouts."

"You have to tell him before he hears it from anyone else," Chris advised.

Erika was reluctant, but she knew that her best friend was right, that she had to tell her boyfriend what happened to her. All of a sudden, her phone rang, "It's him," she gulped after seeing the caller on the screen, then picked it up. "Hey, Shay."

"Hey! Sorry, I just called now," Shay said.

"No, it's okay."

"How was Trevor's party? I felt bad that I wasn't there," he asked.

"It was not that fun without you," Erika answered, yet there was a faint sound of crack in her voice through the audio. "What about you? How was training?"

"Are you okay? You sound kinda sad?"

"No, no, I'm not, I'm just tired."

"Oh! well, I'm not gonna keep you up," Shay told her, and he sounded hesitant as well. "Anyway, do you want to meet tomorrow afternoon for coffee?"

"Sure, I'll be there."

"Awesome, I love you."

"I love you too," Erika responded, but felt guilty uttering it. After that, she quickly ended the call.

"See, you're gonna see him tomorrow. This is your chance to tell him," Chris told him.

However, Erika would rather wished that she did not have to and just avoid it until it could go away. Still, she had to do it.

----

The following afternoon, Shay was waiting for Erika in a park cafe with two coffees on the table feeling shakey. She came and saw him sitting alone by trying not to panic. Shay smiled as he saw her, so he raised his hand up, waving at her in the distance.

Erika waved back and gathered her courage to walk to him, "Hi!" she said with her soft tone of voice.

"Hi!" he stood up and hugged her, Erika felt so ashamed that he was giving her affection since she felt impure. They sat down across each other. "I ordered your coffee. It's your favorite vanilla mocha foam."

"Thanks." she took a sip of her drink to ease herself.

"You look pale. Are you sure that you're okay?" Shay even touched her forhead to see if she was burning up.

"Yeah, I am," she stammered. The atmosphere got awkward since they were keeping stuff to one another. "Is practice... Ahem... Is it canceled or something? I thought you told me that you're training all weekend."

"Yeah, I mean, it's not," he started rambling. "It's still a couple of hours away, I want to see you today before I leave. There's something I want to talk about?"

"Okay, what is it?"

Shay's phone vibrated in his pocket, then checked that it was a text from his dad reminding him not to be late. That was when he really had to tell her. "I was supposed to tell you this last Friday, but I was so mad at my Dad that time that I couldn't at first."

"What is it?" Erika's hand was clenching tightly under the table so he wouldn't have to see her agitation.

"The tryouts are moved to this weekend."

"This weekend? But it's our graduation and prom."

"I know," he choked and looked down to his coffee.

"So you're not attending graduation?"

"And prom."

Erika was dumbfounded by the news. She looked away, and her mouth was slightly open. "Whe... when are you coming back?" she quipped.

"I won't," he claimed.

That was harder for Shay to say, and it did feel like a sharp object shot Erika's heart that she got even more conflicted by the news. "Really?" she asked with her voice cracked.

"We're both going in a different direction. I'll be training all the time and traveling the world. You'll be in Eliard, focusing on your dance..."

"What are you saying to me?" Erika questioned from all that babbling that came out from her boyfriend's mouth.

"I think we should break up," Shay answered directly.

The young lady became speechless as she was frozen in shock, that they guy she loved wanted to end their relationship for his dreams.

"You understand, don't you?" He added.

All of a sudden, Erika hissed in pain all of a sudden because she felt that pain down there. "Ow!" she cried.

Shay instantly reacted as well. "You okay?"

"Yeah... I am." That made Erika rethink the situation, then wiped her tears with her hands. "You know what, I think you're right."

Shay did not expect that. "You're not upset?"

Erika shook her head, "I'm happy for you no matter what," she replied because that way, she could keep that secret to the grave. "I know you're going to ace the tryouts and going places. I'm glad that I've been a part of it for the past three years, and I will always wish the best for you."

"Erika?" Shay felt bad, and it hurt him to hear those words, so he reached to her hand, but she pulled away.

The heart broken girl placed a cash in front of him. "Here's for my coffee."

"Erika, wait? You can't leave like this."

"Goodbye, Shay." After that, Erika stood up from her seat and left him quickly.

"Erika!" He chased her in the park. "Erika, wait!"

Erika kept running despite Shay calling her name. He was about to catch up to her, yet she managed to lose him by crossing the street, and there were moving cars blocking his way to her. He watched her running farther and farther from him.

That was when Shay realized what he lost and how much he was going to miss her.

Minutes later, Erika stopped and looked back that Shay was not following her anymore, "He's right, it's better like this," she said to herself. Her phone rang, and it was Shay calling her. She rejected it and then blocked him from his contact list.

Back in the park, Shay tried calling her again. It didn't go through. He started breaking down too just as much as Erika felt, maybe even more that their relationship was over.