trigger warning⚠️: language and scenes regarding sexual assault

A few days later:

I must admit, school felt a bit boring without Damian around.

I sat in Advanced Math, staring blankly at the whiteboard. Mrs. Pierce was going on about binomial products and how we had a couple exams coming up. Usually, I would be somewhat interested, but not today.

Today I missed that awful son of a bitch with the dark hair and green eyes. He always sat next to me and kept me company, even if that company was stupid remarks and tiny insults. Today I felt lonely without him. I missed the rude comments.

I excused myself to the bathroom in an attempt to hide out. Class was boring and I was too tired to focus. I'd really been working on my arm strength in the gym recently, which had my body all worn out.

Damian didn't like me training with my "injuries" but he was hardly there to control me anymore. I had no clue what he could have been doing during his suspension. I overheard Dick and Tim discussing something about Bruce wanting him out on "patrol." What did that even mean?

As I neared the girl's bathroom, I began to hear muffled noises. "You tell anyone about this and I'll hurt you," someone hissed, though it was fairly quiet and I wasn't sure if my ears were making things up.

But Midnight had trained me intricately in the art of spying. I had excellent hearing, so it couldn't have been nothing. I trailed over to the source of the noise, my feet taking me a few steps back toward the Gymnasium changing rooms.

I peered onto the slightly open door. There didn't seem to be anyone there, just rows of red steel lockers and wooden benches. What the hell had I heard?

The door flew back and suddenly Summer was crashing into me, eyes wide with fear and body trembling. I steadied myself from the collision before exclaiming, "Jesus, Summer, what the hell?"

She gripped my arm quickly. "Sasha, you have to leave."

Tears stained her pretty face. Her golden hair was a disheveled mess, her ponytail had been half-pulled out. She looked absolutely terrified, and I noticed a bruise was beginning to form on her left cheek.

My stomach dropped at the realisation.

"What happened," I demanded.

She was yanking my arm now, trying to pull me away. I refused to move. "Summer, tell me what the fuck just happened."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Please, Sasha, just go," her voice shook. "Just fucking go before he sees you."

He.

All of a sudden, I was storming like Satan toward the gym door, completely ignoring Summer's desperate pleas.

I was furious, I was absolutely enraged. Not again. Not on my fucking watch.

"You!" I snarled, shoving aggressively at the six foot tall man that stood in the corner of the room, his back facing me. He stumbled forward, shocked by the sudden action, and whipped his head around in surprise.

Coach Donovan went to attack me, but what I lacked in height I made for in speed and agility. I dodged his hand and sent a nose-crunching punch straight to his face. He fell backward into the lockers, clutching at his face and howling in pain.

But I wasn't fucking done yet. I marched forward, gripped his navy shirt by the collar and slammed him back against the lockers again.

"How dare you touch my best friend like that, you stupid piece of shit?"

"Get the fuck off me!" He growled and kicked at my shin but I sent another lighting-fast fist to his face, enjoying the blood that splattered my knuckles.

I threw him to the floor violently, then sent a harsh kick to his groin to keep him there.

"I wouldn't get up if I were you, " I spat.

I sent my shoe to his face, just for good measure.

"You can't do this to me!" Coach was wailing, his tears only making me more satisfied. "I can get you arrested for this!"

I knelt down to his face and yanked his head up by the hair so he was looking at me. "Listen here, dickface. You so much as speak to Summer Dawson ever again and I'll make sure you end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your sad little fucking life. You hear me?"

Silence on his end, so I smashed his face against the tiled floor. "Okay!" He screamed frantically, mouth blubbering as crimson liquid bled from his teeth. "Okay, you crazy bitch!"

I jabbed him in the throat for that last comment, then left the pathetic excuse of a man to lie in a pool of his own blood as I charged back into the hallway.

Summer stared at me in a mixture of shock and relief, her face still red and puffy from crying.

"He won't be bothering you again," I said, wiping my blood-smeared hands against my skirt. I wrapped an arm gently around her shoulder and guided her toward the nurse's office. "You can trust me on that."

------------------------------------

"So you're sure no one can pick you up?" The receptionist lady asked, concern lacing her voice.

Summer was perched on the end of the bed, a nurse attending to her wounds. She'd had to take off her shirt to reveal the many bruises and cuts that had formed. I knew that many of those were from previous times, not just today.

She nodded her head. "My parents are in Columbia until Sunday. I... I don't have any family here. My relatives live in Italy, mostly."

I felt a growing sense of pity for my friend as I sat across from her on a chair. The nurse had told me I could go back to class, but I'd refused. No way in hell was I going anywhere while Summer was in this condition.

"She can come with me," I blurted, surprising even myself. "I can get Bruce to pick us up. Or Alfred, his butler. He's always home."

The receptionist lady hummed. She didn't appear to like me to much, especially after Summer had told her how I'd taken care of Coach Donovan. I'd explained that I took MMA classes outside of school as a coverup. It wasn't necessarily a lie, really.

Principal Jones had immediately sent his security personnel to go deal with Coach after Summer had described the incident. I had a feeling that I'd be in some kind of trouble for Coach's injuries, but at that moment I didn't really care. He needed to be taught a lesson.

"You'll have to call Mr. Wayne first," the receptionist told me. I headed over to her desk and picked up the phone. I tapped in his number and let it ring.

Alfred picked up instead, which wasn't much of a shock. "This is Alfred Pennyworth speaking. Unfortunately, Mr. Wayne cannot take your call right now. Would you like me to pass on a message?"

"Alfred, it's me," I said.

"Oh, Miss Sasha. Shouldn't you be in class?"

I shook my head, forgetting that he couldn't see me on the other end of the line. "No, Alfred, I need you to pick me up. My friend Summer needs to stay with us, her parents are away. There's been an emergency and no one can take her home."

"Right, then," Alfred said, seeming a little confused. "Well, I'm sure Master Bruce won't mind if it's an emergency."

I sighed deeply. "Thank you, Alfred."

He showed up fifteen minutes later in the beautiful rolls royce that Bruce owner. "Master Bruce is in a meeting right now," Alfred told me as I climbed into the back seat with Summer.

"Yeah, I figured," I replied.

I gave Alfred some vague details about the situation at hand, but I didn't mention Coach and what he'd physically done to Summer. She looked so uncomfortable as I spoke that I couldn't bring myself to say the words out loud. I didn't want to pain her even more, she had been through far too much.

We arrived at the Manor shortly after. I gave Summer a little tour of the main areas, which she was definitely shocked by.

"Okay, I knew Bruce was rich and all, but I didn't know he was this rich," she laughed weakly.

Damian emerged from the gym, covered in sweat and panting heavily. He was toweling off his hair when he saw us, and he froze in confusion.

"You're home early..." he frowned.

I glanced at the clock in the living room. It was only 12 o'clock.

"Uh, yeah. There was an incident."

He glanced at Summer, who was practically trembling with anxiousness. I knew she didn't want me to tell him what happened. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for my crush to find out i'd been sexually assaulted by his gym teacher on multiple occasions. It wasn't something that really turned people on.

But Damian was much too clever for lies. He stared at Summer's bruised cheek like hawk.

"What's going on here?" He sounded angry. I mean, he always sounded angry, but this was worse.

I didn't want to answer on Summer's behalf, so I sent her a look that said You need to tell him.

"Uh..." she began, choking on her own words. Before I knew it she was welling up, her cheeks turning red and her eyes misty.

She covered her face and started to cry again. I pulled her into a hug, feeling alarmed that this was happening right in front of Damian. How would he react to this now? He was probably extremely puzzled.

I made brief eye contact with him as he watched, completely shocked at the usually bright and cheery girl before him sobbing into my arms. He probably knew that it would've had to be something pretty bad to make her cry like this.

Alfred started to make some warm food for Summer to eat as I laid her down on the sofa and tucked a blanket around her. I turned on Netflix and put a random chick flick movie on, hoping that it would be something she'd like. I had zero experience with media because Midnight had never shown me any.

I pulled Damian away to a secluded part of the house, rubbing at my temples with my fingers. I had another migraine — today had been too much. I'd beat up a grown man and looked after a damaged girl first thing in the morning. I was tired.

Damian had placed his soaked towel around his neck. He looked particularly attractive with shiny sweat defining the muscles in his arms and the ones poking through his wife beater tank. I told myself not to focus on that right now.

Snap out of it, you dumb bitch.

"Remember how I asked you about Coach Donovan a little while ago?" I began, and I was feeling quite flustered. My hair was sticking to the back of my neck and my face. I needed to take a breather, this headache was beginning to really hurt.

Damian let me continue. "Well, I found out about this a couple weeks ago. He's been... doing things to Summer, Damian. I was the first person she told. I didn't think it would happen again, she seemed so fine and happy and I was so distracted with all the dramas going on in my own life..."

I realized then that I was talking ridiculously fast. Damian was just staring at me as I tried to catch my breath and recompose myself. "I'm sorry, I just feel so bad. I knew about it and I could've put a stop to it but I didn't because I was so preoccupied with Flynn and Drake and she was trying to hide it the whole time and you should've seen what he did to her, Damian, oh god, you should've seen it."

He suddenly grabbed my shoulder. "Sasha, calm down."

But I couldn't calm down. This was something I was capable of preventing, yet I hadn't. I should've been protecting my friend but I was too caught up with my own stupid problems. Summer had been dealing with this since last year without being able to stop it. And here I was, an expertly trained assassin who could take a man down in two seconds, not even bothering to check up on her or ask if she needed help.

I was a fucking idiot.

"What did he do," Damian said slowly, as if I was a small child. He looked me dead in the eye, those green irises of his almost peering into my soul.

I looked away. Deep breathes, Sasha. Time to tell the truth.

"He... he raped her, Damian. He's been doing it for a year now. A whole fucking year, and today was the only day I ever helped her."

Damian's hand dropped from my shoulder. His face was blank; unreadable. I couldn't even look him in the eyes anymore, I felt so ashamed of myself. Why hadn't I done something earlier?

His eyes drifted to where Summer lay, asleep on the sofa in front of Love, Rosie.

"A whole year?" His voice was quiet and devoid of any emotion.

I just nodded in response. "I... I beat him up pretty bad today. I don't think he'll be doing it again."

My gaze locked on Damian's hands, which were clenched so hard they were turning white. His face remained emotionless, yet his body language had grown stiff and rigid. This only proved to me that Damian couldn't control everything about his emotions, no matter how hard he tried. His body gave him away.

It felt like an eternity of silence had passed before he finally said, "She needs to go to the authorities."

I agreed with him, but I wasn't sure how Summer would react to that. "She probably won't want to."

His jaw tightened. He was mad; rage seeped out of him from every corner. Damian had severe anger issues — everyone new that. He wouldn't tear his gaze away from where Summer lay, sleeping rather peacefully for a girl who'd just been through hell.

He finally turned back at look at me. "He deserves to die," his voice was a snarl, and for a moment I was truly, truly terrified.

Alfred walked past us with the food at that moment. Damian stormed off up stairs, probably to take a shower or destroy a punching bag with all that anger he had stored up. In all honesty, I felt like smashing a huge hole in the crisp white wall beside me, too. But I managed to contain myself for Bruce's sake.

An hour passed before Summer woke up. She enjoyed the meal Alfred had cooked, and then I carefully led her up the stairs to my room so she could change into some clothes.

Her mood at changed now. She seemed dazed and distant, not fully there. It was understandable due to the incident she'd just experienced. But I couldn't help feeling worried for her, and I hoped the kind and positive Summer that I loved would return soon.

"Here," I handed her some silky pyjama shorts and a pyjama shirt, knowing that she'd probably just want to lie around and sleep. She took them and changed in my bathroom as I waited patiently on the bed.

When she emerged, I tried to brighten the mood. "So, do you want to watch a movie together? Or we can paint our nails?"

She stared blankly at the floor and gave a small shrug with her shoulders. I was struggling to come up with other "normal" activities that teenage girls did together. I had no fucking clue.

Then, suddenly, Summer whispered, "Does he know?"

I blinked at her random comment. At first I was lost, but then I realised she was referring to Damian.

Shit.

I cleared my throat. "Um, I... I couldn't really lie to him..." I trailed off.

Then, "I'm sorry."

She just nodded her head calmly, appearing completely unaffected by that statement whatsoever. I was almost relieved.

That was until she dropped to the floor, letting out a huge, gut-wrenching sob.

"Summer," I scrambled off of the bed and knelt down beside her. "Hey, Summer, listen to me: you're going to be okay. You're literally the strongest person I know."

She was struggling to breath through her violent crying, covering her eyes and refusing to look at me. "No, no, no. My life is ruined, Sasha. My life is ruined."

It broke my heart hearing her say that. It felt like my insides had shattered into a million little pieces and were now floating away from me.

"No, Summer, don't say that. You've endured this pain for so long and now it's over. You already did it, you already got through the worst bit."

She couldn't seem to stop the tears from flowing. "I... I feel so dirty, Sasha. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it. I don't think I'll ever be clean again."

Oh, god, this isn't good.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get a nice hot shower ready for you and everything will just wash right off," I told her, trying my hardest to be comforting. "You'll be clean again, okay? You'll always be clean."

I let the shower run for a minute and waited for it to heat up. Summer entered the bathroom shortly after, her eyes rimmed red and her mascara smeared. "Take as long as you want. You can have the longest shower in the world, we're in fucking Wayne Manor."

This earned a tiny, halfhearted laugh from Summer. It made my heart flutter knowing i'd somewhat cheered her up. Thank god.

I left her alone to shower and walked into my room. The en-suite didn't have a door separating it from the bedroom, but you couldn't see anything from where I stood.

I flinched when I saw Damian leaning against my doorframe. He stood there in all his handsome, devil-like glory, fiddling with the sleeve of his black hoodie. Once again, I felt like a crippled rat compared to him. I attempted to fix up my messy ponytail out of self-consciousness.

"Where is she," he asked quietly.

"She's showering," I replied.

He just nodded, and the pattering of water from the en-suite filled our silence.

I didn't know what to say for a little while. I found myself staring at my hands, suddenly noticing the dried up blood that was still there.

Coach Donovan's blood.

It made me feel sick.

"Shit," I muttered as I aggressively tried to rub it off. Damian just watched me observantly.

"There's some on your shirt," he said bluntly. I snapped my head down and saw a huge smudge of red across my collar and chest. Fuck.

I wanted to walk into the bathroom and scrub it all off instantly, but Summer was in there. I couldn't sit around with that disgusting man's blood on my skin. It was revolting in every way.

I glanced at Damian. "Uh, may I please use your sink?

He understood the situation almost immediately. "Yeah, sure."

I splashed my hands with cold water as Damian stood beside me with his hands in his pocket. I scrubbed at the scarlett streaks on my arms, then the at the small splotches on my face and neck.

I eventually realised that the blood on my shirt had soaked through completely. I would most likely be needing a new uniform, as this shit wasn't gonna come out anytime soon. There were patches all across my stomach, chest, shoulders and even legs.

Fuck, I really messed him up, didn't I? Maybe I shouldn't have gone so hard.

Damian suddenly reached toward my head and lifted up a section of my hair. The tip of it was practically dyed red. I must have looked like a psychopath walking around like that.

"Are you serious?" I groaned to no one in particular.

He smirked slightly, and it probably would've evolved into a laugh if the atmosphere wasn't so depressing. Summer's situation had us all tense and rigid. No one was in the mood to joke around.

I started to scrub at the blood on my chest, but there was so much trailing under my shirt. I needed to take my shirt off to get it all, or maybe just take a shower to speed up the process. I glanced at Damian's shower and wondered if I should risk it, considering none of the en-suits had proper doors.

Well, he's technically already seen me naked...

I quickly removed that thought from my mind.

I decided to stick with just taking my shirt off and quickly giving myself a rinse. Clearing my throat awkwardly, I turned to Damian. "Sorry, do you think you could..." I made a turning gesture with my finger.

He looked slightly puzzled, but did so anyway. I tugged off my school blouse, leaving myself in just my pink bra. Damian must have joined the dots when he heard me turn on the faucet and rub myself with water, because he said, "You can just have a shower, you know."

My cheeks turned the same colour as my bra. "Excuse me, are you looking?"

I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "No, Sasha," he said with sarcasm. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what you're doing."

I just sighed. "Fine. I'll have a shower."

He left to get me a towel as I stood there holding my shirt to my chest. When he returned, he averted his eyes to the floor as he handed it to me.

"Can you tell me when Summer gets out?" I asked, trying to stop the blush that was spreading on my face. I was literally standing in front of Damian in my bra, with nothing but a blood soaked shirt protecting him from seeing me.

He nodded, then left me alone in the ginormous bathroom. It was pretty much identical to mine and most of the others in the Manor. The shower was huge and you could essentially walk through it like a catwalk, it was so long. I stripped off and hopped onto the marble tiling behind the glass. It kind of sucked that there was no wall or shower curtain, considering I was a guest in his room.

But it was meant to be an en-suite for the person who lived in the room, so I understood why the architectures hadn't bothered with doors. The room wasn't exactly for sharing, there were hundreds of other guest bedrooms for strangers to stay in. I probably should have used one of them.

But here I was, naked in Damian's shower with no door separating us. He could just waltz right in if he wanted to. How embarrassing for me.

I sucked it up and turned on the water. I let the droplets rinse away the blood on my body. It felt good cleaning myself of anything to do with Coach. I couldn't imagine how Summer must have felt having him touch her so many times. It was absolutely horrible.

I finished up quickly and stepped out, eager to get changed as fast as possible. It was kinda scary being this naked when a boy was only a couple of feet across the room.

Oh, fuck, I suddenly realised.

I didn't bring any clothes.

HAHA U WILL PROBABLY HATE ME FOR THIS BUT I HAD TO BREAK IT UP IT WAS GETTING LONG SORRYYYYY

btw i'm so sorry if anyone has ever experienced this it truly breaks my heart and u can talk to me if u want i will always listen to u <3

next chapter will be up very soon and also we are on 11.5k reads thank u everyone for reading x