DAMON

"Party!" Another guy drunk off his ass screamed into my face.I pushed him away and made my way to a quieter part of the room.

I sat down on a couch and took a sip of whatever drink was in the red plastic cup in my hand, embracing the warm feeling it left behind in my throat and stomach.

"Hey sexy." A bleach blonde girl with barely any clothes on purred.

I ignored her and took another sip of my drink.

I didn't even have a chance to move before she crawled onto my lap and straddled me.

"Can I help you?" I asked dryly.

I didn't feel attracted to this girl in any way, even though she was throwing herself at me. It would be so easy to take her upstairs, but I wasn't in the mood. And I wasn't the type of guy that did that anyway.

"I just want a fun time." She whispered in my ear. I could smell the alcohol on her breath, she was clearly drunk.

"Listen, I'm not interested. So why don't you leave me alone and go find some other guy." I snapped.

"Asshole." She muttered as she got off me and stomped away.

I rolled my eyes at her insult. I couldn't count how many times I'd heard that one. It was one of Sophia's favourite insults.

Wait, why was I suddenly thinking about her? She was nothing to me, just a pain in the ass.

I had to get my mind off of her.

I looked into the crowd of dancing people until I found a girl that was modestly dressed and pretty. Just my type.

"Can I join you?" I asked once I got to her on the dance floor.

She nodded and wrapped her arms around me.

We danced to the pounding music and with each song she got closer and closer until her body was flush against mine.

I crashed my lips to hers, unable to hold back any longer, and she eagerly responded. I smirked into the kiss, pleased with the effect I had on her.

She twisted her fingers into my hair as I let my hands roam her body and I gently bit down on her bottom lip, asking for entrance, but she denied.

I groaned in annoyance and she smirked.

She was teasing me.

For some reason the girl's stubbornness caused an image of Sophia to pop into my head. I could imagine her doing the same thing, teasing me and making me go at her pace, she always had to be in charge.

The girl pulled away when she noticed that I wasn't responding to her kiss anymore.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

I looked into her brown, lust filled eyes, wishing they were the greenish grey eyes that belong to Sophia.

I froze when I realized what I'd just thought. What the hell had gotten into me? Thinking bout Sophia when I was making out with another girl? Wishing the girl I was making out with was Sophia?

I had some serious problems.

"I gotta go." Was all I said to the girl before I stormed out the front door and into my car.

I angrily sped home, cursing myself for thinking about her.

Once I pulled into my driveway I checked the time. Almost three in the morning.

I was surprised I stayed at that party for that long. I usually left after an hour or two.

To be honest, I hated parties. They were a waste of time and energy. The only reason I went was to keep my image up. No one would like a guy that didn't attend parties, right?

I quietly got out of my car and made my way to the side of the house. My mom knew I went to parties and she didn't like it, so she told me that if I decided to go I had to make sure she didn't know. So whenever I came back I would climb up the ladder I kept against the side of the house by my window, and sneak in that way.

I just got into my room when I heard a blood curdling scream.

I looked outside to see where it was coming from and quickly noticed the sound escaping Sophia's open widow.

What the hell?

After about five minuets of silence I heard shuffling in her room, and suddenly she started to talk.

"Antonio, I know you aren't alive or anything. Well you are, but you're not human. Anyway, I need someone to talk to and you're my only option." She started, in a whisper, but if a listened hard enough I could make out what she said.

"I had another nightmare, it started out good, first it was clips of all my happy times with him, but when there was no more happy moments left the bad memories started. The first one was of him yelling at me for the first time, then hitting me for the first time." She explained, her voice cracking several times.

Behind her closed blinds I knew she was crying, even though I couldn't see.

I heard her take a deep breath to compose herself, then continue, "The memories just kept playing, the small beatings I would get whenever I somehow messed up, to the big beatings that left me broken. And finally the cuts he would make. He would cut places like the bottom of my feet and upper back. Places that no one would see."

I felt bad for her, having nightmares like that would be terrifying.

"I wish that I could just erase my memory so I wouldn't have to remember him and everything he did to me. If my memory was erased then I wouldn't have nightmares anymore. I could be normal again.

"But you know what I want most of all? I want for my nightmares to just be nightmares instead of memories. I'm tired of reliving those horrible things over and over every night." She sobbed.

After that I heard some shuffling and then everything went silent.

What the hell did I just listen to?

That nightmare she told Antonio about, it was real? It actually happened to her?

How could someone ever do that to a person, let alone a person as wonderful as Sophia?

Whoever she was talking about was a sick bastard. If I ever found out who he was I'd hit him until he couldn't even remember his own name.

At that moment, remembering how scared and broken she sounded, I made it my mission to help her forget. To be the person she could talk to about her past. I wanted to be the one that was there for her and comforted her when the nightmares happened.

For once, instead of trying to be her enemy, I wanted to be her friend.

I wanted to be Sophia Mackenzie's friend.

And with that thought in mind, I closed my window and went to sleep.

That night I dreamt of a dark room filled with a familiar blood curdling scream, and the sound of smacks, punches and kicks.

- - - - - -

The blaring sound of my alarm startled me awake and I groaned in annoyance. Was it morning already? I felt like I hadn't slept for even a minute.

I guess that's what I got for coming home at nearly three in the morning.

Whoever threw that party deserved a good punch in the face. What moron had a party on a Monday?

I eventually got out of bed and managed to pull on a pair of jeans and a white t shirt.

I wonder how everyone else from the party was doing. Having barely any sleep, a hangover, and school. That was harsh. At least I didn't drink enough to feel it today.

I stumbled downstairs, still half asleep, and plopped down on a kitchen chair.

"Morning sweetie." Mom greeted.

"Morning." I mumbled, laying my head on the kitchen table.

"Someone's tired, here's some coffee and chocolate chip pancakes, that's sure to give you some energy." She said, placing my breakfast on the table in front of me.

"Thanks." I said gratefully through a mouth full of pancake and coffee.

She rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Well I'm off to work, and you should be getting to school soon."

"Bye mom." I called out to her as she made her way to the front door.

"Bye honey, have a nice day. Love you" She called back.

I smiled, my mom somehow always put me in a better mood.

I finished off the rest of my breakfast quickly and rushed to school after I washed my dishes.

"Hey Damon."

"What's up my man?"

"Yo D! Did you enjoy the party?"

A wave of greetings hit me as I walked through the school doors.

For some reason everyone thought they had to greet me every morning, but I'd rather have them just leave me alone. When it first started happening it was really overwhelming, then as time went on I got use to it, but I'd never grown to like it.

As I walked to my first class I tried to reply to people, but I was distracted looking for one particular girl. I wasn't concerned when I didn't find her though. I was later than usual so she was probably already in class.

But by the time Environmental Awareness rolled around I was nervous.

I'd been playing out the different scenarios that could happen when I tried to talk to her and none of them were positive.

How could I make amends with the girl that hated me since elementary school?

I ended up being one of the first people in the class we shared, instead of getting here just as the bell rung. And in a strange turn of events Sophia was one of the last people to arrive. It was like our roles were reversed.

She looked at the teacher sheepishly when the bell rang at the same time she sat down, which was somehow funny and cute at the same time.

"Hey." I causally greeted her.

"Um, hi." She replied, her words sounding unsure.

She was obviously confused with me greeting her. I never did that and neither did she.

"So how's your day been so far?" I asked, cringing at how awkward I sounded. It was difficult making small talk with her, I didn't know what to say or how to act when we weren't arguing.

"Good, yours?" She replied shortly.

"Alright I guess, but my first class is kinda boring. What's your favourite class?"

She looked over at me, a confused frown on her face, but she replied none the less, "Photography, what's yours?"

I smiled and replied, "Music."

She seemed surprise by my answer, but I saw the she was also impressed.

"What do you play?" She asked, turning her whole body so that she was facing me, giving me her full attention.

"Guitar, drums, and piano." I listed.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Wow, I expected Guitar and even drums but not piano."

I shrugged, "My dad used to be a music teacher, and we have a piano at our house, so he decided to teach me." I explained.

"You're lucky." She commented.

I nodded my head in agreement. After the stuff I heard her say last night I had to rethink the way I thought about my own life. I really did have a lot to be grateful for.

"Maybe I'll play something for you sometime." I suggested, imagining her face when I showed her just how good I was at piano.

She nodded eagerly and smiled.

She should smile more often, it looked good on her.

"By the way, did you want to come over today to do some more recording for our project?" She asked, looking a little too eager. There was another reason she wanted me to come over, I just wished I new what it was.

"I'd love to." I agreed. My plan to become her friend seemed to be easier than I thought, we were having a pleasant conversation already without an argument brewing.

She smiled at me, and I thought I caught a quick flash of relief in her eyes. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone.

Tonight I was hanging out with Sophia. Even if it was for a project, it was a start. I could find out more about her, and maybe even get her to see that I wasn't such a bad guy.

The way we just interacted gave me hope that one day soon we could be friends.

For the first time ever, I was actually excited to hang out with this girl.Weird.