Page 86 of Falling With a Spin

Taylor has been by my side through all of the terrible decisions I have made, when I’ve come home crying, and stayed up with me laughing over the stupid that happened in class or at work. No matter what, she’s been there. Through all this mess, she's been my constant.

I have only known Kiley for a week if that. But already, I know she is in my corner. She could have decided that I could deal with my problems and demons on my own, but instead, she reached out her hand.

With a shaky breath in, I untangle myself from Hunter's arms, stand up, and wipe my eyes from the tears. Putting on the best smile I can muster up, “Let's go down to the police station.”

It's two hours later by the time we exit the station, and to say that I'm thoroughly exhausted once again. Also very hungry, and right on cue, my stomach growls. It’s been hours since I last ate, we’ve been busy talking with his mom and then going to the police station right after, that food wasn’t even an option at the moment.

“I’m starving.” Hunter groans.

“The Diner.” We both say, and when he leans in to kiss me, a small smile creeps onto my face.

A buzzing is coming from my back pocket, and I pull it out, seeing Kiley Beckett flash across the screen. Two weeks have passed since I filed a restraining order, and my nerves have been going haywire since then. After the first week, I started to calm down a little bit, thinking that he’d take the restraining order and move on with his life, but now I’m not so sure.

“Hey Liam, are you okay if I step away for a quick second?” I give him a pleading look, and he waves me off.

I run to the back room and answer it just before the door closes.

“Hey,” I read myself for the impact of what she’ll say.

“Hey, I will keep this short, but it won’t be sweet. I was able to find out that the restraining order was served.” I breathe out a sigh of relief. “But,” fuck I knew there was a but, “he is denying it and wants to take it to court.”

Everything in my body seizes up. Is Chad denying it? Denying the threats he told me? The verbal abuse he would throw at me? The physical abuse he caused me? The sexual abuse?

“Emma, we knew this was going to happen. I’ve prepared for it.” She tries to reassure me, but the ringing in my ears hasn't stopped.

I slide down to the floor, unable to hold myself up anymore as the emotions rack through me.

“Yeah, I know. I just thought-” What was I thinking?

Yes, maybe holding onto hope was foolish, but I’m an idiot for thinking it would change Chad's mind. He is a narcissist and only cares for one person. Himself. All the while convincing me that he loves and cares about me. But you don’t hurt the ones you love.

“They haven’t set a court date yet since you haven’t been served, but we will start planning.” She says in a calm voice. Yes, planning because that's what one does when they go to court, right? “I will need you to send me any evidence you have left from your relationship with him. Pictures you took, text messages you two had, and any voicemails too.” She finishes off.

“Okay.” My voice comes out like stale bread. Devoid of all emotion.

“We will do everything we can so he can never hurt you or anyone ever again.” Her determination is heard through the phone.

I nod my head as if she can see me, “Okay.” Then the line goes dead.

I give myself five more minutes before I wipe my face clean, and I notice then that there aren’t any tears, for once, I didn’t cry over Chad. I pull myself off the ground and walk back out there.

Except I can’t be here.

Liam looks at me and waves me goodbye. As I leave, there’s only one other place I want to be right now. Getting in my car, I head to the studio.

Taylor starts up the car, and I quickly run out, covering my head with my bag from the rain. The weather app says it'll be bright and sunny, but the storm clouds that roll in say otherwise.

Once I climb in, she plugs her phone in to pull up Maps and type in the address. I rub my hands together, attempting to warm myself up, and I look down at my outfit, making sure it isn’t soaked, knowing that the drive there will have plenty of time to dry it out. I bring down the visor and check my makeup for any smudges. I clean up a little bit of streaks, but I can always re-apply later. It’s been so long since I did my makeup like this. Closing the visor and flipping it back up, I look at Taylor, who is grinning at me.

“You look so good.” She squeals, and for once, I agree with her and give her a dazzling smile.

“Now, are you sure you don’t want to tell Hunter what we are doing?” She questions me again for the millionth time.

When I was at the studio, I got an email notification from Juilliard. Bracing myself for bad news, I opened it up, seeing I had gotten a spot for an audition. Shock ran through me, and I fell to the ground, looking at the screen. The last time I received this email, I was in high school, and my excitement now doesn’t even compare to then. The audition dates were two months in advance, and I quickly clicked on the one that appeared. When I came home from the studio that day, I told Taylor everything, and she insisted on taking me to the audition and that I wouldn’t be able to fight her on it.

“Yes, I’m positive. I don’t want to get his hopes up if I don’t get accepted.” I shrug and look out the window as we pull out of our complex.

“Alright, babes, let's get you to your audition.” We both burst out into laughter as we started the three-hour drive to Julliard.

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