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Where I was in my life
Set the scene. What was your life like then?
I still remember the last time he raised his hand on me. It was November 11th, Veterans Day, a day off school. Vitali wanted me to come with her to see Frank, the guy she'd met again at a party months before. They couldn't see each other often. Her parents rarely let her out—almost never. That day, it was freezing cold, but Vitali didn't want to hear it. She was too in love. The plan was a movie downtown at 2 p.m. But once we got there, it became a party out in the county, an hour away. "I'm not going out there," I said. "It's too far, and I have to be home by seven or I'll get my ass beat." "We'll just go and come back, I promise." "No. It takes three hours round trip, there's no train. I can smell a bad plan." "He's picking us up at the station in his car, and he's driving us back." I could smell the bad plan a mile away, and I didn't trust this boy, who had shown more than once that something was off. Once, after an argument, he made Vitali get out of his car in the middle of nowhere. Another time, at a party, he swept her legs out from under her because she'd talked to a guy—who was her cousin. And the best one: we saw him at the fair with his boys and some girls, and he refused to say hi to Vitali, claiming she hadn't told him she was going. Every time, he apologized all over himself, and she forgave him. Everyone agreed he was shady. Everyone agreed he was toxic. But she didn't want to hear it, especially since things were going great between her cousin and her ex. They were about to celebrate one year. She wanted to prove to herself, and to everyone, that she could have a relationship too—even if that relationship made her suffer. Me, I had Damon. He flatly refused to let anything happen before my eighteenth birthday. I was his girlfriend, but platonically. When he picked me up, we didn't even kiss on the cheek, in case it went too far. We spent our time together just talking about me and my family. I knew he had a girlfriend, or girlfriends, but since I wasn't officially his, I had no right to demand any loyalty. Even if he was patient, I knew he wanted my purity too. At the station, he made us wait another thirty minutes in the cold.