Convincing

After feeling a bit better she made her way into the living room and prayed for good luck. Her parents were furious that she was asking about going out again. She begged on her knees for just one trip to the movies but her father was enraged by her disrespect in not listening to him when he said no. He jumped from his chair and grabbed Dawn by her pony tail and threw her into the wall. "Please Daddy! Just one night and I promise I won't ask again. I just want to go once." He held her by her throat and tightened his fist to choke off her words. Tears streamed down her face, which only added more fuel to the fire. Her father screamed in her face, "So now this boy is so important that you don't even care what I say?! You're my child and you will listen to what I say! Why should I let you go whoring around with some boy!? If you're so desperate to be a whore then I can beat you like one!" He dragged Dawn by the throat to her room and threw her in the floor. He broke the adjuster from a set of mini blinds and smacked her across the face with it. He then began to pummel her with it until it broke in two. Then he started to kick her. She tried to curl into a ball to protect her face and scooted as far into the corner as she could get but she was no match for his fury. Her tears streamed harder as she realized there was no hope and she wouldn't be able to convince Matt to stay with her. She would lose her only bit of joy and this would be all she had left. Sorrow racked through her as she withstood the beating. After her father calmed down and left, she dragged her sore body to the bed where she curled up and wept. She tried to think of something to tell Matt. Some way to bide more time. There had to be a way to make it to the movie with him. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep and when she had woken in the morning she had figured out a plan. She carefully hid the welt on her face from the previous night with makeup and put on a long sweater to hide her arms and took off to school. Matt was waiting for her outside of her first period class. Her stomach sank when she saw him. She hoped that he wouldn't be mad. "Matt, my parents are busy this weekend and need my help painting but they said I could go with you next weekend. Is that ok?" A broad smile lit his face. "I knew you could convince them. I don't know why you didn't try to before... Maybe you realize that I'm not playing around now? Anyway, see you at lunch!" Dawn released a breath she didn't know she had been holding.