hiii I double updated tonight so if u did not read chapter 30 yet, go read that !!!

Kasey's POV

"Stay the fuck away from my sister." Bryce intensely glared at Zane who was now holding his face. He then looked at me, and grabbed my hand to help me get off the couch.

"Let's get out of here," he mumbled. I stumbled my way to the elevator, and I held onto Bryce tightly for support. We got back onto the first floor, and I let Bryce drag me through all the crowds of people. Everything seemed so much louder now, and everyone was still blurry. We left the building and Bryce helped me get into the backseat of his friend's car, and then sat with me. Bryce let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, but I'm really glad I came when I did. Are you okay? What happened? Did you drink or something?"

"He gave me two edibles," I said and shut my eyes so I wouldn't throw up.

"Jesus, two?? Holy shit Kasey."

"He didn't tell me what they were."

"You're kidding." he shook his head. "Have you ever been high before?"

"No, dumbass." Apparently even in the midst of this night, I could still be rude to him. He knew I deep down appreciated him, though. He rolled his eyes.

"Just checking. 2 edibles is like 100 milligrams of THC, probably. Definitely not good for a first high or really any, you're probably gonna green out."

"Yeah I feel like I'm dying," I murmured, shutting my eyes again so I couldn't see the bright city lights.

"He got you high off your ass so he could come onto you. That's so fucked up," Bryce sighed again. "Do you know him?"

"He's my dance partner." His eyes widened.

"You're fucking kidding.... Kasey, I'm so sorry. I can't believe he would do that to you. I'm so sorry this all happened to you."

We finally got to his apartment, and as soon as we got in I went to the bathroom and immediately started throwing up. Gross. The worst part was that I didn't even feel better. I lay on my back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. This has been one of the worst nights of my life, and I've had a lot of bad nights. I closed my eyes for a second, and it felt like I was back in the moment. I felt him touching me all over. No. No, no, no. I stood up and brushed my hands up and down all over myself. It didn't go away. All the places he'd touched were burning all over me. My waist, my hips, my chest. My neck, my cheeks, my collarbone. His fingerprints burned into me, I felt him touching me over and over again. No, no, no. I needed him to get off of me, and he wan't even here. The parts of my skin felt like they were pulsating, making me more aware every second of everything that happened.

"Get out of my head," I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek. It didn't get any better.

"Get out, get out, get out," I pleaded, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Your body is so beautiful."

"Relax."

"I told you to let loose tonight."

His words kept repeating over and over in my head. My breaths began to shorten and tears were now streaming down my face. I began to panic as I felt the touches all over again. I turned on the shower and I got in with all my clothes on, not even caring. I needed his touch off of me, I needed to wash it all away. I scrubbed at my skin, trying to get it all off. I started to feel a little better as the cold water slowly brought me back to where I really was.

"Kasey- what are you doing??" Bryce quickly came in as he heard the water running, and shut the shower off. He helped me step out of the tub, and I crumpled back to the floor.

"What happened?"

"I couldn't stop feeling his hands on me," I uttered, trying not to cry. His eyes crinkled in sadness.

"You're really high, it's making you imagine things. He's not touching you, and he never will again. I promise you that," Bryce assured me. I took a deep breath and nodded. He disappeared for a second, and came back with a towel, and wrapped it around me and then sat down next to me. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Mascara was running down my cheeks, and my wet hair was stuck to my neck and back. My clothes were soaked and stuck to my skin. The cold water was now making me shiver.

"I'm gonna see if my girlfriend can come over with some clothes that you can borrow," he said and I nodded again. He left me for just a minute, and then came back and sat with me. We sat in silence, I didn't have anything to say, but Bryce sat with me anyway. I was still trying to process everything that had happened in just a few hours, all while still being high. After about 10 minutes, Bryce's girlfriend came with some sweatpants and a big t shirt, which was really nice of her. I changed alone in the bathroom, and then came back out.

"How are you feeling now?" Bryce asked as he handed me a blanket which I gladly wrapped around myself.

"Like death," I said with a small smile. He smiled sympathetically, and hugged me quickly with one arm.

"I think if you sleep it off, you'll feel better by morning." Bryce showed me the makeshift bed he had made for me on his couch, with lots of blankets and pillows. He reassured me once more, and I started to slowly fall asleep as I heard Bryce talking to somebody on the phone.

-

I woke up the next morning, and was confused as to why I was on some couch. I flipped my hair to one side, and realized it was damp. I then started to remember the entirety of last night. The party. The edibles. Zane. My brain was finally processing everything clearly now, I was no longer high. Thank god. I sat up on the couch.

"Morning sunshine," Bryce came over to me with a smile, and handed me a plate of eggs.

"Morning," I said, my voice hoarse.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Better, I think. That was the absolute worst night of my life, how do people enjoy being high?" I complained.

"You had a really bad trip, like the worst of the worst. It was too much," Bryce explained. I thought back to everything spinning all around, me throwing up, and the almost hallucination I had. Yikes. I was silent for a minute.

"Thanks for being here Bryce. Thank you for all of this, for taking care of me and for coming to get me."

"Don't even thank me, I'm just glad you're okay," he shook his head. "It's my job as the oldest brother to take care of you." he winked, and I softly chuckled.

As I began to stab at the eggs, I told him the full story from the beginning, starting with the invitation.

"That man had a plan all the way from the beginning, I can't believe it," he shook his head in disbelief as I finished.

"I have to see him on Monday," I said quietly. I began to realize the grim reality of all of this now- I was going to have to dance with him everyday, all season. 9 months, every single day. I never wanted to see his face ever again, but we worked together. There was nothing I could do about it. I looked up from my plate, and Bryce was frowning.

"No. You have to tell your director or instructor or something. They have to fire him. You shouldn't have to see him ever again, yet alone dance with him."

"I can't... That would ruin everything. They'd have to find another principal dancer and we'd be all messed up for the season."

"But that's not right, he sexually assaulted you. He shouldn't have a job. Kasey if you don't feel comfortable talking to them let me-"

"Bryce, no." I cut him off. "I just- I can't tell anyone. Not until after this season, at least. You can't say anything, to anyone, okay? I only want you and Ben to know." I looked at him, my eyes pleading.

"Fine. Promise me you'll at least try to ask to switch partners, okay?"

"I promise." He looked satisfied with that answer, even though I know he wished he could do more. But I didn't want to let the company down. I didn't want me to be known as the girl who forced them to fire and hire a new dancer in the middle of a season. A sinking feeling bubbled inside me as I thought about how in just one night, so much was ruined for me.

"Speaking of Ben, he called you last night but you were sleeping. I talked to him a little bit but you should call him," he handed me my phone, and I nodded. He started to leave the room.

"Hey we need to hang out more, under better circumstances of course. I miss you," Bryce called as he walked away.

"I'd love to, but you're the one who's always 'studying for exams',"I squinted at him, and he chuckled.

"And you're the one who's always 'at dance practice'." I picked up a pillow and threw it at him, and he finally left the room.

-

Ben's POV

After a long day of teaching and then hiking, I was finally back at my hotel room and I was so ready to go to sleep. I'd been enjoying the week so far, the students were great and Canada was beautiful. One family was nice enough to show me around everywhere, and I'd even gone cliff diving. I took a quick shower, and changed into some sweatpants before hitting the bed. I plugged my phone into the charger, and connected to the Hotel wifi after basically being unplugged for the whole day. The service in this area wasn't great. All my notifications started coming through at once. A missed call from Kasey. And another one, and another, and even more. 10 missed calls. Shit. That was not a good sign, something had to be really wrong for her to call me so many times. My heart was already pounding and I immediately sat up in bed and called her. It went straight to voicemail, and a wave of panic hit me. I called again, and there was still no answer. Please be okay Kasey. I called once more.

"Hey Ben," I heard a male voice say. "It's Bryce." I was relieved that someone had picked up, but something had to be really wrong if she couldn't even answer the phone. Please be okay Kasey.

"Hey Bryce, what's going on? Is Kasey okay??"

"She's okay, don't worry. It's a bit of a long story I'm sure she'll want to tell you herself, but she basically got really high without knowing. She's fine, she's just sleeping right now." I was glad she was okay, but I had so many questions. How do you accidentally get high? Where was she? How high? It was good to know she was with her brother, though. I thanked Bryce, and we hung up. How am I supposed to sleep now? I had been exhausted just a few minutes ago, but I was now wide awake with worry. I tossed and turned the whole night.

-

I heard my phone start ringing, and I quickly sat up and grabbed it. I'm not even sure I slept at all last night, and it was now morning. I'd spent the majority of the night anxious to talk to Kasey.

"Hey Ben," I heard her soft voice, and was relieved just to hear it. "I just had one of the worst night's of my entire life."

"Kase! Are you okay? What happened last night?" She let out a long sigh.

"You remember Zane, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He was Kasey's new dance partner, and she'd mentioned to me how uncomfortable he made her at times.

"Well he basically invited me and Addie to a party, and he said it was for the company to celebrate the start of the season. So Addie and I decided to go, obviously not for him we just wanted to see her friends. But then Addie couldn't go anymore so I decided to go on my own. And boy, it was not for the company. It was in a fucking penthouse, Ben. There were a couple hundred people there atleast, and none from the company."

"Geez," I said.

"And I was really mad too but then he was like 'oh I want to be friends' and he really seemed like it so I decided to at least give him a chance since we'd be dancing together all season. He brought me up to the second floor, and there was a big ass kitchen and he gave me cookies because he felt bad. And then he begged me to stay and I thought it was weird but I stayed anyway just upstairs because I wanted to be his friend. He went back to the party though so it was really weird that he wanted me to stay, right?"

"Mmhm," I had no idea where this story was going, but I was uneasy.

"So turns out he gave me fucking edibles. He was acting all nice so he could give me edibles. And I was obviously really really really out of it and it sucked. And then he came back upstairs." I heard her voice grow thick and she took another deep breath.

"He started kissing me and groping me all over. Everywhere. And I kept telling him to stop but I couldn't get him off of me," she choked. A heavy feeling rose in my chest as she said that. He did all of that so he could take advantage of her.

"Um, Bryce came though and he got me out of there just in time," she started sniffling.

"Kasey, I'm so sorry. My heart is breaking right now, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. He had no right to do any of that, no means no. I really wish I could be there right now for you," I sighed. It sucks to see the person you love the most hurt, and not be able to at least hug them.

"It's fine, it's over now. I just never want to see him again, but I have to dance with him all season."

"Are you going to tell your director?"

"No, I can't. I just- I can't. I can't ruin the company."

"I get that, it's okay. But just know I stand with you and I always will. I'll be with you every step of the way no matter what you do. And hey- this doesn't make you any less of a person."

"Thank you, Ben. I love you."

"I love you more than you'll ever know," I assured. I spent the next hour talking to her before I had to get ready for another day of classes. This whole situation was breaking my heart. I understood why she didn't want to tell anyone, but it was upsetting that she felt like she had to be silent. No victim should have to stay silent, in fear of not being believed or ruining things. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she was going to have to pretend like nothing happened. It wasn't fair that victims are dehumanized and shot down. It wasn't fair that the people who do these things are so often protected. It wasn't fair that justice rarely got served. It was eating me away as I got ready for the day, but I knew I couldn't do much, except offer my support. No one should have to ever experience this. I wasn't sure how much more long distance I could take, all I wanted to do was hold her and tell her everything would be okay.

-

prioritizing this over my schoolwork >>>> 🤪🤪 hehe thank u for reading and thank u for all the comments, u guys are so kind and funny 🥰 sending u all some virtual hugs <3