Broken

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! 

Ava Stevens slowly sat up in bed as she heard her alarm loudly go off. She reached over to turn it off and glanced at the empty space beside her. She silently climbed out of bed and walked across the hall to the bathroom so she could start getting ready. She slowly stripped out of her clothes and reached into the shower to turn the water on. She stood naked in front of the mirror and turned sideways to see if there was any change yet. She involuntarily moved her hand to reach up and touch it to her still-flat stomach. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Are you almost done in there?" She heard pounding on the door as she finally stepped into the shower and stood under the spray.

"I just got up!" she called as she quickly started to wash herself.

"Hurry up. We're going to be late for school." she rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the shower and began to dress.

As if Zane Roberts cared that much about school. He only attended to be able to play sports because he thought that being an awesome team player meant he could get a scholarship to any college he wanted and get him out of this town. She wanted to tell him that the colleges looked at your academics as well, and he wasn't faring that great in that department. He skipped all the time and was constantly getting into verbal fights with the teachers. How he managed to stay on his teams with the grades he had, she'll never know.

Why was she with Zane, you might ask? That's a very good question. It all started with a breakup and then her family got too involved. She had dated Colin Jeffreys since the beginning of freshman year. They had grown up as best friends since preschool. They started getting closer until finally he surprised her by asking her to the back-to-school dance at the beginning of freshman year.

Her parents were ecstatic when they found out; they had been expecting it really. Ava and Colin were closer than they had ever been. Then it all came crashing down all around them. She helped him through his dad's sudden death and when his mom started to spiral as a result of his dad's death.

But then it just got to be too much for Colin. He started pushing everyone away until Ava just decided that she couldn't be his verbal punching bag. She made the hardest decision that she ever had.

She walked away from Colin and a few days later, she met Zane. She had seen him hanging around school, but never saw him coming to any classes. He introduced himself to her and listened as she told him her story. Or maybe he pretended to listen so that he could get what he wanted. Either way, they became close very fast. Much to the chagrin of her family.

To say that her father was overprotective was a complete understatement. When she started getting an interest in boys, her police officer father kept telling her horror stories of dating and teenagers gone wrong. He eased up somewhat when she was dating Colin. But once they broke up and he found out about Zane, he was practically breathing down her neck to get information about them.

She refused to talk to any of her family about her relationship with Zane. It all came to a head when she found out that not only her dad and older brother, Trent were trying to follow her when ever she wasn't at home, but she also figured out rather quickly that her father was having some of the officers from the force try to do it as well.

After a very vocal debate with her parents about Zane, she packed some of her belongings and snuck out to be with him after everyone had gone off to bed. Not long after, she decided to move in with him. She thought it was a little strange that a sophomore had his own place, but he explained that his family life was messed up. After a very vague description, she just accepted it and welcomed her new life.