**MENTIONS OF A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP**
Matt is a completely fictional character
“You’re cheating on me?!” Matt stormed through the door to Pippa’s dorm room. See, Matt and Pippa had been dating for a few months now, they're both students at Julliard, he’s studying music, and she is double majoring in acting and music, minoring in dance. Did Pippa have a lot of work? Yes. Did it stress her out and take a toll on the relationship? Sometimes. The two started dating the start of their sophomore year, and within the months, Matt seemed to get more and more...what's the word? Possessive. Matt seemed to get more and more possessive. He’d go through her texts, get mad when she’d be out late, he would especially get mad when he found out she was hanging out with Lin, another music major Pippa had met. Lin was minoring in acting, and she met him through one of her music classes. But they were friends. Nothing more. Nothing less.
“Matthew, it is two in the morning! What are you doing here?!” Pippa exclaimed, shutting her laptop as she spun around in her swivel chair.
“Stop avoiding my question!” He snapped.
“Shut up! You're walking on thin ice just by being here! You could get in so much trouble, and so could I. Now keep your voice down, what are you going on about?” Pippa sat him down on a fluffy beanbag chair across from her.
“You're freaking cheating on me?!” Matt repeated himself, just more quietly, but still as mean.
“No, I'm not cheating on you! That's absurd that you'd even think that!” Pippa whisper-yelled.
“You seem to be hanging out a lot around this Lin you've picked up. How long have you two been doing this, weeks? Months? He's probably slept here with you, hasn't he?” Matt sneered.
“I am not cheating on you with Lin, and we sure as heck are not sleeping together.” Pippa’s eyebrows scrunched together in anger. “We’re just friends! And it's horrible of you to think anything else! I've been nothing but loyal to you!” At this, Matt stood up from his chair and towered over Pippa. “W-What are you doing?” She stuttered, finally realizing where this could be headed
“Do you want to question me again, Sweetheart?” Matt hissed once more and lowered himself to only centimeters away from her face; if he was even half a millimeter closer, their noses would be touching.
“N-No.” God, she hated it when she got like this. She was always so good at standing up for herself, but something about Matt when he got like this, frightened her beyond reason.
“Good.” His voice became more of a snarl now, and he grabbed onto Pippa's wrists tightly.
“Stop.” Pippa stated firmly. “Let me go.”
“Why should I?” Matt smirked.
“B-Because I have classes tomorrow, and--"
“And you don't want anyone to see any marks on you, do you? Not any handprints, no bruises, nothing, huh? You want to be perfectly clean, don’t you?” Sadly, Pippa succumbed to his word’s effects on her, and nodded. “Ah, so I was right. Well, Princess, let me tell you something. You're not going to be perfect. You're not going to have a career in this industry, you're not going to graduate, you're going to crack, you're going to fail, you're not going to make it. Not now, not tomorrow, never. You're not going to make it. You're not going to be perfect.” He wickedly chuckled to himself. Pippa squeezed her eyes shut both at the pain of his tightening grasp on her, and to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. Sadly, those tears did end up falling. “Phillipa, Sweetheart, why the tears? I've given you nothing to cry about.” Matt knew what he was doing. This wasn't the first time he’d done this to her. His grip on her wrists tightened. “I could give you something to cry about, though...” A devilish smirk marked his face. In some split second of time, Matt’s hand connected with Pippa’s cheek. “That's for cheating on me.” Matt told her in a low, venomous whisper. With that, he left, slamming her dorm room door as he went. Pippa sat there, motionless in her chair. After a moment, she turned back to her homework, she had to get it done. She had to. That's what she was willing to focus on. Matt, she could deal with later.
~~~~~
Pippa woke up to her blaring alarm clock at four forty in the morning. She woke up at her desk, her arms folded over her laptop, and she noticed a bunch of random letters had started to fill up the document she was typing for one of her classes. Pippa pulled herself from her desk, stretching as she stood, and made her way to the bathroom. It was then that she noticed the abnormal redness on her cheek, and the handprint indentations still on her wrists. The previous night came flooding back to her memory. She sighed at the sight of her cheek and arms. I deserved this, didn't I? Pippa thought to herself.
Regardless, she had a music class in twenty minutes, so she covered up her cheek with makeup and slid on a hoodie before leaving her dorm. Nobody would get suspicious, right? She made her way to the music hall and sat down in her handpicked seat, next to Lin. Except, this time, she was anxiously staring at the door, praying Lin would be out with a small cold, or just was ditching class. She was horrified to see him today.
“Hey, Pip.” Lin smiled and took his seat beside the girl.
“Hi.” She replied, still staring at the door.
“You seem sad, what's up?” Lin took out the notebooks he needed for the class.
“I'm not, I'm just tired.” Pippa turned to face him. Her breath hitched when she saw Lin’s expression. He'd never seen her with such dark bags under her eyes, he’d never seen her so pale, so...deprived of sleep, and probably of food as well.
“Pip, you don't look so good. Are you sure you're alright?” Lin reached across the table to grab her hand, but she quickly pulled away from him.
“I'm fine.” She said quickly. As if almost on cue, Matt walked into the classroom. Crap, she forgot he had his schedule changed, and now he had this class with her.
“Good morning, Sweetheart.” Matt came around the table and kissed her forehead. His smile fell when he made eye contact with Lin, but it was plastered on once more when he turned back to Pippa. “I got you a coffee.”
“Thank you.” Pippa gratefully took the Starbucks cup and set it down on her desk after taking a sip.
“Of course, anything for you.” Matt’s fingers brushed the ends of her hoodie sleeve as he went to take his seat on the other side of the classroom.
Within seconds, class started, and Lin slipped Pippa a note under the table.
Talk to me after class real quick.
Pippa read the note and nodded. She held her breath for a moment after, seeing where this was probably headed.
