*There's a bit of a time jump but everything shall get explained dw.*

*Also no Jackson! But i love this chapter and i love the new character/ characters.*

*I also love you guys alot! Your support has been making me so happy in this otherwise sad time. So tysm.

Please remember to keep voting and commenting!.

"Hello Ivy, it's nice to see you again." Hannah says, the woman at the start of the circle, looking at me. Her attention drifting to the ten other girls sat around in the makeshift circle.

Week 2 of group therapy commences.

"So, guys, would anyone like to kick this week off with any troubles they had this week, or maybe some positives?" She asks and the group falls pretty silent. These girls have been here far longer than me but they're still sometimes reluctant to talk. Which makes me feel ten times better.

"My dad tried to kick me out again this week, apparently depression doesn't sit well with him." One girl says, starting off the conversation about families and their impact on us when it comes to recovery.

I didn't speak much last week. I haven't really spoken much of late. Everything's still in a haze.

Everything has been really dark.

"Would anyone else like to share how their parents have been dealing with the effects of sexual assault?" Hannah, the group leader asks.

The conversation flows around the room, one girl explaining how her parents aren't supportive, the next explaining how her mother blames herself and is making her feel even worse. Coming to group therapy isn't too bad, not when I'm learning that I'm not so alone in this shit after all.

"Ivy? How about you?" Hannah says and I look at her wides eyed. She never asked me to talk last week, just appreciated that I needed to sit and listen.

"What was the question?" I ask, trying to find a way out of my thoughts and back into the room.

"We were talking about how your relationship with your parents has been impacted by the assault." In Mrs Granger's sessions she never explicitly calls it assault, she knows how the word makes me feel. Here however they use the raw terms, they seem to enjoy putting things the bluntest way possible.

"It's been fine. Um, better than before actually. They show me they care a lot now." I say quietly, my eyes trained on Hannah and nobody else. I recognise a girl or two from school, but I try not to think about it.

The whole school knew now anyway.

"That's nice Ivy." Hannah says and there is a collecting hum of agreement in the air.

Group therapy is ok for the fact you get to listen to others, it's fucking awful when you don't want those others to listen to you.

"Lucy, how was your week?" Hannah moves her attention to another girl that has been quiet this morning. Not contributing like the rest of the girls.

"Pretty shit." The girl, Lucy grumbles.

"Would you like to share with the group why it's not been too great?"

"Has anyone been else seen him? Like your attacker up close again? I um, was in class the other day and he fucking came and sat right behind me. He wasn't even supposed to be in that class, they've made sure that our paths don't cross since he's on bail but he came anyway. It was awful." Lucy says and looks for some sort of support, some sort of similarities.

All the girls shake their heads and I freeze. I have, he locked me in a classroom just little over a week ago.

It was Thursday the day that Layton got arrested and it was now not the following Saturday but the one after.

The room is silent and Lucy sits back defeated and sighs. I guess feeling alone.

I decide I can do this, that I can share and I can use my experiences to help someone else not be so isolated. It's fine. So, what if I haven't really talked about it all since it happened.

"My 'him' found me again last week." I say, my voice shaking. I look around and everyone leant forward slightly, listening to me. I look back down overwhelmed by all their eyes.

"Was that the first time you've seen him again?" Lucy asks, interested in the fact that maybe she wasn't as alone as she thought.

"Yeah, he had disappeared that night and nobody had seen him since. Until he locked me in that classroom with him. It was terrifying to actually just be physically close to him again."

"Oh my god, yeah. It was like before my brain could even resister who had come and sat behind me, my own body already knew." Lucy says.

"Like it remembered." Another girl contributes.

"Yeah." Lucy and I say simultaneously.

"Can you share more about what happened Ivy? About how it made you feel?"  Hannah says and smiles at me softly.

I take a deep breath and nod. Sure. "Um, so he found me again and was just saying these awful things... Like he was trying to convince me that I wanted it, that we were in love." I say shuddering at how sure Layton was about his love for me. "I um, he was a friend. If that. I didn't think of him in even a slightly romantic way. But he had made up this whole story in his head about our love. It was awful."

"My ex-boyfriend used to tell me that too, that he was hurting me because he loved me so much." Another girl shares and we all nod in understanding.

"But it was like he knew it was fake, because as soon as he realised he couldn't convince me that it wasn't what it was, he admitted it. Like he said what he did to me. But no one was there to hear it." I say and all the girls look pissed off for me. A small smile forming at my lips, it quickly disappearing though as I tell the girls what he said to me.

"He told me that he had been watching me for a while, every memory I have with my... um, friend. Layton said that he was there in the background, watching, waiting for me to be alone so he could finally talk to me. He told me that all my friends knew what he wanted to do to me and that they helped him."

"So he hadn't run away?" Lucy asks and I shrug.

"I think he had, but I think he came back long before the police caught onto him being back in the area." I explain and Lucy shakes her head irritated.

"The police are so fucking crap." She says and a few other girls agree.

"They helped me a lot honestly." Another girl, I think I remember her name as Emma, chimed in. "On the actual night, they helped me a lot."

"They helped me too." I say and Hannah nods her head a little for me to continue.

I look around the group, wondering if I should carry on, whether I was taking up too much time.

"Did your friends actually help him? Like why would he say that?"

That's the question that's been going over and over in my head for days. I don't believe Jackson did. I know Jackson cares about me, but there was something toying in the back of my brain when I thought about Jackson now.

All our time together, it was tainted by Layton. He was there. Or at least he could have been.

"Lucy, a lot of the time, an attacker will use the victim's friends and family as a weapon against them. Making the feel isolated and uneasy around their loved ones. It's a pretty run of the mill occurrence." Hannah replied for me but asks me another question. "Not that it doesn't feel awful. Ivy how are you doing with that, what he said to you?"

"Isolated and uneasy." I smile painfully at her, using her words to describe exactly how I feel. "I know what he said was a lie, that my Jackson didn't know a thing, I mean clearly." I say all our memories running through my mind. "But I just, Lay- my 'him' was watching me for weeks. And it's fucking with my head almost as bad as the initial attack."

"What happened at school? Did he get away?" Lucy asks and I shake my head, the only good part about that day.

"My friends, not the ones that came and found me, my friend Nora, Faye and Jess went and got the police. There were police at my school already. And they came and detained him."

"Oh, so you're pressing charges?" Another girl asks and I nod.

"Are you not?" I ask hesitantly.

"Nope. There's no evidence. I waited too long to go to the police so it wasn't worth it."

"Oh." I say awkwardly, shocked at how I wouldn't be able to cope with that. Imagine. God these girls are so fucking strong.

"Was he let out on bail? My one was, he fucking came back to school." Lucy says, shaking he head angrily.

She seemed to be coping with everything through anger, which was probably more fun than this huge fucking sadness I had weighing on my chest.

I hadn't really talked to my friends since then.

I mean, I had, they had come to see me at the start.

Jackson had come to see me, but I wasn't able to talk for a few days.

Something was physically broken within me that made the words fail to come out, it wasn't great when the police wanted to question me. It took me a while to be able to actually explain what had happened. To reassure them that he hadn't touched me. Not that time.

But yeah, eventually everyone stopped coming since I couldn't physically bare to see them, something had cracked inside of me, every time I was with my friends it felt as if I could feel Layton's eyes watching me, and I was scared to anger him.

I was a mess.

I am still a mess but the therapy sessions, Mrs Granger, Dr Halpin and now this group was actually making a difference.

I was getting better, but everyone around me started to feel further away. That I didn't have the right to reach out after shutting them all out.

"Ivy?" Hannah says, checking that I was ok.

"Oh sorry." Shaking my head to clear my thoughts and to answer Lucy I replied "No, they charged him straight away and he was remanded. Which I think means he was denied bail. He's in prison until we go to court. He um, pleaded not guilty against the chargers, despite his lawyers suggesting him to plead guilty for a plea offer. So, we are going to trial now."

"Oh wow, you're actually going to trial?" Emma says and I nod. Obviously, I know that that's what everyone wanted, that's what my lawyers wanted, my parents, the detectives. But it was terrifying. I was scared he would go down for it. Then what?

"Yeah." I nod and she slumps back on her chair a little.

"They must have found a lot of evidence then." Emma says and I physically cringe, the whole group turning their head towards her in clear distaste over the lack of sensitivity.

"Oh sorry. Of course." She says and sends me an apologetic smile. To which I just breathe away my annoyance and return the smile.

"It's ok."

"Lucy, so how did you feel being so close to him again?" Hannah asks Lucy, steering the conversation back. My attention admittedly dropping and falling back inside the mess of thoughts going on inside my head.

I didn't know how to reach out to people. I didn't know what to do from now on. I hadn't been back to school, obviously. But my friends were still sitting together as if my presence really didn't matter. And I kinda enjoyed the fact that it didn't.

i dont think i'm going back to school yanoe, my parents have been talking about home schooling for this year and then for the final year, (Grade 12 US, Year 13 UK) they were talking about me moving to another school. Even about leaving town.

I got a few messages from other girls, and other boys as well.

Not all of them pleasant.

It seemed as if you had to see the affect that Layton had on me to believe me. I think that's why all the boys immediately knew Layton was lying.

But the rest of the school didn't necessarily have the same faith. They head Layton screaming and shouting how I was framing him, how I was making this shit up to destroy his life. Pretty much everyone believed him.

I guess my friends would have been defending me, but I don't know at this point. Do they all hate me because I wouldn't see them?

I said earlier how the fact Layton had been watching us really fucked with my head. And I wasn't lying.

Any time I feel a speck of happiness, I feel as if his eyes are on me. As if he is getting off on it. I knew he was being held in prison, that there was no way he was actually close by. But I just felt like it. When my friends came over initially, after my parents had taken my panic ridden body home from school that day, I went to talk to them. But I felt that if I was with them, that Layton could hear me. I was losing my mind, I knew even then that that wasn't true. But once I got it in my head I just couldn't get it out of it. The words just stopped.

I didn't talk to my parents for days, I didn't talk to anyone.

Not until Dr Halpin's appointment that Monday, where it's as if he knew what I was feeling without even having me need to talk. He told me to write it all down and I managed to answer his questions as he read through what happened.

I went to the station straight after seeing my psychiatrist, the detectives were all proud at me on that Monday, they knew that I had had a little break through.

But that little breakthrough didn't extend to talking to my friends, the people I loved so much. Because now I was afraid I had lost them, and the longer I waited, the angrier and more pissed off I imagined them to be with me. And now it's been 9 days since I talked to them and I feel so lonely .

I was actually looking forward to group therapy today.

I just wanted the company.

I missed Jackson.

He had stopped texting two days ago.

I didn't contribute anymore after that, I just sat and listened to the way the other girls were also struggling to get through the week. How they all are haunted by their attacks, how they are finding it hard to trust people, especially those who were betrayed by the people they trust. I say people, and not men because some of the girls, their attackers weren't male. I think it's important to remember that.

Grabbing a cup of tea in a styrofoam paper cup after the session, Lucy joins me.

"Hey."

"Hi." I smile, continuing to dunk my teabag into my drink. Waiting until it was fully soaked until I added the milk.

"Wanna grab a coffee? I know a place that does ten times the cup of tea." Lucy asks and sends a disgusted look towards my hot drink. I laugh down at the admittedly a little gross tea and smile at her.

I am a little shocked, I didn't even think about the possibility of making friends with the people in this group but I nod nevertheless. I think it would be nice.

Right?

"Sure, I just have to-"

"Inform the parents? Yeah me too, don't worry." She laughs and brings out her phone. Putting it to her ear and walking away a little.

Deciding that I will do the same, I quickly call my Dad, It's a Saturday and theyre both off of work but I knew my Dad would answer straight away. My mum always looses her phone and then freaks out when she sees she has a missed call and decides that the appropriate response is to call you fifty times until you answer.

"Dad, Hi."

"Hey, hun. Are you ok? All done?" My dad's comforting voice comes through the phone.

"Yeah, all done." I say but he interrupts me before I can explain why I'm phoning.

"Do you need a lift? I thought you drove? Are you feeling ok to drive? I can be on my way in about 2 minutes." He says and I can hear the poor guy starting to get up.

"No dad, stop. I'm good. I was just phoning to tell you that I'm going for a coffee with a girl I met at group, I guess I just wanted to check that's ok and let you know I'll be back later."

"Ivy that's perfectly fine." My dad chuckles lightly. "I'm glad you're feeling ok enough to go back out in public, that's so good to hear."

I didn't actually think about that. Was I ready to go back out in public? I lift my eyes up to see Lucy, with her slightly tinged pink blonde hair waiting for me to finish. I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm going with someone that understands that if I wanna leave, then we can just leave. It's mad that I suddenly don't feel as alone as I did before in all this. That there are literally ten other girls that would probably understand everything that's going through my head when it comes to Layton.

"Yeah, it's cool dad. Um, I'll see you later." 

"See you in a bit, love you." He says and I smile.

"I love you too Dad."

Shutting off the phone I walk back over to where Lucy is stood waiting.

"All good?" I ask, referring to her conversation.

"Yes, although I have now lost my lift so um, any chance you drove here and can take me home after coffee?" She asks and I laugh.

"Yeah of course. Where are we going for coffee anyway?"

"Oh, its literally just down the road. We can walk there, that way you won't have to pay for parking." She smiles and I nod impressed at her quick thinking.

"Cool ok." I say and we head towards the door.

It was still only morning, the group therapy session had started at half 9, ending at 11 The sun was pretty warm already though, making me thankful for wearing a such a summery dress.

True to her words Lucy and I only walk for about five minutes until we get to a little Café on the corner. Lucy walks in and greets the barrister as if they're close friends. The interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colourful walls, everyone carries on with their conversations. The café appearing to be almost bustling with laughter and good energy even though it was hardly full.

"Hi Harry." Lucy smiles brightly at the young barrister.

"Hey Luce, the usual?" He asks and then his eyes jump to mine. "Hi I'm Harry. What can I get ya?"

I look up at the bored overwhelmed and then look at Lucy for help. There was so much to choose from.

"Do you like cold coffee?" Lucy asks and I nod. Yeah, it's actually sorta my favourite.

"Ok, we'll have two large ice lattes please and some... Gluten free? Allergies? " Lucy asks me and I shake my head. Nope all good.

"And some of your finest pastries. Honestly Harry I don't care what but please put some nice things on a plate so we can share," Lucy says and I smile at her. I like this girl.

"Okay." Harry laughs and shakes his head at Lucy. He tells her the price and I immediately start to get my phone out to do apple pay.

"Don't worry Ivy, I got it. Think of it as petrol money. And a bribe to be my new friend." She cheekily grins at me.

"Ok." I laugh. "This place is so nice."

"I know, honestly it's my little haven. Come on, we'll sit by the window and Harry will bring everything over." Lucy winks at Harry and leads me over to a little booth adjacent with the front of the shop, the sunlight showering us in its warmth.

"Thank you for inviting me for coffee." I say. "It's actually the first time I've been out since the whole thing at school." 

"God, what you said in group sounded awful." She exclaims and I smile softly at her.

"Yours didn't sound any better, I wouldn't be able to cope if he was still going to my school. How on earth do you do that?"

"I struggle." She laughs and then shrugs. "We just gotta do what we gotta do to survive right?"

"Yeah, exactly." I nod in agreement. It is so refreshing being here with her.

"How are you feeling? At group obviously you weren't too great, you seem a little better." I say referencing her interaction with Harry and everything a minute ago.

"Group makes me feel better honestly, especially since you