Present.
Seeing Damian rushing toward her, Ivy's mind snapped into clarity, cold, sharp, and resolute. Gone was the pleading, the tears, the helplessness that had played out in the past.
No more.
This time, she wouldn't beg. This time, she wouldn't cry.
Damian's bat swung through the air, aimed straight for her side. But Ivy wasn't the same girl they had tormented before.
With a swift movement, driven by desperation and a fire long buried beneath years of abuse, she sidestepped, the bat grazing the edge of her shirt but missing its mark.
Damian staggered, caught off guard by her sudden agility. His eyes widened in shock, the cruel confidence draining from his face.
"Ivy! You..." he started, but Ivy didn't let him finish.
Her foot shot out, catching him square in the shin. Damian howled, stumbling backward, his bat clattering to the floor.
