the only exception

Phoebe seemed unaware of her presence, and when she was only about 3ft away, Hayley finally spoke nervously, noticing the girl shaking, "Phoebe?"

The teens head snapped up, eyes filled with tears.

Hayley felt nauseous at the sight of the girl, her cheek bruised and forehead cut. She knew it couldn't have been from last night, knew these were new injuries.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Hayley asked quickly, moving towards the girl, but instantly stopping as she flinched away.

"What happened, honey?" She asked softly, her words slow as she held her hands up as if to show she wouldn't hurt her.

Phoebe just shook her head, looking back down at the ground, wrapping her arms back around herself tightly. Her breaths were getting quicker and Hayley wasn't quite sure what to do in the situation.

"Phoebe, it's okay. You're okay." She tried to assure her, taking a few more steps forward. "Do you wanna tell me what happened? Who did this?" Hayley asked, before realizing she probably shouldn't be asking too many questions at once. "I just want to help."

The two sat in silence for a moment before Phoebe shook her head, breaking out into full on sobs, "I can't go home. I don't know what to do."

Hayley swears her heart physically breaks at the teens voice, and decides to try again at getting closer to her. She takes it slower this time, resting a hand on Phoebe's arm. Although she hasn't said what exactly happened, Hayley was already beginning to put the pieces together.

"Your foster parents.." She started, looking at the top of the girl's head, unsure how to phrase it, "Did they do this?"

Phoebe didn't answer, instead just broke down into harder cries, leaning into Hayley who instinctively wrapped her arms around the girl.

"It's okay, you're safe now." She assured her, her grip loosening as she noticed Phoebe wince from being held too tight. The two sat in silence for a moment before Hayley heard footsteps approaching.

"Everything alright?" Taylor asked hesitantly, although his voice made it clear he already knew the answer. He couldn't see the girl's face, but saw her shaking and her shoulder rising and falling at a rapid pace.

"Where's the car?" Hayley asked quietly, lifting her head from resting on top of the younger girls to look at Taylor, Zac a few steps behind him.

"Parked it," he told her, eyeing the teen girl wrapped around her, holding on for dear life.

"Give us a second, okay?" Hayley asked him, earning a hesitant nod.

Once they were out of earshot, Hayley lightly pushed the girl back, urging her to look at her. "Okay, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do in this situation, but I don't wanna just leave you here okay? So what do you want to do?"

Phoebe just shrugged in response, looking impossibly younger as her lips were turned down in a deep frown.

"What if you come to my house? We can decide what to do from there?" Hayley suggested. If she were to have it her way she'd be driving her to a hospital or calling the cops, but she knew Phoebe didn't want that. However, she couldn't just do nothing for the injured girl, not to mention she could tell she was freezing.

Phoebe seemed to think it over for a moment before hesitantly nodding, earning a sad smile from Hayley.

"I drove here with my friends. Is it alright if they come with us? We can drop one of them off at his house, but the other lives with me. But if you don't feel up to it I can honestly just leave them here and have them get an uber. Whatever you want." Hayley told the younger girl, trying to give her options and make her feel as comfortable as possible.

When Phoebe just shrugged again, Hayley looked over her shoulder to the two boys who were standing a few feet away.

"Okay," Hayley sighed, "I'll be right back. Just right over there." She told the girl, letting go of her arms and walking over to the boys.

"What's going on?" Taylor asked quickly, glazing behind Hayley at the teen who was once again staring at the floor.

"We gotta take her somewhere," Hayley told him, feeling sick from the entire situation, "Her foster parents, I don't know what they did exactly, but... I don't know. She's all beat up."

"We gotta call the cops then," Zac told her, earning a nod.

"No, I know," She agreed, glancing back over her shoulder, "But she hasn't agreed yet. Plus she's freezing so I don't wanna sit around and just wait for her to be up for it, you know?"

"You wanna take the car?" Taylor offered, "Me and Zac can get an uber or something back to his place."

Hayley smiled sadly, nodding, "Yeah, that works. It was kinda what I was thinking, too."

"I'll call an uber," Zac told them, while Hayley made her way back over to the teen.

"Hey," Hayley said softly, once again getting the girls attention, "We're gonna go to my place, okay? The boys are going somewhere else. Are you okay with that?"

Phoebe nodded, and without waiting Hayley wrapped an arm around her and they walked to the car, Zac and Taylor following close behind.

Once Phoebe was in the passenger's seat, Hayley smiled sadly at the boys, "I'm sorry. I know this isn't how tonight was supposed to go."

"It's alright, Hayley, really." Zac assured, nodding his head.

Hayley gave him a quick nod before turning to Taylor, "Thank you."

"Of course," he nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist in a quick hug, "Keep me updated?"

Hayley leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Of course."

Taylor gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before letting go and opening the drivers door for her.

"Love you," she told him quietly after getting in.

"Love you too," he replied easily, shutting the door behind her.

***

A/N

chapter 5!! considering i started this fic 5(?) hours ago id say thats such a win. enjoy!