COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO -- According to reports, one in four high school girls is a victim of sexual or physical abuse.

FOX21 News interviewed one local female victim. She asked to remain anonymous for her safety and here is referred to as “Sally.”

Sally had no idea what she was getting herself into when she fell in love for the time. At first, she said the relationship was good -- hanging out with friends and going to the movies. But when the relationship got more serious, Sally said her boyfriend started to get more controlling, isolating her from friends and started verbally abusing her.

“It's hard to hear you're nothing, you're hopeless, no one wants you, and some of it I know wasn't true, but it was hard to hear,” said Sally.

As the verbal abuse kept on, Sally said she was so involved with the relationship that her focus became not losing him.

Then physical abuse began shortly after the name calling. She recalled at times, her boyfriend would pin her down not letting her go, getting mad if she was talking to another guy and taking his anger out by hitting or kicking her.

“You can get over the bruises the marks, the kicks and everything will go away, but all the emotional stuff, the name calling, ripping you emotionally apart, it's a lot longer to heal with, and you become more sensitive to everything,” said Sally.

Sally said what upsets her most is that teachers and parents aren't taking teen dating violence seriously, disregarding it as teen drama or wanting attention. But she says it is serious and she knows many girls who are going through this exact kind of abuse.

“It's more serious than you think. Adult violence isn't any worse than teen. It's equal and you really do need to look out for it,” said Sally    

Emily Periard works for TESSA, deals with girls just like Sally on a daily basis. She said she's seeing an increase in girls getting abused by their boyfriends and wants parents and teachers to be more aware of it.

“Physical injury to the body, unexplained bruises, also the use of text messaging that's becoming distracting, unwanted contact from the perpetrator, also the perpetrator showing up uninvited -- those can be some red flags,” said Periard.

Periard said girls who are victims at a young age are more likely to become victims of domestic abuse later in life. She also said girls need to communicate with an adult and get the proper help like Sally is getting.

And although Sally said she's scared to walk down the street alone fearing she'll run into him, she knows she'll never allow another guy to abuse her again, ending the interview with the following message to anyone who abuses their partner.

“You don't understand fully what you're doing to the victim and you know, if you truly care about someone you shouldn't do these things and you should get help,” said Sally.

Parents  who think their teenager may be going through abuse in a relationship or if you’re going through abuse, call TESSA for more information at 719-633-1462.