Switched

Black and Blue

TW - Abuse, Cussing.

Blake's POV:

"And just where the hell have you been?" I hear my father spit out from the couch as I walk inside. I hadn't asked to go over to Jesse's, I knew better than to do it this way.

"Just to a friend's house." I say quietly trying to walk past him but he grabs my arm yanking me to him.

"I don't remember giving you permission for that." He says coldly tightening his grip.

"I know, I'm sorry I-" I try and get out but he cuts me off.

"Save it." He says and I feel a sharp sting across my face before I'm forcefully shoved to the ground. 

"You disrespectful little shit. You're such a disappointment." I hear him say followed by a kick to my stomach and a punch in the face before he walks away. 

I'm no stranger to being my father's punching bag. He has quite a temper, and there's almost never a time you'll find him sober. He wasn't always like this. When I was younger we used to go out all the time as a family, but with every kid they had that man disappeared more and more. Mom get's it the worst I think. And the times she comes after me I try to just take it and stay out of her way, I know it's my father that pushes her that far. 

I lay on the floor sobbing for a while until I hear footsteps coming towards me startling me to my feet as quickly as I can manage. 

"Hey, hey it's okay it's just me B." Lana says gently reaching her hand towards me.

I let out a whimper suddenly feeling the pain in my stomach and ribs as the adrenaline wears off.

I throw myself into her arms letting out a sob.

"Shhh, it's okay I've got you." She says hugging me tightly.

"Can-can I sleep with you." I manage to choke out. Lana has always been the one to clean up dad's messes. I'm so lucky to have her. I couldn't handle this without her.

"Of course B." She says leading me to our room and tucking me in. 

My head is pounding the next morning when my alarm goes off. Lana was already gone but I saw a note on the night stand.

"Taking Ronan to day care, I'll pick him up this afternoon as well. Call me if you need anything. Love you." 

I look in the mirror at my now black eye, and lift up my shirt to see a bruise spreading across my ribs. Thank goodness only the bruise on my eye is visible I think as I get ready. 

I cautiously walk downstairs making sure not to run into either of my parents.

Riding to school proves to be much more painful than normal but it would take me all day to walk in this condition so I just ignore it as best I can. 

I pass Jesse in the hall on the way to class and shoot her a quick smile before putting my head down praying she didn't see my eye. 

I zone out for the majority of my classes keeping my head low avoiding the teacher's gazes. When the last bell rings I know for a fact I don't want to go home but I'm not sure where I'm going yet.

"Hey Blake!" I hear faintly behind me not registering who it is. I feel a hand lightly land on my shoulder but it's enough to make me flinch hard. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." The girl says and I now know the voice belongs to Jesse.  

"Blake, your eye." She says pulling me to the side of the crowd of students as we step outside.

"It's nothing." I say freeing my arm from her grasp. 

"I fell off my board on my way home, I'm good." I tell her forcing my best fake smile.

"Are you sure? I can call my mo-" Jesse tries to say but I cut her off.

"No!" I say a little harsher than I intended. 

"I'm sorry. No, it's okay don't call her there's no need. I'll text you later okay?" I say deciding then to head to the skate park.

"Yeah." I  hear Jesse say quietly as I walk off.

Amanda's POV:

"Hey sweetie how was school?" I say kissing the top of Jesse's head as I walk into the living room. I had actually gotten off early for once.

"Hi mama, yeah it was good." She says avoiding my gaze.

"Mama? I haven't heard you call me that in a while." I say sitting down next to her on the couch. 

"Talk to me love, what's wrong?" I say brushing some hair out of her face finally drawing her eyes to mine. When she does I see dried blood on her lip. She always bites them when she's anxious about something.

"What's the matter?" I ask again and in response she just curls up in my lap playing with my sleeve.

"They told me not to say anything, it's probably nothing I'm sure I'm just overreacting." She rambles on biting down on her lip again.

"Easy love, you're gonna hurt yourself." I say trying to get her to relax her jaw.

"Who told you not to say something?" I ask.

"I can't tell. I don't want to upset them." She says now holding my hand.

"Well, is this person safe?" I ask trying to work through what could possibly be happening in my mind.

"I don't know."

"Can you tell me what happened to make you worried?"

"They-they had a black eye and they were acting different. They said they just had an accident and they were fine."

"Okay." I say racking my brain for the right thing to say. "I'm not going to force you to tell me. I can understand not wanting to betray that trust, but if you believe they're in real danger you need to tell me okay? I will do everything I can to get them some help, but I don't want you trying to intervene got it? You come to me, getting involved only increases the danger for both of you." I say sternly.

"Okay." She says quietly before burying her face into my chest.

"You're a good kid." I say before kissing the top of her head again. "I love you."

"I love you too mama." She says and it breaks my heart. She's always very independent and stoic, a lot like me when I was younger. She's never this soft spoken or upset unless something's really bothering her, and I have a horrible feeling I know who she's talking about.