Ring of Love

The Talk

Ally's pov:

***Flashback to thirty minutes ago***

I begin to click my pen nervously as I try to think of a way to bring up what I saw to Sophia. 

I've actually been thinking about what to say all day, and even now, nothing seems right. 

It's taking everything out of me to not back out and keep the peace. But I knew that if I didn't do it now, then I wouldn't have the strength to do it later. 

And if I didn't say something, and it happens again, I would feel awful, knowing that I could have said something and gotten her help. 

So basically, I need to do it. Now. 

"Hey, Sophia..." I turn around in my chair, trying to not look as nervous as I am. She looks up from her phone with a curious expression. 

Claire and Zoe look up as well with painful expressions, knowing that the talk was about to happen. Knowing that they are here made me feel a lot better, because I don't think I would have the strength to do this on my own. 

I am not, in any way, a confrontational person. 

I despise it, actually. 

"What's up?" She asks. 

And in that moment, it seems like every single word I had planned to say vanished from my brain. Every hour I spent carefully choosing my words? gone. 

I sit there blankly like a fish out of water, and I swear, I was ready to dig my grave and sit in it. 

Oh, God. 

This is awful. 

I don't do well under pressure. 

Thankfully, Claire catches me blanking and saves me, "We've actually been wanting to talk to you about something we saw during lunch today."

I know Claire included "we" to not make it fall all on me since I was technically the only one who saw the bruises. 

And I appreciate her for doing it. 

"What do you mean?" Sophia asks, not catching on to what Claire was saying. 

I take a deep breath, knowing that this next part should come from me, "On the way over, you turned towards Claire and your shirt lifted. I saw that bruise on the side of your stomach and wanted to make sure everything was alright."

It takes her a second to process what I'm saying, and I watch as her face goes from confused, to panicked, to calm in a single heartbeat. 

"Oh! No, that's nothing. I must have run into a chair or something." She uses her hand to wave it off as if it's nothing. 

But it isn't nothing. 

Because I've seen her wince every time she's moved since lunch. 

I don't understand why she would lie about being in pain. 

"Are you sure, girl? Because you look like you're hurting pretty bad." Claire says, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

Sophia shrugs, but in doing so, causes her to wince once again. 

"Okay, maybe I bumped into it a little bit harder than I thought. But really, I'm fine." She says, before pulling down her shirt as if she was trying to hide it from us. 

Claire, Zoe, and I look at each other in silence, well aware that she isn't telling the truth. 

One part of me is saying to just drop it altogether, knowing that if she doesn't feel comfortable telling us, then we shouldn't push it.