𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐒, Alex Alvarez

eight - littered bruises

•~3rd person P.O.V~•
TRANSLATIONS: SPANISH TO ENGLISH (done by google translate so the translations are probably shit😭)
-none
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"You can't just not answer me after saying something like that." Maria sucked in a deep breath, thinking it over. Could this be her out? No, it couldn't be. Definitely not. Alex couldn't help her. Alex watched her stand, walk carefully to his door, and close it. She closed it so softly that you couldn't even hear it click when it shut.

She then placed the poster board beside his desk, folding her legs so they crisscrossed. Alex sat directly across from her, waiting for her answer. For a moment, she was silent. He could see the thoughts running through her brain, she was debating on telling him.

He wanted to say she could trust him because she could, but then he'd also have to say that he'd keep it a secret and he couldn't do that. Especially with the circumstances they were talking about.

"Alex," Alex thought hearing her speak would ease his mind rather than listening to the small whistling of his ceiling fan but he was wrong, "I've never told anyone about this, not Schneider o-or even Gracie." He nodded along. Maria must've really trusted him enough to tell him something of this importance.

Was she really about to tell him? She couldn't believe herself. She couldn't tell him, but everything time she believed it the more she wished to relieve herself from the secret. She wanted help, she wanted out. She wasn't sure if Alex could do that, but she was sure it wouldn't hurt to tell him.

"Maria," She blinked, she must've spaced out, "you can tell me, you can trust me." He spoke softly, not a whisper soft but a gentle soft. Like he wanted to be gentle, not secretive.

"You're right." She watched his face fall, which seemed terrible to watch but if she felt the immense fear that filled his body then she would've felt even worse. "My dad hits me, a lot. Which is why I'm so hesitant to break any of the rules he sets. If he ever found out that you were my partner, that I'd kept it a secret, and had a boy number in my phone then I'd get the worst beating of my lifetime. If I don't do my chores, abide by the dress code he set, the rules, have dinner done by the time he gets home, or annoy him too much then I get hit." Alex was already trying to find ways to help Maria. "It's even worse if he drinks, sometimes I have to miss school." Alex's brain was suddenly flooded with all the days her chair was empty in class.

To him, her being gone was sort of a big deal. He missed her, her eye rolls, small laughs, snarky remarks, and quick correct answers. Now it was much more serious than his heart aching to see her again. She wasn't there because she was hurt, at home, because of her dad.

She lifted her sleeve, and small bruises of all colors littered her arms. Some looked like fingerprints, others were clearly hand prints, and some were just odd shapes that were surely made by strikes from him. She then lifted her shirt, her stomach littered with the same pattern, except there seemed to be even more than there was on her arms.

She then sighed, pulling down her shirt and toying with the bottom. She looked like she needed to tell him something else, but she wasn't sure if she should. Alex could feel his stomach swirling like he was about to throw up. He felt overwhelmingly anxious, and he wanted to keep Maria with him for the rest of their lives and never let her return to her dad ever again. If you could even call him a dad.

"I know Schneider told you my mom died, that she fell down the stairs and cracked a rib which punctured her lung." Schneider hadn't told him all of that, but he had told them that Maria's mom was dead. When he wondered what the significance of her death was, he felt his nausea grow. He hoped he was wrong, he needed to be wrong. "My dad pushed her down the stairs, we had cameras at the time but you couldn't see him from where the camera was placed so it was deemed an accident, but I was just there." By now her eyes were filled with tears, threading to fall from her waterline. "I watched, she told me to stay and not to intervene so I did and now she's dead. My dad convinced me to lie to law enforcement, he said it was an accident and he didn't mean to and I stupidly believed him." Alex quickly placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You were nine," His eyes searched hers, praying she didn't only hear him but was listening and believing him too, "you were a kid! You still are a kid! You shouldn't have had to see that or keep all these secrets and there was nothing you could've done to save your mom." Maria had waited to hear those words all of her life, and hearing them for Alex made her want to sob on the floor.

"Thank you." She smiled, chuckling a bit as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"So what do we do?" Alex asked her, standing to his feet. "We could tell my mom or Schneider and since he's your godfather you'd go to him and live upstairs. He's got a really nice apartment by the way. And I mean, we don't even really need evidence since you have all of those bruises plus the weird rules he has-"

"No!" Alex flinched slightly as she shouted, pulling her bag on her shoulders. "You can't tell anyone, Alex!" He began to speak, to ask her what she expected him to do with all of this information. He couldn't just sit there, knowing she was going home and getting hurt. "I need more evidence, CPS needs hardcore evidence not just bruises and my dad's smart. He does it behind closed doors, he sways people to believe him, and he's rich so no one expects him to do anything wrong to his precious daughter." She wrapped her arms around herself, Alex wished he could hug her, make her feel better.

"I can't just do nothing!" He whisper-shouted, but Maria quickly shook her head.

"If I ever feel I need help, I'll tell you, don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing." Maria could see how hesitant Alex was to believe her, how hesitant he was to let her go home that day but he seemed to soothe it a bit when he hugged her tightly.

But that night, Alex couldn't sleep. He got a call from her when she got to her home, telling him that she was okay, but he still wasn't soothed. He knew Maria, he knew she wouldn't tell him if she needed help because she didn't want to worry him.

He looked forward to working on their project the next day, just so he could make sure she was okay.
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A/n: next chapter is gonna be...interesting...
Word Count:1,220