Teacher's Pet

Chapter 15- Safety

⚠️TW: Mentions of abuse

I just wanted to wish him a happy birthday.

I should be able to recognize when Dad's trying to force me into seeing him by now, but it's so hard to do when he speaks in a way that makes me feel sorry for him. It hurts a lot that I've had this happen to me again, even though I'm not a child anymore. I thought it had all stopped.

I walk up to the front door, hoping that this jumper covers up enough that Scarlett and Lizzie won't notice anything. As much as I would like to open up to them about what's happened, I don't want them to worry about me, they shouldn't have to do that.

"Hey, princess! You alright?" Scarlett asks softly as she opens the door, pressing a soft kiss on my lips before pulling me into a hug.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Is that my sweet girl?" Lizzie shouts from upstairs, and I smile softly.

I walk inside, taking my shoes off as Lizzie comes running downstairs. She pulls me into a hug, pressing a soft kiss on my forehead as she holds me close. I feel so safe with them.

"Where did you get those bruises?" Scarlett asks, pointing to a few marks on my face.

"𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘎𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵?"

"Oh, I fell over earlier." I smile, "It's not too bad though, it doesn't hurt much."

Scarlett and Lizzie exchange worried looks, almost like they know what's happened. I really want nothing more than to talk to them about it right now, but I don't want them to be worried about me.

We all walk over to the sofa to watch a movie together and I take my jumper off since it's gotten quite warm. I'm secretly hoping that the makeup on my arms is enough to hide it, but I'm not too sure that it is.

Lizzie notices a small cut on my arm, her eyes trailing over the faint bruises on the other. They both sit up properly, turning to face me with a serious look on their faces.

"Is someone hurting you, darling?" Scarlett asks slowly, holding one of my hands.

I shake my head, trying to stay strong and ignore the tears forming in the corners of my eyes. I feel really guilty about not being honest and open with them, but I know that I can't. He'd kill me if he found out that I've told someone.

"Listen to me, my love." Lizzie says, taking my other hand, "Please don't lie to us, you know that we're here for you but we can only help if you tell us the truth. We need to know, did somebody do this to you?"

I nod slowly, a single tear escaping my eye as I try to hold them back.

"Oh, sweetheart." Scarlett whispers, pulling me into a hug and gently rubbing my back. I wince at her touch, the cuts on my back still really painful.

She gives Lizzie a worried look as we pull apart, both of them holding my hands gently as I sob quietly. I feel really bad because I don't want them to have to take care of me, I feel like such a burden and it's not their fault that something's happened.

I rub my eyes, completely exhausted from the morning I've already had. Lizzie nods at Scarlett slowly before she quickly heads upstairs, Scarlett still sitting here with me.

"Listen, darling. We're not mad at you for not telling us, we know how hard it must be to share something like that with somebody. It's not your fault." She says softly, "I know you must be pretty tired right now, so we'll have a chat after you have a nap so that you can relax your body."