𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗮 - 𝗕. 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘅 𝗝. 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 | ✔︎

𝟭𝟲. ➪ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁 ~ 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀' 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿

James' POV:

"Hey Stelsh." I greet down the line, a smile plastered on my face as I see my friend appealing on the screen after I'd called her via FaceTime.

"James!" She shouts out of excitement, making me laugh. It's been a week since our date and to say that the two of us have talked a lot is an understatement. I find myself falling harder and harder for Stella and the more we talk, the more I feel comfortable when I'm around her. I don't know how seeing I hardly ever like girls, simply liking the adventure of a one night stand more then committing, but this girl makes me change in every way possible.

"You seem down, what's up?" She asks, something which caught me off guard. I'd called Stella seeing I had a hard time at training today, hoping she can take my mind off of things, but she somehow noticed I wasn't feeling the happiest at the moment, which honestly made me feel comfortable around her. She noticed when something was wrong and that's what real fiends do, so for her to be that good friend and maybe in the future more is something that makes me feel welcomed and intrigued to her as a person.

"Just a practise which didn't go as I wanted." I shrugged, looking at my feet as I think back about what went wrong. I somehow screwed up everything and couldn't even give a straight pass, which in my opinion was reasoning enough for to me sit on the bench the up and coming game, something I detested.

"That's okay, everybody has their struggles, it is how you handle them though, that's what's important. I guess you have a practice session tomorrow and if you go in tomorrow with this attitude isn't going to help you be better then you were today. Chin up and look at what you can improve so tomorrow will be a better day." The girl gives me a weak smile as her voice weakens a bit at the end, making me concerned.

"Is something wrong Stelsh? Your voice weakened." I point out as I look at the screen at a Stella who was tearing up a bit, the girl fiddling with the sleeve of the sweatshirt she was wearing. She places her phone somewhere and sits straight, looking into the camera as she shows me a weak smile.

"I don't think so, James." The girl admits as she wiped away some forming tears, the idea of her being sad saddening me. As I also sit down I look at my screen, motioning her to continue talking.

"It's actually about something in my past. So you might have to grab a snack so you won't starve, it can take some minutes." The girl says, making me even more intrigued then before. Stella had never talked about her past or her family, hence why I'm willing to listen closely.

*, begging of the part in this chapter that contains violence/unpleasant behaviour. This won't be detailed, but I don't know what you define as detailed. If you don't like this you can skip ahead to the other *.

"So it all started when I turned 10. My life was perfect at that time, but it all changed on my birthday party. My dad invited a firmer dive fans he tagged along his family, which meant that a lot of people were at the party. My mom didn't mind tho and we had fun and all until midnight. My dad touched one of the woman the friend tagged along on an intimate place and my mom didn't like it. She confronted him with it and ever since he's been abusing her and me too. My body would be covered with bruises and my mom wouldn't be able to fight against it. He cheated, abused, basically every single bad thing." The girl exhales one time as she takes a gulp of the water she had besides her bed seeing she was sat close to it. My eyes tear up a bit as I hear about the cruelty the girl has gone true, me in a bit of unbelief that she's survived all of that on such a young age.

"I had bruises and scars and I still do. I got bullied because of them. Other kids would hurt me on the places bruises had formed and basically would bully me for me situation at home. I tried to hide them, but someone they always found them. My confidence was on a low level and the same went for my health. I loved with it for 6 years before I tried to share my story with others, but at this age I also almost lost my life. My dad had beaten me up so bad that I had broken bones and bruises. If the medics weren't there in time I would've died of my injuries. I didn't though and that's the most important thing." The girl wipes away a tear as on the other side of the call say a crying me, who was horrified by what happened to the girl. She'd earned my upper most respect and in my opinion deserved the world. She deserved it all, all of the positivity coming along her path to success. She's so strong, intelligent and unique, I'm really lucky with even encountering her, let along date her.

"I got out of the situation pretty good and after 2 more years of living under one roof with arguing parents I moved out to persuade my music career. When I became successful both of them suddenly could talk to me, wanting money from their only daughter. I didn't cooperate and my father showed up at my house, but the police showed up in time, otherwise I would've been found dead, I swear. Since that moment I'm free from them in a physical way, but mentally I'm still in their control. They made me have nightmares, which Chris and Jack help me with. I can't deal with them alone and they're the only ones I talked to for a while, but now I'm doing better then ever, which is why I want to say James that you should appreciate it all: your job, freedom, everything. It can be taken away any minute, any second. It's scary."

*, the end of the part with violence/unpleasant behaviour in it. If you want to talk about anything regarding to this, my messages are always open : )

As the girl is finished I sit in the floor with the tissues I got in the meantime. As she shows me a weak smile I can only let some tears escape my eyes, not knowing what to do in the moment. I just couldn't wrap my head around the situation: who would hurt this beauty? She was such a genuine, loving, yet adventurous and entertaining person. She, besides that, had the voice of an angel and everyone loved her, so why abuse her? Hurt her? It made no sense and makes my blood boil.

"Do I have to come over?" I ask, hoping the girl was alright after sharing the story of her life with me. She might not put it in a song like One Direction once did, but this version is ten times better. She is ten times better, then anyone.

"It's okay, James. I'm getting over it. I just wanted to share it with you." She admits, making me nod.  The two of us talk a bit before we have to go, or at least her, which makes me do exactly what she told me to: look at improvements for tomorrow with my chin up.