Chiara Rose

undici

hi peanut sugar pies, leave some comments as u go. these are brand new chaps that none of u have seen before, so let me know how ur feeling xo

tw - strong mentions of abuse, rape and self harm

Chiara's POV

"Hey Chiara, that's a pretty nasty bruise you're sporting on your ribs. How'd you get it?"

The world went silent. Well, more like the table went silent, which was still a pretty rare occurrence in this house. But Rocco's unnecessary comment made everyone stop what they were doing, and now they were either looking at me or Rocco. Most of them were looking at me, apart from Carlo and Bruno.

"Rocco, now's probably not a good time." Bruno said through gritted teeth, "I told you that we could talk about it another time." Bruno added. He was shooting daggers at Rocco, but Rocco wasn't paying any attention to him. Rocco's attention was solely on me, and I hated it.

"Bruise? What bruise?" Dad asked from the head of the table, confusion evident on his face. Tino and Gi had turned their attention away from me and were now having a silent conversation with each other through their eyes. Kind of creepy, not going to lie.

"Oh, it's nothing, just a small bruise I got from playing footy with Chase. It doesn't hurt or anything." I lie. I lie too much. But I'm way too embarrassed, to tell the truth. Yeah, I just have a massive fucking bruise on my ribs and multiple other scars and contusions from where my lovely mother and stepfather would beat me up. No biggy!

That was sarcasm if you couldn't tell. It is a big deal, and it's not good. I just don't know how to cope with traumatic events. Especially when my life is basically one big fat traumatic event.

"Small bruise my fucking ass." Rocco grumbles, clearly unimpressed. I tighten my grip on my knife a little harder, pretending like I'm stopping myself from stabbing him in the eye. I'm way too scared to do it, but thinking that I could makes me feel braver.

"If you want, I can take a look at it? Just make sure there's nothing bad going on, the ribs are a tricky place to get injured." Gi says softly from beside me, tuning out everyone else around the table. I nervously gulp, I don't think they're going to let this go.

"No, it's really okay. It doesn't hurt, if it starts bothering me I'll come let you know." I softly say, and Gi narrows his eyes at me. Clearly, he doesn't believe me, and I don't blame him. Because it's a big fat lie, the bruise is hurting right now.

"You sure about that? it's really no hassle for Gi to look at it. Or if you're not comfortable at Gi, one of our friends, Val, is a doctor. She can have a look at it too." Dad explains softly, a slightly terrified look in his eyes. I take a short, sharp breath, my mood has just plummeted and now I feel like shit. Well, shittier than I did before.

"No, it's fine." I say a little more aggressively this time, hoping they get the point and back off. What are they gonna do, pin me down and look at it themselves? That sounds like something John would do, and I pray that they're nothing like him.

"If you say so. But if the bruise gets bigger or the pain gets worse, please tell someone. Your health is my first priority, okay?" Dad says softly, slightly narrowing his eyes at my sudden change of mood. He knows I'm lying, but he's still not pushing me.

"Yeah, I will." I lie for the trillionth time tonight. Gosh, I really think I have a lying problem.

If I'm being honest, I'm extremely embarrassed by my ribs and the general state of my body. The scars littering my body, inflected my John and some by myself, the hand-shaped bruises that are everyone, and the weight I have.