Arya's POV -

I had expected a scolding.

I had expected yelling.

I had expected screaming.

I had expected to get grounded.

What I hadn't expected was violence.

I didn't expect to be slapped.

By my own parent.

There was silence before the sound of a slap was heard, it echoed throughout the house.

Neither of us said a word as I slowly moved my hand up to cup my cheek.

As I stared at mama in horror with my cheek throbbing, she didn't even look sorry.

She didn't even look like she felt bad.

I can already feel the bruise forming as my right cheek begins to throb, and a tear slowly rolls down my face and onto the floor.

Mama doesn't say anything more, she turns, and I watch painfully as she leaves the room.

I thought she was heading for the stairs, but she simply grabs her keys and opens the door.

She doesn't turn back to ask if I'm okay.

She doesn't even look at me.

She only slams the door behind her, leaving complete silence in the house.

My lip wobbles as more tears freely fall.

A sob escapes my mouth as I rub my cheek, wincing at the pain.

My cheek felt like it was on fire compared to the cool air.

My legs almost gave out as I made my way to the stairs, heading to my room.

But at the last second, I skid to a stop in front of my bathroom, and in slow motion make my way to the mirror.

Hand still holding my cheek, I stare in the mirror as I prepare for the worst.

I slowly remove my hand only for my eyes to widen at the image of a red handprint.

It had already started to swell as it continued to sting.

My tears fly down both cheeks and onto the counter as I continue to look in disbelief.

Never had I thought my mama would hit me.

I had expected the worst, but this tops it all off.

I would have taken anything but this.

I would have understood anything but this.

Since I was alone in the house, my cries came out loudly as I ran to my bed and shoved my face into a pillow.

I cried for what felt like hours.

I cried for my stupidity.

I cried for going to that party.

And I cried for the pain in my cheek.

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Nothing happened on Sunday. Both mama and papa were gone the entire day.

Was papa ignoring me? Was he so disappointed as well that he didn't want to even see me?

Everything was beginning to hurt, and I didn't know how to handle it.

Rome had texted me multiple times asking if I was okay and how it went.

'Fine.' I had said, then nothing else afterwards.

Monday morning I woke up at around 7. I never went downstairs for the past day.

I didn't even know if mama had come back, or if papa was even home.

I still haven't seen papa since I got home, and I expected something violent from him as well.

I woke up with my face still hurting, and I winced as I tried to touch my right cheek.

My pillow had small tear stains on them, and I had no desire to even wash them.

Getting up slowly and painfully, I made my way to the bathroom.

I cringed as I looked at myself. The bruise looked 10 times worse than it did yesterday.

I was definitely going to have to cover this up.

I can't let anyone find out about this. Especially Rome.

I did my normal routine and with shaky hands opened a drawer to see my foundation.

Grabbing it along with a makeup brush, I unscrewed the top and dabbed some onto it.

It was painful when I ran the brush along my cheek to cover it, but I got the job done.

It was covered as much as possible, you could still see it if you truly looked but I'm sure no one would notice.

Putting the items back into my drawer, I closed it. My eyes flitted up to look at myself once more before being satisfied with the makeup coverage.

I changed my outfit and was finally ready to go at around 7:40.

There was silence in my home once again, which meant both of my parents were out.

I didn't even want to think about what papa would do to me.

Shaking my head and muttering under my breath, I reached the bottom step to head towards the kitchen.

My eyes automatically went to the spot I was slapped at yesterday, and I licked my lips before looking at the counter.

I didn't see any signs of mama making me lunch which made my heart constrict.

Had I really made her that angry at me?

Opening the fridge, there was nothing there as well.

It's okay. I didn't really feel like eating today anyways.

Turning on my heel, I headed for the door. Wanting to get through a painful Monday.

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"Holy shit! I have been so worried. Why haven't you been answering your phone!?" Izzy asks frantically as I reach my seat in English.

She had texted and called me constantly yesterday, but I hadn't answered.

I felt terrible, but I barely had any energy to do anything.

"I'm sorry, I uh had a rough day yesterday." I replied which was true.

"Are you okay? I never saw you after you went to the bathroom at the party." She asks making me tense.

She didn't have a clue about what happened? About Trevor?

"Yup it was all good. I ended up not feeling well so Rome drove me home."

"Okay, that's good. I was getting worried." Izzy laughed which I returned with a small smile.

My heart pounded nervously as I asked, "How was the party for you? Did you hang out with Trevor the whole time?" My voice became a bit shaky as I said his name.

She scoffed, "No, he ran off at some point, probably to hang with his friends. Speaking of Trevor, I haven't heard from him since the party either. He's not even at school today."

I was a bit confused at that. He hasn't shown up?

"I'm sure he'll show eventually." I replied making her laugh again.

"Yeah, he's probably hungover."

"Good morning class," Greeted my professor as he entered. Silence was heard after making him roll his eyes.

"I know It's first period but a response would be nice."

There were some grunts followed by hello's and hi's.

"You've only got a few weeks left before your essay is due. The due date is still set for October 14th."

I had forgotten today was October 1st, spooky season was here.

"Since you're beginning to run out of time, take this period to work on your Essay's. I expect good quality ones from all of you."

Everyone begins to talk and converse while some actually listen and pull out their papers.

"I love Halloween season, It's always so scary and mysterious." Izzy says, turning to me.

I did as well. I loved Halloween, just not the horror part which beats the idea.

"I do too, It's one of my favorite holidays." I said.

"Ohh I know, we could totally have another party, a Halloween one!"

My whole body went rigid at that thought. There was no way I could ever go to a party. Never again.

So I only shrugged and replied with an 'okay' before getting out my English essay.

I was done with 2 out of the 3 page requirement, but as I went to write down more about the mysterious man, I couldn't.

My mind was swirling with so many negative thoughts, I couldn't even concentrate on my assignment.

The image of mama's face as she looked at me invaded my mind from left and right.

Even as I tried to sleep I couldn't stop my running thoughts.

The sound of the slap repeated in my head.

I sighed and put down my pencil. It was useless, I definitely wasn't getting anything done today.

My phone dinged and I pulled it out, seeing a text from Rome.

Rome :)! Are you doing okay today? You haven't been answering.

Now I felt even worse than I did before. I didn't mean to ignore him. I was only scared if he was going to ask to hangout.

If we did, I was positive he'd see right through the protection of my makeup and start asking a million questions.

I didn't want him to be upset because of me.

Me: I'm doing fine, I promise. I just can't hang out today so can we text instead?

Rome :)! Whatever you want darling, what do you want to talk about?

Me: Can we play 20 questions?

Rome :)! Okay, you start.

I smiled, this would be a good distraction to get my mind off things for a little while.

The first thing I thought of was Rome's age.

I've know him for over a month and I didn't even know it!

Me: How old are you? I know I've never asked and I've always wondered!

Rome :)! I'm 24. Does that bother you at all?

24! He was 7 years older then me. The crazy thing was that it didn't bother me at all.

If anything, my heart swelled at the thought of catching an older man's attention.

Me: Nope! Doesn't bother me at all. I like it.

Rome :)! Oh you do, hm?

Rome :)! My turn, favorite color?

Me: Ooh definitely red, I love the color red. What's yours?

Rome :)! Black.

I giggled to myself, that answer doesn't surprise me at all. His entire room is black.

And that's how I spent most of my day.

Even after 20 questions went by, we continued to go back and forth on asking questions.

I learned that Rome started learning Italian when he was 9, and was now able to fluently speak it.

His favorite food is Italian which doesn't surprise me there.

He's almost 6'4 which is huge! He's just under the '4 mark.

Rome :)! And what about you baby? How tall are you.

He definitely already knew the answer, but I felt like he wanted me to compare our heights.

My ears turned pink as I typed out my response,

Me: 5'2...don't judge me It's not my fault!

Rome :)! I'd never judge you. I like your small height.

Eventually the final bell rung, meaning school was over.

I sighed in relief and placed my notebooks in my bag before throwing my backpack over my shoulder.

It was Monday after all, so I was going to head to the café.

But when I reached the familiar pathway after exiting the school doors, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Rome was there, leaning against his car with a pair of black sunglasses on.

His hair was messy over his head as his nose piercing glowed from the sun shining down on it.

One hand was in his pocket as the other typed away on his phone.

I had told him I only wanted to text!

But that wasn't the issue.

It was the bruise that was most likely more noticeable compared to this morning.