I own nothing
Sonny dabbed her cheek with the cover up, and winced slightly.
"Sonny!" her mother pounded on the door. "You're gonna be late!"
"Coming!" Sonny called. She took a few deep breaths and looked at herself in the mirror. "You're a girl from Wisconsin, and you're living the dream. You're life is amazing. You have amazing friends, and an amazing boyfriend." she whispered to herself and a very convincing smile was plastered on her face.
She got out of the bathroom and hugged her mom.
"Have a wonderful day Sonny!" Connie called. Sonny got in her car and drove down to work.
It had been a very chilly fall. The fog creeped around, leaves were scattered around the ground. The weather seemed to reflect Sonny's inner mood.
She went straight to her dressing room when she ran straight into Tawni.
"Hey, watch it-oh hi Sonny." Tawni steadied Sonny.
"Hey Tawni. How's it going?" Sonny asked rubbing the pain from her wrist.
"Oh well," Tawni flipped her hair. "Fabulous, as always. How's James?" Tawni asked hesitantly, not hiding her disgust.
"Oh you know." Sonny laughed. "Tackling each movie roll, one tuck and roll at a time." she laughed and then it faded off into the distance as Tawni rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm going to go get dressed for the Check It Out sketch." Sonny was about to enter the dressing room, when Tawni gasped and yanked Sonny back.
Tawni grabbed Sonny's arm and looked at Sonny's wrist which had bruise-like lines on them. Sonny winced at her stupidity. She knew that she had forgotten a bruise.
"Sonny what happened?" Tawni asked her hazel eyes narrowing.
"I fell down." Sonny lied tugging her arm out of Tawni's grip. "I was going up the stairs, and I slipped, causing my arm to hit the steps."
Tawni looked at Sonny incredulous. "Sonny tell me something. Is James abusing you?"
Sonny pretended to look affronted. "I told you I tripped going up the stairs."
"Sonny this is serious. If James is abusing you-" Sonny began to get angry.
"I'm serious Tawni! James is not abusing me, I tripped going up the stairs! Now leave it alone!" Sonny stormed into the dressing room grabbed her Check It Out outfit and went into her dressing closet.
Sonny With A Chance Of Abuse
Sonny ended up having to run to the set, considering she was fifteen minutes late. She was almost there when she ran into someone. She felt an amazing pain in her shoulder as she fell to the floor.
"Hey! Watch-Sonny?" she heard Chad asked. Sonny didn't look up she just held onto her shoulder. "Sonny you okay?"
"No." her voice was hoarse. "I think I dislocated my shoulder."
"Oh very convincing Sonny." she heard Chad begin to clap. "I'm not falling for it. You may have fooled me once, but Chad Dylan Cooper can't get fooled, twice."
Sonny didn't get up, she just held onto her shoulder.
"Okay Sonny, your little charade is over, you can get up now." Chad rolled his eyes, but was a little hesitant. He heard someone approaching them and spun around. He saw a large guy in a yellow shirt coming towards them. He recognized him as one of the security guards. The man approached them and leaned down to Sonny. He brought out a walkie talkie.
"Marshall, I found Sonny." he said into it. Marshall's nervous voice replied.
"Is she okay? Is she conscious? Where are you?" he asked.
Sonny began to speak. "Marshall. Help me please. I think my shoulder's been dislocated." Chad's heart dropped.
"Sonny? Dislocated? Are you absolutely, 100% positive?"
"Kind of. Maybe 50%." she whispered.
"Okay Sonny, we'll be there in a minute." Chad leaned over to Sonny.
"Sonny I am so sorry that I didn't believe you." Chad apologized. Sonny looked up to see that his apology was sincere.
"It's fine Chad." Sonny smiled a little.
"Sonny!" Zora shouted. Chad and Sonny's head snapped up. Standing there was Zora, Marshall, Tawni, Nico, Grady, a paramedic…and James. "Sonny what happened?"
"What are you doing here?" James, Grady, and Nico asked Chad.
"I ran into Chad in my rush to get to the set. I fell backwards and landed on my shoulder." Sonny explained quietly. The paramedic kneeled down to Sonny and looked at the boys.
"You guys have to look away, Sonny's needs to take off her shirt." the paramedic explained.
"It's okay, I have a tank top underneath." Sonny said, and took her shirt off. The paramedic went behind Sonny, gasped, and put her hands over her mouth. Sonny realized her mistake immediately. There was a big bruise on her shoulder from last night. Everyone crowded around the paramedic and Sonny.
"Sonny," Zora breathed. "What happened?" nobody noticed Tawni glance at James briefly.
"I fell down the stairs last night." Sonny lied.
"How many stairs were there?" Grady asked.
"Um, seventeen. They were made out of cement." Sonny came up with.
"Sonny, you told me that you were going to spend the night at James' house though." Tawni said. Everyone looked between James, Tawni, and Sonny.
"Um, we went on a date, but then I wasn't feeling so good, so he drove me home. When I was going to my apartment, I slipped on the stairs." Sonny lied.
"Oh." Tawni nodded not believing her.
"Well Sonny, you didn't dislocate your shoulder, the bruise was bad enough to cause a lot of pain, and your shoulder is actually swelling. So take it easy, and put some ice on that." the paramedic instructed and Sonny nodded. James helped her up and kissed her lips gently.
"I'll take you back to your dressing room. Then we can go back to your house." James smiled. To the others, it was genuine smile full of helpfulness. To Sonny, however, it was a sign that she was in trouble. James put a hand on her back and began to lead her away. Only Tawni noticed the fear in Sonny's eyes.
"Um, no it's okay James, I'll take her home." Tawni said coming forward and ignored everyone's shocked faces. "Let's go Sonny."
When they were safely inside the dressing room, Tawni turned to Sonny with her hands on her hips.
"Sonny, this is the last time that I am going to ask you. Does James, abuse you?" she asked.
"No Tawni!" Sonny huffed. "I told you I fell down the stairs!"
Tawni glared at Sonny, grabbed the glass of water that was sitting on her desk, and threw it on her face. Sonny gasped as the cold water hit her. She knew immediately then, that the makeup came off. She looked in the mirror. There was a blackish purple ring around her eye, a purple shadow that danced across her nose, and her cheek was purple.
"Must've been some fall." Tawni muttered.
"Yeah, it was." Sonny said quietly.
"I'm going to talk to Marshall." Tawni began to go to the door but Sonny grabbed Tawni before she could even touch the doorknob.
"No Tawni!" Sonny exclaimed pulling her back.
"Sonny, James is beating you! We need to report this!" Tawni exclaimed.
"Tawni he isn't beating me. He's just really stressful, and angry. Last night was the only time he hit me." Sonny lied. "As soon as he hit me he began to cry, and begged for my forgiveness."
Tawni looked at her skeptically. "Really?"
Sonny nodded. "I'm handling it Tawni." she lied again.
Tawni eyed her for a minute. "Fine. But if he hurts you again, unintentionally or not, you will tell me, right?"
Sonny grinned and nodded. "Of course."
Later that night, Sonny cracked open her journal.
It happened again. I went over to his house and he hit me. Telling me that I should've been more careful.
Sonny stroked the new bruise on her jaw.
I don't know how long I'm going to last. I just don't understand what went wrong. Two months ago we were just normal. A happy couple. But last month, I went over to see him and he hit me. I can't figure out what I do to deserve all the hits, kicks, and nasty words.
Tawni found out today. I lied to her and said that his anger slipped and it was his first time hitting me. I lied again and told her that he apologized afterwards. Then, I lied again and told her that I would tell her when he hits me again.
How many more lies will I spit out until someone uncovers the truth? Sonny thought to herself.
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Mark Twain