Disclaimer: See last chapter
A/N: Thanks for the quick reviews, it means so much to me!
I would like to dedicate this chapter to ChannyIsLove, who just took the time to review almost every single chapter on here in one sitting! It means a lot!
Sonny looked in the mirror the next morning, her fingers lightly danced along the fresh bruise on her cheek. She wondered how long it was going to take her to get used to the pain all over again, she wondered how she could hide it this time.
There was no need last time, she was too young but now she was on television, she had friends who cared and she had a life. She shook her head and bit down on her lower lip, sitting down on her dressing table to slowly apply make-up – just like she used to watch her mum do when she was little.
She frowned a little when she was done, the outline of the bruise could just about be seen but she knew she might just be able to get away with it. She sighed and then opened her bedroom door, hoping that her parents weren't awake.
"Morning." She jumped a little when she heard her mum's voice and gave the woman who was now sporting a black eye, a cut lip and a large bruise on her forehead, a small smile.
"I am going to work." She muttered, just about to walk off when she felt his hand on her shoulder,
"Aren't you going to give your father a kiss goodbye?" She looked over at her mum for a second, she knew she had two options here – she could say no and just run, or she could do what he wanted her to do and fall into his game.
She shook her head,
"No." She whispered, ignoring the glare from her mum as she ran out of the house, not looking behind her when she heard the two people who were supposed to protect her shout her name.
She finally slowed down to a walk when she felt she was far enough away from them, kicking a rock out of her way a she looked down at the ground. She wondered why she should protect her mum from him like she had attempted to do when she was younger, that woman had just brought this man back into their lives.
She held back the tears as she thought about last night,
"Once chance baby, if he even raises his voice then he is out of here."
She laughed bitterly at the lie that had so easily fallen out of her mum's mouth, five minutes later all hell had broken lose and he had managed to hit the two of them and raise his voice. And despite that, he was still in their house, in her mum's bed.
She clenched her fist at the thought, she considered phoning her grandparents but she knew that they wouldn't be able to put up a fight against that strong man, there would be no point in putting them in danger as well.
She looked up at the large building after what seemed like hours of walking and slowly made her way in. She took one look at herself in the mirror, deciding to top up her make-up before anyone else came in.
"Sonny?" She turned around and smiled at Chad,
"What happened?" She looked back in the mirror, wondering if the bruise was that obvious,
"What happened?" She raised an eyebrow,
"Yeah, after you went into your house. You were so scared.. I was kind of worried about you."
"Oh yeah, nothing happened, I'm fine." She lied, knowing she would have to make a habit out of it from now on. She wondered how long it would take them all to catch on, or how long it would be until she reverted back to the old Sonny, or Allison.
She had learned to make a distinction between the two – Allison was the girl who was abused, she was shy and depressed and she didn't have any friends but Sonny was different, Sonny was popular and she made everyone laugh. She was supposed to be Sonny right now but she could feel Allison slowly creeping out.
"I know you're not." Chad whispered, he looked into her eyes and saw the same pain that had been in his own so many years ago. He sighed as he moved closer to her, not wanting to admit what he already knew. He could recognise an abuse victim from a mile off,
"I should go." Sonny muttered, standing up and going to walk off, stopping when Chad walked right in front of her.
"Who hit you?" He murmured as he lifted up his hand to touch her gently on the cheek, brushing some of the hair that covered it out of the way, revealing the light outline of the bruise she had thought she could hide.
"How do you know if someone hit me – for your information I smacked my face on a door." She tried to make it sound natural, but even to her the lie sounded forced. She wished she had smacked it on the door, it would probably hurt a hell of a lot less.
Chad dropped his hand and sighed, he couldn't tell her how he knew because that would mean telling her the truth. So he pretended that he knew she was telling the truth, because after all, Chad Dylan Cooper had always been good at pretending.
He gave her a small smile before walking out, he wanted to hold her in his arms and ask her who was in the car, he wanted to know who had hit her and why. He closed his eyes when he got into his dressing room and punched the wall as hard as he could, tears running down his face.
"Daddy!" The little blonde haired, blue eyed boy put his small, chubby hand on the man's arm, trying to stop him from hitting his mummy.
"Chad, go away." His mum cried, tears ran down her face as she shook her head, screaming loudly when the man brought his fist down to meet the boys face.
The little boy cried in pain, but didn't move. He had seen the man do it to his mum and older brothers before, he wasn't going to be seen as weak.
"Leave mummy alone!" He clenched his little fists and glared at the older man, not seeing this punch coming as he dropped back and hit his head hard on the table.
It was the last time he had ever gotten in the way when his dad was like that again.
Chad punched the wall again at the memory, he hated thinking about it, he hated knowing any of what had happened. Why couldn't he just forget about it? Why couldn't he just pretend like it had never happened? Everything else in his life was a lie, McKenzie was a huge lie, his confidence was one huge cover up for the little boy he still felt like sometimes. The little boy who wanted to protect his mummy and hold her close, the little boy who wanted to save everyone from getting hurt, the little boy who would cry himself to sleep and the little boy who spent most of his time in school alone.
That had all changed when their dad was gone though, it wasn't long after that that Chad Dylan Cooper was born, a whole new past was made so he could seem perfect.
Chad was good at pretending about everything except his feelings for Sonny Munroe, and he wished he could pretend like he didn't want to run over to her house and protect her from whatever monster had done that to her.
Chad Dylan Cooper however, wanted to believe that story that she banged her cheek on the door. Because that would be easier than admitting to her that he loved her, it would be easier to pretend like nothing was going on with her because then he would have no reason to look her in the eyes and hold her in his arms and tell her that it was going to be okay.
Yes, it was just easier to pretend – for the both of them.