Laurex ~ A Cinderella Story

Chapter 48: Silence

Lauren's POV
After Natasha finished having her fun, she locked me in my room. I was on lockdown. Not that I wanted to leave anyway. I'm too much in pain to move.

I'm laying on my bed facing down because my back is in excruciating pain from that fucking whip. Natasha learned not to hit me anywhere visible because then she'll get caught. So my back got most of the hits.

I'm just listening to music in my room, trying to stay calm. I don't even know if I want to go to school tomorrow.

As I was about to debate in my head about going to school or not, I hear a knock at my door.

"Lauren, it's me, Maria. May I come in?" I hear Maria's soft voice ask. Out of everyone in this house, I can tolerate Maria. Especially since she's the only nice one.
"Come in, Maria," I shout.

I hear the doorknob turn and she walks in. She closes the door behind her and walks towards my bed. She pulls a seat near my bed and sits down.

"How are you feeling? Are you ok?" she asked me. Her voice sounds so timid like she's trying to hide the fact that she's in my bedroom.
"I'm fine, I guess. Not to be rude, but why are you in my room?" I asked her.
"I wanted to check up on you. And also, I thought you might be hungry," she tells me. She gives me a box and sends me a timid smile.

I open the box and I find 3 slices of pepperoni pizza. I realize how hungry I was, so I took a bite out of one of them.

"Thanks, Maria. I'm surprised Natasha actually ordered pizza instead of ordering me to cook dinner," I muttered.
"That's because I told her to let you rest. She was going to make you cook dinner, but I told her to leave you alone. So after yelling at me, she ordered pizza. And that's when I snuck you a few slices," she explained.

Wow. Maria did that for me. She looked out for me.

"Thank you, that means a lot," I told her sincerely. She nodded shyly. I always forget how timid she is. The total opposite of her sister. "I'm surprised you're being nice to me. I thought you hated me like your sister and mother." And she shook her head.
"I don't hate you. I never did. I've never wanted to be mean to you. I'm forced to," she said.

Forced?

"What do you mean by forced?" I asked her.
"You don't know much about me since I rarely speak, but my mom doesn't like me," she blurted out. "I feel like she hates me to be honest."
"Why would she hate you? You're her daughter," I said.

Maria looks down at her hands. She's fiddling with her fingers. She lets out a sigh and speaks.

"Do you know what happened with my dad?" she asked me. And I shook my head. Natasha nor the girls have ever talked about their dad. I always thought maybe he passed away or he left or I don't know. "Well, him and my mom divorced a few years ago. Monica and I were about 8 years old. Monica was always a momma's girl. It's probably obvious considering how alike they are and how much my sister respects and idolizes my mom."

Oh my god, that's so true. That's probably why Monica asks like her mom so much.

"And well I was the ultimate daddy's girl. My dad was my favorite person. And he still is. When my parents divorced, my mom won custody of my sister and I. My mom was still not over how my dad asked for a divorce so she made sure my dad received no visiting rights," she explained.

Holy shit. She's that fucking petty.

"And considering how close I am with my dad, I was the most devastated. I hated my mom for it. My dad wrote letters to my sister and I. When my mom found out, she threw the letters away," she said. You can hear the devastation in her voice. "I was so mad at her. All my dad was doing was trying to speak with me and she got in the way."