"Genevieve." Uncle Percy said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I was sitting on the middle chair in his office with Luke on my right side and Sammy on my left. Both faces were covered in brises. "I asked you a question."
"I'm sorry." I muttered. "What?"
"What happened to your face?" He asked. "Sammy says Parkinson hit you but Parkinson says you fell."
"That's right." I nodded and nervously played with my fingers. "I fell."
"Really?!" Sammy yelled. "That was your excuse when you showed up with a bruised jaw and a cut on your lip! You're gonna sit there and tell me your black eye was because you fell, again?! He's abusing you and he's sitting there, laughing about it!"
I glanced at Luke to see that he was in fact grinning, on the edge of laughing about it.
"Sammy, stop yelling." Uncle Percy said. "We'll have to figure this out or your parents will have to be included."
"No!" I exclaimed. "Don't call mum and dad."
"Why not? You haven't done anything wrong." Sammy scoffed. "Oh, or are you scared they'll find out you have a boyfriend who fucking abuses you?"
"Sammy!" Uncle Percy snapped.
"No!" Sammy then snapped at him. "I don't want to sit back and watch my sister being abused. He's hitting her, uncle and she won't admit it because he's sitting right there and she's scared of him."
"Mr Parkinson." Uncle Percy said and looked at Luke. "Did you punch her?"
"No."
"You're fucking lying!" Sammy yelled. "How can you not feel guilty about what you're doing? Have you looked at her! Look at her fucking face! You did that and you're lying about it to save your own arse!"
"Boys." Uncle Percy spoke. "You can leave. If I catch you fighting again though, it might end up with a week of suspension. Genevieve, I want to have a chat with you alone."
As Luke pulled himself up to stand, he let his hand briefly touch mine but he got to give it a squeeze before anyone saw. It was his way of warning me.
Lie or face the consequences.
Once the door closed behind the two, I looked at my uncle for a short moment before then looking away again.
"What's going on?" He asked. "You've been acting off and now this? Did Parkinson hurt you?"
"No."
"Vivi." He sighed. "I knew his mother so I wouldn't be surprised if her son hit girls. Did he hit you?"
"No."
"Then how did you get that?"
"I accidentally punched myself with a book."
"Didn't you just say you fell?"
Oh shit.
"I managed to talk to Miss Williamson before." He told me. "And she told me you had told her that it happened because you tried to open a jar and then punched yourself. So what's the real reason? The jar? Book? Did you fall or did Parkinson in fact punch you?"
"He didn't punch me."
"Alright." He breathed. "Let's try something else. Parkinson is your boyfriend?"
I didn't respond.
"Because I know your parents have a very strict no-dating rule if you're not of age. Maybe they would be able to accept it if it was a boy your age but not when it's a seventeen-year-old boy and definitely not if they found out it was Pansy Parkinson's son."
"You aren't telling them, are you?" I asked, nervously looking at him.
"That you have a boyfriend and that he's violent towards you? What kind of teacher... no, what kind of uncle would I be if I didn't tell your parents while trying to help you?"
"He's not being violent towards me." I said. "I fell."
"You fell." He sighed. "Genevieve, you've had three different explanation, that alone tell me something isn't right and with your black eye and the way he smiled when Sammy confronted him. I know he's hitting you but I can't help and I can't do anything about it if you deny it ever happened. So do you wanna try it again? Tell me he did that to your eye and I will help you. I'll make sure he never go near you again."
The best thing to do was probably just tell my uncle everything that happened but I just couldn't do that. I was embarrassed that my boyfriend had been hurting me and... that he raped me.
If I told Uncle Percy, he would have to tell mum and dad and I wouldn't be able to look at them. I didn't want them to be disappointed in me.
"He's not hurting me."
Uncle Percy sighed but then nodded. "Then I can't do anything to help you."
"Good. Cause I don't need any help." I said before I pulled myself out of my chair.
"I do have to tell your parents, though." He told me. "They'd kill me if they found out you were dating and that I knew but didn't tell them."
"Whatever." I shrugged. "It's not going to change anything so why should I care?"