"GOOD MORNING TO YOU THE BIRDS... ARE CHIRPING!!!!!!" rowyn yelled beginning to caw-caw like a bird. she started to dance while sitting down beside a chair that had her untouched cup of iced chai sitting upon it

scarlett had her mouth wide open while luke was squinting in confusion seeing his cousin acting like that. since scarlett came to pick her up, she has been acting weird. it is five o' clock in the morning and rowyn is in the happiest mood ever... scarlett knew something was wrong

chase walked over to stand beside luke seeming concerned for rowyn. when he should up a few minutes ago, rowyn greeted chase with a hug then tapped his nose saying she was happy to see him. that isn't the rowyn that he knows and it was apparent to everyone that something was clearly off

chase shot both of them a worried look then looked at rowyn who was now giggling loudly, "has she ever acted like this?"

"no." luke and scarlett said in unison

luke nudged his head forward, "c'mon." him and scarlett began to head over to rowyn sitting down with her, chase as well earning a death stare from scarlett. they all formed a circle.

"you okay row?" luke asked patting her back causing her to react harshly, her foot kicked the chair making her cup fall but luckily scarlett caught it in time before a mess was able to appear on the floor

rowyn nodded hitting luke in his stomach which sounded painful, "i'm great!!" she laughed loudly standing up skipping over to darius and gabriel. both boys exchanged looks seeing rowyn be enthusiastic

"ouch." luke said in a monotone voice

rowyn started clapping loudly causing everyone to stop what they were doing to look at her, "c'mon guys!! let's get some energy up in this place!!!!"

she started spinning around in circles not stopping until she almost fell down the long flight wooden stairs that led to the auditorium basement, darius was about to save her from a possible concussion but chase beat him to it. he grabbed her waist then shifted her away from the stairs

"oops!!" rowyn laughed loudly, she slapped her hands down by her thighs snorting, "i'm such a klutz!! let me go!! i can walk, geez!!" she yelled moving away from chase

rowyn then ran over grabbing a random prop starting to pretend that she was dancing with someone. scarlett snatched it away from her grabbing her hands causing her to stand still, "rowyn! what is wrong with you?" she asked beyond concerned

blade muttered to yuki and riley quietly, "i think i know what is wrong with her..."

"nothing! i'm just happy to be here bestie!!" she beamed brightly

chase caught himself frowning looking at the back of rowyn's body. she was wearing a shirt that was triple her normal size, it seemed there was a scratch trying to peek out near her upper back. it wasn't noticeable unless you looked really hard

scarlett scoffed grabbing rowyn dragging her down to the basement so they could have a private conversation, "oooo stairs!! slow down, i don't want to fall!!!" rowyn babbled

"sit your ass down." scarlett demanded pushing rowyn down into a random chair. she gave her dog-sad eyes, scarlett started to walk back and forth in a frenzy

she then leaned down to rowyn's level, "what the hell is going on with you?" she asked strictly

"nothing——-"

"just tell me what the hell you took or smoked rowyn. did you smoke a joint before i came to pick you up?" she asked sounding disappointed

"huh?" scarlett groaned then started pacing back and forth again.

"rowyn!! you know nowadays things are laced and the stupid drug dealers here purposefully place fentanyl in their weed!! if you want to smoke, that is totally fine but you have to tell me these things and start proceeding with precautions in order——-" scarlett stopped talking since rowyn thought it was the funniest thing in the world

her bestfriend sighed, "rowyn... WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!!!" she yelled out in confusion

"because you idiot i took a few painkillers, not weed!!" rowyn laughed

"why the hell are you taking painkillers?"

"where did you even get them from?" chase suddenly asked walking down the stairs getting in front of rowyn, scarlett groaned rubbing her forehead feeling overstimulated at the moment

scarlett gritted her teeth, "chase, please go away, i got this." she assured immediately growing irritated with his presence but he could care less

rowyn decided to answer the question that was just asked, "because my back is killing me!!!" she answered with a loud echo

"why is your back killing you?" scarlett asked with a shrug. rowyn lied with ease, "i fell on my back yesterday being clumsy." she answered but chase didn't believe her for a second

"what are you going to do when these painkillers wear off in a few hours, rowyn?" scarlett asked waiting for an answer that rowyn could not give her. as the day went by, rowyn was in excruciating pain refusing to sit all the way back within her chairs. every class she was in, she leaned forward the entire time which scarlett noticed but decided to leave it alone.

rowyn was having one of those days and didn't really feel like being pestered with any more questions. when football practice was finished, chase went inside expecting to see rowyn sitting on the couch but she wasn't there. he slung his backpack onto the floor, "where is rowyn?" he asked hearing his mother chopping her knife against a cutting board

amelia paused what she was doing for a second to look at her son, "she isn't coming today."

"why?" chase asked sounding worried, amelia shot him another glare before getting back to chopping up the fruit and vegetables she was preparing for her pineapple salsa recipe

"something about her back. her dad said she is in excruciating pain and needs to take a few days to rest. she probably won't be back over until tuesday." amelia informed

chase began trying to put the puzzle together, he rushed upstairs to his room to take a shower. amelia didn't even bother with chase, just continued to make dinner for her family of three

scarlett was sitting in her oval shaped hanging chair finished up on her assigned case for criminal justice. her and rowyn have spent weeks doing this case that is due soon. she wanted it to be perfect

she was typing loudly amongst her keyboard continuing to dig for deeper evidence pertaining to her case. she heard the doorbell ringing from downstairs, which confused her. her mother is working a twelve hour night shift and won't be in until six o' clock in the morning

scarlett always has nights like this one. most of the time, rowyn is over the house with her. if not her then either luke, talia or kelly. sometimes all three at once, scarlett was scared to be alone at times but it made her mature even more.

sometimes people from the church come over to check on scarlett in the middle of the night while she is sleeping. they of course let nova know when they are stopping by.

the ringing was constant with the person not stopping, "for fucks sake..." scarlett mumbled getting up sitting her laptop and notebook onto the foot of her bed. she slipped her fuzzy house shoes on running downstairs

"stop ringing the damn doorbell, i'm coming!! goodness gracious...." she muttered

she twisted the doorknob slinging the door wide open, "what do you want—-" she stopped mid sentence to see chase standing in front of her doorway

"what the hell are you doing here?" she asked examining him up and down with a raised eyebrow, she couldn't help but to scoff amongst his presence

chase shrugged walking straight into her house, "we need to talk." he insisted heading straight into her living room, scarlett titled her head back mentally cursing at the fact that this jerk was inside her house. she shut the door then went to sit on the couch that was not even near chase

"okay make it quick please, i was doing homework." scarlett said

chase rubbed the palms of his hands together not knowing how to start the conversation. so he just said what is on his mind, "i'm worried about rowyn."

he slowly nodded gazing over at scarlett who brought her focus down to her lap, "i don't think she fell on her back. i think her father did something to her."

scarlett was mute from there on out not really knowing what to say to chase, "she told me that when she has a B on her report card..."

"she gets punished." scarlett finished his sentence

chase's face dropped hearing her words, "wait y-you know about this?" scarlett exhaled getting up walking into the kitchen, chase decided to stay seated but turned around seeing her go into her fridge to grab herself a bottle of sparkling water

she awkwardly cleared her throat re-entering the living room to take a seat, "yes i know because rory has done the same to me before." she revealed

his doe brown eyes widened, "yeah um..." scarlett blew raspberries, a chuckle leaving her mouth, "i can't believe i'm about to tell you this but fuck it!" she shrugged slightly

"when rowyn and i were eight years old, we were playing hide and seek at her house. bree and taryn were also playing with us meanwhile ellie was helping her mom cook dinner...."

scarlett paused for a minute not trying to milk the story out, "yeah, long story short. i ended up accidentally breaking a vase due to running through the house and rory ran up the stairs to see what was going on. he was absolutely pissed and he got his leather whip and beat my ass. ellie tried stopping him, so he beat her too. then the other three sisters begged him to stop so he beat them as well."

chase didn't expect the story to take such a dark turn. nova never gave rory or anna permission to whoop her child, in fact nova has never believed in whooping of beating her daughter. sure, there were a few times she had to pop her hand when she was growing up but that was it.

"what happened after that? i mean did you tell your mom about it?" chase asked

scarlett quickly took a sip of her water before answering, "i told her the minute that i got home. to her dismay, my mother was absolutely livid."

"what did she do?"

"she dropped me off with a family member then she went to cuss rory out and checked anna for allowing him to do that to me. after that whole situation, i never set foot on their property ever again." scarlett finalized letting out a deep breath

"and you plus rowyn were able to still be friends after all—-"

"yeah, stricter boundaries were set. plus our parents didn't want to break up an innocent friendship between two little girls."

everything just kept adding up whenever chase found out more about these individuals. it makes sense why he has never seen nova communicate with rory. she has forgiven him but never will forget. when scarlett fell asleep that night, nova quietly walked into her room lifting her shirt up to see the horror that rory left on her back

if she wasn't a save and sanctified woman of God, she would have went over to that house and tried to kill rory. it made her sick seeing her daughter whine out in pain when she would move around in her sleep.

cleaning her back was the hardest back, she had a few open wounds that needed to be disinfected. how nova grew up, you sometimes have to use bleach for things. scarlett was a strong little soldier who barley ever cried

but she broke down in tears when her mother was cleaning her back. when rory was done whipping her, he told her that 'snitching is a sign of disloyalty, disobedience and betrayal'. ever since that incident, scarlett grew up barley telling on people

the words stuck to her like glue. rowyn felt horrible about the ordeal along with the rest of her sisters. they all team up together to make scarlett feel better. secretly making 'i'm sorry' cards when their parents were out of the house.

they then pitched in to help her get the dream barbie doll she had wanted since she was five years old. the love and support she got from the walsh sisters was enough to make her forget about her troubles.

"how long do you think abuse has been going on in that house?" chase treaded lightly

scarlett felt a tear fall from her eye, she quickly wiped it away. "i'm not sure." she lied. it wasn't her place to reveal such a thing to chase. she knows when the abuse has started because rowyn had told her. but in this situation, it isn't her place to reveal such a thing

"i'm telling someone, i have too." chase promised, scarlett shook her head

"don't." scarlett warned him, chase began to get upset with her responses. "why not?! you know what the hell is going on yet you aren't going to utter a word."

"unless you want to put rowyn and her sister in harms way, it is best you keep your mouth shut."

"what are you talking about?"

scarlett wiped her tears away sniffling aloud, "rory is not the kind of man who could handle cps getting involved with his family. he is the devil and he definitely would full on snap if you told your parents or anyone else for that matter."

"you think i haven't came to this resolution but i have. there is no resolution and rowyn loves her daddy, she keeps assuring me that she'll be free within two years when she graduates." scarlett revealed sounding like she was growing weak

"just keep your mouth shut and let me worry about trying to make my bestfriend's life easier."

i feel sick at the thought of revealing the big plot within this story, like i genuinely want to cry everytime i think of it. but back to happy thoughts, i love you all and appreciate each and EVERY single one of you <3