"So, you and my brother, huh?" Nadia said out of the blue.
"Hmm?" Peter turned to see Nadia standing next to him. "Oh, uh, yeah."
Nadia nodded, staring blankly at the wall. "Weird. I mean, no offense, but you don't really seem his type. Then again, didn't think boys were his type either, but there you have it."
Peter didn't really know how to respond to that, so he just stood there quietly. Nadia stood there too, arms folded, deep in thought.
Nadia suddenly let out a bitter laugh. "Sorry. It's just...you think you know someone. My own little brother. Never even bothered to mention it. I would've helped him, you know. But no, he tells you, just some random kid at school, not even his own older sister. Like, you'd think I'd know him best of all, right? But I never really knew him," she got very quiet. "I never really knew my own brother."
"Nadia..." Peter said sympathetically.
"I killed him. I killed my brother. If I hadn't shown Matt that dumb picture, if I hadn't given Jason the drugs, he would still be here. This is all my fault. I'm sorry," she turned and walked away.
"Nadia, wait!" Peter called after her. But it was too late, she was gone.
Nadia hurried to make it to her room before the tears could fall. She collapsed onto her bed and cried.
"Well, that makes two of us," Ivy remarked dryly. Nadia looked up to see Ivy standing over her, holding out a tissue, her own eyes red.
Nadia took the tissue. "Thanks."
Ivy sat down next to her. "Never seen you cry before, guess it's like one of those double rainbow things, huh," she joked. Nadia didn't laugh.
"I caused his death," she whispered. Ivy hesitated, then tentatively wrapped her arms around Nadia.
"Guess we're both kind of fucked up, huh?" she said. "If my parents don't kick me out, you're free to come over. If you want."
"Well, if you do get kicked out, you can come over to my place. My parents won't even notice you're there. They don't even notice I'm there," Nadia said bitterly.
Ivy snorted. "Who'd have thought that the two of us would become friends?"
"We're not friends," Nadia said quickly. Ivy gave her a look. "We're just two girls who happened to both get stuck in majorly sucky situations at the same time."
"Whatever you want," Ivy said, standing up. "See ya around." she left the room.
"See ya around," Nadia replied. Then she buried her face in her pillow and let herself cry.