AN: Dialogue that is underlined is spoken in French
Amanda woke up to find Juliet sitting in front of her with a man whom she was pretty sure had been the one who had knocked her out.
Seeing her waking up, Juliet shifted nervously. "Amanda, this is James. He... He's here because—"
"I'm here to talk," James interrupted her. "You obviously came from somewhere, so how 'bout you tell us where."
Amanda had suspected that her conversation with Juliet the previous night would not be the last one on the subject.
"I already told you," Amanda replied, raising her eyebrows to spite the man.
"Excuse me?" He retorted, obviously surprised that such a small girl had so much confidence.
"Well, I told her," she tilted her head towards Juliet, "last night."
"Told her what?" Sneered the man called James.
"That it wasn't my choice to come here, I was drugged."
"You were drugged?" James asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, there was something in my anaesthetic."
"And why the hell would someone want to drug a supposedly-innocent kid,"
"I'm almost 17," she retorted.
"Fine then. Why the hell would someone want to drug a supposedly-innocent almost-17-year-old and send her to this lump of dirt?"
"Search me. I thought you guys did it."
"What use would we have for you?" James asked with an obvious look of disgust.
"I don't know... You could tie me to a tree for no reason, question me like a criminal, accuse me of lying, just think of all the fun you could have!"
Amanda saw Juliet suppress giggles. Apparently not many people tried to stand up to this guy.
James had noticed the giggles too, and snarled at Juliet, before walking away muttering about needing "the Arab."
"Amanda?! What happened to you?" Marie Charleton looked over as her daughter put down her backpack. She had just returned from school looking like a raccoon, with her left eye surrounded by an ugly purple bruise.
"Nothing," Amanda replied, and she tried to make her escape to her room upstairs.
"Amanda, I ignored the time when you came home with a broken finger, and the time when you came home with a bloody nose, but this is the third time this year! What happens to you at school?"
Amanda stood still, staring at the red tiles of their kitchen floor. Should she tell her mother the cause of her misery? She convinced herself when Johann punched her nose that she would, but she hadn't able to muster the strength. Maybe it was time to take action before worse things started happening. Deciding that maybe she could achieve the same effect without resorting to screaming, she took the long way around.
"Marie," she spoke, surprising her by conversing in English, and ignoring her look when she called her by her name. "Do you think we could talk in English at home now?"
"Why?" Marie answered, being stubborn and sticking to French.
"Could you just do it?" Amanda asked, knowing that if she was prodded much further it would come out.
"Amanda, what you are asking me, it is more than just asking me to speak a different language. It is asking me to give up my heritage. I am a French person, not an American. I agreed to move to America when I married your father, but we decided that French would be the language we would use in the house. Besides, only your father is fluent in English."
It was too much. Reverting back to French, her first language, Amanda let the words she had been longing to speak flow from her. "But that's exactly it, Marie! I'm not fluent in English, but I go to a school where that's what we have to speak. I get made fun of endlessly for my bad grammar, for having to go to my French teacher to ask her to translate something."
"And these bullies hurt you because you are different?"
"No... they hurt me because... Well, you know what happens when I get angry," Amanda replied sheepishly, referring to her angry retorts, heavy use of sarcasm, and quick temper.
"Amanda," Marie gave her a reproving look.
"Marie, I can't stand it anymore, I need more English practice!"
"If you could just learn to control your temper Amanda—"
"My temper is part of me!"
"So is my language!"
"Marie, please—"
"I asked you to call me mum!"
"You're not my mother," Amanda ended in English, and she gave Marie a cold look and left the room.
"Very nice job," Juliet said to her once James was out of earshot. "Nobody ever really tries to fight against Sawyer, but you did well."
Amanda chuckled. "I thought his name was James."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "They're interchangeable."
They both giggled. Amanda had known this woman for only a day, but she knew that if it were not for their unfortunate circumstances, they would have been friends.
"I can let you out for some breakfast if you want," Juliet offered.
"That would be nice," Amanda replied, with a pointed look at the ropes that were numbing her hands and arms.
"I'm sorry about this," Juliet said while untying her. "We have some trust issues, and if you weren't who you said you were, we'd be in trouble."
"But you believe me?"
Juliet stopped fiddling with the knots and looked Amanda in the eye. "I can tell when people are lying," she simply stated, and returned to the ropes. "Plus," she added behind her back, "I kind of like you."
Amanda smiled. "I kind of like you too."
Amanda ate her breakfast under the surveillance of Juliet when a question came to her.
"So, why are you guys on the island?"
"We're survivors of a plane crash," Juliet replied, emitting the part about her not being one.
"A plane crash?" Wait – not Oceanic 815?"
"The very same."
"I thought you guys were all dead?"
"No... not all of us," Juliet replied, and Amanda was sure she caught a hint of regret in her eyes.
"I... I knew someone on your plane." Amanda wasn't sure what had made her say it, but she just felt the need to confide in this woman.
"Really?"
"Yeah... my doctor," Juliet looked up, interested. "He saved my life almost a year ago... I had this back problem."
Juliet was sure that her face betrayed the tension she was feeling. "What... was his name?" She asked, bracing herself for what she was sure would be the answer.
"Shephard. Dr. Jack Shephard. He was a great guy, he performed the surgery for next-to-no money. God rest his soul."
Amanda saw a tear appear at the side of Juliet's eye, and she proceeded to tell her about the freighter that had come and taken some of the survivors, including her doctor, but had blown up before it could rescue everyone.
The tears were rolling freely down Juliet's cheek, to her obvious displeasure.
"You loved him." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"Sorry?"
"Dr. Shephard, Jack... You loved him didn't you?"
Juliet hesitated. Why was she confiding so much in this strange girl? She nodded, trying to wipe away her tears. She shouldn't be showing so much weakness in front of a stranger.
"I'm sorry," Amanda said, looking her straight in the eye with sympathy on her face.
"Thanks," Juliet muttered, but then she abruptly got up and started to tie Amanda back up, while saying "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said so much... I ... I have to go."
Amanda stared as she walked away.
The name Jack Shephard hadn't been spoken in weeks, although Juliet was sure it was being thought of constantly. She thought of him every day, of how much she missed him, of how she longed to see him again, to tell him everything she felt for him, but now that was impossible.
Tearing her mind away from Jack, Juliet thought of the strange girl she had just tied back to the tree. They seemed to have a weird connection, to understand each other. And she somehow knew about Edmund... That was going to require some investigation.