A week after Natalia left for Miami, Catherine was throwing a party at our place for the night shift before work. Sara and I had the night off so we were responsible for the clean up afterwards, and also the only ones who were drinking. Lindsay was being rude to a few of the guys, so I grabbed her by the arm and took her into her room and sat her down. I sat down next to her and just stared at her.
"What?" Lindsay asked with a little too much attitude for my liking.
"What?" I mimicked. She just stared at me and shrugged.
"I don't care if you ground me," she said.
"I'm not going to ground you Lindsay, I'm going to talk to you. Now what is with this ridiculous attitude?" I asked.
"What attitude?" she asked sarcastically.
"You're fifteen years old, not three, so don't act like it. Now tell me why you're acting like this now? What happened to the sweet little girl I knew a few years ago?"
"Guess she grew up, but you wouldn't know that seeing as you left," Lindsay spat.
"You can't blame me for your shit Linds, you don't realise just how lucky you have it here," I stated.
"How lucky I have it? My mum works so much, I rarely get to see her, you disappeared like everyone else in my life has, school is shit and everyone treats me like a fucking kid," Lindsay said.
"Let me tell you something, firstly, don't you ever use that word around me again. You're fifteen. When you turn eighteen, then you can use it all you want, I don't care. Secondly, let me tell you a little story about someone I know. When she was fifteen, she didn't have a home, she didn't have a mother who worked so hard to make sure she could feed her child and buy all those expensive toys and gadgets kids have these days, she didn't have a school to attend to get a good education and she was treated like a prostitute because she lived on the streets. This fifteen year old got addicted to alcohol, to drugs, just so she couldn't feel the pain of everything she had lost, everything she never had, so you tell me Lindsay, does it suck to be a fifteen year old in your life or maybe you'd rather had her life?" Lindsay didn't say a word, looking down, knowing exactly who I was talking about. I had never kept my past a secret from Lindsay and hopefully I've gotten through to her.
"I'm sorry Rachel," Lindsay said quietly.
"No Linds, sorry doesn't cut it for all the heartache you've put your mum through the last few years, blaming me for leaving and look at the state of you," I pointed to her clothes that were just asking for trouble, "do me a favour, you want to stop being treated like a kid, then stop acting like one. I want you to stay in your room tonight,
don't come out while our friends are here, and think about what I've said huh?" Lindsay just nodded at me as the tears came. I figured she'd finally got the message.
As I walked out of her room, I saw Sara standing next to the door, tears running down her face. I closed Lindsay's door and took Sara into my arms.
"Sara, honey, what's wrong?" I asked quietly.
"How did you know?" she asked, shaking.
"Know what?" I said, tilting her face up so she was looking at me and not the floor.
"The fifteen year old," she said quietly, tears ruining her mascara.
"Sara, who do you think the fifteen year old is?" I asked, a little confused.
"It's me," Sara said and I felt my whole body shake. I led her into my bedroom and closed the door, sitting her on the bed and handing her tissues.
"Sara," I started once she had calmed down a little, "I had no idea. That fifteen year old I was talking about, that was me." Sara looked up at me, shock written all over her face.
"You? But you're Catherine's cousin, no way any relative of Cath's would've lived like that," Sara said shaking her head.
"Sara, I didn't know Catherine until I was 17. I was abandoned when I was three and Catherine didn't even know of my existence until I was about 16. She tracked me down and pulled me out of the mess I was in, Cath saved me."
"So, you would understand about how I grew up," the words she said three years ago coming back to haunt her, "I'm so sorry Rachel, I'm so sorry." I put my arms around her and held her while she cried. There was a knock on my door half an hour later and I realised that there was still a party going on outside. I looked down at Sara and realised she had fallen asleep. I lay her down on the bed and threw a cover over her before answering the door.