Chapter 11

Lena's POV

I had been waiting almost three hours for Stef to get back. And just as I was about to call her cell for the twelfth time, I hear the front door open.

"Hun, I'm home!" I hear her yell.

I get out from the kitchen and am surprised to see Christina walking up the stairs up to Mariana's room. "What's going on? Why didn't you answer your phone?" I ask Stef.

"I'm sorry love. I was a bit preoccupied."

"Was she at the pier?"

"Yes," Stef motions me over toward the kitchen area so that we can talk privately.

"And you brought her back?" I ask confusingly.

"Uh-huh," Stef nods her head.

"Why? She hasn't listened to a word we said since she got here."

"I know love."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No. Of course I'm not okay with that, but a lot of stuff has happened since we both left the house."

"Okay…Like what?" I ask with sudden interest as to why Stef seemed so calm when she left angrily.

"Like Vico."

"Vico Cerrar? The senior?"

"Tall, built, light-skin, green eyes."

I nod my head "Yes, that's the Vico I'm talking about. What does he have to do with any of this?"

Stef takes a deep breath before she whispers, "He… attacked her."

"What?" I respond with exaggeration and suddenly wish that I hadn't been so loud.

"I got there just in time before he could do anything, thank God."

"And what? You were at the station the whole time, filing a police report, and you couldn't bother to pick up the phone?" I ask in annoyance by what my she was telling me.

"No, I had to chase after Christina because she ran again," she reasons.

"And you sent her upstairs by herself?" I ask bewildered by what Stef was telling me and the fact that she just sent a runaway teen, who tried to get away from us twice already, upstairs by herself.

"Yes and it's fine, honey. I already talked to her."

I shake my head in confusion, suddenly wondering why I'm the worried one and she's the calm one all of a sudden.

She continues, "After I grabbed her, and Mike arrived, I drove around with her in the car. I was thinking about what to do with her."

"And…" I'm still waiting for Stef to explain why she thinks that this is a good idea.

"And she completely flipped out on me…She saw that I wasn't going in the direction of the police station and…Lena, she thought I was going to hurt her," Stef's voice was soft and I could see her eyes starting to tear, but I'm still not understanding why.

"What?" I ask, still confused by what Stef was revealing to me. "Why would she—"

"Because she thought I was going to burry her. She broke down in front of me and I…. I couldn't just lock her up after that."

I'm honestly confused now. "Why would she think something like that? You never—"

"I know love, but her mother tried to."

"Oh my God," I mumble at the thought that someone's own mother would try to do something like that.

Stef nods her head.

"Why didn't Bill tell us about this? I read her file from top to bottom. There wasn't anything in there about this."

"Because, she didn't tell him. It happened before she met Bill."

"When she was 12?"

"Eleven," Stef corrects.

I was angry now, "What could she have done at eleven years old that would cause her mother to—"

"I don't know."

"So, what are we supposed to do about this? She can't just disappear whenever she wants. This running away thing isn't okay."

"I know, love."

"Did you tell her that?"

"We can talk to her tomorrow about all of that. She's had a bad enough night."

I calm down after hearing Stef's calm voice, "Did I mention that you keep me sane?"

She laughs, "At least once every week."

Mariana's POV

I'm surprised when I hear a knock on my bedroom door and see Christina walk in. I figured that my mom would get rid of her after she ran away. And now, she's sitting on one of the beds that my moms got them.

I'm glad that she's here instead of juvie, but I'm also worried of what my mom is going to do now that she's back.

Since Mom left to go find Christina, Mama had asked me what I need the money for. She lectured me for almost an hour, and I could tell that she didn't believe the reason that I gave her.

And I don't blame her.

I didn't have the so-called "dress" that I said I spent the money on. But I couldn't tell her the truth, no matter how much she pressed me on it.

I couldn't tell her that I handed all that money over to Ana, especially after I said I didn't want to meet her. She would think I went behind her back.

Mama was always more sensitive to those things than Mom was, and I just knew she would hate me if she found out.

They both would.

She said that she would have to discuss my punishment with Mom first, but I already knew that I'd be grounded forever.

I didn't even bother to bring up the Quincenera, because I knew that they'd shut it down immediately.

Callie's POV

Christina walks in and sits down on the bed next to mine. Her face is red and I can tell that she was crying.

"You okay?" Mariana asks and I want to toss my pillow at her.

From my experience, every time someone asked me if I was okay when I wasn't, it would only make me feel worse.

But surprisingly, she doesn't tear-up more at the question.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replies in a flat tone.

Mariana keeps going, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't confess earlier. I should have, and we could have avoided this whole mess."

Christina puts her hand in the air to keep Mariana from continuing, "Whoa whoa whoa. Wait a minute... You set me up?" she asks angrily.

"No, I didn't set you up. How was I supposed to know that you would get blamed for it?" Mariana defends.

"Why would you sell your brother's pills in the first place?" Christina asks

"You wouldn't understand."

"You're right. I wouldn't. So don't even bother answering the question. I don't even wanna know."

Just then, we hear a knock on Mariana's door and Stef walks in. "Mariana, Mama and I want to talk to you downstairs, please."

I know that she's in trouble, and she knows it to. I can tell by the sadness in her face as she follows Stef out of the room.

As soon as she leaves, I turn my attention to Christina, "I thought you weren't coming back."

"I wasn't," Christina replies as she changes into some pajamas that she grabbed from her bag.

"You know, there's two empty drawers for you in the dresser. I only needed one."

"That's okay," she looks at me as she slides her green duffel bag under the bed.

"You know, I'm not going to steal your stuff," I smile at her, because I'm surprised that she'd think I would.

She smiles back, "I know. But we don't know about Mariana on the other hand," she jokes and I shake my head. "…But honestly, I never unpack. It has nothing to do with you."

Why not? I wonder. "But they offered to foster us until we have a permanent placement."

"And you believed them? Rule number one: Never. Trust. Anyone."

I didn't even know how to respond, so I didn't.

"This is temporary. So I'll treat it that way. I never unpack in places where I know I'm not going to be in for long. Hell, I don't unpack, period. You never know when you might just have to grab your stuff and go," she replies as she lies back down onto the bed.

"Go where? And where did you go today anyway?"

"Don't even ask," she replies as she places the comforter over her body and closes her eyes.