Chapter 21

Jeremiah was waiting when the school bell rang. He needed to talk to his girls.

Daniela seemed to still be in a good mood. Amelia seemed exactly the opposite.

"Daniela?" Jeremiah said, when they had reached the house. "Why don't you talk to your sister? See if you can't cheer her up." He could talk to the girls later when Camille was home.

Daniela nodded to her father as she followed her sister upstairs.

It took her all of five minutes to change into her running gear. She reached into her bag and pulled out the small bottle of pills and popped one more dry swallowing as she made her way into the bathroom and let herself into her sister's room.

"Let's go," Daniela said picking up Amelia's sneakers off the floor and tossing them at the teen sulking in her bed.

"What the heck?" Amelia frowned as she closed her laptop and stared at the sneakers that were just tossed on the bed beside her.

"Come for a run with me." Daniela said. "Here, you can even use this." She reached into the front pocket of her sweat pants and pulled out her mp3 player and tossed it onto the bed beside Amelia's shoes.

Amelia looked at the mp3 player and frowned. "Dani, I really don't feel like-"

"Give me a break." Daniela cut her sister off. "Please, come on. I know you're mad that you had to call things off with Eric, but you've been moping around the house for the past two days. Just come for a run with me."

Amelia sighed. "Fine,"

Half an hour later the girls were two and a half miles from the house and drenched in sweat.

"I think that's a new personal best for you." Dani teased when they reached the turning around point.

Amelia pulled the earbuds from her ears and bent over at the waist heaving for air. Daniela was drenched in sweat but at least she could breathe.

"The music helped." Amelia managed. She attempted to copy Daniela as the older girl went through her usual ritual of stretching.

"So talk to me. What's been bothering you?" Daniela tried. "Don't say it's "nothing" either. I know this is more than just the breakup. What's been up with you Mia?"

Amelia bit her lip and collapsed on the ground. She was tired. She didn't have it in her to fight with her sister.

"Dani, I really don't want to talk about it."

Daniela shook her head and dropped into a lunge. "Too bad, because we're not leaving here until you tell me whatever it is that's bothering you."

"You can be such a pain you know that?" Amelia whined half-heartedly.

Amelia smiled and dropped down on the ground beside her sister. "That's why God gave people big sisters: to pry." That got a smile from Amelia. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

Amelia hesitated for a moment before breaking down and telling her sister everything. She had wanted to tell someone the moment she could breathe again after what had happened on Wednesday, but had been too scared. It was actually a relief to get this all off her chest.

Daniela held her sister, shock, worry and anger warring inside her as the younger girl relayed the events of the previous day. Amelia cried as she spoke and it was obvious to Daniela that the girl was scared.

"It's going to be okay," Daniela soothed rubbing circles into the small of the younger girl's back. "Why don't we head back home? We can tell mama and daddy everything and they can take care of it."

Amelia sat up sharply and pulled away from her sister shaking her head. "No, no, you can't tell!" the smaller girl pleaded tears still in her eyes. "Dani you have to swear to me that you won't tell anyone."

Daniela looked at her sister incredulously and shook her head. "No way! That's insane! You can't seriously expect me to keep this to myself?"

Amelia stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Dani please,"

Daniela shook her head. "No! Mia I can't keep this to myself! And for you to even consider staying with Eric after what's happened would be stupid and dangerous. I can't let you do that."

"You don't get it!" Amelia cried at her sister. "I love him. And I will never forgive you if you tell anyone about this."

Daniela shook her head. Her sister was in over her head and didn't even realize it. "Mia, think about this for a minute."

Amelia wiped at her eyes. "I am. I love Eric and I don't want anything bad to happen to him."

"I know, Mia, but Eric needs help."

"And I can help him."

"How?" Daniela asked exasperatedly.

Amelia looked at her sister and frowned. She had to make the older girl understand. "He just needs someone he knows will always be there for him. Someone who truly cares about him and won't leave him. You didn't see him. You weren't there. He was serious yesterday."

Her voice cracked as she spoke and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "He needs me. He would have seriously hurt himself if I had left him."

Daniela let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she looked at her baby sister. The girl was falling apart right before her eyes.

"What if it's you he's threatening to hurt you next time, Mia?" Daniela asked. "He's hurting you."

"No. He promised he wouldn't do that anymore."

"Right, because guys like that always keep their promises to keep their hands to themselves. You're making a mistake. Amelia, he pulled a gun on you!"

Amelia shook her head. "No! He pulled the gun on himself. He never threatened to hurt me. You don't understand. You've never been in love. You're just jealous."

Daniela's eyes grew wide at her sister's statement. "You're fucking kidding me, right!?" Daniela gave a wry laugh.

It took her a moment to swallow her anger. Amelia didn't need someone lashing out at her right now. She was only lashing out because Daniela was right and she had her baby sister cornered.

"Tell me this," Daniela said lowering her voice to a more respectful tone. "If you think staying with Eric is such a good thing, then why are you sneaking around?"

Amelia grew quiet.

"Honestly? If you want to be with Eric that badly, why not just go to the house right now and defy mama and daddy? Tell them that you're in love with your boyfriend and all that crap about you two being destined to be together. Say to them exactly what you've been saying to me for months."

Amelia shook her head. "I can't and you know that."

"Why not?" Daniela pressured.

"Because…" Amelia slumped back down to the ground. "They don't understand. They don't remember what it was like to love someone as much as Eric and I love each other."

Daniela shook her head. "That's not good enough Mia. You have to leave Eric. I'm not giving you a choice this time."

Amelia scoffed at her sister. "You're not giving me a choice? And if I don't leave him?"

Daniela shrugged. "Then I tell mama and daddy."

Amelia jumped up. Her eyes red with tears. "I hate you!"

Daniela frowned at her sister. "I'm sorry Mia, but this is for your own good."

"You're my sister. You're supposed to have my back." Amelia shouted at the taller girl.

"I am. Believe me, I have your back." Daniela tried. "That's why I want you out of this situation. You deserve better than Eric. If he can't treat you the way he's supposed to then that's him missing out. I don't want to see you hurt."

Amelia didn't respond as she looked down the road back towards the house and took off at a sprint.

Daniela sighed. She had to help her sister.

A/N: Leave a review and let me know what you think :)