When I came home, I opened the door to see my sister watching a movie. (It was most likely rented; I don't really remember us buying a copy of that.)

"Hey, Trina." I greeted her out of forced politeness.

"Hey. Where have you been? Mom's been looking everywhere for you." Trina said, not even tearing her eyes away from the screen.

"I was at a friend's. It's her birthday today." Technically, I wasn't lying. I considered Jade and I friends. And Trina didn't have to know about Mia.

Too risky.

A few seconds later, she must've had an epiphany or something because as I was able to head upstairs to my room, she stood up and went towards me.

"Did you bring dad's camera?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need it."

"Why? So you can cam-whore again?" I insinuated in a bored tone. It's most likely for that purpose that she hogs dad's camera, making me used to it, and usually wonder what goes on in her mind most of the time. (But from what I gather, it's most likely her face that she thinks about. Day and night.) To tell you honestly, I'm extremely blunt when it comes to Trina.

"Excuse me, I do not 'cam whore'," She stressed, adding air quotes on cam whore. "I need it for my project."

I tried to hide the camera bag behind my back; I had to transfer the photos before she sees them.

"I'll give it to you later, Treen. I'll just transfer the pictures to my laptop, and then it's all yours." I tried stalling as I inched slowly upstairs towards my room as discreetly as I could.

She huffed in annoyance.

"I'm barging in if that camera's not in my hands in ten minutes."

"Thanks, Treen!" I said quickly before bolting up the stairs and closing the door. Taking the memory card from the camera and inserting it in my computer.

The pictures started showing up one by one.

Slowly.

It was only halfway done when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I was going to get creamed by Trina if I'm not down in three . . . two . . . one . . .

"Tori!" She barged in, walking towards me. I shielded the screen as much as I could.

I'm praying that she doesn't see anything.

"My computer's a dinosaur, Treen. Cut me some slack. I'll give it to you when I'm done, okay?"

"Fine. But what's got you so private all of a sudden? You hiding nude pics?"

My sister could be such a pervert.

"Oh, God, no! Treen, that's disgusting!" I even made a disgusted 'blegh' sound just to get my point across.

"Then what are you hiding?" She tried peeking over my shoulder but I pushed her away.

"None of your business. Just, get out, please? I'll give it to you downstairs. Just be patient."

With another disgruntled huff, she sauntered out of my door, letting me finally breathe properly.

But in a flash, Trina caught me off guard and spun around, pushing me away from the desktop and looking at the pictures I tried so desperately to hide from her.

"I've seen that kid before. Is that girl really Jade's?" Trina asked, her eyebrow shooting up.

"What? No! Who gave you that idea?" I lied feebly.

"Well, I see a cake here clearly saying 'Happy birthday, Mia! Love, Mommy and Daddy.'. And Jade's pretty sweet to the kid." Trina said, scrolling through more of the pictures.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath. "Trina, you have to promise me that you won't tell anybody else about this."

"Holy chiz, Beck's her father?" Trina said, clicking on the photo to make it larger.

"Well, it's a long stor—," She cut me off.

"Is that why he won't even look at me?" Trina asked, her face showing clear displease. "Oh, I'm going to have to have a word with him when I see him tomorrow!"

"Trina, please! Jade doesn't need people knowing about her. Just, don't tell anyone!" I pleaded.

"Why? Jade's not your friend. Think about all of the bad things she's done to you." Trina tried to tempt me, but I stood firm.

"Those things are in the past, Trina, and I've forgiven her for all of those even if she never said sorry. Mia's the only thing holding her together right now and I'm not about to take that away from her by letting you tell everyone about her." I growled, not even knowing that I had that little lecture inside of me.

"Fine, fine, sheesh! I'll back off." Trina said. "I never even knew that you felt so strongly about this."

"I don't know. It's just that, Jade's my friend. And I couldn't just betray her like that. I'm still gaining her trust, and I really don't want to lose what I still don't have."

"I get what you mean."

She looked at the picture of Beck and Jade kissing Mia's cheeks. "She's one damn cute kid."

"Tell me about it."

"How old is she now?" Trina asked, finally looking like she's going to leave my sanctuary.

"She turned four today."

"And how old is Jade?"

"Nineteen, as old as me. Why?"

"How old did she have this kid? Fourteen? Fifteen?"

"I don't know, maybe around that?"

"Well, isn't she a slut." Trina said, as if it was nothing. "I mean, come on. A baby at that age? I wouldn't be that irresponsible."

I saw red. I didn't know what I was thinking at that time, but I when she said that, I raised my hand and slapped her across her cheek.

"What the hell was that for, Tori?" Trina screeched, trying to lessen the sting.

"Don't you dare call her a slut. You have no idea what she's been through, and you even got the nerve to call her that?" I said menacingly, glaring down at her.

"You're such a bitch sometimes. Take some meds; I'll get the camera tomorrow." Trina said.

Holding her cheek, she went out of the room.

With a frustrated sigh, I finished the transfer. I deleted the pictures from the memory card before placing it back in the camera. I printed the copies Jade wanted on photo paper and I got ready for bed.

My phone rang right when I was about to get inside the bathroom.

I answered it on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Vega. The little nut has something to say." Jade said into the receiver. I heard shuffling.

"Hi Tori." I heard Mia's voice from the other end. She sounded drowsy, but happy.

"Hey there, big girl. Happy birthday." I greeted, sitting down on the bed.

"Thank you for being at the party," She said sweetly. "And thank you for the backpack. I had so much fun."

"You're welcome. And I'm glad you liked it, sweetheart." I smiled; she was too adorable for words.

"Good night."

"Good night to you too, Mia. Sweet dreams." I heard shuffling again, and then I'm talking to Jade.

"Yeah, uhm, as she said, thanks, Vega. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"No problem. She's too sweet for words, you know? I was able to print out the picture you wanted, by the way. I'll give it to you tomorrow. Yeah, see you, uhm, tomorrow." I face palmed at how stupid I must've sounded.

"Yeah, alright. Bye."

I was too flustered to do anything right now.

I stripped down to my underwear and hoped that Trina wouldn't do anything stupid.

Hey, guys. Sorry for the consistency of my late updates. School's been . . . ugh. But guess what? I'm top 1 in my class! I'm really thankful for that.

And thank you guys for consistently supporting this story. From my calculations, you guys give me around a hundred reviews every 4-6 chapters, and that is just insane. I couldn't thank you all enough.

Please do tell me what you think. Wishing you all the best!