CHAPTER 3
Cat showed up back at school two days later. All morning, she'd been getting stared at. It was starting to really piss her off. Almost more than Max's fat jokes.
She hadn't spoken to anyone about what happened—just Jade, and only to let her know that she was alright. She knew Jade didn't believe her. She shouldn't have believed her. She wasn't alright. She was all kinds of messed up. She knew that.
"Hey Cat!" Sinjin said from behind, putting their hand on her shoulder.
That move made her instinctively turn around and punch the boy in the jaw, sending him backwards on the floor. "Don't fucking touch me!" she yelled.
"Jeez Cat, I'm sorry…" he muttered.
At the commotion, Beck ran over, but was suddenly calmer when he saw that it was only Sinjin. "What happened over here?" he asked, looking at Cat.
"He grabbed me from behind," Cat said.
"What?" Beck asked, looking at Sinjin.
The boy held his hands up in defense as he stood up. "Not like that. I touched her shoulder and she went crazy on me."
"Just leave her alone Sinjin, she hasn't been feeling well. It's best to just stay away from her for a while."
As the awkward boy left, Beck looked at Cat, who he noticed had tears in her eyes but was trying to avoid eye contact.
"Hey," Beck said, moving her chin to look at him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," her voice cracked. "He scared me. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
Cat stayed silent and looked down. That was Beck's cue.
He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. "Cat, I want you to know that I'm here for you. Any time. Any day. I promise."
Cat sobbed into his chest.
"And if you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to. But, if you ever need to get it off your chest, I'll be right here to listen, alright?"
"What's going on?" Tori asked, walking up to them.
"Sinjin came up behind her and scared her. We got it handled."
"Are you okay, Cat?"
Cat nodded, but kept her face hidden in Beck's chest.
The bell rang and Tori looked at Beck.
"We should get to class," she said.
"You go. Let Sikowitz know Cat and I will be in soon and tell Jade not to worry. I got it covered," Beck said.
Tori nodded and walked off.
Beck ran his hand through Cat's red hair and sighed. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I'm sorry it happened to you. No one should go through something so bad that their own friend touching their shoulder scares the hell out of them," he said. "I meant what I said… You can tell me anything. But, I won't push it."
Cat was silent for a few seconds. "I just…" she started, pulling away and looking at him. "I don't understand how someone can be so… evil… so disgusting… to their own family," her voice cracked. "What did I do? What did I do wrong? What did I do to deserve it?"
"Nothing," Beck said. "You didn't do anything wrong to deserve anything you've been through. None of it. Okay? You didn't do anything wrong."
Cat shook her head and sat on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I had to have done something. I had to have given him a hint on accident or worn the wrong clothes or something—"
"Cat, you didn't do anything, even on accident. They shouldn't be doing the things they did to you, no matter what," he said sitting next to her.
She sniffled and shook her head. "The way I dress… The music I listen to… The way I dance… How I don't lock my bathroom door when I'm taking baths…"
Beck hated hearing that. The fact that she thought this whole ordeal was her fault broke his heart. It was like Jade said last week—she doesn't remember the bad stuff when she was younger, due to her Stockholm's. She still blocked that part out of her head. But she sure as hell knew it was wrong now, but just didn't know who else to blame but herself.
"Cat, there are millions of other girls that do those same things and their brothers and fathers don't hurt them the way yours hurt you… You need to get out of that house…" Beck said.
"Where am I supposed to go?" Cat asked, looking at him as tears fell down her cheeks. "I'm already in the system… The police were called a few days ago, I have nowhere to go, Beck."
"You do, Cat. I'm sure there's someone out there…"
Cat shook her head. "No."
Beck sighed and ran his hand through her hair. "We're gonna figure this out, Cat… I promise.
Jade bit her nails, waiting for the other line to pick up. She was nervous as all hell, but she had to do something. After talking to Beck about what he and Cat talked about earlier at school, she knew exactly what to do.
"Hello?" a woman asked from the other line.
"Nonna, hi—this is Jade," she said.
"Oh hi, Jade, how are you?"
"I'm really good… um… there's something you need to know… I know no one would have contacted you through the authorities, so I figured I'd tell you myself…"
"What's going on?"
"Cat's in state custody."
"What? Why?"
"Um… Max… He tried to… He raped Cat…" she said quietly.
"Oh my… What facility is she at?"
"Womack Juvenile Services."
"Please send me the number."
"I will. I just wanted you to know what was going on. She thinks she doesn't have anywhere to go… I had to call you. Womack doesn't do research to find family, so… I took it into my own hands."
"Thank you very much, Jade. Please tell her I love her and I'll be in contact with her as soon as I can."
"I will, Nonna."
"Bye bye."
Jade sighed and hung up just as Joanie walked into her room and climbed up on her bed. "What's up, squirt?" she asked.
"Mama said Cat's sick," Joanie said. "Does she have a cold?"
"No… She's not really sick, she's just having a bad time right now."
"How come she hasn't come over?"
"She's not allowed to leave the place she's at right now except for school."
"How come?"
"Because she's not at home, she's at a group home."
"What's that?"
Jade stayed quiet for a few seconds. "It's a house she lives in because she can't live in her house right now."
"Why not?"
"Because her brother hurt her."
"Max?"
"Yeah."
"I like Max. He's nice to me."
"It's really, really good that he's nice to you, but he's really bad to Cat."
"What did he do?"
"He did things a brother shouldn't do to his sister. You don't need to know specifics."
"Did he get in trouble?"
Jade nodded. "Yeah. He's not allowed to be near Cat anymore."
"What about their mommy and daddy?"
"Their daddy is in a lot of trouble, too. Their mommy is in the hospital."
"How come?"
"Because she tried to stop Max from hurting her and he beat her up."
"Why did he hurt their mommy? I thought Max was nice."
"He can be nice sometimes. It's not his fault that he's like that. There's something wrong with his head, he's sick and he can't help what he does."
"So does it make it okay that he does it if it's not his fault?"
Jade shook her head. "Absolutely not. It's never okay for anyone to do the things Max did, even if it's not their fault. No one should ever, ever do anything like what he did?"
"What did he do to Cat?"
"He just did some things he shouldn't have, baby. Maybe when you're older Cat will explain things, but it's not my business to tell and you're a little bit too little to know right now."
Joanie sighed and laid her head against Jade. "Okay… Can I sleep in here with you tonight?"
"Sure, squirt. Go get in your jammies. Make sure you bring your monkey and your water bottle, and find a movie to watch."
"Can we have popcorn?"
"Yeah. I'll go make it."
"You're the bestest big sister ever," Joanie said, kissing Jade's cheek and getting off the bed.
"I know, kid. I'm the only big sister you've got."
"You're still the bestest."
"Bestest isn't a word."
"I made it one," Joanie said, sticking her tongue out before walking out of the room.
