Episode 23
"Callie, wait a second-"
The bathroom door nearly takes Mariana's nose clear off and she steps back generously, fighting a huff. Granted, Callie wasn't exactly looking behind her when she stormed into the room, nor is she in the wrong to be angry. Mariana knows how it must look.
She steps forward again, fingers curling around the cold brass knob. "Callie, I swear to you that wasn't me. I would never do that, I-" she hears movement on the other side, but finally discerns it's just Callie sliding down against the shower, not planning on moving anytime soon. "I know that because of what I said earlier, it might seem like-"
"What did you do?" Brandon appears behind her and she flips around, releasing the door knob, which happens to be locked, anyway. "Why is she hiding from you?"
"She's not just hiding from me," she defends quickly, but Brandon's mouth is set straight and it doesn't seem probable to budge. "I didn't do anything, anyway, that's what I'm trying to tell her. Callie-" she turns to the door again, but Brandon grabs her hand before she can reach for the knob again, whose turning will only be aggravating to the girl behind the door.
When Mariana is facing Brandon again, he looks at her with softened features and furrowed brows, genuinely confused. "She thinks you're the one that called that guy?"
"Yes, but I'm not." she explains softly, seriously, and Brandon seems convinced, of course, seeing as this is his sister and he knows her better than Callie, and knows better than to suspect her of something so low, but he still has to ask, "Well why would she think that, then?"
The shower doors rattle from inside the bathroom, probably Callie resting her head back against them, and while Mariana takes this opportunity to pretend to be curious and stall, Brandon translates this as Callie urging Mariana to speak, so he says, "Mariana."
She turns her head quickly back to look at him, her hair whipping her in the face, and admits almost angrily, "I told her that she's screwing up everything for everyone, okay? I didn't mean for her to take it the wrong way and think that I'm not on her side anymore, but I don't take it back. I'm just looking out for everyone and-"
"What?" Mariana nearly flinches as he speaks, he looks so appalled with her, his face scrunched up in disgust. "Why would you say that? What has she done to you- to anyone- that is 'screwing everything up'?"
She shakes her head, not meeting his eyes, as her own fall to the floor. Suddenly, her feet are very interesting, what with the intense glare he's giving her, and all. "I know about you guys, okay? I just don't think it's right. I mean,"
She finds the courage to look up again, and this time, he's the one looking away, his hands resting on his hips, his scowl wiped clean off his face. This gives her the bravery to go on, "It's bound to end with more than a couple people hurt."
"It really doesn't matter what you think." he says matter-of-factly, not even sparing her a sideways glance. She scoffs, and starts to say, "You know-" but he turns back to her, looks her straight in the eye and says, "Go. You guys can work it out later. I won't be in the middle anymore."
She shakes her head again, rolls her eyes, and mumbles as she shuffles off, "You're not in the middle of the problem, you are the problem."
Ignoring her incessant need to get the last word in, he steps up to the bathroom door and knocks on it himself, praying for a reply. "Callie? It's just me, Mariana is in her room. Please come out."
Only a few moments pass before he hears her rise from the floor and amble over to the door, opening it slowly, her eyes searching for anyone hiding behind him. She knows he means well, always, but she doesn't think she can deal with Mariana right now. It's going to take enough energy just talking to him, if she even feels like that. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and Brandon is relieved to find that she hasn't been crying. "Where's everyone else?"
"My moms went to get lunch for everyone and Jude went with. Jesus and Mariana are both shut up in their rooms."
She moistens her lips and nods, staring at his chest, and admits brokenly, unrelatedly, "I don't know what to do anymore."
Without a word, she rushes into his arms, which almost instantly close in around her, while she presses into him, the back of his shirt balled in her fists. She keeps her cheek on his chest so that he can hear her when she says, "This can't happen anymore, not while I'm here." and his arms automatically tighten around the smallest part of her stomach, as if in defiance.
"I mean it," she reinforces, tiredly, though she doesn't move, only her eyelids slip shut. "I just needed to have this one last time."
"This doesn't have to be-"
"It does."
"No, Callie," he loosens his grip so he can make her look at him, and his eyes are so full of vexation as he says, "The next time I see that guy, I'm giving him a piece of mind, he can't just-"
"He's doing his job."
"He's harassing you!"
"Keep your voice down," she demands through gritted teeth, eyes shooting back in forth between Brandon and her bedroom. "We don't need Mariana anymore pissed off with us than she already is."
His expression changes suddenly. "She's not the one that called, Callie, and she may be hurt right now, but she doesn't hate you. I mean, I'm mad at her, too-"
"Doesn't matter, the damage is done." she says bitterly, unable to help her sour face. "Somebody knows and somebody wants me back in juvy and so I have to be careful now. I've been too careless. We can't talk anymore, Brandon."
He doesn't seem to like the idea. "That's ridiculous! We're foster siblings-"
"Exactly, and we'll stay foster siblings until I leave." He raises a brow while she pulls out of his arms, explaining, "I'm leaving. I've got to find a way out of this house. I don't belong here. Maybe Jude does, but not me."
"You can do that?" he asks, voice full of disbelief. "You can just leave?"
"No,"
"Then all we have to do is tell my parents that-"
"That we want to be together?" she lowers her voice, glancing back and forth between the twins room, which are still shut tight, "That'll get me sent away, not just out. I need something that shows I deserve it, as a reward, not a punishment."
She turns to walk away, but he grabs her arm, gently holding her in place. "You told my moms that you still wanted to be adopted..."
"I can't think about that right now."
He opens his mouth to suggest that maybe she tells them today, since so much has already happened, she may as well just get it over with, but suddenly Jesus' door opens and he appears out from behind it, eyes brightening when he sees Callie walking away from Brandon. "Callie, hey, I just wanted to say-"
"I know," she nods, smiling with her mouth but not her eyes, "forget about it. I have."
She clunks down the stairs and the two boys are left staring at each other, an awkward air filling the room. Jesus winces slightly. "So...she's not lying when she says she forgives me, right?"
He can't prevent the chill in his voice when he replies, "I don't think so."
"And you?"
Brandon starts forward, brushing past his brother on the way to his room, unable to fight his undying frustration with his younger siblings. "I never said I forgave you."
"Hey," Jesus seizes his shoulder, tugging him back to face him. "What's your problem? I didn't know that girl was such a psycho-"
"But you knew she was bad news."
Jesus shakes his head slowly, confusion and pain pulling at his features. "You know, I thought that you, out of all people, would understand. I get that you're frustrated Callie got hurt, which tells me you care about her, or whatever, but my girlfriend is dead." His words slice through the air like a knife, reopening wounds, making new ones, and stopping Brandon in his place. "I didn't even get to say good bye. Everyone expected this major break down from me at first, and I thought I was fine, but then one day I just realized...I wasn't. So I try to get away, try to forget that I don't get to see her again, and something completely out of my control happens, and I'm in the wrong."
At this point, Brandon keeps opening and closing his mouth, fighting to find the right thing to say, but now he feels that maybe all he's ever said is the wrong thing. Jesus continues, surprisingly unfaltering, "I know that you were just scared, but so was I. You know, at least you get to see her again. And she forgave me. Why can't you?"
Jesus waits a few moments, to see if he has anything to say to him, but all he can muster is, "I don't...I don't know." and Jesus retreats to his bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.
He wishes he could at least walk with her. Hold open the door for her, carry her books, something. That's what a normal couple does. And he knows they're not a couple, but they could be, if the odds were in their favor, but they're not. So they can't. And he gets to watch while other couples take these little things for granted, every day. He gets to watch while Callie rushes into school, her paranoia and fear of the enemies she can't see keeping her away from the people she wishes she could. So he slams the car door, slinging his backpack over his shoulder with such venom that the rest of his siblings notice.
Jesus doesn't say a word, just heads off on his own, not quite sure where they stand after yesterday. Mariana would rather keep her distance from everyone, especially Brandon, as most people end up disappointing her in the end, anyway, and Jude knows he'd be last in line to talk to Brandon, so he walks off with Mariana, leaving Brandon to the wolves.
One wolf, in particular, sets her sights on Brandon, and intersects his path into school, her red hair tied up in a bun, looking in better shape than the last time she dropped in on him. It only takes him a few seconds to process who's standing in his way and he's trying to get around her. "Wait, Brandon-"
"What?" he bites, not in the mood for any of her antics, not today. "What do you want?"
She glowers, looking more angry than hurt. "What, so we can't even be friends now?"
He starts ahead again and she has to walk twice her usual speed just to keep up, awaiting his answer eagerly. He rolls his eyes, taking a cue from his little sister. "You'd only come bother me if you had something to say."
Her lips purse before they part again. "Fine, but I don't have something to say, just something to ask."
He doesn't even spare her glance, just a scoff. "Why should I give you any more of my time? We both know you've already wasted so much of it."
"I just want to know how Callie is," she ignores him, her tone taking a total u-turn, earning a skeptical glance from the speed walking boy beside her, weaving in and out of the hallways so rapidly almost as if to leave her in the dust, "Like, how she's doing, if she's still with you guys..."
"Why do you care?" He stops abruptly in front of his locker, spinning the dial faster than her flapping mouth, and as he pulls it open it finally hits him. He stops himself from slamming it, and making a scene, but he can't help stepping forward in her face as he says, "You're the one that called Callie's probation officer, aren't you?"
She steps back, feigning surprise. "What? I'm not even capable of something like that-"
"Cut the crap, Talya! You've always hated Callie, and now you're trying to ruin her life, God knows why-"
"She ruined my life!" she explodes, giving up the act that never seems to work on Brandon. "She stole my boyfriend! You!"
"She didn't steal me, you pushed me away." He closes his locker and takes off down the hallway, but Talya is hot on his heels, blabbering the whole way. "I never did anything to her or you, you just broke up with me over the stupidest thing, so the day I got you back I knew I had to do something or risk losing you again!"
He won't give the desperate girl what she wants to hear. "Does it matter anymore? We're never getting back together, and even if your stupid, childish plan worked, I wouldn't get back together with you. In fact, calling her probation officer made me realize how much I really do care about her."
With a high-pitched huff she steps in front of him, stopping him in the middle of the hallway. "Dating your foster sibling is against the rules, Brandon. You're not a rule breaker. I'm just looking out for you!"
"No, Talya," he insists, looking the devil straight in the eyes, "You're just looking out for you."
She doesn't dare follow him again.
"Hey babe,"
"Hey, what's going on?"
Lena sighs into the phone, stabbing absently at the salad in front of her. "Oh, just on my lunch break, just thought I'd call and see what you were up to."
"Same thing as you, just on my lunch break."
"Oh, okay," she says softly, not seeming very present in the conversation, "well, how's the day going?"
"I don't know," Stef says, almost incriminating, "why don't you tell me? What are you thinking about?"
Lena sets her fork down, her face scrunching up as she thinks about what she knows they must talk about right now. She's gone over the ways about the problem (if there be a problem) in her head at least a thousand times and can't seem to deem any of them better than the rest, but they've been putting this off too long and she can't let them become those parents that let anything fly. "It's Callie and Brandon, what if there's something we don't know?"
Stef laughs lightly on the other line. "Lena, hun, we'd know it if there was, one way or another."
"No, I'm serious," she persists, smiling promptly at a coworker as she walks by, then lowering her voice, "We were told about it once and we said we'd figure it out but we've put it off long enough, and given them a lot of time to, you know..."
"And when exactly would they have had time for this? With all that's been going on-"
"Listen, all I'm saying is Brandon was more than concerned when Callie was in the hospital and I just think that we need to sit them down and straighten things out, if there are things to straighten out. It's in everybody's best interest."
Stef sounds absolutely exhausted but she reluctantly agrees, "Alright, but we can't jump on her. Her probation officer literally showed up yesterday just to threaten her. She has to know-
"I know, of course not." Lena sounds offended she would even assume that of her, but she goes on, changing the topic. "What time will you be home?"
"Oh, around dinner, as usual." There's another voice in the background, a women's voice, but an unfamiliar one. Stef mumbles something before saying, "I've got to go, I'll see you later, hun."
"Okay," Lena replies hesitantly, "Be careful, I love you."
"You know it, love you."
Then the line is cut, along with Lena's relief.
Around and around and around her eyes go, thinking this is pretty much her life now, growing dizzy from spinning in circles, never going forward, never able to regain balance. She scans the front of the school multiple times before deciding that she's alone.
Not that it's ever been any different.
But then he emerges from the hallway, trudging through the grass to meet her under the tree, making her feel that way he always does, that stupid, girlish way, that stupid root-of-all-her problems way. She bites her lip, not in giddy anxiousness but real fear, and looks around once more. "We shouldn't-"
"I'm walking home with you, nobody can kick you out for that."
"That's not the best idea," she declines, stopping herself from tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, a move that is a clear give away to whoever may be watching, "If Mariana can see it, then it's as plain as day to everyone."
"Callie-" he begans to object, but her eyes are drawn to a car pulled up to the curb, and the man inside leans over the passengers seat to show his face. Brandon swears he can visibly see her pale.
"Hello, Callie," her probation officer greets with a grin, then nods at Brandon. "Brandon, how are you two doing? Heading home?"
Callie bites her tongue a little too hard, knowing she's not the best when it comes to saying things that don't make her look guilty, so Brandon speaks for the both of them, containing his growl as he confirms, "Yep, we were both just leaving."
But Callie doesn't even look up at him, just starts down the pathway, away from the mess of a scene that has just unfolded in front of her. Brandon fights back the urge to catch up to her and insist she walks with him, but she would only hate him for that, and possibly screw up any progress they just made right now. So he crosses in front of the man's car, glaring the whole way, and reaches the other side of the street, where he sits and pretends to wait for the bus until the asshole leaves.
Jude catches the whole thing, even his sister wiping at her eyes as she rounds the corner, out of sight.
"Brandon?"
Brandon looks up from his text book, previously and completely unaware of the presence in the door way. Jude seemed to have been standing there a while, with the way he looks anxious to be invited in, though he ends up walking in on his own volition anyway. Brandon, fearful of what the young boy is here for, sits up straighter against his headboard, as if to put distance in between the two of them. "It's Callie," Jude says quietly as he sits on the edge of his bed, and Brandon jumps to his feet, wrapping around to the other side of the bed.
"What? What happened? Is she-"
"No, she's fine, she's here," he's quick to explain, and Brandon sighs loudly as he plops next to him on his bed again, this time closer to Jude, after deeming him a little too melancholy to be wanting to pick a fight. Brandon looks at him, waiting for him to say more, but he only stares at his hands, which are folded in his lap, though not idle.
"So," Brandon begins instead, rubbing the back of his neck, "what is it, then?"
He twiddles his thumbs a bit more before deciding to admit, "I saw what happened today, after school."
Brandon's heart thuds. "Jude, look, I didn't mean to make Callie look-"
"You didn't do anything," Jude blurts so unexpectedly, even Brandon is taken aback. "Callie's sad. And it's my fault. I keep telling her she's being selfish, or she's making the wrong choices, but I think I'm wrong. She was crying today, because she had to walk alone. Because of me."
"What?" Brandon shakes his head, completely flabbergasted. "You're not the reason she had to walk alone, her probation officer-"
"I'm part of the reason," he interrupts again, clearly not easy to persuade. "I've been telling her what to do and she's been listening, even though it makes her upset. And I don't like the idea of her...and you...but if it means that my sister can be happy again- really happy, not just the fake kind she's been- then I want to help her." He looks the older boy in the eyes, all previous distaste and aversion missing in his own. "I want to help her get out of the house."
Brandon can't believe what he's hearing.
A/N: Can YOU? It's about time Jude wised up, ya think? I was just thinking, I've really been drawing out the whole Jude-hates-Brandon story line for quite some time now and I must apologize for that, I realize it can get boring. But fear not! Part 2 brings new story lines! I'll let you in on a little secret: somebody from Callie's past will appear in the next chapter! And when I say this, I mean a not-so-new character, but all new drama! Leave your guesses in a review! And speaking of reviews, where are all my reviewers at? Thanks to those that DID review (you're awesome, as always) and those that favorited and/or followed, but it'd be super cool if you guys all wouldn't ghost me. It makes me feel that only five people are reading this story! Plus I like an interactive following, so how can I write what you want to read if you won't let me know? We've gotta work together, friends! Please make my day and review! Thank you and see you all next Monday!