Amy POV

"Ow!" I exclaimed turning to look at the young girl next to me, while rubbing my right upper arm, where she had landed the punch "You need to stop hitting people, Callie!"

"You are an ass! You can't mess with people like that!" Callie retorted, turning her head away from me and crossing her arms on her chest

"Fine, I admit - I might have crossed the line...a little bit,"

"A little bit?" Callie turned back to me uncrossing her arms, expressing her dislike in my choice of words "What happened to – you can't threaten me with sending me back to Juvie?" I was surprised that Callie remembered my words from all the way back to early December, when she got in trouble at school for skipping class. All this time I had thought that she wasn't actually listening to anything I said to her until after Christmas. I'm so happy that I was wrong about it.

"I wasn't threatening you!" I pointed out, trying to make it sound less wrong on my part

"No, you were just avoiding my question, when I asked you that, thus, making me fear and believe that you will actually send me back to Juvie! Making me feel worthless and disposable all over again!" Callie reasoned back in slightly raised voice

Hearing how my actions made her feel, seeing the look in her eyes now - it made me start to regret the decision I had made back at the house, when I was not doing such a great job of containing my anger. I had only wanted to scare her a little bit so she would start to think about, what she had actually done and what kind of consequences her actions could have. Now I have a feeling that I really did cross the line. Guilt started to wash all over me. I never meant to make her feel worthless and disposable. She's neither of those things.

"You are right!" I admitted shamefully feeling extremely guilty about how much I had scared the girl "It was wrong of me. I had a bad day at work and I was too angry...Not at you! At my self, but I took it out on you. I lost my temper. I should have...calmed down first before I spoke to you, but the anger got the best of me. I promise you, I won't happen again. I'm sorry for making you feel that way. You are not worthless, you are not disposable- you mean everything to me. Can you forgive me?" I asked reaching for her hand

Callie pulled her away the moment my finger tips touched her palm. She turned her head to the other side, crossed her hands on her chest again and gave me the cold shoulder. I reached out to stroke her hair a little, just to tuck some hair behind her ear, so I could see her face better, but she leaned away from me. Her evading my touch, will always hurt. This was no exception. I even got a little bit teary eye because of it.

But I wasn't about to give up on her. I blinked the tears away.

I reached out and poked her side softly and playfully, trying to get her attention back on me. All I wanted was for her to look at me. If my words didn't express fully how sorry I was, maybe my eyes and features will.

"Callie," she brushed me off again, still staring out the side window, pouting at me

I pulled a little on shirt, trying to get her to look at me "Callie, baby, please forgive me!"

Callie waved her right hand in front of my hand, like trying to shoo away a fly that was bugging her. I undid my seat belt, so I could lean closer to her. I scooted to the very side of my seat and playfully once again pulled on her shirt. When she didn't react, I tickled her side a bit, trying a bit different approach.

"Stooop!" she whined out with a small smile on her lips, but once she glanced to me, she hid the smile and tried to act all serious "Stop!" She held my hand so I wouldn't tickle her again

"I'm angry with you!" She stated seriously "Can't you tell?" the question at the end made it all more precious to me

A chuckled out at the question, but quickly wiped the smile off my face and acted all serious "I can take you being angry with me. I can live with that. What I can't live with is the feeling...of losing you, Callie!" In the end, I once again got tears in my eyes.

That was a fear of mine. Loosing another child, another person I love. Callie was the person, who was with me when my life changed by 180 degrees. She stayed with me. Held my hand. I cried on her shoulder. She gave me comfort. Callie was the one that got me out of my dark phase after. she got me to live my life again, she's the reason I get up in the morning. This girl is everything to me. I won't be able to take the pain if I lose her as well, because of something I did.

Callie gazed to my eyes for a while "You won't lose me. I forgive you," she said softly and raised her hand up to my face and her thumb gently wiped away the tear that was by my eye. I placed my hand over hers and just held her palm to my cheek. My eyes were closed so I could feel the moment more strongly.

"You won't lose me!" she repeated in a loving tone "I need you as well!"

A moment later, I opened my eyes and moved her hand a little, so I could kiss it. I smiled to the girl as I let her hand go. Leaning back to my own seat, I wiped the tears that lingered in the corner of my eyes. Looking back at Callie, I saw how closely she was watching me.

Reaching over to her seat, I patted her knee lightly "Lets go reserve ourselves a camping spot,"

~o~o~o~

The tent was all set up. Our bed for tonight was made - mattress was filled up with air, covered in sheet for more pleasant sleep, sleeping bags were spread out, pillows placed on the end that was further away from the entrance in the tent. Our bags, that had our clothes in, were inside the tent, put at the far end.

Right now, we were sitting next to the campfire we made to keep warm. For supper, I had made sandwiches. We had pate, cheese and ham sandwich. One of each for both of us. I had taken a little pot with us and in it, I heated up water, so would have tea.

"Want more tea?" I asked noticing that Callie's cup was half empty. Callie nodded her head, looking down to the cup in her hand. I poured the last of the hot water to her cup. There was now once again, steam coming out from the cup. She was nursing the cup in both of her hands. Her right was holding the cup from under, but her left was holding it from side. I noticed how the girl shivered a little. Callie was still sitting in only her t-shirt, while I had a hoodie on me already.

I stood up and walked up to the car, opened the trunk and got out the blanket I had taken with us. When I got back to Callie, I draped the blanket around her shoulders and then sat down, right next to her, and wrapped my right arm around her to give her more warmth.

"Better?" I asked rubbing my hands over her arms to try and warm her up

"Mm-hmm," Callie leaned a bit more to my side. We sat like that, side by side, in comfortable silence, gazing to the fire and the sputtering logs, till the last of the log was almost burnt down. Callie had almost finished her tea by then. I got up and added two more logs to keep the fire going.

Once I sat down, I glanced to Callie "I want to talk to you. About what happened today,"

"I know," Callie said knowingly, averting her gaze down to the hot beverage

"How about you start by telling me the full story of what happened?"

Callie shrugged her shoulders a little, but never did raise her head up to look at me "I was by my locker, minding my own business, when Christian and his two friends walked up. Christian pulled my earphones out and then snatched my phone as well. I asked him to return it, but he didn't. After that, they started teasing and insulting me me about...you know, the usual stuff – about me being foster kid. They also said some stuff about my mom,"

The way Callie was telling this story sounded like she was talking about an everyday thing that occurred. I know how high schools are, how mean the kids can be, but I never thought that for Callie it was this bad. We were in such a good place in our relationship, I thought that if Callie really was being bullied, she would tell me that. Sadly, I had been wrong about that. It just made me feel like the worst fucking parent. Not knowing my own child was being bullied every day at school.

"One of his friends thought that I had stole the phone, because Mary from Biology had exactly like that, but she had lost her and I couldn't possibly get one unless I stole it. Because I'm a foster kid and have been to Juvie, of course they pin that on me. Christian grabbed my wrist and he wanted me to confess to stealing Mary's phone. I asked him to let me go, but he wouldn't. I got fed up with him and that's when I punched him," Callie explained and only after she was done with her story, she looked up to me

"I wish you would have told me that you were being bullied Callie," I said softly looking to her eyes

"Why?" Callie answered "It's not like you could have done anything about it,"

"I could have talked to the teachers or the principal about it,"

"Do you want me to get beat up?" Callie retorted in a louder tone "Because that's how kids get beat up!"

"Callie-"

"Just forget it!" Callie interrupted me "I can handle it! It's not like this is the first school in which I have been bullied!" My face dropped a little at the news that Callie has been bullied for years

"Don't look at me like that!" Callie shook her head and looked the other way, away from me. She looked back at me few seconds later, but when she saw that I was still looking at her the same way I did before, she added much to my horror "I'll be fine. Christian as a tormentor is nothing compared to Paige Altman!"

"Who is Paige Altman?" I screwed my face up a bit not recognizing the name

"The girl, who beat me in Juvie," Callie explained simply, like it was not a big deal. I still remember the hospital visit the first night she stayed with us, like it happened yesterday. The girl scared us all so much that night.

"That's not helping, Callie!" I said slowly with an unimpressed facial expression. Those news only added another thick lawyer of worry and concern to me.

"Look..." Callie leaned backwards a bit "Can we change the subject?" she glanced to me "Just...move on to giving me a lecture about hitting Christian! That's what you wanted to talk about, right?"

"We are going to return back to the subject of you being bullied later!" I let her know, because I'm sure as hell not going to let that subject go

Callie threw her head back closing her eyes and muttered quietly to herself as she expressed her dislike "Ughh...fine!"

Switching back to the lecture part about hitting Christian was harder than I had anticipated, because my mind was still on the fact that Callie was being bullied on daily basis. You can't put off stuff like that as easily as you want to.

"Okay," I sighed getting ready to speak about what had happened at school today "Can you tell me what you did wrong?"

Callie slowly turned her head to me and watched me closely "That doesn't sound like a lecture," she got out slowly, sounding slightly confused

"Name one thing, you did wrong," I repeated the questions, only rephrasing it a bit differently

"I punched Christian,"

"Good. Can you tell me why that was wrong?"

"Uhm," Callie's forehead frowned up as she thought "Because I broke his nose?"

"You are saying, if you hadn't broken his nose, it would be okay to hit him?" Instantly I questioned her right back. My questions left Callie temporary stunned. She was looking at me with big eyes.

"N-no," she stuttered back, now starting to look kind of scared

"Let me ask you this -" I shifted a little in my seat and then tapped softly on her right wrist "Was it okay for Christian to restrain you like he did?" Callie silently shook her head

"He didn't break your arm, though!" I pointed out wanting to make Callie think about it a bit more

"But he still hurt me," Callie said after a longer pause

I smiled at her, letting her know that was what I wanted to hear "That's right. He hurt you. Even though your injury wasn't as..." I tried to find the right word "extensive as his, he still hurt you!" I reached to take her hand

Before I continued I took a deep breath in and exhaled, getting ready for the serious part "Now, I know and understand why you hit him. He was restraining, hurting you and made you feel uncomfortable and threatened. You were trying to protect yourself,"

This whole situation was a bit tricky and I needed to try and get the right message across.

I know Callie for a long time now and I know, that Callie only gets aggressive, when she feels threatened and feels like there is no other way out. She got aggressive and violent with Liam, because he was coming on to her and she didn't want to be hurt, raped by him. That's why she picked up the bat. It was the only way she could think of, how she could protect herself from him. Maybe, on some level it was also a way for her to get taken away from the house. This situation at school was similar in a way. Callie felt like she was in danger. She asked him to leave her alone, he didn't, so she acted in self-defense. There is nothing wrong with protecting yourself and self-defense. And that's not why I was upset and disappointed with her.

What I was disappointed with, was the fact that it got that far. I strongly believed, that if different choices had been made, this mess could have been avoided.

I sat silently, thinking about how I can explain it to Callie "I'm not disappointed in you, because you hit him in self-defense. He was hurting you by restraining you and trying to get you to admit to something you hadn't done. You had every right to stand up for yourself and protect yourself. I'm disappointed, because...you let it get it so far,"

"What are you saying?" Callie looked perplexed "That everything that happened was my fault?" she sounded offended

"No, I'm not saying it was your fault! It wasn't your fault!" I quickly assured her and took a short pause "But...you could have walked away!" I said softly

"He had a death grip on my wrist!" Callie reasoned back

"Before that! When he started to throw insult at you, when he took your phone – you could have walked away!"

"He had my phone!"

"Callie, it's only a phone. An item, that can be easily replaced!"

Callie's mouth parted a little, but she didn't voice, what was on her mind. Instead she turned to look down to the ground. She dragged her feet a bit, shuffling the dirt beneath.

"You were in a hallway," I continued, when I realized that Callie wasn't go say what was on her mind at the moment "It was probably full of other students. Right?" I asked for conformation

Callie nodded her head back, but then looked up to me "I doubt anyone would have helped me. Everyone in the school try to avoid me, because I was in Juvie and they think I'm a freak!"

"First - you are not a freak!" I made sure I pointed it out "You have to understand, that not everyone is as bad as you make them. Give them a chance to prove otherwise," I detained a little pause and then added with a small smirk "I'm not as bad as you first thought, right?" My question, made Callie look back at me. She sucked in her lips, hiding the small smile that was on her lips and shook her head, agreeing with me that I wasn't as bad as she first thought. I pulled her a bit closer to me and gave a quick peck to her cheek.

"Some older students, who was passing by, most likely wouldn't have ignoring your plead for help seeing how three boys are picking on one girl," I continued on with my message to Callie "Or maybe quite the opposite, some younger, quieter student would have run to get help from teachers. Maybe a teacher, janitor, some parent or other adult, who had been walking down some other hallway, would have heard you would come to investigate what was happening!" Callie was slowly nodding her head, giving me the hope that she was actually taking in what I was trying to tel her

"Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" I asked to clarify that my lecture got through to her

Callie took few seconds to think about her answer "You wanted me to make react differently to Christian, that would have prevented the need for me to punch him in his stupid face?"

"Violence is not the answer. If someone is being aggressive and violent towards you, I don't want your first instinct to be - react back the same way. A lot of times violence can be avoided. In this case, I believe that you could have just walked away, go to teacher, explain what happened and solve it...without the bloodshed and without you being suspended!" I explained wanting to get the message across more clearly "Self-defense is a whole different story. If your life is truly in danger -hit, kick, bite – do whatever it takes to survive. But this situation at school, it wasn't..."

"Life threatening?" Callie finished for me

"Yeah," I nodded back "He was being an asshole and a first class douche, but...you know..." I trailed off as I got the feeling Callie understand what I meant

Not that I would voice this thought, but I was glad that Callie showed the boy to never mess with her again. A part of me knew, he deserved it. The other part, knew that violence is bad and I don't want Callie to think that violence is answer to everything. I wanted this to be the first and last time she got suspended for punching another student.

"Yeah...I get it," Callie dragged slowly as she nodded her head. She then raised her cup up to her lips finishing her drink. Once she was finished with her drink, she put the cup down on the ground by the tree stem we were sitting and tilted her head back.

"Look how many starts are in the sky!" Callie said looking up to the dark, star filled sky

I tilted my head up and watched the sky "It's beautiful," after a brief moment I spoke up again "Look, there is Orion constellation!" I pointed my left index finger up. My right hand was still resting around Callie's back, keeping her close to my side and giving her a bit of warmth.

"Where?" Callie moved her had left and right wondering where she needed to look

"Do you see those three starts together, right there? That is Orion's belt..." I leaned a bit closer to her so she would have better angel following my pointed finger as to where she needed to look. This was the perfect way to end a day. Just the two of us, sitting by a campfire under the star filled sky making another memory of the two of us, that I will never forget.