Later that night at Cat's house
"before we go in you should know my mom can be quite nosy, she might ask about you and if you're dating me, I asked her to not be nosy with the people I date on the first day but she works for the mayor, she hears things about me all the time, I can't keep many secrets from her" says Cat as they approach the front door
"may I ask why your brother's in jail, when I met him he didn't see like a threat" asks Jade
"he isn't a threat, not unless you offend him, Tori offended him so he attacked her, nearly bent Tori's right knee backwards, her dad pressed charges, Tori had a metal leg support thing on her right leg until last month" says Cat
"so it's recent, you weren't dating Tori were you" asks Jade supporting Cat as she stumbles a bit
"not at the time he attacked her no, the thing is I tend to go fast, in almost every area of my life, especially relationships, it tends to sour things with people, either I go too fast or not fast enough, I was too fast with Tor, she was still grappling with the fact that she might either be gay or bisexual, she couldn't figure it out, she didn't want to commit to someone sexually before she was ready, I understood and we broke up, my brother took it as an insult, as in I wasn't good enough for Tori, he took offense because Tori had made a promise to always protect me, my brother thought she broke the promise, which is why he attacked her, with good behaviour he will be out in three years" says Cat
"what does your sister think" asks Jade
"I don't talk about her" says Cat
"why, did she do something wrong to you" asks Jade
"yes, my brother is autistic, it's bad, he doesn't fully understand the consequences of his actions or thoughts, I was sick when I was little, he took it upon himself to protect me, my sister is young and doesn't understand, she misunderstood his actions and used mom and dad to try and turn me against him, saying that his intention was to 'make me' his girlfriend, the thing is his interest is in older women, I made him tell me the truth, I told him if he lied to me I'd break his arms, he got the message, he knows better than to lie to me, him attacking Tori proves that, if he were really interested in making me his girlfriend wouldn't he have been happy that Tori and I broke up" says Cat
"I guess you have a point but I intend to talk to them about it" says Jade
"take your shot but they won't believe you" says Cat as they enter the house
"hey Jade, I heard about the accident, we need to talk" says Brenda Valentine
"I'll take Cat to her room then yes WE WILL talk and you WILL listen to what I have to say Brenda, both you and Sofía will listen" says Jade almost scolding them
"you never will change will you" says Brenda
"I have paid for Cat's lunches since the day I met her, I've defended her against the creeps at our school who say sexual things about her behind her back, I've always cared about Cat so no, no I will not change Brenda, you don't care about her mental health and that IS absolutely about to change or I will sue you personally" says Jade as she takes Cat upstairs to her bedroom
"what do you think she wants to talk about mom, Cats not suicidal again is she" asks Sofía
"the last suicidal incident was because you turned on your brother because he's different than you or me, if it wasn't for him Cat would have died from an infection when she was four" says Brenda as Jade returns
"oh good you figured out what I'm talking about, so here's the thing, Cat says she made him tell the truth, that she'd break his arms if he lied to her, she says Brian told her that he's into older women, which makes sense because if he was into younger girls why stop at Cat, Cat believes him because Brian hasn't paid much attention to Sofía, which wouldn't be the case if he was on the edge of being a pedophile" says Jade
"you have a point there Jade, I had misread the situation at the time, Brian's attack on Tori provides evidence that Cat was indeed correct about Brian not being a creep, Cat's never really been open about what happens when her and Brian are alone so when Sofía said he wanted to essentially brainwash Cat into being his girlfriend I had no prior evidence to push back, they kept secrets from us, as far as I knew at the time Sofía's accusation could have very well been true" says Brenda
"Cat thinks you, Sofía and your husband are against her, she simply doesn't like living here, that's why she had a revolving door of boyfriends or girlfriends, Tori was the best girlfriend of her life to this point" says Jade
"why did they break up then, I thought Tori was the one for Cat" asks Sofía
"Cat wanted more and fast, she wasn't content with just kissing Tori or sleeping in the same bed, she wanted a sexual relationship, Tori wasn't ready, she only last week came out of the closet as bisexual, staying with Cat would have accelerated Tori coming out of the closet, well before Tori was comfortable doing so, contrary to Brian's understanding, Tori never broke the promise, she still protects Cat to this day, they just aren't together, Tori's dad forbade Tori from ever considering a relationship with Cat again because of what Brian did to Tori, he's a cop to the core, he doesn't want Tori taking the risk of getting hurt by Cat's family again, she still walks with a slight limp, I never understood why until today on the car ride home Cat explained parts of it" says Jade
"Cat clearly trusts you, are you dating her now" states Brenda
"we have a date on Saturday, Cat won't commit to a relationship until she sees how the date goes" says Jade
"may I ask why you were always rude to her, you rarely ever complimented her, she was always contemplating why you considered her a friend" asks Brenda
"I've had feelings for Cat since I first met her, unfortunately my dad is of the opinion that being lesbian, trans or bisexual is amoral, it's the environment I was raised in, I was rude because I was trying to keep myself calm, she didn't seem the type to like girls so I had made an attempt to make myself as unlikable as possible so I could go home and say I don't like girls and say it with a straight face because I never intended to invite Cat to my house because if I did I wouldn't be able to control myself, I had a voice in the back of my head constantly telling me to kiss Cat, it isn't exactly an easy thing to deal with" says Jade
"now that you're in reach of being her girlfriend, what's your plan" asks Sofía
"if it were up to me I'd go as fast as she wants, however as of right now I'm in your guys house so you have a say, I'd hate for Sofía to hear something she shouldn't" says Jade
"you mean sex sounds, Cat already does that, she plays adult videos when she thinks I'm asleep, that's why I thought our brother was brainwashing her, now she doesn't trust me, even though I need her guidance now more than ever, I'm fourteen and there's this girl I like at my school, people make fun of her because she still likes hello kitty but she's an amazing person and my only friend but I'm afraid I'll lose her if I confess about how I feel about her" says Sofía
"don't go down that road, that's the road I went down with Cat, I was too afraid of hurting her feelings or losing her as a friend that I made jokes about her that I shouldn't have, I got too lost in the thought that telling her about how I felt would end our friendship, do you have school tomorrow" says Jade
"yes I have school tomorrow, why" asks Sofía
"invite her over for a study group thing" suggests Jade
"you don't understand, this girl is like mega smart, she's in AP classes for everything but science, where she struggles but I'm no good at science either, I struggle in every single class I'm in, the best grade I have is a C minus, I'm not going to completely embarrass myself in front of her hoping she likes me back and will ignore my stupidity, I can't take that risk….. sorry I need to isolate myself, I'm getting the sad feeling again" says Sofía as she runs off to her room
"I'm sorry what does she mean by sad feeling" asks Jade
"Sofía and Cat are Bipolar, though the severity swings, some days Sofía is worse and others Cat's worse, the problem is that if Cat has a bad day and feels depressed, Sofía's mood often follows quickly to match, when Sofía said she needed to isolate herself she means surrounding herself with her stuffed animals on her bed, it seems to isolate her from Cat's mood swings somehow, by chance is Cat moody today" says Brenda
"her nerves are damaged thanks to the accident, the meds she's on to stimulate nerve regeneration, the main side effect is muscle weakness, its not a sure fire side effect but she is showing signs of muscle weakness, she couldn't pull herself onto her bed, I had to pick her up, it's accompanied my fatigue, Cat's sleeping, if Sofia is affected by Cat's mood swings then it's possible the lack of energy is throwing Sofía off" says Jade
"are you saying Cat and Sofía have gifts, like being psychic or something" asks Brenda
"no, I'm not saying that, that's not what I'm saying at all, what's the age gap between them" says Jade
"almost two years to the day between Cat and Sofía and ten years between Cat and Brian, I was having fertility issues between Brian and Cat's birth, I had several miscarriages, before Cat was conceived I'd almost given up and once Cat was growing inside my womb I had serious doubts that I'd ever see her face, does this mean anything" says Brenda
"sort of, I have two cousins that have similar issues, if one dives into depression the other was never far behind, they are a year and a half apart, the younger sister misunderstood something the older sister said and called the cops on their father, causing a rift not too dissimilar to what Sofía is experiencing with Cat" says Jade
"Can it be repaired, also may I ask what that younger sister misunderstood" says Brenda
"the rift can be repaired yes, the younger sister overheard her older sister talking about wedding dresses with their father, the thing is the older sister has a thing about wedding dresses and big events like graduations, funerals or actual weddings, she refuses to wear regular dresses to events like that, they picked out a very nice dress, the younger sister thought her sister was taking over as their dads wife and freaked out, granted they're both autistic but still, the younger sister has issues grasping situational speech, for example if she hears someone talking about wedding dresses she assumes someone is getting married even if the words 'wedding dress' and 'graduation' are used in the same sentence" says Jade
"how do we fix the rift between Sofía and Cat, Cat has always given great advice to Sofía even if most of the time Cat seems a little off its because she wants people to stay away, not because she wants to look a little nuts" says Brenda
"Sofía's fear is a big problem, Cat can feel it, before I left Cat in her room she said 'Sofía is terrified, of me or Brian or someone else, I don't know, I just know she's terrified', if it can't be a study group, how about a sleepover, is science really the only class they have together" says Jade
"yes, the girls name is Naomi, she was switched out of AP Science even though she was doing really well in it to regular science class, her struggling in regular science class when she was doing perfectly fine in AP science seems odd to me" says Brenda as a light goes off in Jade's head
"this Naomi is doing it on purpose Brenda, if she was doing fine in AP science but switched to regular science it would have been to be with Sofía, it's irrational to switch out of a class you're doing well in unless you're doing it to spend time WITH someone who isn't in your class, I have a feeling she's faking not doing well in science to spend time with Sofía" says Jade
"but doing bad in a non AP class could mean she gets switched out of her other AP classes" says Brenda
"clearly Naomi knows that, I was in AP classes for the first two months, then Cat got accepted to Hollywood Arts and I couldn't focus so I was slowly switched out of my AP classes by Lane, Hollywood arts hasn't had AP courses since, Naomi could be in a similar situation to the one I was in, call Naomi's mom, set a sleepover for Friday through Sunday" says Jade
"Naomi may not be the sleepover type, though I will at least try" says Brenda
"if she switched out of AP science for the reason I think then she will eagerly agree to a sleepover" says Jade
"ok go back to Cat, I'll make the call, though I'm not as hopeful as you are Jade" says Brenda as Jade heads upstairs
"make sure you make It clear you're Sofía's mom" says Jade as she disappears past the landing and Brenda picks up the phone and dials Naomi's mom
"hello, who is this" asks Rebecca Tornicha
"hi Rebecca, it's Sofía's mom, how would Naomi like to have a sleepover weekend with Sofía" says Brenda
"she'd absolutely love that, Sofía wasn't at school today, Naomi thought someone hurt her or killed her, she's been panicking since lunch, her blood pressure was through the roof, the ER doctor didn't understand how Naomi was still alive, it was that bad" says Rebecca
"Cat had a play today, after making the mistake about Brian she wanted to make things right with Cat, she wanted to look perfect for Cat's play so she wanted the day away from school, tomorrow's Friday, I can arrange to have Naomi come here with Sofía, I have to know something, does Naomi have feelings for Sofía, because Sofía has feelings for Naomi" says Brenda
"that's one way to put it" says Rebecca
"what do you mean by that" asks Brenda
"you and I may understand what a major crush feels like but Naomi, her feelings scare her, she draws people at home, almost always Sofía, one day in a skirt and top with no shoes, the next day Sofía is in a long dress and high heels, she can't focus, she has trouble sleeping and if Sofía isn't where she promises to be Naomi freaks out, like a full on panic attack kind of freak out, complete with paranoia, she hides in the guidance counsellor's office until the guidance councillor has enough of her sobbing and calls me to pick her up, I give her the pictures of Sofía from picture day and she stares at them until she falls asleep, as smart as Naomi is she doesn't understand that love can be between two non family members like her and Sofía, my husband isn't doing so well, he's a war veteran and he's been having a bad week because he lost his military pension, he is better at explaining things to Naomi than I can but because he's in a bad place he's in no position to explain to her these things, does that make sense" says Rebecca
"Sofía's in a similar situation, Sofía understands what liking someone means but the thought of expressing those feelings terrifies her, she's afraid of losing Naomi as her only friend if she were to bring it up so instead of taking a chance Sofía bottles up her feelings and keeps them as far away from her mouth as possible, figuratively speaking of course, is there a way to have Sofía express her feelings without saying anything" says Brenda
"movies and pyjama snuggles, when Naomi wants to feel loved she puts on a movie and snuggles either her brother, me or my husband, like I said she doesn't understand that love can be between her and a non family member, I know that the moment she realizes that Sofía likes her that she will realize that it is possible to love someone that isn't family, Naomi has been struggling with a lot lately and my husband and I are in agreement that she needs someone in her life that isn't family that loves her so if things go well I'd like to ask that Naomi live there with Sofía" says Rebecca
"that's a pretty big ask, are you sure that's what you want" says Brenda
"no it's not what I want but what I believe she needs, my oldest, her big brother, he has a girlfriend that he's been wanting to move in with for a few years, he keeps putting it off because Naomi would be here alone most of the time if he leaves, my husband and I work a lot and aren't always home for dinner, her staying there wouldn't be an additional cost for you, we'd gladly pay for anything she wants or needs, money isn't a problem, the problem as I hope was obvious is we can't always be there for her, she needs a lot of attention, her brother has given up a lot for Naomi to feel safe in our house" says Rebecca
"ok, I'll make the arrangements with the school to let someone pick Naomi and Sofía up, is there anything we need to know about Naomi, like allergies or food preferences" says Brenda
"I assure you Sofía knows more than I do, the only thing I know for sure is she has issues with latex and certain rubber products, and maybe grass pollen" says Rebecca
"ok, good night becca" says Brenda
"goodnight Brenda" says Rebecca as she hangs up