Callie's POV
For the past few days people have been bullying Talya for telling the principal about . They wanted her to admit that she lied and made it up. At some point the Foster siblings had found out however only Brandon had been trying to stop the bullying, he believed her and was supporting her through this as much as I was. I hoped that Jude didn't know, I was sure if he knew he wouldn't leave my side. Stef and Lena hadn't found out about it. Mostly because Mariana and Jesus avoided the topic of Talya all together and Brandon didn't want to be the ones to tell them. He would let Talya tell them if she ever wanted to.
I was in the kitchen working on homework, when Brandon came in. "I need your help." He said. "Ok, with what?" I asked.
"I've been trying my best but I don't know how to help Talya." He said. "You have been helping her, you've been doing the right thing." I told him, but there was some sort of doubt in his eyes.
"I know but it feels like she's purposely doing it. I know Talya and it does sound like something she would do." He said. "You think she willingly got sexually assaulted?" I asked with anger. "No, I mean make it up." He was getting defensive and so was I.
"Why are you dating her if you think so little of her?" I said before walking upstairs. I didn't want to fight with him, and I couldn't run. Not now, not while Talya needed my help.
The next day during lunch Talya and I took a walk down the beach, and once we were far enough away Talya told, "A few girls have come to me in private and told me that he has done the same thing to them. They told me that they didn't want to say anything. Honestly I don't blame them, look at how they're treating me. Sometimes I regret ever telling the principal but another part is relieved I did. I'm grateful you were there to support me." I smiled.
"I'll be honest, I didn't like you when we first met or even the next few times we bumped into each other. I thought you were trying to steal Brandon." She explained.
"Ew no, I don't know what you see in him. All he tries to do is play hero but backs away when it gets hard." I told her. "Isn't that what you're doing?" She looked at me and felt guilty. "Sorry, I didn't mean it."
Except she did, and in a way she wasn't wrong. I couldn't actually save Mindy or Xavier, sure I did take a few beatings for them but it wasn't enough. In the end, I watched Xavier get killed and did nothing about it because it was too hard.
We returned to class but the rest of the day I couldn't stop thinking about what Talya had said.
A few hours later before I went to work I called Devin.
"Hey Dev, do you know where I could get a custom made T-shirt and how much it cost?" I asked.
"Is it something I could help with?" He asked prepared to jump into action.
"As of now no, it's something I'm planning at my school." I let him know.
"Ok, I'll send you the places and prices." He told me before hanging up.
During my lunch break I quickly left to get the shirt I ordered, it was nothing crazy. It was a white shirt with the words 'I believe her, he is a rapist' in black letters. The woman who gave it to me gave me a weird look. I just ignored it, and thanked her before heading back to work.
The next day at school, I was checking up on Talya by her locker when I heard a group of guys passing by and laughing at her. That's when I decided enough was enough. I knew I could take the bullying but not everyone could.
I unzipped my jacket and took it off. The shirt that I had custom made yesterday was underneath it. I proceeded to sit in the middle of the hallway. Now everyone knew that she had someone on her side.
After a few minutes teachers had asked me to move or go to class, but I didn't. I sat in the exact same position looking straight ahead. A few kids began to make fun of me for supporting her. During lunch, someone threw their food at me.
I saw Mariana and a few of her friends walking past me. "Isn't that your sister?" One of her friends asked. "No way, I don't even talk to her." Mariana said. Ouch. That stung, whatever.
Later at dinner, I wasn't hungry, but I forced myself to eat at least half of the food I had served myself. It was small but I didn't want Lena to think I didn't like her cooking.
I didn't bother doing my homework, I knew I wouldn't be in class for a while. I went to sleep instead.
I woke up tired and drained. I looked around to see this wasn't my room…well it was but it was it back at the Olmsted's house. No. No. This can't be real. I looked down to see I wasn't wearing anything. No this had to be a nightmare. I was just in my room, at the Fosters. That could've been a dream, right?
My eyes shot open, I sat up and looked around. I was back with the Fosters in my bed, where I was safe. After that nightmare, I can't sleep anymore. I stayed awake thinking…which in my case was dangerous.
Apparently today was the day Lena and Stef were going back to work. Stef had made a full recovery. Lena dropped us off at school and went into her office. I sat in the same spot with the same shirt, that again was under my jacket.
The principal came up to me and told me. "Ok, Callie, I let you have your tantrum yesterday. You need to go to class now or else I'll have to call the police on you, to remove you from the premises." I didn't respond, in fact I didn't acknowledge her. This got her more riled up and left.
After a few class periods, during class, I saw Lena walking down the hallway. When she saw me, she made a puzzled look and walked toward me. "Callie what are you…" She stopped once she was able to read the shirt. She stopped and it looked as if her heart was slowly breaking, I never once moved my eyes from looking straight ahead.
I heard someone walking up behind her, "Don't worry, I already called the police to have her removed." It was the principal, Lena watched as Principal Sanchez walked up next to her.
"What? Why?" Lena asked with concern. "She's disrupting the learning environment." She reasoned herself.
"It's the middle of class, and she's in the hallway." Lena argued.
"I bet Talya put you up to this." Sachez said accusingly. "What does Talya have to do with this?" Lena asked, unaware of what was happening. .
"Talya made up a lie. She accused of sexually assaulting her."Sanchez explained. Lena had a shocked expression but before she could answer two officers arrived.
"What's going on, here?" That was Stef's voice. I saw her walking into my line of sight along with Mike.
"Oh good, do your job and remove her from the premises." Sanchez told Stef and Mike.
"What has she done?" Mike asked. "She's been sitting here since yesterday apparently." Lena explained.
Stef crouched down and asked me. "Can you tell me why, Cal?" Everyone waited for me to answer, but I didn't. I remained still, Lena decided to explain. "Talya reported to Principal Sanchez for sexual assault." "I assume you reported it to the authorities, correct?" Stef asked Sanchez. "Of course not that girl would make something like this up." She tried defending herself.
Oh this is going to be fun. Stef knew she was bullshitting, and things were about to get interesting.
"Did she tell you she was lying?" Stef was bringing on the pressure.
"Well no…" "So you assumed she was lying and didn't report it?" Stef asked, reminding the woman of how bad this was.
The principal didn't respond.
Stef stood with her hands on her hips, the classic cop intimidation position. Then she proceeded to explain what the principal was going to have to do.
All while Lena and Mike watched, usually Lena or Mike would attempt to reason with her but they didn't interrupt. I remained perfectly still, not moving, just listening and watching from my peripheral vision.
"Here's what's going to happen. You and Mike here are going to go to your office and you're going to fill out a report. Then he's going to get your statement understood?" Stef ordered her. "Yes ma'am." Sanchez said before Mike and her walked away.
"Hey Cal, it's over now ok? You can get up." Lena told me.
"It's not over yet." I whispered loud enough so they could hear.
"Stubborn this one." Stef commented. "Reminds me of someone." Lena said, looking at Stef. "Me, stubborn? Never." Stef said jokingly.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to help." Stef said. They said their goodbyes but I didn't respond.
During lunch, I saw Stef and Lena walking down the hallway. Why is Stef still here?
"Hey loser, take this." I heard, before I closed my eyes and waited for impact. As I expected, their lunch hit me. Ouch.
"HECTOR! You just earned yourself a suspension. Apologize and clean it up." Lena yelled and said in her vice principal voice as they walked up. Ok now I see the meana Lena thing kids talk about.
"I didn't do anything wrong, she aggravated me " He lied.
"You realized that you just assaulted someone in front of an officer, I am in full attorney to arrest you for it." Stef warned him.
"Whatever, I'm not cleaning it." He said before walking away.
"Should I arrest him?" Stef asked. "No, hopefully he understood." Lena told her, and Stef left.
"Callie, go wash off in the restroom." Lena said, but I didn't even acknowledge all the food on me. I only had one goal. "I know you're protesting but you can return once you wash up, and maybe move away from the mess he made." She tried convincing me.
Stef returned with paper towels and began cleaning. "She is not moving, she's stubborn." Lena told Stef. "Too stubborn." Stef added as she cleaned the floor.
"Were they messing with Callie again?" I heard a familiar voice. He was walking up from behind me and walked into my line of sight. "Hey bud, your sister's going to be fine." Lena tried to assure him.
However he read the shirt and knew that this affected me deeply.
"No, she won't. Not about this." He said in a hushed tone. He proceeded to help Stef with Lena joining in. I could tell both Stef and Lena wanted to say something but didn't.
Stef ended up cleaning my face. "Don't move ok?" She was joking and I let a small smirk slip, but quickly regained my composure.
She cleaned my face and tried to clean my hair. I didn't know what he threw at me but it was now a mixture of liquid and solid food. Stef was able to get most of it out but she told me I would need to wash to rest out.
After they finished cleaning and threw away the trash, Jude sat down to my left facing the same way as me. I finally turned to look at him, before I could tell him anything he spoke first.
"You've protected me a lot, Callie. Let me help you with this. I know you need it. And I know the consequences of sitting here, but for once let me help you." He said.
I wanted to tell him no but he knew this wasn't just about Talya. He wanted to help me through this. I decided to let him, and not say anything, I returned to looking forward.
Lena made an attempt to get Jude back to class but he told her that he wouldn't move useless I did. Stef and Lena left us alone and returned the way they came from.
Jude and I stayed for a few more class periods before Jude left to use the restroom.
Jesus then approached me and said. "What Mariana did was shitting." Then he sat down to my right. "Do you have any more of those shirts? I want to wear one." He said, I finally turned and looked at him.
The look in his eyes told me he was serious.
I shook my head 'no'. "I didn't think anyone would want one." I told him.
"Isn't that the point of you protesting?" He asked.
"No, I just wanted people to stop bullying Talya for something she had no control over." I explained. He nodded understandingly. "Well if you make more shirts leave one for me." He said and I nodded and returned back to my position.
Not too long later Jude returned and sat down in his spot. He noticed Jesus and waved at him, and Jesus waved back.
None of us said a word the rest of the day, and once we returned home, I went straight to my room and sat on my bed. I quickly made an order of shirts. Jude came in and joined me, then Jesus did too.
"This isn't just about her." I finally admitted. Jude knew exactly what I meant but Jesus looked puzzled. Jude grabbed my hand, he knew what I was about to admit and how this was for me. Jude was the only other person I had ever told.
"When I was twelve someone…someone I trusted…he forced themselves onto me." I finally said it.
I saw a mixture of sadness and anger in his eyes, "Did you report him?" He asked. "No, it happened in one of the foster homes. No one but Jude and now you know." I told him.
"I've got your back, whatever you need I'm here." Jesus said. "We both are." Jude jumped in. I smiled at both of them.
They left then I got ready for work. On my way out Stef called out from the kitchen, "Cal can we talk to you for a sec?" I thought about it, I wanted to leave but decided against it.
I went into the kitchen and they were both sitting. "Can you sit please." Stef asked and I did. "We've been discussing things and we don't think you should continue protesting. Not because we don't think what he did was wrong, because what he did was really horrible but because we are worried for your safety. On top of that remember if you miss too many classes you'll have to repeat the entire school year." Lena explained.
Part of me felt this would happen, that's why I didn't want to tell them. I knew they would try and shut me down. I won't let them. I stood up from my seat and turned away. "Cal." Stef warned me. I began walking to the door without a word, "CALLIE! DO NOT WALK AWAY." I heard Stef yell before I walked out the door and to work.
I know I should've done it but I was angry. Angry at them, angry at myself, angry at the world. I didn't want to say something I'd regret. During my lunch break I asked Devin to take me to go get the shirts.
We arrived at the place and went in. "Hi, I'm Callie. I'm here to pick my shirts." I told the woman at the front desk. "Ok, I'll be right back." She left and returned less than a minute later.
"Thank you for making these on such short notice. How much do I owe you?" I asked. "Don't worry, they're on the house, just one question." "Um..sure." I awkwardly said. "If you're ok with answering, what happened?" She was curious because she saw the shirts, from the first time and this time.
"There's this girl, a friend of mine. She told me that the new teacher, , sexually assaulted her. She told the principal but she didn't believe her. My foster mom is the vice principal but she was on leave because her partner, my other foster mom, who's a cop, was shot. They were focused on her recovery, and I didn't want to bother them so I didn't tell them. But they both returned today and managed to get the principal to report it." I explained.
"That's a lot to process, and it seemed like you needed to get it off your chest." She was correct. I did feel a slight relief. "Yeah, I guess so. Are you sure about the shirts…" "Absolutely, consider it a gift." She interrupted, and I guess she saw the guilt on my face because she offered an exchange. "Or maybe you repay me in the future." I nodded, "Yeah, ok." I agreed. Before I left she asked one last question. "What school did you say this was in?" "Anchor Beach." I responded without thinking and left.
Then I decided to ask to leave work half an hour earlier.
"I won't be at my house Callie, I'm going to a party." Devin told me as I got into his car to leave. "I'll just stay at your house until you get home. Hopefully you won't be too drunk to start another fight again." He chuckled and said, "You're never letting that go are you?" "Nope." I told him as he drove us to his house.
When we entered Andrew was in the kitchen drinking and smoking. Devin went to go change to go to the party and I went into the kitchen. "Yo! Never thought you'd step foot in this hell hole again." Andrew said. "Never did I." "Then why are you here?" He asked, then took a sip of his beer.
"Trying to forget about…life." I told him. He passed me an unopened beer. "Don't drink, remember." I reminded him. "If you want to forget fast, you'll need it." He told me. "I can't." "Listen, if you want to feel the full pain of whatever is happening to you right now then go back, but if you want to forget." He places the beer in front of me. "Then forget." He finished.
Normally, I'd reject any alcohol but I don't want to keep reliving Liam in my nightmares or in my reality. I did want to forget about him, even if it's just for one night.
I picked up the beer and opened it. I started drinking it. It didn't taste as expected, it was disgusting. Andrew encouraged me to keep drinking and I took a couple of sips before I started feeling the effects.
"You want some drugs too?" He asked. I shook my head 'no'. I knew if Stef and Lena caught me drinking I would be in enough trouble, I didn't want to make it worse. I just wanted to forget, but I couldn't tell if it was working or not.
After finishing the first one, I started drinking another. Then I started feeling guilty. "Is it working?" Andrew asked.
It wasn't, what had I just done? After everything Stef and Lena had done for me and Jude. Is this really what they would want? I was so rude to them earlier, I left without listening to them, just because I was so angry with them. I put Stef in danger back at the forest. I threatened them with a knife. I disrupted their life and now I'm drunk.
I'm so used to people treating me so shitty that I don't know how to act around people who not only care but help me and Jude. Jude! What would he think of this? He'll probably think I'm a terrible sister.
"I'm guessing by the tears it's made it worse." Andrew said. Tears? I felt my face and indeed there were tears. "I can't do this." I said before standing up and tried leaving.
However my body felt heavier, and harder to control. I used the table to help me keep steady.
"Woah, let me help you to the couch." He said then somehow we managed to get to the couch. I felt something vibrate in my pocket, I pulled it out. It was my phone, someone had texted and called me. I couldn't read it because of how dizzy I felt. It kept buzzing, someone was calling.
"I've got you, first time drinking can be a little difficult." He explained as he grabbed my phone and answered. "Hello?" "This is Andrew, we've met before…yeah that guy. She's here,,,she can't talk at the moment. No, no she's ok, sort of….I kind of convinced her to drink a beer or two to help her but it made her feel worse. I'm sorry, I was only trying to help…it usually does… Ok, yeah we'll wait here." Andrew hung up and gave me my phone back.
"You're going to be fine." He told me and gave me a small smile. It's been awhile since I saw him but he still cared.
Andrew and I sat on the couch talking for a few minutes until we heard two cars pull up almost at the same time. We heard talking then the door opened, Devin walked in followed by…oh no. I looked at Andrew with a betrayed expression on my face.
It was Stef and Lena who walked in behind Devin. Were they who called? It's probably because I'm drunk but I forgot to ask Andrew who had called?
Stef and Lena came up to me. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" Stef yelled. What? "Stef, remember what we agreed on?" Lena tried calming her down. "You're going to have to be more specific, cuz I lost it years ago." I slurred. Lena and Andrew looked at me confused. "It was a rhetorical question, Callie." Stef explained. "Oh." I said.
So this is what happens when I get drunk, just another reason not to drink. Why was I drinking?
Liam. Oh right, him… To forget about him and what he did.
"Come on, let's get you home." Stef said as she helped me stand up. Maybe if I met Stef and Lena before that wouldn't have happened. I felt myself almost fall but Stef caught me as Lena helped try to steady me.
"If you were there it wouldn't have happened." I hadn't realized I said that out loud until Stef asked. "What wouldn't have happened?"
Stef's POV
Callie didn't answer my question. "I missed you." She said she was clearly a bit too drunk. "We missed you too. Now let's go home." Lena said as she grabbed her arm and helped Callie steady. I grabbed Callie's other arm to help her.
"I'm fine, I can walk." Callie slurred her words then tried walking and nearly fell over. Lena and I quickly grabbed her. "Why can't I walk?" Callie asked, confused. As much as I was angry with her, I couldn't help but be amused by how drunk she was. So this is drunk Callie, I thought to myself.
"Because you're drunk." I told her. She looked shocked. "I'm drunk? What did I do?" Then she looked around. She put her finger over her lips, "Shhhh, don't tell Stef and Lena." "I think the third beer is hitting her." Andrew said. Oh geez, you have to be kidding me. Three beers? She brought Mariana home from a party the first time we met her and now she's in a similar situation. These kids are going to give us gray hairs.
"Ok this is getting us nowhere." I said before picking Callie up with both arms. She was lighter than I had expected, something tells she wasn't eating as much. I carried her into the car and Lena helped me buckle her in.
By the time we arrived home, Callie was asleep in the backseat. I turned off the car engine and let out a frustrated sigh. I wish I knew how to help her. Lena began rubbing my arm, as I felt tears escaping my face. "How do we help her?" I thought out loud.
"We have to keep doing our best. Remember she has been in survival mode for years, she can't trust us so easily. We don't know what she's been through all those years." Lena was right. "We can't give up on her." I said, mostly for myself.
We carefully took her out of the car and I picked her up. She was only partially awake when she started clinging to me and buried her face into my neck. "I've got you, baby girl." I whispered.
I looked up to see Lena smiling. We took Callie inside, everyone was asleep by now and we didn't want to wake any of the kids up. Instead we took Callie to our room and tucked her in between us. Lena fell asleep almost instantly and it took me a few minutes but I eventually fell asleep.
Lena's POV
Some time later I woke up to someone stirring next to me. I realized it was Callie, I sat up and looked over at Stef. She was already awake and alert, with her back against the headboard. She was just watching Callie stir, I'm guessing she had been for some time.
"Is she ok?" I whispered, hoping I wouldn't wake Callie up. "She always wakes up pretty tired, I thought it was her getting used to her bed or being in a new place. She hasn't stopped stirring for a while." Stef said in a whisper. "We should wake her up." I was going to wake Callie but Stef stopped me.
"Listen." She told me. I didn't understand why she said that until I heard it. As Callie kept stirring she was also whispering something but we couldn't make out what she said.
After a few more seconds Stef tried soothing her by gently combing Callie's hair. It worked. Callie stopped whispering and stirring.
Part of me was jealous that Stef and Callie had this amazing bond that I couldn't reach with Callie but I knew Callie wasn't a normal teenage girl. I knew Callie was doing her best to let us in but she still needed time.
However there was one thing both Stef and I were sure about: we wanted to keep Callie and Jude forever. We had already asked Brandon and the twins awhile ago and they were excited about it. We decided to wait until the whole protesting at school thing was over with. We didn't want to overwhelm them.
Callie and Jude are great kids, they just need someone to love them. That's all kids want, someone to love and care for them, despite their age. They need to know that it's not just them against the world, that they have a family, people to rely on.
Callie's POV
I woke up the next morning with a headache. I sat up and looked around. Wait, this isn't my room, where am I?
"What happened last night?" I said out loud. I didn't expect to be answered but I was. "You got drunk." I nearly jumped when Stef answered next to me in the bed. "Shit." I whispered. "Language." Lena warned me as she appeared from the bathroom. "Sh…geez." I corrected myself. "Better." Lena said, returning back to the bathroom.
"Is there anyone else here?" I asked not wanting to be surprised anymore. "Let me check." Stef said as she peeked her head under the bed. "Anyone down there?" She asked. For a second I thought someone would've crawled out from under, it wouldn't be the first time that happened.
"Nope, no… Are you okay?" Stef asked, I think she was trying to make a joke but she saw my face. "Yeah, I thought someone was going to crawl from under." I tried bringing the mood back.
"Surprised you don't have a headache right now." She changed the topic. "I do." I said without explaining. "You're not complaining." She pointed out. "I'm not one to complain…" Lena stepped out of the bathroom and I began leaving the bed. "Besides, I have a high pain tolerance."
I was on my way toward the door to leave but they stopped me.
"Callie, we still need to talk about last night." Lena reminded me. I didn't want to but I knew I had to.
"I wasn't trying to run away or anything. I just needed to clear my head and I'm sorry for the way I acted towards you both." I apologized.
"There are better ways to clear your head than with alcohol." Stef stated. "And we're sorry too. We realized that it may seem like we're trying to shut you down but we're not." Lena jumped in. "We just want you to be careful." Stef finished.
"Promise us you'll be careful." Stef asked me to make a promise. I wasn't sure I could keep it. "Callie?" Stef grabbed my attention and I finally nodded. "I promise I'll be careful."
"Oh and you are grounded for two weeks." She added. What kind of grounding? Are they going to put me in a closet? Starve me? Keep me outside?
"What exactly does that mean?" I asked. "It means you stay home and can't go anywhere but school and work." Lena explained.
"That's it?" I said. "Do you want more time?" Stef asked. "No, it's just that it doesn't seem like a punishment." I explained.
"For someone who runs at the first sign of trouble, this would seem like a punishment." Stef stated.
"I don't want to run, I do it because I have to." They looked confused.
"Why do you think you have to?" Lena asked.
"If I don't I might say or do something I'd regret, and if not you'll get angry and call Bill." I told them. "Callie, we can work something out whenever you feel upset or overwhelmed. We don't want you to be afraid to express yourself, and we promise you, you're not leaving this home, understood?" Lena asked. I nodded and responded. "Understood."
"Good, now go get ready for school." I didn't need to be told twice, I went into my room and got ready for school.
I put on one of the new shirts I had bought yesterday and brought the rest with me.
The first thing I did when I arrived at school was take off my jacket. Showing the shirt that had, ' is a rapist and pseudofile' on it. I sat in the same spot only this time Jude and Jesus joined me. I pulled out two more shirts for them to wear and they both put them on.
Not too long later Brandon came up to me. "I was a jerk, I shouldn't have said what I said." I pulled out another shirt and threw it at him. He smiled, put it on and sat down next to Jude.
We had a pretty good portion of the hallway blocked and students began to struggle getting past us. We all suddenly heard chanting outside. "Those are protesters." I heard someone say. I looked at Jesus, Jude and Brandon. I could tell they wanted to go look. I gave them a nod and we stood up. When we finally reached the outside there was a crowd of people with the shirts I had ordered yesterday and the day prior along with a few other shirts similar.
I looked at all these people then I saw Jax wearing the same shirt I had on. I smiled then I saw someone I didn't expect to be here. It was Kennedy he was about ten people away from Jax but he had a shirt on and was protesting. We made eye contact and I couldn't help but smile.
I continued to scan the crowd and I saw one more familiar face, it was the woman who sold me the shirts. She was here as well, with one of her shirts. This sight made me proud, people were finally hearing Talya's voice. She would finally get justice and Mr. Wilson would get what he deserves.
A/N: I might pause this story of a little bit, because I'm working on another one. It's a Fosters one, it includes all the Fosters. I've been losing a bit of inspiration for this story. If I do pause it I'll defiantly continue it though. I don't know yet, let me know what ya'll think.