Flames

Chapter 16: Truth?

I've been trying all week to avoid Marcus. He cornered me the other day and started flirting with me like always, but Lola saved me from him. Lately, we've been talking more. She's not as bad as I thought she was. She's cool once she decides to start being nice and stop being so bitchy. I kind of like her now; in some ways, she reminds me of his brother. I promised her I would try to convince Sam to not throw away his life, but first, I got to talk with Luke and Sarah about Adriana, I think they are the ones who knew her and know what happened to her. 

"Hey!! Wait up!!" I shout as I jog to catch up with Luke.

"Hey!! What's up?" Luke asks casually.

"I need to ask you something," I answer.

"Okay??" he mutters.

"I need your sister too," I tell him.

"Well, she's in GYM class," he states.

"Okay, let's go," I tell him, starting to walk in the GYM's direction.

"What's all of this about?" Luke asks.

"Just, wait," I answer.

When we get to the GYM, Luke looks for his sister. "Amanda needs to talk with us," he tells her.

"Okay?? Shoot," Sarah tells me.

"Do you know who Adriana was?" I ask them bluntly. Their expression changes quickly. Their faces turn as pale as paper; they're clearly shocked by my sudden question. They look at each other, but neither of them says a word. "Please, I need to know."

"She was our sister," Luke answers first. Sister? I didn't know they had another sibling. 

"She was a year older than me," Sarah adds.

"I didn't know you had another sibling," I tell them.

"Yeah well... now you know," Luke tells me.

"I'm sorry to ask, but what happened to her?" I ask them, hoping I don't cross a boundary. 

"She died," Sarah simply responds. Both, Sarah and Luke look sad talking about her. I clearly brought up a sensitive topic, but I need to clear things out.

"What does Sam have to do with her? And why do you hate him so much?" I question them again.

"I don't hate him," Sarah admits. "We were really good friends once. He and Luke were best friends. We knew each other since we were in kindergarten. We always knew about his father's 'business', but we still accepted him because he wasn't like his father; he wasn't mixed up in that stuff. But after her mother died, I guess something died inside him too and he changed. He started working for his father, maybe he was pressured into it, but that's not the problem," Sarah starts explaining. "My sister started using drugs because she couldn't bear living in our house with our parents always gone all the time; she got depressed and turned to drugs to try and feel less bad, I guess. We didn't know about it. If we would have known, we would have helped her. Her dealer was Sam's dad and when Sam started working for his father he found out my sister was caught up in that world and was using drugs. He didn't tell us about her drug addiction, maybe if he would have, things would've turned out differently. Instead, he stayed quiet."

"He was my best friend but the day he started helping his dad sell drugs and gave drugs to my sister, he stopped being my friend. He should have stopped her, not encouraged her. He's the reason my sister is dead," Luke adds, clearly hurt.

"I know he really cared for her, but when he tried to make things better, it was already too late. His father noticed he was starting to care for her and that was changing him; he didn't want to help him with his 'business' anymore, plus my sister owed him some money... and I think you know how the rest of the story goes. What Sam's father does when he doesn't like something," Sarah finishes explaining.