All Those Words

Chapter 4

Asa

I leave Calysta alone for the rest of the day. Although I hate watching the other students harass her, I hate it even more that she doesn't do anything about it. She could just open her mouth and tell them to back off but she doesn't. It's like in some twisted way, she believes that she deserves it. Or maybe it's hard for her to stand up for herself since she could barely even look at me when I moved into her house. Whatever her reasons are, I can't seem to understand it. So I leave her alone like she asked and I look away when someone shoves her in the hallway and I keep my earphones plunged into my ears so I don't have to hear anyone's scathing words about her.

I meet Trixie at the curb that we got dropped off in the morning but I can't make eye contact with her. Not after hearing the way she spoke about Calysta in school. They might not be real sisters but Cal and her family took her in – they took us all in – and Trixie has no right to talk about her that way. Yes, I was a problem child, too. I had made my fair share of mistakes but I know that the Harmons had taken me in despite all my run-ins with the law. I'm going to turn 18 soon and then the system will drop me. I won't have to skip from foster home to foster home. And even though I know that I'm not going to get adopted – and honestly I don't even want to be – I know that the Harmons are my last chance at having a family. Even if it's only for year, I want that. I want to be cared for and loved for by someone.

"Why are you so quiet?" Trixie asked, bursting into my train of thought. "I saw you alone today with your earphones in. If you haven't made friends, you can hang out with me-"

"No thanks," I blurt out, my words harsher than I mean them to be.

"I guess hanging out without an eighth grader is uncool," she says, sounding unfazed by my rudeness.

I want to tell her that it has nothing to do with her age or which class she's in. I want to tell her that if she was going to be so damn sweet to invite me into her friend circle, she could very well do the same for Calysta. But I also want her to realize this on her own – that she's doing something wrong by standing by and watching the whole school rag on her family. I also want to ask her why they're doing it; why they're all so horrible to her but I can't find the courage in me to do it.

When her car pulls up in front of us, I get into the passengers' side and shut the door as Trixie gets in the back. Calysta still has her stupid cap on despite being told off by all of her teachers that she can't wear it indoors and I feel the strong urge to pull it off her head. But I don't.

I sit quietly beside her as she pulls onto the main road and toward the elementary school. And once Lennon and Shale get into the car, she drives toward the house without a word. I sneak a glance at Lennon in the backseat and from the expression on her face, I can tell that she knows something is wrong. It didn't even take me one day to figure out that Lennon is the one person Calysta can count on at home. Even the worry is visible on her face.

When we finally reach the house, she parks the car in the driveway and Trixie is the first to get out. I watch her as she stalks away with her eyes on her phone, her sandy blonde hair blinding me as it caught the light of the sun. Lennon is the next to get out and she helps Shale out of the seatbelt before he runs into the house. Calysta is the last to get out of the car and I fight the urge to stop her from going in so I can talk to her.

"Callie, can I talk to you?" Lennon pulls the words out of my mouth and I shoot her a look. "Did something happen at school?"

"N-nothing happened at school," Calysta lies and I feel my chest do a summersault.

I wouldn't have pegged Calysta as someone who would lie to her family. Even though it is a small white lie and she probably only did it so Lennon wouldn't worry, it surprises me.

"Cal-" I start but she's already halfway up the porch stairs.

Lennon looks at me like she's waiting for me to tell her otherwise but nothing comes out of my mouth when I open it. It's her story to tell, not mine. I was still merely a stranger who came to live with them just a day go. So what gave me the right to tell her anything about Calysta's life?

I start to walk toward the front door when Lennon grabs onto the hem of my t-shirt. I let out a soft exasperated sigh but she doesn't seem to notice how badly I don't want to talk. I already have my foot in my mouth to keep myself from saying anything to anyone about anything since it's obviously none of my business.

"What happened at school?" she asks again. "Are they still picking on her?"

I try not to let my surprise show. How does the kid know that she is getting bullied? I highly doubt Calysta will have said anything so how does Lennon know? Does Calysta have a diary and is Lennon a sneaky little kid who reads it? Now, I'm just grasping at straws and I know it.

"I don't know," I say simply. "I didn't hang around her. She told me to leave her alone."

"Don't," she blurts out and then looks away as if she's contemplating whether to continue. "She needs someone. She always thought senior year would be the best but that girl – Sydney – is making her life hard."

"I noticed," I say, deciding to talk since she's the one who started the conversation.

She seems to know a lot and for some reason, she's sharing her information with me. Shale and Yuna are too young to know what's going on and Trixie is being an obvious jerk about everything.

"They used to be best friends," she continues. "Trixie found out when she joined junior high. But she didn't tell me why they stopped being friends. She said I'm too young to understand."

I nod, wondering what could have possibly happened between them that Sydney turned the whole school against her. What had Calysta done to make them all rail on her? She doesn't look like someone who could have done something so severely bad that no one wants to be her friend and everyone pushes her around. I can't express how indignant I am that they treat her that way.

"Don't tell her I told you," Lennon says before rushing into the house.

"I won't," I say to nobody. "But I'm going tofind out what happened between them."