4 a.m. // Jeggy

Chapter 7

After a dragging first day of school, I texted Liza and told her I was walking home.

I didn't feel like dealing with Angelica in the car, to be totally honest. I love my sisters to death, but Angie never knows when to stop pushing me. Eliza knows boundaries, but Angelica? No.

I pulled my sunglasses from the pocket in my book bag as I made my way down the streets, carefully avoiding the pedestrians wandering the sidewalks and taking in the hot weather while it lasted.

Soon enough, I was sweating and back in the comfort of my air conditioned house (if you can call a colossal mansion a house. My dad's absolutely loaded, but I'm not a snob. He raised me and my sisters to be caring and nice, not rude like some rich people are). I walked up the staircase and into my room, quietly closing the door behind me and tossing my book bag into the floor.

Luckily I didn't have any homework, just a pile of syllabuses from teachers that needed to be signed. I fell into my bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, getting lost in my own head until I heard a small knock at the door.

"Come in." I mumbled, and Eliza walked into the room, sitting at the edge of my bed by my legs.

"What's wrong, Peggy? This isn't about John, I can tell." She said, looking at me. I sighed deeply, really not wanting to freak out or have a flashback of him. I don't even want to think his name.

"I just didn't sleep much last night, I'm alright." I lied. I didn't sleep much last night but that's not the issue. Eliza rolled her eyes at me.

"Peggy, you never sleep much. Please, I'm worried about you." She said. Dang it, she caught me.

"Eliza. I already said, I'm fine." I insisted. She stood up and ran her hands through her hair, breathing in deeply.

"Peggy, I'm going to ask you one more time. What's wrong? You're scaring me, I can tell you're hiding something." She begged. No. I refuse to do this. I'm not telling her, I won't.

"Nothing. Is. Wrong. I already said-" I said through gritted teeth. I was going to keep going before she cut me off.

"Stop lying, Margarita! I'm trying to help you and you're literally lying through your teeth! What's your damn problem?" She yelled at me. I felt my face drain of all color. Eliza never swears. And when I say never, I mean NEVER.

"E-Eliza I'm so... I'm s-sorry.." I began, standing up. She simply shook her head and glanced at me with an unreadable expression.

"I was just trying to help you. Why won't you just let me help you?" She mumbled, tears filling her eyes. I reached out my hand to try to grab her arm and apologize again but she ran off, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

"Girls? Is there an issue?" My father shouted from downstairs in his office. I took a deep breath before replying.

"Everything's fine." I yelled back, trying to keep myself from falling apart. I walked silently to Eliza's door and turned the handle quietly, but quickly realized it was locked. I sat down and leaned against the door frame, putting my ear by the tiny crack in the door to listen for anything.

I could hear soft music playing in the background and a pencil scratching against paper. She must be doing her homework. I wonder if the crying thing was all an act. I focused more and tuned into the sounds and realized that it wasn't a pencil scratching, it was Eliza sniffling. Oh.

I heard her rolling chair move across the hardwood floor and she turned up the music a little more. I heard her bed squeaking slightly as she sat on it or something.

But the worst sound of all was her quiet sobbing. I could tell she was trying to stay silent and that the music would cover up any noise, but she was wrong. Before I knew it, hot tears were falling down my face too and I let my head rest against the door, wishing I just talked to her and not screwed everything up.

As sweet and innocent as Eliza is, she's incredibly strong in an emotional sense and can take anything you throw at her. She hardly ever cries. I haven't heard her sob this much in years. I bit my lip as more tears slid down my cheeks when I thought of this.

Her music went silent for a minute or so and I heard the waiting ring of a FaceTime call coming from her phone instead. She's calling Alexander. Her crying is quieter now and I can tell she has her hand over her mouth to muffle it, but it's still fairly loud.

Alex doesn't pick up the FaceTime call and Eliza doesn't turn her music back on. And as for me? I fell into unintentional sleep sitting outside her door to the sound of her crying, which, I would later be told by Angelica, didn't stop for over two hours and only got worse when she opened the door to see me asleep there.

a/n: it's been way too long since ive updated this. Im so sorry for not being active and for making decisions that could've ended so badly. But my recent experiences have made it known to me that you guys are such fantastic people and I'm so so grateful to have you here to support me. Thank you for giving me hope which I very much need. Thank you for being here for me through all this. It's not easy but I'm getting there. And it's thanks to you guys.