What is family?

Chapter 32

Arianna

The rest of the day at school went normal after talking to my friends and telling them the truth. They laughed at how embarrassing it is to talk about someone's siblings in front of them without even knowing they are siblings.

We made fun of the situation and laughed for the whole free period. We then went on attend rest of the classes. Angelina shared some classes with me. When she saw me, she smiled at me and this time I smiled back. I don't have to fear about my friends knowing the truth anymore.

I did feel like calling Angelina to come sit with us, but I'll rather ask her first at home and then she can join us, if she wants to. So, for now, I didn't call her to join us.

After school ended, I bid bye to my friends and walked out. The same guard who picked me up yesterday, was standing beside a car. I walked towards the car and he opened the door for me. I got in and found Angelina already sitting inside the car.

"Hey!", she greeted me with a smile.

"Hey!", I greeted back with a smile of my own.

After that the guard got in and we were going home. Neither of spoke and we were just looking out of the window.

"Anna", Angelina called and I looked at her.

"Is everything okay with your friends? They seem to not know that we are sisters. Did I mess up anything?", she asked nervously.

"If I say yes, will you regret defending me?", I asked. I don't know why but Angelina always manages to bring out my carefree side.

"Of course not!", she said immediately and I raised my brows.

"I would apologize later for messing up your situation, but no matter what I won't sit quiet if someone tries to mess with you.", she said seriously and I smiled at that.

"You don't have to apologize. In fact, I'm very happy that you defended me and stayed with me when I needed someone. I should be thanking you.", I said with a soft smile.

She waved her hand dismissively.

"No need to thank me. That's what family is for, right?", she said.

"Right.", I nodded.

"So, your relation with your friends is good, right?", she asked.

"Yeah. I told them about us being sisters and they were angry at first, but eventually understood me and we are perfectly fine now.", I said.

"That's great!", she smiled and nodded.

"Um, Angelina", I started hesitantly.

"Yeah", she looked at me.

"Do you want to join us. I mean my friends. I see that you always sit alone. So... You don't have to accept if you don't want to.", I said nervously.

Her smile dropped a little.

"It's not that I don't want to. It's just I can't.", she said in such a low voice, that if the car wasn't so quiet, I wouldn't have heard it.

I frowned at that.

What?

Why?

"Why?", I asked gently.

She gave me a small smile, but that looked forced. I noticed the pain in her eyes, but she composed quickly.

"I get anxious around people.", she said and averted her eyes.

I frowned but didn't say anything. I can see that she doesn't want to talk about this and I won't force her to. I don't want to make her uncomfortable.