A Second Chance

"the only charleston left"

Luke

How was I going to tell her. I did read her book. She looked at me, with her sad, chocolate brown eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks. She looked so beaten up, like a old punching bag at the gym. Like if all the members of the gym punched her endlessly, never stopping for a breath until the next person in line got a turn.

"Y-you read it, didn't you?" She asked me, looking like she was about to cry.

"Yeah." I sighed.

She burst into tears,  Ashton quickly went to comfort her. I felt a massive bomb of guilt explode. Michael and Calum looked at me, mad but not.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was so special to you." I apologized.

"I-Its not t-that." She said, once she stopped crying. "I just don't want to be called a freak, and now that you know our story, I'm-"

She stopped. 

"We won't ever call you a freak. It wasn't your fault you were hurt." Calum said.

"If it will make things better, we could help you find a place to live." Michael said. "Or someone to live with."

"What's your name? You never told us." Ashton said.

"Sara." She said.

"That's a lovely name." I said.

She smiled a bit, but she looked down at her book, and the frown came back.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"19." She said.

"Oh." We all said.

She's older than me. Great.

"I'm older than you?" Sara asked, smirking at me.

"I said that out loud?" I asked.

They all nodded.

"Oops. But yeah, you're older than me. I'm 18, turning 19 on July 16." I said.

"That's crazy. My birthday is July 16 too." She said.

"Whoa." I said.

"Dude, you will forever be the youngest." Michael said, patting my back. "No matter what."

I frowned while the boys laughed. Sara just looked at me, like she knew how I felt.

"Leave him alone." She said, stopping the laughter. "I'm the youngest in my family."

"Like, your ENTIRE family? You were the last one born?" I asked her.

"Yeah. I would be the only Charleston left if my papa..." She looked down at her book. "...Died."

There was a long silence. We watched Sara flip through pages of the book, silently crying. Stroking each and every page, she sniffled as she closed the book and put it under her pillow. Staring down at her, I wondered why her father did that to her, why anyone would ever want to do such damage to her.

"Sorry, Luke." Michael broke the silence.

"It's fine." I forgave him.

"So when do you get out of this place?" Calum asked Sara.

"I have no idea."