Thirteen Summers

twenty-nine, pt. two

C A L E B

After class, Reece and I went to my sister's class.

She had forgotten her lunch bag in the car, we were late that day and she disappeared as soon as we arrived, so I'd kept it in my locker for the meantime.

When I arrived, pretty much all of the class had cleared out the room including the teacher so I thought I had missed her.

However, Josie was in the classroom still sitting in her seat, she looked visibly upset.

Kiara was crouched down at her side, trying to talk to her, but to no avail.

I rushed forward towards her.

"What happened?" I asked, worried.

Josie didn't say anything, her glossy eyes just looked at me then back down at her lap.

Kiara stood up and walked a little bit away, gesturing for me to follow her.

"Byron yelled at her for literally the most stupid  reason, she's pretty shook up."

Then she inched closer and whispered, "I think she might've...wet herself."

My eyes widened slightly, in surprise and I looked over at my sister's distressed state before turning back to Kiara.

"Mr Byron's honestly a dick. He really went overboard on her."

Then he had no choice but to be dealt with by my eldest siblings.

If I really wanted to get things going, I'd go straight to Kai first.

Cameron had made sure the school had informed all the teachers of Josie's situation.

It really had only been some months since her m— our mom died.

It'd even been arranged for Josie to see one of the school counsellors once a week.

Josie was still grieving, she was sensitive and for this teacher to completely disregard that and then go on to pick on her, this wouldn't be handled lightly.

"Thanks Kiara, I'm gonna try talking to her alone." I sighed, "I'll see you guys later, okay? Please don't tell anyone about this."

Kiara didn't seem like the type to go around gossiping but still, I had to let her know.

She gave me a sad smile and nodded. I watched as she joined Reece at the door and gestured for him to follow her.

I waited till they had left the room and their footsteps had faded away.

Then I went up to Josie and put a hand to her shoulder.

"Hey." I started, she locked eyes with me and shook her head in embarrassment and frustration. "It's okay, it's not your fault."

Her eyes clenched shut, escaped tears ran down her face.

I helped her up and grabbed the cardigan that hung at the back of her chair.

I started to tie it around her, reassuring her as she started sobbing, quietly. "It's okay, it's okay."

I then pulled her into a hug. She reluctantly accepted and cried into my shoulder.

Soon they turned into just sniffles and she pulled back, wiping her eyes.

"We— we can find something spare so you don't have to wear that all day..." I started to suggest but her eyes went wide. "You wanna go home?"

Josie nodded frantically and muttered, "Yeah."

I pulled out my phone and started texting Roman.

Josie doesn't feel good, she wants to go home.