Silence

4

Bobbie's POV

Silently I enter the house and follow Dad to the kitchen. "You better get moving if you plan on getting to school on time." He yelled up the stairs at my sister. I cringed inwardly as her face from that night swam before my eyes. I lost count of the times I beat myself up for not listening to her, for not believing her.

A small part of me hoped that she'd be glad to see me after two years of being away. Her feet came running down the stairs and Dad spoke when he saw her. "Amanda, come say hello to your brother." She froze at the bottom of the stairwell and her eyes snapped towards me. I gave her a huge smile, but her eyes send me a freezing glare. My smile quickly died and our father sighed softly. He knew that something went wrong between the two of us, but neither of us has told him anything.

"I'm late for school." She spat out before leaving the house. She slammed the door so hard, the glass rattled. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl." Dad muttered as he motioned for me to follow him. Just as we stepped out of the house, I saw my sister climb onto a bike.

"Amanda..." He calls after her but she quickly pulls away. Laying my hand on his shoulder, I give him a forced smile. "I'll talk with her at school Dad. She'll get over the fact that I'm back."

"Good. You keep an eye on her, son. If she starts hanging out with the trouble kids, stop her. That's the main reason I sent her back. She's changed and I can't figure out what went wrong with her." I left him shaking his head and hurried to school.

When I stepped out of my jeep, Jason and his small group of friends rushed over to me. "Hey man." He smiled and shook my hand. "It's been a while."

"Yeah. Have you seen Mandy?" I asked them, not missing the looks they shared. "She doesn't go by that now Bobbie." Ashley spoke up softly, her eyes darting to me and then back at Jason. "I tried to speak to her yesterday and she told me that she...she didn't know any Mandy."

"What's wrong with her man?" Jason asked me, his eyes following my sister as she strode into the school, ignoring everyone. I shrug but I knew the answer. James broke her and I betrayed her trust in me. I failed her as her big brother. That's not something you can confess easily to. "Does she still hang out with everyone?" I ask, but again, I knew the answer.

"No." Ashley answered, her voice clipped. The bell rang and I hurried to the office to get my schedule. Four classes weren't that bad, I thought as I made my way to gym. The coach yelled at me all hour because I kept letting my mind drift to my sister.

I was late getting to my second hour because Coach wanted to talk after gym. When I opened the door, everyone turned and watched me. Quickly I stepped forward and closed the door. My eyes quickly scanned the faces around me and I smiled when saw that I had the same class with my sister. She'd have to talk to me now.

Handing Mrs. Johns the hall pass that Coach gave me; I wait for her to assign me a seat. My eyes kept darting towards Amanda and I knew that she noticed. "Alright Mr. Stone, you can sit by your sister."

"No he can't." Amanda spoke, both her eyes and her voice giving me chills. My eyes took in her face and I felt anger swelling in my chest as I saw the bruises. Where did she get those? Who dare lay their hands on my sister? It was easy to see that she was struggling to contain her anger and that just peaked the others curiosity. I knew that they were trying to figure out why she was reacting this way towards me.

Mrs. Johns looked confused, but quickly looked around the room. "Alright. Bobbie, why don't you sit by Jake?" Nodding my head, I slowly make my way towards the guy who waved at me. I didn't pay attention to anything Mrs. Johns droned on about because I was trying to get Amanda's attention. But she just kept ignoring me.