Black and Blue

Chapter 8

Aamor’s POV

I wondered slowly down the stairs, my hand clutching the railing tightly, the sound of arguing floating up through the kitchen door. Behind me, Cerise sat patiently at the top of the stairs, her large green eyes following me as I crept down to the first floor. I placed my hand against the wall, pressing my ear up against the crack between the door and wall.

“It’s been years, Henry,” Dawn sighed, sitting down on one of the stools. It creaked under her weight as she folded her legs, picking up her magazine.

“We both know Janet has tried everything she can, Dawn, we can’t ask for anymore. If Aamor doesn’t want to speak, that’s her decision,” Henry argued, turning the kettle on. Exactly, finally someone was seeing it from my point of view.

Dawn shook her head, glancing up over her magazine disapprovingly, “I don’t think we have helped her at all, moving her here. I think she needs to go to another school, Greenwood obviously isn’t helping.”

“But she’s getting good grades at Greenwood!” Henry cried, slamming his hands down on the table, “I am not moving, Dawn, we both know how long it’s taken to set up the business.”

Dawn rolled her eyes, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, “I never said we were moving as well-“

“Dawn! We are not leaving Aamor, she’s had one family turn their back on her, we certainly won’t do the same,” Henry said, his tone disgusted.

“I implied no such thing!” Dawn said in outrage, “If you had bothered to listen, you would have realised I am talking about boarding school. No one understands here, if we sent her to a boarding school it could help her. We both know it did Janine good.” Janine was the Carter’s daughter. She was 19 now and lived somewhere in America with her boyfriend.

The Carter’s believed in her so much, they didn’t know the lot of crap Janine got into. She had always had something wrong with her, not like me, she was just too reckless. After sending her away to boarding school, she pretended she had ‘changed’, hardly.

I remembered the nights when she climbed in through my window, drunk and her pockets full with cigarettes. I had covered for her, thinking she was just going through some kind of phase. I spoke to her when I wouldn’t speak to anyone else. I trusted her, until the Carters found out about the drinking and cigarettes… Of course, being Janine, she didn’t want to get the blame, so she framed me and ditched her parents for her boyfriend who already had three children, none of which he knew. If anything, she had probably wound up in a hole alone by now. 

“I don’t think that will help Aamor, she’s not like Janine,” Henry said quietly, “Though it could do her some good to be more like Janine.”

“Well,” said Dawn, “She may get the chance to become more like Janine, because she’s coming back to visit with Derek.” I could just imagine the smile plastered on Dawn’s face right now. I, meanwhile, was horrified. 

I groaned, walking outside and down the stairs. Cerise jumped out the door before it swung shut, running after me as I entered the woods behind the house. No, Janine couldn’t be coming back. Why would she coming back? It didn’t make any sense. She hated the Carters, she had told me that several times. She hated the way they never listened to her; they had just thrown her into another school without her consent. Of course, they had only been trying to help. That was the thing about the Carters, they always tried to help, but sometimes they only made things worse. Okay, a lot of the times they only made things worse. Such as with Janet and I. Stupid councilors.

“Someone’s angry,” chuckled Miles, jumping down from one of the trees. His feet hit the ground silently; a feat most people wouldn’t have been able to do.