S.O.S

Chapter Nine - The Painful Truth

Steph quit talking to me since the incident during the next day. The situation in our house got more intense. Tia wouldn't stop asking her beloved daughter about what had happened but she didn't know anything but Danny threw a vase towards her which then left a wound on her forehead.

I wasn't fully awake from my sleep on a gloomy Sunday morning when I heard somebody knocked on my door.

"J, you up?" Cody asked gently as he peeked into my room.

"Sure, Cod." I lied. Still closing my eyes and buried myself back under the blanket.

"It's ten already, J." He giggled in his talk, "Mind if I talk to you for a minute?"

"No, I mean, yes okay you can talk."

Yes, he talked about the incident. He asked me what had happened, why Danny threw a vase against Steph's forehead. I kept silence, considering Danny's trust at me for not telling anyone about Robert. Well, the whole residents knew exactly how Danny was a drug addict years ago, but they didn't know about the promise.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you, J?" Cody asked me in disappointment as I could see his shoulders dropped.

"I can't, Cod. Maybe I will tell you later but for now, I'm sorry, I can't." I frowned.

He sighed, then he lingered his arm around my shoulder and embraced me.

"Look, I care about you like my own little sister. I do, J. If something bad happened to you, you can just tell me, I'd be honored to help." he pat my head and caressed my hair.

I hugged him. I was kind of surprised that someone in the house actually said that to me, that he cared about me. "Thanks Cod, thank you so much."

He smiled and pat my head again for the last time before he left my room.

Speaking about care, something suddenly blasted through my head. I ignored Andrew's text messages a few days ago which asked me if I was okay.

---

"I thought you were alienated or something." Andrew turned his back as he handed me my order.

"Who would've done that?" I asked sarcastically.

No, I wasn't planning on telling Andrew about anything that had a lot to do with Danny and Robert and Steph. We just had some small talks, school, his family and friends, my parents which I still had no idea about.

"Who's Dick?" I laughed as I saw a text message shown on Andrew's phone from - probably - a friend of his whose name I found funny.

"Ahahah," he could't help but laughing along with me, "he's my step brother. Not his real name actually but he's a total dick, so..."

"I know, I know."

We had a pretty good time to spend Sunday. I helped Andrew in the stall until a girl came to work her shift after Andrew's. Then he dropped me off my house riding his motorcycle. A friend at last, I thought.

---

I spent the entire week accompanying Andrew at the burger stall after school - since the situation at home had gone worse. He had 5 hours work shift there starting at 4. Andrew picked me up at school and gave me a ride on his motorcycle to his house before heading to the stall. He took shower and change and so did I. I always brought a pair of spare clothes everyday for change. I told Tia about my current activity and how Andrew promised to share fifty percents of his wage with me so she wouldn't scold me every night I get home.

It was Thursday and I was waiting for Andrew in front of the school entrance. He finally showed up with his face splattered with paint and the word 'dumb' written on his forehead with red.