Grant Me the Serenity || Lippa

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(Continued)
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The last block of the day came for Claudia, in her math class, where she was called down to the office with her stuff. All eyes went to her as she gathered her books, slipped them into her backpack, and slung the bag over her shoulder. As she walked past the glass wall of the office, she saw her mother and father standing at the counter fuming. Claudia decided it was best not to say anything, and just let them yell, but they didn't. Pippa walked up to her and pointed to the door, signaling for them to leave, while Lin stood by the desk. Claudia assumed that he was waiting for AnneMarie and followed her mother out. The two stayed silent as they got into the huge SUV and clipped on their seatbelts. With a deep sigh, Pippa looked at Claudia. "Why?" She asked. Claudia bit her lip and shrugged.

"Why did I let her get beat up? Because she thinks that she can do whatever and have no consequences because you let her! She can say whatever she wants to any of us and nothing happens! Allie was grounded for a week for coming in three minutes past curfew. AnneMarie sleeps with my boyfriend and daddy smashes her computer only to turn around the next week and buy her a better one. Nova and I get our phones taken for almost a month because we posted pictures in our bikinis at the beach. AnneMarie sends nudes on Snap and nothing happens. Daddy only told her to stop, but her phone wasn't taken and you sure as hell didn't do anything. So yeah, I let her get beaten to a pulp, because at least in the real world she's gonna have to deal with what happens to shitty people," Claudia ranted. Pippa was utterly in shock and a bit confused as to what her daughter was talking about. However, she couldn't deny that AnneMarie was treated differently from the other girls.

"She's your sister, how could you be okay with this? She's family," Pippa asked. Claudia's nerves finally overflowed, forcing her to come completely clean.

"I FROZE, OKAY! I didn't think Dani was actually gonna do it, but she did and once she started, I froze. I couldn't do anything. But, me leaving her there alone, I had too. She walks all over me. She thinks that just because we are twins I would roll over and help her no matter what. Because that's what you taught us, but at a certain point people break. And I broke a long time ago. We were never best friends, we were never close, but three years ago I might have helped her," Claudia said. Pippa stared at her confused. Claudia, Allie, and Nova made a pact that they would never tell anyone about what AnneMarie said and did on the ten year anniversary of Stevie's death. They deemed the situation detrimental to their family if Pippa ever found out.

"Three years ago? What are you talking about?" Pippa asked. Claudia thought back to the defaced tombstone and ruined memorial. She couldn't get that image out of her head for weeks.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but remember when we had that memorial service for the ten years since Ana?" Claudia asked. Pippa quietly nodded, trying not to reminisce on old feelings. "Well, AnneMarie was the one who ripped Stevie's picture and broke her tombstone, not Masey. We all were super drunk the night before and somewhere between Dairy Queen and home we lost her. Three hours later she showed up and told us what she'd done. She thought that it was funny and started to make fun of Stevie and it was bad. Nova and I wanted to tell you, but Allie made us swear not to. We knew how much that meant to you and Masey said he did it because he knew you would think he did it out of anger towards his mother and not bat an eye. After that, we never talked about the situation and stopped talking to AnneMarie. She turned nasty after that night and we didn't want a part of it," Claudia explained. Pippa stared in front of her in silence. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to scream and cry and go crazy, but she couldn't. Her head wanted all those things, but her heart was just saddened with a sprinkle of hardened. She was tired of the fighting and tired of the back and forth and just tired of it all. She started the engine to her car and took them home. No words, just thoughts.