"Don't touch him." Jamie says harshly. She had been the trouble maker out of the two. She isolated herself from everyone else but made sure she kept a eye on her brother.
"Jamie be nice." Lauren says. She was growing tired of the little girls attitude.
"You don't tell me what to do." Jamie says sassily. She walker over to Lucas and took his hand. "Don't play with them."
"You can't control him the rest of your life." Lauren says.
"I'm not trying to control him, I'm protecting him." Jamie says. Lauren rolls her eyes.
"Can you two stop arguing for a moment?" Ally ask. She was use to the two going head to head. "I'll be right back."
It had been a week since finding out Camila was pregnant. Lauren hadn't spoken to the girl, nor did she want to.
"Oh thank god! I thought they were never going to shut up." Dinah says loudly. Lucas starts to laugh but one look from Jamie and he closes his mouth.
"L-Lauren c-can I g-go out-s-side?" Zariah ask. She had been having trouble talking for about two days now. It made Lauren angry that she was going through that. Before she could answer Jamie made a comment.
"W-Why are y-you stuttering?" Jamie mocks. Zariah's eyes start to water, which causes Lauren to grow furious.
"Listen here you little brat. You don't talk to her that way. Do you understand me? I'm done putting up with your shit. You will be nice, you will listen to what we say and you will stop talking back." Lauren says angrily. Jamie was shocked by the out burst. She backed away to the corner of the room. Lauren wanted to comfort the girl but she was too mad.
"Zariah are you okay?" Lucas ask. He tried to walk closer to the girl but Ryan was there to stop him.
"Leave her alone. Go be with your idiot sister." Ryan says. He was over protective of Zariah, so whenever he felt something was wrong he was there to make sure she was okay.
"STOP!" Lauren screams. "Stop being mean to each other. Stop with the pissy attitudes." She says. The children all look at her and burst into tears. Lauren was confused, she didn't see what she had done wrong.
Just as she was about to apologize to the children Camila walks in with Normani by her side. That had been happening a lot lately someone was always with Camila. She was to never be alone, Lauren didn't see the point but she didn't make a comment about it. Camila sees all the kids crying and she looks to Dinah who points to Lauren.
"It was all her." Dinah says jokingly. When no one laughs she leaves. "You guys can handle this."
"Wait Dinah I'm right behind you." Normani says.
Lauren frowned she didn't want to be left alone with Camila and to make matters worse there were crying children. Lauren looks at Camila who was already looking at her.
"Uh. What happened?" Camila ask. Lauren sighs.
"I screamed." She closed her eyes and takes a deep breath. "You Get those two and I got the others." Camila doesn't complain instead she walks over to Zariah and Ryan.
"Aww come here." She says softly. Zariah was the first one to Camila's arms. Ryan not far behind. They cried in her arms and she couldn't feel more hurt.
"Sh-She he-yelled at m-me." Ryan says sadly. Camila knee how much Ryan idolizes Lauren so it must have broken his heart to hear her scream at him. She blames herself because she is the reason Lauren is so angry.
"She didn't mean it." Camila says while she rubs their backs. "Let's take a nap." She lays down on the little blank with Zariah and Ryan on each side of her.
Lauren on the other hand was having a much harder time. Jamie and Lucas were like the polar opposite of Ryan and Zariah.
"Look guys I'm sorry." Lauren says. Jamie was silently crying while Lucas was trying to hold his in.
"Leave us alone." Jamie says. Lauren sits down in front of them.
"I can't do that." She says.
"Why?" Lucas ask. He moved his dirty blonde hair out is his eyes. Lauren had noticed that his hair had been dyed.
"Because you're my siblings and if it's one thing I learned from our parents it to always look out for your siblings." Lauren says. She could still remember the day she "saved James."
Flashback
Lauren had been sitting in the quad for hours now. She wasn't sure what she was going to do about lying to her parents. She knew that her punishment was going to be something terrible but she hoped it didn't hurt as bad as the last one.
"Lauren." James calls. He was right outside the door of the quad.
"James just go." Lauren says. She was glad she could take a beating for James. He did it all the time now it was her turn.
"Why did you lie? I could have handled it." James says.
"James it's okay father thinks I was the one to call outsiders." Lauren says.
James had found a phone in their parents room. He didn't know what to do with it but he remembered Kiana telling him that is he ever needed help to call 911. So he did, he called them not sure what to expect.
"Lauren." James says sadly.
"James please leave before father sees you." Lauren pleads.
"I'm really sorry Lauren." James says. With that he goes to do his chores.
Lauren was in the quad for awhile before the door finally opened. Mike walks in with a whip. Lauren wanted to cry at the sight of it. She knew nothing good could come from this.
"Stand up." Mike says. Lauren stands up. She has her head down and her hands at her side.
Mike walks over to Lauren and lifts her shirt. Lauren jerked at the touch.
"Down." Mike says. Lauren gets down on her knees. She had water in her eyes and was now shaking.
"Father I'm sorry." Lauren says. She was regretting this. Mike takes the whip and it his Lauren on her back. She cries out.
"You are nothing like your brother, he could take this." Mike says.
Lauren was somewhat glad that she was the one getting whipped and not James. He had done so much that it didn't faze him anymore. She knew then that she was going to protect her brother a lot more.
End of flashback
"Lauren?" Jamie ask. Lauren hadn't realized she zoned out.
"Yes?" She ask. Jamie held out her hand. She had a small necklace it was shaped like the sun.
"Where did you find this?" Lauren ask.
"It was in the quad. Mother saw me with it and said that it belonged to my sister." Jamie says. Lauren smiles.
She had found that necklace hanging from a tree. She kept it because she thought it represented her in a way.
"Keep it." Lauren says. Jamie smiles. "Look you smiled."
"I'm sorry for being mean." Jamie says. Lauren doesn't respond she grabs Jamie and Lucas and pulls them into a hug.
"We're family kid. It's going to happen." Lauren says. "Just know I'm here for you."
"Do we have anymore siblings?" Lucas ask. Lauren feels her throat tighten.
"Yea one more. He's the oldest out of all of us." Lauren says.
"What is his name?" Jamie ask.
"It was James." She says sadly. "He died." Jamie and Lucas both looked sad at the news.
"Can you tell us about him?" Jamie ask. Lauren nods her head.
"Yea I can tell you all about him."
________________________
Shall we meet again
🥀
