The Lake House [ Justin Bieber ]

twenty one.

Ana

I still felt sick. The morning before, Lisa had found me asleep in the bathroom and ordered me to spend the day in bed. I was waiting in Dad's car to go to school and the bitter taste was still at the back of my throat; like I was going to throw up. I stared down at my hands, willing myself to relax.

Dad got into the driver's seat, handing me an apologetic bagel. "I'm not hungry." I said quietly. He continued to stare at me before I gave in. "Fine." I took the wrapped up breakfast from him.

"I don't know what to do to make this better."

I shrugged. "I don't expect you to." I mumbled. "Not much to do anyway."

Dad frowned, running a hand over my head. We drove most of the way in silence. On the bright side, it was Friday so I had the whole weekend to just lie in bed and do nothing.

"Dad?" I finally said when we were close to school.

"Yeah kid?"

"How do you catch someone for, y'know, child abuse?" I took the inside of my lip in between my teeth.

Dad paused, taken aback. "Um, well..." He said slowly. "I'm not sure what you can do without proof. Why are you asking? Ana, if there's something you need to tell me..."

I almost told him. Almost. "No, Dad. I was just thinking about this movie I was watching yesterday while I was home. I just can't stop thinking about it." I lied.

"Well, like I said, you need proof."

"What if it happened, like, a really long time ago and there is no proof?"

Dad sighed thoughtfully. "Unless there's no concrete evidence, then there's really nothing you can do. You'd need the victim to come out and admit it and even then, it could be hard to prove."

So basically, this was all in Justin's hands. There was nothing I could do myself. My stomach started flipping again.

"Are you sure everything's okay?"

I chuckled bitterly. "Besides the fact that I was dumped yesterday, everything's great."

"Have a good day." Dad frowned. "Love you."

"You too." I mumbled.

As much as I wanted to avoid Justin at all costs, I needed to speak with him. I wondered if I just approached him head on, if he would admit to it. But I knew better than to think he would do that.

Maybe I could just ignore it. If Richard did abuse him, it couldn't be a recent thing. Justin was far too old and even too strong, to just let his uncle manipulate him physically. He could take Richard out with a couple of punches. I hoped.

But I was too good of a person to just ignore it. I couldn't just sit by when I had this nagging feeling hanging over my head. I wasn't going to be pushy. I just needed Justin to confirm or deny my beliefs. To come to terms with it.

I sat in the back of my physics lab staring into space. Gavin was next to me, working on the assignment our teacher left for the sub. Gavin was chattering away about something, I could tell it was his attempt at making me feel better.

"Missed you yesterday." Gavin kicked my leg, snapping me out of my trance. "Had to sit at lunch alone." He handed me his complete classwork.

I sent him a grateful smile, transferring the answers to my own paper. "Sorry. I wasn't feeling well when I woke up yesterday so my stepmom sent me back to bed."

Gavin nodded, grinning over at me. "I understand that feeling."

I raised an eyebrow. "So who broke your heart back in New York?"