Kate's POV
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I walk back in the house to see Connor sitting in the living room with all of his friends minus Carter. I knew he wouldn't be there since I just walked back from his house. I was lucky Carter saved me and then let me stay at his house for the rest of the day. I try to walk past them but someone grabs my arm.
"Where were you" Connor growled, I glared at him.
"No, where the hell were YOU, when I was being choked out in the fucking hallway" I said poking his chest, all of the anger came bubbling to the surface. Years worth of anger and confusion on why my own twin didn't love me enough to protect me from his friends.
"How is it on me? You were the one who didn't fight didn't fight back!" He said, I knew there were other people in the room, but I couldn't give one flying fuck.
"Oh I don't know, because I thought maybe my own flesh and blood would stick up for me for once or because everytime I have fought back I would get hurt more. Remember Seth's house?" I said bring up the painful memory from when we were 14.
"It's not on me to protect you Kate, and it's not my fault you came home late that day and Seth did what he did!" Connor screamed at me.
"Actually Connor I think you forgot who we are, we are foster kids. I'm all you had for 10 fucking years. You know you would be dead if it weren't for me, so yes I would like for my brother to stop someone from attacking me. And it wasn't my fault either what Seth did, it was yours! You had your friend drive me home and he attacked me, making me late!" I yell back, I shaking in anger.
"Don't you bring up us being foster kids, we have a family now Kate! They want us, but you are to fucking blind to see that!" He yell back and waved his arms around to show the house we are in.
"Connor you have a family. I have been here for less than a week and I already being call a monster and being physically assaulted in the school halls! And you haven't done anything about it. In fact it was your friend who stepped in and stopped the asshole from killing me instead of you! So please explain to me what I have done to make you hate me and not want to protect me!" I scream, hot tears were streaming down my face and onto the floor. Connor went silent, he had his mouth open but nothing came out. He finally was seeing it.
"I'm going to go see mom's grave. Maybe by the time I get back you will realize what it's been like for me" I say calm and walk out. Carter is standing on the porch, he must had heard everything. I tried to smile but I couldn't.
"Come here" He said calmly and pulled me into his chest, I barely knew the guy but I felt ok with him protecting me. I had a death grip on his shirt to keep him from leaving me. I needed someone who actually seemed to care. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother but I forgot how abandoned he made me feel when stuff like this happened. It had been like this since my parents died. I would get bullied and be friendless, while Connor would hang with the popular kids who harassed me.
"Wanna talk about it?" He asked stroking my hair, I shook my head no and pulled him closer.
"I-I need time alone. Thank you Carter" I pulled away and gave him a small smile. He nodded and he walked into the house. I walked along the sidewalk and too the bus stop. The bus so came and I got on.
2 Hours later I was sitting next to my mom's grave. It was getting dark outside but I needed to see her, she would hate seeing me and Connor fight. She always told us we were each others protectors. I took that to heart, Connor didn't. I started playing with mom's necklace, it was the last thing I have of hers.
"I don't know what to do Momma... Everything is just so fucked up. This was never supposed to happen, I wish you stayed home that night. If you did, you and Dad wouldn't have fought, he wouldn't have gotten drunk, and he wouldn't have crashed the car. I try not to hate Dad, but it's hard. Because of his drinking choices you died and we all paid the price. I think you and Dana would have been friends, her personality is a lot like yours. I like Dana, she's nice, but I don't want to replace you. I know you would want me to move on and be happy, but I can't. I needed you. Connor called her mom, and he can't even see why I would be upset over it. He expects me to just move in there and immediately act like I'm apart of their family, he lived there for a year. I've lives there for a week, and the only person besides Dana who has acted like they care was Connor's friend Carter. He was nice to me when I was an asshole to him. He was the one who stood up for me when Connor wouldn't, I bet you would like Carter. He is probably the guy you would tease me about and tell me I should date him. I barely know him but he makes me feel safe, Connor never did that. Now that I think about it Connor is selfish, he never did anything to protect me. He always told his friends to leave me alone but they would mess with me anyway and he did nothing to stop them. Why did this happen to our family? We were happy, but then our whole world got ripped out from under us. I wish it was me, you didn't deserve death. I have done so many fucked up things, I'm a horrible person. I wish I was dead." I spilled all of my feeling to my mom's grave and continued fidgeting with her necklace.
The sun was setting, I should find a place to stay tonight. I wasn't going to go back to that house tonight. Luckily I hold my wallet with me. I walked to a motel and get a room for $20, you're supposed to be 18 to get a room but the guy didn't ask me. I walked into the gross room and sat down on the bed. My life was a fucking mess.
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Carter's POV
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I stood outside Jackson's house as I heard Kate and Connor scream at each other.
Before Kate came to live with Jackson and his family, Connor would talk so highly of her, but he seems to hate her now. I wonder who Seth was, I wanted to ask Kate, but it sounded like a very sensitive subject. I listened to the whole fight from the porch, the hurt in Kate's voice was clear. Who else was in there listening to this? I knew Dana and Daniel were out tonight, and Jackson was having people over. I racked my brain for who all was invited. Then Kate walked out of the house and faced me, the hurt on her face scared me. I knew she needed comfort, so I opened my arms for her.
"Come here" she basically ran into my arms, she wasn't crying but I could tell she was upset. Kate's delicate arms were wrapped around my neck and she was gripping my shirt to keep me there, under different circumstances I would tell her how cute it was, but she probably didn't want to hear that right now. I had my arms lightly resting around her waist, her side was probably still hurt from whatever happened and I didn't want to make it worse. There was another new bruise though from when Anthony attacked, it made my blood boil.
I worked up the courage to speak again, "Wanna talk about it?" she immediately shook her head no and I left it alone. Kate obviously wanted to be perceived as a strong person, but as I got closer to her it became clear how broken she was.
"I-I need time alone, thank you Carter" She said with a forced smile and she walked away. I loved how she said my name, well not love, but I definitely liked it. I walked into the house and saw Connor downing a beer and everyone looking shocked. Blake looked completely horrified, no one was expecting for them to say what they did. I took my usual seat next to Blake.
"You good" I asked in a hushed tone.
"I-i thought it would be funny when I grabbed Kate's thigh one day and she reacted horribly. I think she just told us all Connor's old friend raped her" he whispered with his head in his hands. I hadn't thought of that when she mentioned Connor's friend attacking her, this whole thing keeps getting more and more fucked up.
"Jesus christ, why couldn't he just stick up for her?" I whispered so Connor wouldn't hear me.
"I don't know, but I should probably go apologize to Kate" he whispered finally looking at me. I nodded my head and he got up.
"I'm gonna go home, this was too much" He announced before he left the house. We all sat in silence as Connor continued drinking heavily.
"Connor?" Jackson said shakily, Connor didn't say anything he just looked over to him
"What did Kate mean by the friend attacking her?" He blurted out, my stomach dropped. Would Connor confirm that his sister was raped by his friend? He let out a sigh.
"Yeah, a couple years ago one of my older friends told me he had a crush on Kate and wanted to take her out. Kate would never agree to it so I had him drive her back to our at the time foster home. I thought he would just talk to her and get his feelings out in the open. Instead he beat the shit out of her and raped her in his car. She came home late and I knew what had happened after I saw her, all of her clothes were ripped and she was dripping in blood. Our foster dad, Seth was drunk and pissed she was late. He tried to hit her but she fought back. Seth has enough of her fighting so he smashed a chair over her head and raped her in the kitchen. She was raped twice in under an hour, and I did nothing to stop it. I was scared what would happen to me if I did anything, so I went to my room and listened to her cries." he said while looking down at his beer, his face had no emotion. But everyone else looked to be on the verge of tears. I was just angry, I wanted to kill Connor for letting his sister go through that.
"I just want to understand, why didn't you help her? I mean she isn't that nice, but it's clear she cares about you." Alex choked out, he was clearly about to cry
"I wish I knew, she always seemed to handle the abuse better than me. For some fucked up reason I thought she could handle it." He said looking down. We were all quiet the rest of the evening, Jackson, Connor, and I decided to stay up until Kate got back. Alex left shortly after Connor tried to explain why he did it. I tried texting Blake but he wasn't responding. None of us grew up the way Connor and Kate did, and none of us understood the true horror Connor faced. Let alone Kate, she had been through hell and her brother couldn't even tell people to leave her alone. If he couldn't protect Kate, I would.
It was now 5 in the morning, and zero sign of Kate. Connor was pasted out on the couch, Jackson retreated to his bed and I hadn't slept at all. 3 Hour later the front door opened, in walked a broken looking Kate. I gave her a sympathetic smile and then she looked at Connor and the empty beer bottles on the table. She shook her head and walked upstairs. I decided to follow her and make sure she was ok, but I knew she wasn't. I walked into her room, it definitely fit her personality. It was darker forest tones and had a chill vibe. She sat on the bed with her head in her hands, I closed the door and sat next to her.
"Why does he hate me" She whispered, I didn't know what to say. Before yesterday I would say he doesn't, but now I'm not sure. He didn't even stutter when talking about her rape.
"I'm so sorry Kate, you deserve so much better" I pull her into my side and she starts playing with my shirt. A couple tears fell from her eyes as she tried to calm down. I rubbed her arm gently, her jacker rode up a little and revealed her scarred arms.
"You haven't been cutting again, right?" I ask calmly, she looks away from me and sits up a little.
"I-i tried to stop but last night was so hard" she answers quietly, my heart ached that she felt that was her only way to cope.
"Hey, let's make a deal" I said pulling her into a sitting position next to me. She looked at me strangely.
"Next time you want to hurt yourself instead of doing it you come to me. I hate knowing that you feel it's the only thing you can do and I hate that you have been fighting alone. But now you have me, so promise me that you will come find me next time you want to" I say, her eyes tear up a little but she looks away, we both stay quiet for a minute.
"But I thought you don't do promises" she said with a confused look, I sighed remembering our conversation in my bathroom.
"I was just being an asshole, but I'm serious. I want you to come cry to me instead of hurting yourself." I cupped her check and made her look me in the eyes.
"I promise I will" she said quietly, I smiled at her.
"Why don't you sleep a little, and just so you know. If you need out of this house for a night, you can always come stay a my place. My parents are hardly home and my sister wouldn't care or ask questions" I started to get up, Kate just looked at me. I kiss her forehead and left her in her room. Before I made it to the stairs, Kate grabbed my hand and pulled me into her small frame. We held each other awhile.
"Thank you for everything Carter" She whispered into my neck, I could definitely get used to holding her.
"Anytime, now seriously go sleep. You look like hell" I say with a smirk. She pulled back and had a frown, I couldn't help but laugh. She smiled at me before returning into her room. I looked back at her closed door once last time before returning to the living room.
Connor was still passed out, I rolled my eyes at him before hitting him with a pillow. He groaned and gave me the finger.
"Get up asshat, you smell like booze and Kate is back." I say while cleaning up the bottles.
"What? Where is she?" He asked sitting up.
"In her room probably sleeping, and I recommend you shower before talking to her, she won't enjoy you smelling like that" I threw the bottles away, Connor flips me off before going upstairs. I should go home, Kate knows where to find me if she needs me.
I hated knowing what happened to Kate, and it made me feel even worse for me ripping her jeans of that one day to see her scars. I just hope I can show her how she should be treated.