Khloe
My door opened and Charlie walked in. I froze. I was stood against my desk, flipping through some flash cards. "Hey." I said.
Charlie didn't say anything, instead he looked around my room like he was searching for something that was wrong. Then he barely looked at me before he came towards me and engulfed me in his arms.
At first, I was slightly taken back by this, but I quickly wrapped my arms around him as he held me head to his chest.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
Charlie didn't reply, instead he just stroked his hand through my hair.
I furrowed my eyebrows, but stayed there in his arms. "Is something wrong."
Charlie sighed, but refused to let go of me as I was about to try to pull away. "I just don't want to lose you."
My confusion deepend. "Lose me? You're not going to lose me." I said, trying to sound reassuring.
"I'm so sorry Khloe. I hate this I hate all of it." He said, shaking his head slightly as he stroked my hair as if it was calming him down.
"You don't have to be sorry, Charlie. It's all good. It's no one's fault apart from my own."
Charlie shook his head again. "This wouldn't have happened if we'd paid more attention and you hadn't been treated the way that you were."
I bit my lip. My brother's behaviour towards me wasn't completely the cause of this. There was so many things that contributed to it. Our relationship just didn't help.
"Hey, it's okay." I whispered. "I'm okay."
I pulled away from him to see that he was crying. He had tears streaming down his cheeks and it made my heart hurt. I was making him cry like that. How did this all happen?
I wiped away his tears with my thumb before I threw my arms around him again. "It's all right, there's nothing to worry about anymore. I'm doing better."
I could tell Charlie had rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I've ever believed a single lie you've told me. It's so obvious you're lying right now. I can feel it. You're not telling the truth."
I bit down hard on my lip, hoping he couldn't see it. "I'm getting there." I said, trying not to cry myself. "It's just hard."
Charlie nodded. "I know I don't completely get it because I'm not going through it, but I sort of understand."
I smiled. "That's all I need."
Charlie nodded, sniffling slightly. "I just need you to be okay, I hate seeing you so sick." He said.
My stomach turned at his choice of words and tears brimmed in my eyes and before I knew it, tears were pouring out of my eyes too. Charlie let out a sob, causing me to hold him tighter in my arms.
In that moment the door opened against. I mentally cursed. Could my family learn to knock?
I didn't really want any one else to come in the room right now. I wanted them to leave us alone, but they didn't.
I saw Jake and Tommy walk into my room from over Charlie's shoulder. Jake's eyes instantly saddened from the sight of us. Charlie instantly tried to stop crying when he realised we had company as if he felt he couldn't cry in front of our brothers. Charlie pulled away from me and instantly tried to wipe his tear stained cheeks. When Jake saw this, he instantly went over to Charlie and wrapped his arms around him just like I had done.
I went and sat down on the edge of my bed, attempting to wipe away my own tears that had escaped my eyes.
Tommy came and sat besides me, realising I was trying to hide the fact I had been crying too. He gave me a sad smile before wrapping his arm around me, causing my head to rest on his chest.
"it'll be okay khlo." Tommy whispered to me as I looked at Charlie with concern. He was so upset.
"He's so sad." I said, "I hate it."
Tommy nodded. "I hate it too, but that's okay. It's normal. Plus Dean was a dick to him downstairs."
I furrowed my eyebrows together in concern. "What did Dean do?"
"Don't worry about it, khlo. He's just being a little shit."
I sighed. "He hates me." I said, but instantly regretted saying that because I sounded like a victim. "It's fine."
"No, it's not." Jake said and I noticed that Charlie seemed a lot better now, telling me whatever Jake had said to him had done the trick. The two of them stood looking down at us. " Dean just doesn't know how to react. He can't deal with emotions, that's all this is. He feels helpless so he's trying to deny it." Jake explained. "He'll get over himself soon enough and realise he's been an ass."
Charlie shook his head. "I won't ever forgive him for this."
I bit my lip, this was the last thing I wanted. I had turned Dean and Charlie against eachother.
"I'm sorry." I said. "I shouldn't have said anything to you guys. It would have been better if you didn't know."
Charlie's eyes widened at me. "No, Khloe. We had to know this. Please don't ever say that again. Dean just doesn't understand you or this, but we're trying to. We needed to know this so that we can do everything to help you."
I gave him a small smile. "Thank you." I said.
Charlie smiled back at me and it looked like he hadn't been crying at all. He looked completely fine now.
"Oh yeah." Jake said suddenly and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. "Here." Jake said, throwing an apple towards me. I wasn't ready In time to catch it, but Tommy managed to, handing it to me.
"Thanks I said." but I furrowed my eyebrows. "But why?" I asked.
Jake's face went a bit more stern. "You didn't finish your breakfast."
Charlie matched Jake's face. "You didn't eat any of it." He stated, but I hadn't even realised that.
"Oh, I forgot."I said.
"Gotta eat breakfast, Khlo. It's the most important meal of the day." Tommy said.
I nodded. "Gotcha."
Just then, Charlie's phone buzzed and he checked his notification and then looked at me. "Come on, Khlo. We should get going. We're gonna be late." He said to me.
All of us looked at Charlie in confusion. "Going to be late for what?" Jake asked.
"School, obviously." Charlie said.
"But, we're not leaving until eight forty." Tommy said.
Charlie shook his head. "Khloe and me are getting a ride to school with one of my friends. I can't even look at Chase or Dean right now. I can't be in the same car as them and I don't want Khloe anywhere near them." He said.
Tommy nodded, seemingly understanding. "Who's picking you up?" He asked, asking the question I wanted to ask myself as this was all news to me.
"Jack and Dylan." Charlie said.
I mentally rolled my eyes. I didn't like those two. "They've agreed to give me a lift? Why?" I said.
Charlie shrugged. "Why not? You're my sister, aren't you? They know you, don't they? So what's the problem?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Nothing." I said.
I could tell Charlie could now tell I was lying in a way he wasn't able to before, but he didn't push me. I think he was just satisfied that he could tell I wasn't telling the true.
"Let's go then." He said to me and I nodded, standing up.
I glanced at myself in the mirror and I could tell It was possible to tell that I had been crying, but I didn't do anything to fix it. Instead, I just followed Charlie out of my bedroom.
We walked through the kitchen, not even looking at Chase or Dean before heading to the front door. Charlie shouted over his shoulder to Elliott, telling him we were getting a ride with friends. Then we headed down towards a black car that was parked out front of the house.
The pair of us climbed into the back of the car, saying hey to Jack and Dylan as we buckled in our seat belts. Jack was driving and looked at us in the rear view mirror. I, however, didn't feel like talking to either of them. So I thanked them for the ride in order to be polite and then I put my ear phones in so that I could be successfully ignored.
Charlie
I heard Khloe thank Jack and Dylan for the ride before turning to look out of the window and putting her earphones in. I could tell Jack and Dylan's company weren't the people she wanted to be in the company of right now. I think she just wanted to be left alone, but right now I was scared to leave her.
"Is she okay?" Dylan asked, seeing her in the side mirror.
Khloe didn't notice him.
I shrugged. "We've had a rough morning."
Dylan and Jack nodded.
"I'm glad we could give you a lift then, mate." Jack said.
"What happened?" Dylan asked, obviously far too curious not to ask.
I shrugged again. "My brother's just a bit of a dick to be honest."
They nodded.
"Which one?" Jack asked.
"Dean." I said, rolling my eyes at his name. "He's a jerk."
"Hasn't Dean got a really bad temper?" Dylan said. "I've seen him get into a couple of fights. The person on the other end of his fist didn't come out too good to be honest."
"Yeah, he has. He's not good to get on the wrong side of. Unfortuntely, that's exactly what me and Khloe did this morning. or should I say he got on the wrong side of us." I explained.
"How come?" Jack asked me.
"He said that we were lying about something, but we weren't." I said. "But anyways depending on how my brothers feel, we're thinking of having a party this saturday, if you guys wanna come? Not sure if it's happening yet, but it might be." I said, trying to change the subject.
I didn't want them to ask any questions about what Dean had accused us of lying about. I didn't want them to know what was going on with our family or specifically Khloe. I can only guess Khloe doesn't want anyone else to know, but that's not why I'm not telling them about Dean accusing Khloe of lying about struggling with a mental illness. I want to protect Khloe. She doesn't need anymore judgement or opinion. She needs to forget about everyone else and just focus on herself.
"Cool, we'll be there." Jack nodded, before pulling into the school's parking lot.
We pulled in and Khloe pulled out her ear phones, again quietly thanking Jack and Dylan for the ride and opening the door. I could tell she was planning to rush off so I got out quickly and walked over to her, slinging my arm around her shoulder.
"It'll be alright, Khlo." I whispered to her, figuring she should hear this before disappearing off into her own thoughts. She nodded and gave me a small smile just as Jack and Dylan came besides us and the four of us headed towards the school.
When we walked through the doors, Khloe's friends max and Alex were stood further ahead, chatting. I noticed that Khloe saw them, but didn't say anything. She kept her head down and stayed close to me. It surprised me. I thought she'd jump at the opportunity to escape me and my friends, but she didn't.
"We've got Maths first, haven't we?" Dylan said to us.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, unfortunately."
"That means we're together for first period, Khlo." I said to her, but she just nodded.
I noticed Jack and Dylan looked at each other, they could obviously tell that she was still upset, but they didn't ask anymore questions -- something i was relieved about.
We head straight for the class and walked past Max and Alex without saying a word to them. When we arrived in class, we sat down in our usual seats, which meant i was at the back of the class and Khloe was at the front of the class, sat next to Dylan.
Khloe went straight to her seat without saying anything to us and Dylan followed behind her. I headed to the back of the class with Jack, but he wasn't sat besides me, he was two rows in front. Instead, i found Khloe's friend Taylor was sat next to me. I had forgotten they she sat besides me.
"Hey." I said to her as i sat down.
She looked up and gave me a smile. "Hey, how's you?"
I shrugged, "Alright."
Lie. I was doing awful. But, i guess i was better than Khloe.
"How's Khloe doing? I saw her walk into class, she didn't seem to good."
I shrugged again and wrote the date at the top of my page. "You know, we've got exams. She's stressed about them."
Taylor nodded. "Are you sure that's all? She looks upset about something."
I glanced at Khloe, she was staring into thin air.
"Yeah, it's stress. Our family put a lot of pressure on us to do well."
Taylor raised her eyebrows, unconvinced. "My Dad would ground me for two weeks if i failed anything, I get it. But, this seems like something more. Has she seemed off to you at all?"
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her curiously. What was she implying?
Taylor seemed to catch on. "Addison said something to me, that's all. It just made me a bit worried about Khloe."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "You've spoken to Addison?"
Taylor nodded. "Yeah, Khloe introduced us. We hung out the other night after you and Khloe had that....that fight."
Guilt flooded through me as I thought about that argument for the second time today. I couldn't believe what I did or what I had said to Khloe of all people. I was such a dick.
"i didn't know khloe was back in contact with Addison." I said, irritated. "That girl's a bitch."
Taylor glared at me. "i wouldn't say that."
"That's because you don't know her. She's horrible." I looked at Taylor with annoyance. "What exactly did she tell you?"
Taylor looked like she didn't know whether she should tell me. She sighed slightly. "Maddie said that Khloe had been struggling a lot with the way people percieved her.... saying it affected her badly." Taylor explained.
Maddie knew.
I tried to hide my anger and ran my hand through my hair. "She knew." I whispered.
Taylor looked at me like things were starting to make sense for her. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?"
I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, Khloe told us that night too." I said in disbelief. How did Maddie know, but I didn't? Khloe herself has called Maddie a bitch who is not to be trusted, yet she told Maddie this of all things? What the fuck? She should have told me, that that snake.
Taylor sighed. "Is she still suffering from it? You know...the eating disorder?" She asked.
I shrugged. "It's hard to tell. I know she's suffering, but I can't say I understand it."
Taylor nodded, giving me a sad look. "I'm worried for her."
"So am I." I said.
"I can tell by just looking at her that she's not doing okay." Taylor said to me.
I frowned slightly. "Is it that obvious?"
Taylor nodded, sadly. "Slightly."
I shook my head.
I hate my family.
••••
What do you guys think??
How do you think Charlie's really feeling?
How do you think Khloe's really feeling?
And what are your thoughts on Charlie's comment about Maddie?
Thanks for reading, next chapter is coming soon!!
Xoxo