Mateo's POV
"What was that?" I ask confused. I turn to the others and see them with confused faces too.
"Couldn't tell you." Angelo says walking by me. I grab the back of his shirt collar and pull him back into the kitchen.
"Get back here." I cross my arms and block the exit.
"She's been like that all day." Jax says.
"She wasn't like that in chorus." Cristina adds.
"What period was chorus?" Xavier asks.
"Third. Then fourth period and lunch." She replies.
"So something happened in fourth period." I say.
"Obviously. Can I go now?" Angelo says trying to walk away but I stop him.
"Do you know something?" I ask him. He just lifts his eyebrows.
"No, I just don't care. She'll be fine by tomorrow morning." He shrugs.
"She was also late to lunch." Claudio says, looking down on his phone. "Dunno if that'd help much though." I raise my eyebrows slightly.
"So a teacher held her back. She's mad about being corrected. Glad we figured that out." Angelo eyes rolls and I glare at him. He definitely knows something. I put my hands in my pants pockets and raise an eyebrow.
"Ten." I start to count.
"What are you doing?" He questions.
"Nine."
"Why are you counting backwards?"
"Eight."
"I swear I don't know anything!" He says and puts his hands up.
"Seven."
"I'm being totally and completely honest, Teo."
"Six."
"Aye aye calm down."
"Five."
"I'm being serious man! I don't know anything!"
"Four."
"Why are you still counting?!"
"Three."
"Teeoooo."
"Two." I pause. "On-"
"God fine! So all I know is that I was waiting for her at her class and she got held back. I heard the teacher bring up our parents or whatever and she stormed out." He says and eye rolls. "Can I go now?" He says.
"Why did you feel the need to hide that?" I ask him. He just shrugs looking down then walks away.
It was obvious whatever the teacher said aggravated him too. When it comes to our parents, both Cat and Angel are effected the most. He locked himself in his room for weeks and Cat would always be scared we'd abandon her too. They looked up to our parents the most, and to see them walk out, and wake up to them not there... that changes a person.
Angelo was always doing things with our dad. Playing football, video games, fixing cars and things. Hell, he'd even help our dad do his police work. Angelo saw our dad as his role model and to have your role model just walk out, it hurts. I understand why our mom left, but not our dad. He was a good guy, he wouldn't walk out on his family... at least I didn't think so.
Catalina on the other hand... our mother hated her the most out of the triplets. She was always physically and verbally abusing them. Cat got it worse though, I could never figure out why. Her attitude maybe? I was never sure why our mother hated them so much... Our dad always stood close by though, ready to stop our mother if she took it too far, it got to that point a few times. He was protective over the three of them.
There's a long silence between all of us.
"I'll talk to her..." I speak up and take my hands out of my pockets. I walk to her room and knock a few times.
"Yes?!" I hear her shout, muffled and aggravated.
"Can I come in, princesa?" I ask leaning against the wall by the door.
"It's locked."
"Can you unlock it?" I ask.
"I-I'd rather not." She says and I realize she might be crying.
"Catalina, c'mon talk to me. What happened today?" I ask and lean my head against the wall too.
"Nothing fucking happened! I'm fine!" She shouts and I take a deep breath.
"You know you can talk to me, right? Don't keep it bottled up." I say. There's a pause for a few seconds. "I love you." I say as a last attempt to get her to unlock the door. I wait a few seconds. As I go to turn around she opens the door.
"Are you ready to talk?" I ask and she nods wiping away a few tears. I wipe away a few of her tears then walk into her room and shut the door.
"So what happened, babygirl?" I say sitting down next to her. She pauses for a few seconds before she tells me.
"And I guess her comment kinda just-" She stops and sniffles, she looks up trying to stop the tears. She starts to fidget with her ear. "It just kinda stuck with me I guess." She says and starts crying again. I hug her and rub her back for a few minutes till she stops.
"Would they be disappointed in me? I mean I know mom would be, but would dad?" She sits up and asks me.
"Are you crazy? Dad wouldn't be disappointed in you. The idiot would praise you for your attitude." I joke with her and she laughs a little. There's another pause and I see her trying to form the right words.
"I miss them." She says and hugs me.
"I miss them too... but mom, she never treated you three right." I hug her back. "She doesn't deserve to see you guys grow up. And she definitely doesn't deserve to have the title as our mother." I say and rub her back. I kiss her forehead as she sits back up.
"I know." She says quietly.
"I love you. We all do, okay?" I say and squeeze her hand. She just nods then pauses for a few seconds.
"I love you too." I smile at her then stand up.
"I need to go change, are you okay now?" I ask and she nods. "Okay, I'll be downstairs soon if you need anything." I say and walk out of the room.
Flashback (Start Song Now)
I open the door and see Leon with puffy red eyes, pacing in the kitchen.
"Teo?" He says and stops biting his fingernails. "Why're you here it's... 3 a.m." He says looking at the microwave for the time.
"Shouldn't you be in bed right now?" I ask taking off my coat. I ignore his question.
"Shit! You're soaking wet, mom's going to mad if you track mud-"
"I know mom and dad left." I say and lean against the counter.
"How?" He asks biting his nails again.
"Xavier called me."
"Oh..." His eyes start watering. There's a pause as before I notice tears rolling down his face.
"It's going to be alright, hermano. I'll make sure it is." I pull him into a hug as he starts crying. (brother)
It hurts to see the happiest person you know crying. Leon's always smiling and trying to make everyone else smile, so to see him full on crying hurts... it hurts a lot. It doesn't help that the ones who's causing him to cry, is our parents.
"I know you will. You always manage to make things better." He pulls away and chuckles. I give him a small smile.
"Do you know where Xavier is?" I say and hear three little kids start crying. "Wait, the three of them are up?" I ask raising my eyebrows.
"Yeah... uh, mom, she kinda hit Claudio and Cristina." He pauses.
"What about Catalina?" I ask walking to their room, Leon follows me.
"Long story short... Cat tried to stop them from going and Mom... strangled her." He says and my eyes go wide.
"She did what?!" I kinda shout and run up the stairs and into the triplets room. I see Xavier looking exhausted, Cristina crying on the floor, Claudio crying in Xavier's lap, and Catalina hyperventilating.
"Hey hey, Cat, babygirl. Calm down, okay? Mateo's here." I say and go to pick her up and she kind of flinches as I go near her. "I'm not going to hit you Cat." I say and pick her up. She cries into my shoulder and I rock her a little.
"Hey Claudio, come over here." I say sitting down on the bed. Claudio wipes his tears away and walks over to me. "Are you okay buddy?" I ask and pick him up. He just gives me a sad look.
I look at Xavier and Leon and see them both falling asleep. I take in a deep breath.
"You two, go to bed. I got them." I say and Xavier tries to protest. I raise an eyebrow, signaling him to go. He nods then follows Leon out of the room.
"Are you okay now, Claudio?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "What's wrong?"
"My head hurts." He says.
"What happened?"
"Mommy hit me." He says and starts tearing up again.
"Do you want ice?" He nods. I look at Cat and Cris, wondering how I'm supposed to do this. "Claud, can you do me a small favor?" He nods. "Can you try and help calm your sister down?" I say and look at Cris.
He nods his head then jumps off my lap. I stand up and walk down stairs for three ice packs. I quickly come back upstairs and give one to Claudio.
"Hey Cristina." I say sitting down next to the two of them. "Are you okay princess?" I ask and she nods her head and continues playing with Claudio.
"Does anything hurt?" I ask and she nods her head looking at me.
"My cheek. Mommy slapped me." She says and I raise my eyebrows. I hand her the ice pack and she continues playing. I sit on the bed and go to put Cat down but she clings onto me and starts hyperventilating again.
"Hey hey what's wrong Cat?"
"Don't go." She cries.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here and I'll stay right here ." I say and she slowly let's go and sits normally in my lap. "Did mom hit you?" I ask and she nods.
"My neck." She points to her neck. It looks kind of red and a bruise looks to be forming already.
"Does it hurt?" She nods. I give her the ice pack and lay her down. After a few minutes she falls asleep. I sigh and look at all three of them.
"What am I going to do now." I say to myself as I try to figure out the best plan.
End of Flashback
I shake my head and try to forget about that night. I walk downstairs and see Cat on the couch with Claudio and Cristina. I can tell by their faces they're watching Pirates of the Caribbean. I smile to myself then walk over to the kitchen, where Xavier and Leon are.