AN: So sorry about no update for so long! I've had them scheduled and forgot where I left off and to check! They should be weekly from now on as before :)

TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF ABUSE

Once we woke up, we went downstairs and saw a note on the fridge saying, "May said she was fine with it, so we both called in and excused your absences! :)" We looked at the time and saw it was 8:24, then pulled out some bowls, spoons, and cereal. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Skype.

"Okay! I'm up :0 Alex is still here though if you wanna wait a little for her to go?" I put my phone down before returning to my cereal, making sure my sound was on.

"So." I looked at Alex.

"So?"

"So, you text Harper?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, I did. She said last night that she plans to be at a park the whole day, so I could just text when I woke up, but forgot and just did."

"You never said who Harper was." Scarlett ran upstairs from the small, single room basement where she slept. It's basically just the size of a fairly big bedroom, so she has it all to herself.

"Yeah, and I'm never going to." I tilted my head at her, silently challenging her to try to get me to talk. She shook her head.

"Whatever, I'm going to Milo's. Tell mom, or don't, I don't care, bye." She tossed keys up in the air and walked out the garage door. She and Milo claim they're soulmates, but the rest of us highly doubt it.

"She's going to be in major trouble with mom later, isn't she?"

"Oh, you can bet she is. Especially for illegally driving." I got up and went over to mom's room which is on the ground floor. I knocked and poked my head in, simply said, "Scar went to Milo's," and heard mom's groan of annoyance as she got up. I left the door open as I went back to the kitchen, sitting on my bar stool at the counter again. As I sat down, my phone went off and I saw it was from Harper.

"Hey!! If it's okay with you, could we chat as soon as possible?" I frowned. Was something wrong? I glanced at Alex to see her on her phone, presumably texting her own soulmate.

"Did she take my car?" I looked behind me to see my mom finishing putting on a sweater without a shirt underneath, grabbing her bag, and searching it.

"Yup, she did. Milo lives on Erie!" I called out as she rushed outside.

"Thanks!" Then the door slammed shut.

"Well, that was a fun sleepover as always, but I'm going to get out of your hair and go to the park. You're more than welcome to come after you two Skype." Alex got up, put her dishes in the sink, then left, hugging me on her way out. I unlocked my phone.

"Okay, back! Alex left and no one else is home, so we can chat now, if that's okay?" Not even 20 seconds later my phone started vibrating in my hand with the Skype call sound. I accepted and turned on video, waiting for her to accept. She did, and we saw each other. I smiled at her, a nervous wreck inwardly. I stopped smiling when I realized her eyes were puffy and red, like she had just been crying.

"What happened? What's wrong? Tell me what's going on?" My eyes kept bouncing around the whole screen of her, and she laughed.

"I love your accent!"

"Oh, my accent? I asked you a question and that's how you respond, huh?" I acted like I was pouting.

"Okay, okay, fine. I couldn't come up with another way to say I liked your voice, as it is my first time hearing it." She laughed again, and I smiled widely.

"Well, I'm glad you're laughing and all happy, but seriously, why do you look like you've been crying?"

"Is it possible to just not mention my mess of a face and talk about other things?" Harper hid behind her hair, but I could see she was doing something with her eyebrow. Was she picking at it? I moved to the table, using a kickstand so I didn't have to hold it.

"Nope, not possible." I slammed my palm on the table for emphasis, but she flinched a little, and I winced. "Sorry... Anyway, why were you crying?"

"It- It's nothing I swear, you don't need to worry about it, it'll pass."

"Okay, I know you weren't crying because of pain from cramps or anything, because if it was that intense I would feel it, too, and I didn't, so please just tell me-"

"Agh! Why do you ruin everything!" Scarlett interrupted, screaming at the top of her lungs as she entered from the garage door, making me flinch.

"Excuse me, ruin?! Sorry for not wanting my second teenage daughter to be having sex every single time she leaves the house with a guy she's convinced is her soulmate but most likely isn't!"

I shrunk in my chair, putting my head flat on the table. Did she seriously have to mention sex, now of all times? When I'm Skyping my soulmate for the first time?

"Mom!" I hissed in a whisper, but Scarlett kept mom's attention off me. 

"What would you do if we were soulmates, huh?! If you knew for a fact we were soulmates how would you feel about us having sex five times a day? I bet you and dad were the same way anyway!" And I thought she was already screaming at the top of her lungs, wow. And I sure was flinching a ton.

"Your father is a deadbeat and abused you both when you weren't even two months old after meeting you for the first time and already had Callie! Do not tell me what we were like when we were young!" I peaked through my arms to see mom's face as Scarlett's very name, and saw she looked like she was going to break down.

Mom deflated on a bar stool at the counter and covered her face with her hands. "Go to your room." Scarlett sharply inhaled, ready to argue already.

"Dad, or should I say El-"

"You're fucking grounded!" I flinched as mom smacked her palms on the counter while standing hard enough to sound like pans hit each other. "You are not leaving this house once outside of school hours for the next month." Mom was breathing heavily and we were all so silent she didn't need to raise her voice, let alone yell. "I will take you to school and pick you up every day the minute the bell rings, and I'll be taking your phone for two months starting 6 A.M. tomorrow. Now go. To. Your. Room." Mom's voice was now ice.

Scarlett frowned with such hate and screamed. She started stomping to her room, yelling "This isn't fair!"

Mom stood up from the chair and sped to the stairs without going down. "You accepted the punishment the second you decided to break the most important and enforced damn rule in the house!" I heard Scarlett's door at the bottom of the stairs slam and sighed. Mom jumped and looked at me, probably just seeing me.

"Oh, Callie..." She sighed and took a step toward me, knowing that every time dad is mentioned I hide in my shell, but grabbing my phone I stood quickly, making the chair fall behind me. 

"Save it, I'm going out. Alone. I won't be with Alex so don't bother." I grabbed my keys on my way out and drove in the opposite direction of the park Alex was going to be at. We have a silent agreement that each park is for a specific mood. I parked and walked to the swings, sitting down on one. 

"Callie?" My eyes widened at Harper's soft voice, remembering we were on a call so she heard all of it. I turned on my phone, seeing Harper as my camera automatically turned on.