Chapter Three: "Andy"

"Did you really threaten to kill her?" Detective Jim stared blankly at the teenager who sat right in front of him. She had her beautiful, black, long hair in a tight ponytail, her bright blue eyes were fixed on the detective, it was almost like a staring contest between the two of them.

Detective Jim looked at how grown up the girl had become, from when he had met her as a child to now becoming a teenager. Detective Jim had made it his personal responsibility to keep the brat out of trouble, but the child really loved to attract trouble to herself, just like how she did ten years ago when we was accused of murdering her guardian.

Despite all the facts and orders from his superiors, detective Jim was hell bent on proving those facts wrong. Something about that teenager screamed 'innocent' and all he wanted to do was guide her, protect her and show her the love she might not ever receive.

"Yes I did" she nodded as she peeled her eyes away from the detective, looked past him and had her gaze locked somewhere else, staring blankly into space.

Detective Jim hated this side of her the most, that depressing side, he never wanted to see her hurt.

"Andrea.."

However, the detective couldn't even find words to say, he had been advising her for a while and all seemed vain. He looked at his wrist watch, after he read the time, he stood up and smiled at the teenager.

"I'll be leaving now"

"Detective" Andrea stood up in tow "you should stop trying to prove my innocence, I killed the man, you shouldn't try to prove otherwise, I don't care"

There was no point in trying to prove anything, Andrea knew what she was getting herself into ten years ago but she still walked right into the den of lions. Sitting idly and watching the detective play with his life wasn't what she would call fun, for years he was one of the few people that showed her nothing but love, she did not want to lose him as well.

"You shouldn't be scared of that, I'm not dying anytime soon and you didn't kill him, I promise you" he patted her head and walked away right after he gave her one last look.

Andrea watched him as he walked out of her sight, she heaved a sigh of relief, and also walked out of the office. She adjusted her uniform and dried the tears that flowed down her eyes, her mind was blank, her head was heavy.

For a while she didn't know what she was feeling, she wasn't sad about the fact that her schoolmates were scared of her, nor was she angry that they chose to bully her for the mistake she committed years ago. She wasn't happy that the detective found her treasurable nor was she happy that her uncle had been the one taking care of her for the past ten years. Andrea didn't know what she was feeling but she knew she was feeling something, something that made her tears flow freely.

"Andy"

Andrea looked up from her shoes and her eyes met the worried expression on her cousin's face. Her cousin was also another person that had shown her affection despite the disapproval of her parents, her cousin, Lucy.

"Did Jim say anything to hurt you, why are you crying?" Lucy asked as she dramatically flipped her hair off her shoulders to focus on Andrea.

Lucy's blonde hair glistened in the light, her hair was even straighter than her straight A's, there was concern etched in her expression, no matter how dramatic she was, she always genuinely cared about Andrea and that was why to Andrea, Lucy was the most special person.

"I just got emotional, Jim is a very important person to me" Andrea sucked in a deep breath and smiled. Then a sudden realization dawned on her "why aren't you in class?"

Though Andrea just came from the principal's office, she was punished and more or less was permitted to skip class, that wasn't the case for Lucy.

"You know me" Lucy took her hand away from Andrea's shoulder, adjusted the rings on her fingers and tugged lightly on her collar

"Drip is my thing" she said with a smug look.

"Drip has nothing to do with you skipping class, what if Bree finds out?" Bree and not her parents, the last people Lucy was scared of were her parents but it wasn't the same with her adopted sister Bree, Lucy was petrified of her.

Initially, Bree was the daughter of Lucy's mother's best friend, until she died and Lucy's mother adopted her. Bree was the aloof type of person, always with herself and stingy with words but that didn't stop her from discipling the twins, Bree was the disciplinarian of the family, Andrea always avoided crossing her.

As expected Lucy re-adjusted her uniform and looked around as if Bree lurked in the corners, she was especially scared

"It's not like I did it on purpose, I was sent out because I was worried about you, Bree would understand, she's also very worried about you"

That statement caused an uncomfortable feeling to rise in Andrea's gut.

Though having someone genuinely care about you was everyone's wish, it wasn't so for Andrea, especially when the person doing the caring was Bree.

Andrea could never picture Bree caring for anyone else other than herself. Bree didn't seem like the self centered type but the neutrality she showed towards the affairs of the world was enough for someone like Andrea to mark her off as self centered.

"Bree doesn't care about me, what happened to

her reflection?" Andrea chuckled as she waved Lucy off

"I'm serious, ever since she was adopted nine years ago you guys never spoke a word to each other" They both started walking to the cafeteria. In less than ten minutes, it would be lunch break, so they decided to go to the cafeteria since they were both sent out of the class. That was a tacit understanding that existed between them, the type that didn't need words to be spoken.

Andrea listened, at least tried to listen as Lucy bragged about how awesome Bree was.