It was Wednesday. That meant that Luke had Yearbook Committee first thing in the morning at 7:15. She walked downstairs expecting to be alone in the apartment as usual, but she heard the toilet flush in the bathroom. She screamed and fell backwards.

Luke came out laughing. “You okay there, sis?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… why are you still here?”

“School is cancelled today. There was a bomb scare thing early this morning and they decided that all the kids should just stay home. The phone rang at like six thirty.”

“Oh.”

Since Aimie had found out that Eddie was Jackson’s little brother, she was feeling a bit sad. Even though she hadn’t known Eddie very long, he was one of the nicest people she ever met. He was her best friend. He was kind, he was funny, and above all she could be herself around him. And he was Jackson’s brother? Jackson was her worst enemy. He was mean, he was always in trouble, and above all she was more scared of him than anyone else she knew. She decided not to let it bother her, after all Jackson seemed to have gotten a little better although she never saw him, and Eddie wasn’t like him at all anyway. For now she decided to practice her singing. She flipped through her music book and stopped on her favorite song, ‘All I Ask of You’ from Phantom of the Opera. This was what she was playing in the talent show this year, and she needed to practice. It was coming up in a week. She played the first chord on the keyboard in her room and began to sing.

Some time later, Aimie heard the phone ring. She stopped. Who would be calling? Luke picked it up. “Hello?” Aimie picked up the receiver in the living room to listen.
“Hi, Luke.”
“Jackson?”
“Yep. Glad we don’t have school?”
“Sure, I guess…” Zachary was heard in the backround laughing, just like in the car a year ago. “Wait a second, did you two…”
“Yes?” Aimie could almost see Jackson smirking at her through the phone.
“You did! Do you know how much trouble you could get into?” The phone clicked. Jackson had hung up, not wanting to listen to Luke’s lecture.

Aimie began to cry. Jackson hadn’t changed, if anything he had gotten worse. Why did he have to be Eddie’s brother? Luke ran into the room, hearing her sobs.

“Aimie, what’s wrong?” He looked confused.

She just shook her head. How did Luke deal with this? Well, he was older than her. He had to be braver than her. Did Eddie know what happened? How would Eddie deal with it? Eddie would probably laugh to himself, thinking about how stupid of an idea this was, and say to himself, ‘Not my problem.’ Aimie felt the sudden urge to show both Eddie and Luke how brave she was. But she wasn’t, so she couldn’t. She cried harder.