We ran all the way to the Bradford School Pennsylvania and sat on a bench facing the river. Andrew Cole holds me close to him, I don't care right now. He was the closets thing I had to comfort me with out troubling my friends,

"Remi, I'm here for you if you want to talk." He says gently

For the first time, I'm seeing the sincere side of Andrew Cole, the not so bad boy type.

"It's hard." I cry

"It was hard for me too when my dad left." He says

"I saw him for the first time in three years last week, he pretended to not know his own son." His eyes drifted down to the grass in front of us

I look at him while he stares back at the river,

"When he left I started acting out and I can't tame myself, I'm out of my own control." He looks at me

"So you turned to drugs." I say

"You really don't know me, do you Mallas?" He questions

"I always just thought that you did." I say quietly

"Many people think that since I skip school,  get into fights, maybe steal stuff here and there that I do drugs or I'm mental. It's a misunderstanding. My mom— she's so close to death Remi and I feel like I can't do anything about it so I go out to distract myself." His voice shakes and I stare into his ice blue eyes speechless, I feel bad that I assumed he turned to drugs

"She was a long time alcohol addict until she went into rehab and she found out she had stage three liver cancer. My dad left because she had no control, he left me to deal with my dying mother."

"I-I'm sorry Andrew Cole." I felt tears escape my eyes and I look down

What kind of man leaves his fourteen year old son alone with his dying mother, not a penny left behind for his mother's health care or anything, then he appears in his life and pretend not to know his own son.

"Why are you crying Mallas." He questions lifting my chin so I look at him

"I just never thought that you out of all people would go through something like that—in my eyes you had a perfect life. You're so strong for opening up to me like this Andrew Cole." I hug him,

"I've never told anyone about that, and that's not even the full story." He lets go of me

"Let's talk about you." He says

"There's really nothing to know, my brother's dead, my mom left my dad and I. Now my dad is trying to get his girlfriend and her daughter to move in, so I ran away and I think I'll just keep running." I say

"You can't keep running away from things that scare you." His eyes pierce through my skin, he looks his hands interlock it with mine, our eyes meet again

"Is this right?" I ask softly

"Us running away from your grandma? No—"

"Not that..you're supposed to hate me Andrew Cole. This-this isn't— it's not what—you're just supposed to hate me. That's how it's worked." I sigh getting my hand lose from him

"I never hated you Remi, it's a shame you even think that." His eyes get sad again

"It was just an impression, you just seemed like you hated me. Calling me a bitch and stuff like that." I say

"I-i don't know how to reply to that." He sighs

I sit there with my head down, a few seconds pass, I stayed quiet for an awkward amount of time,

"I know sorry won't make up for it, maybe I cou—" he pauses

"Never mind, we should get back to your grandma. I don't want her thinking you ran away with me." He sighs

I nod and stand up,

__________________________________

I make it home with my grandma and I sure did get an earful.

"I'm so glad that Cole boy was so nice to convince you to come back." She says

My eyes were puffy and my nose was all red,

"Go get ready for bed, I know you don't want to stink tomorrow for school."

"Oh right, school." I sigh

"Go on and get ready for bed." She motions me to go and I walk up the stairs and get ready for bed, I lay there for a few minutes in my room with the moon as my only source of light.

"Remi?" I hear my grandma

I sigh, "Come in."

My grandma comes in and turns on the light and rub my eyes trying to adjust to the light.

"Remi, your mother came over. She wants to have a few words with you." My grandma smiles,

"Ok, she can come in." I frown slightly and look at the floor

I see my mothers shadow come into the room and hear the door close behind her,

"Remi, can you please look at me?" My mom asks softly

I look up at my mom and she sighs,

"I'm sorry." She says

I nod my head not knowing what to say,

"I'm sorry for always disappearing but I want you to know why I did it, you don't have to forgive me or anything. You don't even have to let me continue." She says

"Keep going." My voice shook

She lets out a deep breath

"Do you remember when I left about five years ago on a year long trip back to Oregon with grandma?" She asks

"Yeah?" I say

"I found out I was pregnant with your dad's third kid, I thought he would be mad about having another kid. After he was born I left him there with your aunt, and he's coming down tomorrow."

"Why did you leave after Koa then? We needed you, I needed you." I ask

"I left your father because I couldn't take being here when I knew one of my babies didn't know about his older brother or about his d-death. I went back last week to bring him back, but your aunt wanted one more week with him. I understand if you don't want to meet him, but if you wa—"

I pull my mom into a hug and cry,

"Remi?" She asks quietly

"Can I meet him?" I ask

"Of course Remi." She hugs me tighter

__________________________________

My mom picks me up from my grandmas house and we make our way to the Pittsburg International Airport,

"He should be here." My mom says impatiently

"Mommy!" I hear a squeak from behind me and I turn around and tap my mom to turn around

I see a little boy with a small rollable luggage with curly black hair, he looked so much like Koa that it hurt,

"Oliver!" My mom says happily

The little boy jumps up on her and I've never seen my mom more happy,

"Oliver, meet your sister Remi." My mom turns to me

I see his eyes light up and he smiles, my mom sets him down and he stands he and I kneel down,

"Nice to meet you I'm Rem—"

"I love you Remi." He hugs me

I feel my heart melt, within second this kid gives me a hug and tells me he loves me. I can't deny that he looks exactly like Koa when we were kids. I smile and hug him, I've had a little brother this whole time.

"Mommy can we get some food?" He stops hugging me and looks at our mom

She nods and I stand up,

"You want a piggy back ride?" I ask Oliver

He nods and jumps up,

We walk out of the airport and drive around the city.

"Hey Oliver, can I call you Ollie?" I ask

"Oo! That sounds cool! Yes call me Ollie!" He smiles

I smile back and ruffle his hair. Was this real?