Of course, Ms. Pierce had gotten word about what happened between Sage and my mom, and decided to give us her office to have someone on one time together. I was still in shock when Ms. Pierce left the office but at least my mom was now seated instead of pacing.

"Tell me," I managed to get out, my voice just barely a whisper. 

My mom's leg was shaking from anxiety.

"Tell you what?"

I looked at her incredulously. "Mom, why do I have a twin sister I don't know about? How did this happen? I want to know and I want to know now." My voice was no longer quiet and it was me who was now shaking. 

I got up to take my turn at pacing while I waited for her to answer. She must have known I wasn't playing around because she started with a tale I had never heard before.

"Your father and I met when I was eighteen, at a party. He had dark eyes and dark hair and was very charming. We started dating but the relationship was toxic. When things were good they were great, and when things were bad they were horrible. It didn't last long, to say the least."

She reached for a pen off Ms. Pierce's desk and began twirling it in her fingers trying to keep her hands busy, it was her usual nervous habit.

"Six months in, I found out I was pregnant. I told your father and the next day he was gone. No goodbye, no explanation, no nothing. He left us, and I hated him for it. Here I was, eighteen, working as a waitress, living in a small studio apartment. Which was the only thing he left me, might I add. I didn't know what to do. I was too scared to see a doctor and too scared to tell my parents. I just tried to act as if it wasn't happening, as if I wasn't pregnant. Nine months went by and during work one day, I went into labor. A coworker took me to the hospital and not long after the doctors examined me they said I needed a c-section."

She put the pen down and started playing with strands of hair instead. I was tired of standing and really wanted to soak in what she was saying, so I took a seat.

"When I woke up, the nurses told me I gave birth to two healthy baby girls and I started to cry. All that time I had forced myself not to think about what I would do once the baby got here and now there was two. So I called my parents and broke the news to them. Before they had gotten there I had already decided I would put the babies up for adoption. The nurses brought the first baby in and when I looked down at you, and your thick blonde hair, and big blue eyes, my heart melted. I knew I could never leave you. But then they brought your sister in."

This time she took a minute to continue, trying to look anywhere but at me, as if expecting a long-awaited storm.

"The second baby had your eyes, your face, but dark jet black hair, just like your father. All the feelings, all the love I felt when I saw you, it just wasn't there. All I could do was think of him when I looked at her. I demanded the nurses to take her away."

I could feel my blood start to boil and a knot form in my stomach. That wasn't my mom, cold and heartless. That didn't sound like her at all.

"When your grandparents arrived the nurses told them about what was going on and how I refused to see your sister. They begged me to try again, to hold her, or just look at her. But I couldn't do it. I told the doctors I was taking you home and putting her up for adoption. Your grandparents wouldn't have it though. The thought of giving her away enraged them. They called me selfish and said they would take her if I didn't. That if it came to that, they would disown me and have nothing to do with me. They wanted to take you to, to keep the two of you together."

This time she looked at me for the first time since starting. Her eyes were loving, kind like I always remembered them to be. But now I was the one who felt cold and numb. Her love no longer warmed me, instead it pissed me off. I was angry for me, and I was angry for Sage.

"I refused to sign you over to them. So the next day they named your sister Sage Ramsey, giving her your grandmothers maiden name as a slap to me. Then left with her, and I left with you."

Her eyes were now pleading with me. Pleading to feel for her, maybe even to forgive her. I couldn't do it.

"So because she reminded you of my father you threw her away like trash? Split us up and took away my grandparents?"

She tried to defend herself, "You don't understand how your father affected me and how being reminded of him affected me. But I love you, I have always loved you."

All I could think of was Sage. How lonely she must have felt knowing her mother wanted nothing to do with her.

"But you didn't love her, and like it or not, she is a part of me."

With that, I got up to walk out and she tried to grab my arm. I spun around and slapped her across the face. Shocked by my own actions, but not shocked enough to stay, I ran out the door.

My mother tried to follow me out into the hall but Mr. B was there and stepped in to hold her back. She called for me, cried for me, and I just kept running. I ran straight for the doors leading outside. Right past Lucas, Declan, and Wes, who were headed that way with the rest of the class B kids. I ran past Lolly, who was trying to calm down a pissed of Sage by the picnic tables. All the way past the running track till I hit the fence where my anger and frustration exploded.

I started swinging at the fence, punching, kicking, screaming. I couldn't control my body just like I couldn't control my thoughts. All I couldn't think about was the cold selfish way my mother threw Sage away. The time I missed with her, my sister, my twin sister. Sixteen years wasted and there was nothing I could do about it, no way I could get that time back with her. Now here I was in this place where I still had no control over my life, just like I had no control over how I got here.

The anger inside felt like it was building and building until it was going to swallow me whole. I had never considered myself an angry person but this fire deep within was all I could feel. It made me feel alive, and at the same time made me feel like another person, a scarier person, a person I didn't know. The frustration of it all made me feel like pulling my hair out but instead, I kept punching and kicking the fence. Only barely noticing that my knuckles were starting to split and bleed.

One second I went from fighting the fence to being lifted into the air and carried a few feet away, where I was placed back on the ground. I turned around, fists raised to start swinging at whoever had dared to interrupt me. But a firm hand wrapped around my fist, preventing mine from swinging. That's when my eyes connected with a sea of gray-blue. Wes.

I looked around knowing Mr. B must be nearby in order for Wes to be out of the class B fence, and sure enough found him a yard away watching us.

"Whats wrong?"

His gaze never left my face. His body though, looked as if it was ready to act like I might lose it again or start swinging at him.

"Whats wrong Chloe?" he asked again, and the words had that same frustration building inside me again.

"Everything!" I shouted, "My mother just told me that Sage is my twin sister."

I threw my hand in the direction where Sage and Lolly were now watching us by the tables.

"She gave her away! My twin sister was just given away because my mother cares more about herself. Oh and I slapped her! I slapped my own mother."

I started to pace fully aware that I probably looked like an insane person.

"Worse of all, I think I liked it. Not that I slapped her but the way I feel now that it happened."

Wes seemed to relax once he realized I wasn't going to hit him. He stepped forward and grabbed my hand putting a halt to my pacing. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly. 

I thought for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts, which seemed harder to do with him so close to me. I didn't know why I wanted to tell him everything, but I did. It felt like a dam had opened and the words just came spilling out.

"It's like," I started slowly trying to focus, "like I've been going through the last sixteen years of my life numb. Just going through the motions every day, and now I feel different. Like something inside me woke up. Only I'm not sure if what woke up is a good thing or a bad thing but I can't help but like the way it feels."

I let go of his hand and stepped away. "God, I sound like a crazy person."

This time Wes gave me the space I needed as he tried to calm me down, "Chloe you don't sound crazy. You sound like someone who's been through a lot of shit and now your life has taken a sudden turn. It's okay to try and figure out who that makes you now, and it's okay to like that. As long as you're happy with who you are, that's all that matters."

I wasn't sure if he was right but his words were comforting. I managed to get out a small "Thank you." only to find him standing there with that smile of his and his arms wide open.

"Come here."

But before I could decide if wanted to step into his hug trap, he stepped forward wrapping his arms tightly around me. I wrapped my arms around him as well, figuring there was no use in fighting him. I was surprised to find that for the first time since I was arrested, I felt safe, and it occurred to me that maybe Wes needed this hug just as much as I did. We both pulled back slowly, unable to look away from each other, at least not until we realized we were no longer alone.

I looked over to see Sage a few feet away and wondered how long she had been standing there. Wes looked at me almost as if asking me whether I'd be okay if he stepped away. I nodded and gave him a small smile. He walked back across the field, glancing over his shoulder every few feet. Now that Sage and I were alone, it was like neither one of us knew what to say. Then the memory of my first day here popped in my head.

"The picture I showed you, you knew."

Sage just shook her head, "No, not about you. I had no idea I had a sister."

"But you saw our mom in that picture, you knew she was my mom too."

Sage shuffled her feet and ran her hands through her hair, the same hair our father had. She must have felt just as frustrated as I did.

"Chloe, what was I suppose to say? Hey, that's my mom too? You would have thought I was nuts."

True enough, I probably would have.

"I didn't know what to say, or how to say it. I was going to get around to it eventually I just wasn't sure how to even bring something like that up," she explained.

I could understand that. Had I been in her place, I'm not sure I would have known what to do either.

Wes came to mind and I decided to take a play from him. I walked up to Sage like she was a skittish cat and once I was close enough, I wrapped my arms around her. After sixteen years I was able to give my twin a hug for the very first time. She felt tense, I wasn't sure if it was fear or just shock but I wasn't letting her go. Thankfully, she hugged me back.

"I'm so sorry about everything, Sage. If I had known about you, I would of went looking for you."

Sage's body shook with a tiny laugh and what sounded like a small cry. We both pulled away and I could see I was right, as a single tear rolled down her cheek. I didn't notice I had let out a tear as well until Sage lifted her hand and wiped it away. I thought of mentioning the fact I slapped our mom, maybe cheer her up a little. But then again she was here because seeing our mom threw her into a rage she couldn't control. Maybe we both had that deep fire inside.

We both calmed ourselves down and headed back to the picnic tables where Lolly was unexpectedly sitting with Wes, Declan, Lucas, and Alicia. When we reached the table, we informed everyone of our news and Lolly jumped up shouting excitedly, "I knew you were sisters!"

Sage and I each laughed and I went to take a seat next to Wes. But as soon as my ass hit the bench, Mr. B walked over to us and with the most words I had ever heard him say, informed us "Ms. Pierce needs you all for an emergency group meeting. Please follow me."

Looked like our free Sunday wasn't as free as we had planned it to be. I expected us to follow Mr. B to the cafeteria but instead, he began to lead us down the first-floor hallway. We passed each classroom, slowly reaching the front doors. Just when I thought we were going to leave the building, Mr. B took a sharp right down a very small hall I had never noticed before.

At the end of the hall was a door and once opened, we headed down a dark stairway. I remembered Ms. Pierce mentioning a basement before but thought it was off limits to us. At the bottom of the stairs was a dark hall with a series of doors and a few dim lights here and there. We were lead into the first door and found what looked like a small dark classroom.

In the front of the small room was a wall-size dry erase board with seven chairs facing it. The whole room was dark due to the fact there were no windows, only a few of the same dim lights that were out in the hall. Mr. B stayed by the door while each of us cautiously took a seat in one of the chairs. After about ten minutes of waiting to find out why we were there, Lolly got antsy.

She jumped out of her seat, walked up to Mr. B and looked up at him like a curious child. Mr. B was a big guy but next to her, he looked like a mountain.

"What does the B stand for?"

No answer. He didn't even bother to look down at her.

"Bailey?"

Silence.

"Braxton?"

Nothing.

"Bloom?"

Nada. They were starting to remind me of those guards in England that people always tried to get to move, or talk. Then Lolly's eyes lit up and she started to bounce excitedly.

"Oh, I know! It's Bubbles!"

"Ugh." Was the only sound Mr. B made but now he was rubbing his forehead with his hand like he had a headache. I tried not to laugh but the others didn't even bother to hide their laughter. Feeling obviously successful in completing her task, Lolly skipped back to her chair next to Lucas. She decided quickly, "I like Bubbles, it suits him."

Soon a door I hadn't noticed next to the dry erase board opened and Ms. Pierce came walking through. Her usual bright smile was gone and instead, she looked as if she had been stressing out with worry lines across her forehead. Mr. B disappeared through the same inconspicuous door.

"It's come to my attention that it is now time to get you all caught up to speed with the main purpose of this group."

Her announcement was confusing but I couldn't help but feel a small bit of excitement for whatever was to happen next. I couldn't tell if everyone else felt the same way, but I was sure none of us were prepared for it.