When they got to Sea Pint, Christina didn’t wanna leave without Cassie.

“Cassie, think about your mom; she’s worried sick about you. Please, come home,”

“Trust me, she’ll survive. As for my Dad, I’m sure he’s relieved now that I’m gone,”

“But Cassie…”

“No buts Christina, I ain’t going back there, not now,”

It was clear that Cassie wasn’t going to go back home anytime soon, and that, hurt Christina so bad.

“At least come home with me then,”

“No, I’ll visit you soon OK?” they hugged and Christina left, she tried to hide that she was crying.

Back at home her parents were waiting for her, with Cassie’s parents also there. She was shocked to see them all there, as if she was in some kind of a trouble.

“Where have you been Christina?” her mom demanded to know

“Um I… I…”

“You skipped school, disappeared the whole day and now you don’t wanna tell where you were. Come on you owe us that much,” Christina just stood there with tears in her eyes and said nothing.

“If you know anything about Cassie, please let us know,” said Cassie’s father.

Christina closed her eyes ears and started yelling, “I’m also worried about her, you think it was easy for me to see her like that?”

Daniel jumped from the chair he was sitting on.

“So you were really with her, where is she?”

“It doesn’t matter because they’ve moved. They are not fools, they know you’re going to use me to find her,”

“They?” Alicia asked.

“Yes, she and the boys that helped her escape last night,” she explained looking at Daniel. “I hate Melody, this is all her fault. How could one make up some lie about their own sister? I know Cassie would never slap anyone, not in a million years! And you, as her father should have known that,” she was being controlled by hurt and anger.

“You couldn’t even notice that your wife was so jealous of your daughter’s success; why do you think she chose to go to the shoot with her boyfriend? That was because your wife refused to give her a lift, God knows why!”

“That’s enough, Christina!”

“No Mom, truth needs to be out. Mel is so wrong, Cassie’s her blood. And all her father cared about was to send her away, forgetting about her feelings. She was hurting so badly it’s not even funny. I would have done the same if I were Cassie.” She ran upstairs.

“I’m sorry for my daughter’s behavior,” her mom was so embarrassed of the way her daughter acted. She had never seen her like that before.

“I’m glad, because she told the truth. And now I understand why my daughter ran away,” Alicia said she also looked as if she was ready to cry.

“I’ll try to talk to her and see if she can tell me where Cassie is hiding,”

“Thank you, that would mean a lot to us,”

They left and Christy’s mom went to her in her bed room. She was still crying on her bed, and that broke her mama’s heart. She went and sat next to her.

“Baby, why don’t you tell her to come and stay with us for so long? And we won’t have to tell her parents if she doesn’t want them to know, until she is ready,”

“I tried Mom, but she won’t listen,” she said.

“Try again sweetie, don’t give up on your friend just like that,”

Luckily, Cassie called her at that very moment.

“Hi Christy, I couldn’t rest. I saw that you were crying when you left” Cassie said.

“Yes I still am, can’t you see that you’re tearing me apart here Cassie? Come home, please. My Mom says its okay, you can stay with us for as long as you want,”

“Let me talk to her,” her Mom said. Christy handed the phone over to her mom.

“Hey Cassie, please baby, you know you are welcome to stay with us for as long as you want to. So please think about school, your friends, your mom, Gosh, and your career; you just started modeling. Please come home sweetie, you’re killing my little Christy, she can’t stop crying,”

“OK, I’ll come, as long as my father has no idea about where I’m at. Then I’m cool,” she said.

“Whatever you wish for my love, please come home,”

Thirty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Christina already knew that would be Cassie and she ran to the door to let her in. Cassie was only carrying her backpack and her purse. They welcomed her inside. They had dinner and went to bed; Christina was so happy that Cassie was finally safe in the right environment with people who truly loved her.

***

Let’s chat: Do you think Christie’s mother should tell Cassie’s parents that she is there?