"Is it done yet?" She asks impatiently

"You know what, why don't you go finish off your painting and it will be soon" I say amused

She runs off and I smile to myself as I take a plate out of the cupboard. That smile was instantly wiped clean after seeing who just walking into the kitchen, his timing is honestly the worst. We stare at each other for a moment until I look away first, I pretend like he doesn't exist as I pour Grace's food onto her plate, she's having chicken Alfredo today.

Carter watches as I set her plate down along with a cup filled with water, "Grace!"

She runs back in almost immediately and Carter looks back, "Remember how you said you wanted to be a big girl and use a big plate?" I remind her

She nods and I hand it to her, "Don't drop it" I warn

Grace smiles at her food excitedly and I snort as she walks into the dining room, she's so cute. Carter sits down at the island, "Why weren't you in school?" He finally asks

I put the left over Alfredo in containers before putting them into the fridge, "Didn't feel like it"

"Are you gonna have dinner?"

I look at him annoyed as I shut the fridge and he raises his hands with surrender. All these questions have you eaten? Are you gonna eat? I've had enough of them

"Carmen" He then suddenly says

Why can't he leave me alone again?

"Carter" I reply in the same tone

"What happened between you and Eliza"

I wipe down the tables surface, "No clue what your talking about"

"I'm serious"

"So am I"

"What does she have on you" He asks quietly

"Who says she has anything on me?" I scoff

"You told June that she was gonna ruin your life"

Remind me to be careful of what I say around June..... but I'll be honest I don't actually remember saying that at all, "Well then she's delusional because I never said that"

He shrugs, "Fine I'll just ask Eliza what happened myself-

"Don't" I say a little too quickly

"So then tell me-

"Or you can just fuck off" I reply before going into the dining room, why is everyone so concerned about what happened.

I sit opposite Grace, "Good?"

She nods as she slurps the pasta, "When your done we'll watch something ok?"

"Can we watch princess and the frog?"

I smile, "Whatever you want"

Like always, she fell asleep halfway through the movie. I had to wake her up though so that she could brush her teeth and change into her pyjamas. I put her to bed afterwards, now I'm gonna go home and sleep because I'm absolutely exhausted.

Carter comes into view as I put my shoes on by the door, "Look C, I shouldn't have said that you needed to tell your family about your situation, it's just.... the things that you were saying when you were high scared me, you know?"

Ok for once he may have a point, but it's not like I'm trying to kill myself or anything like that, "I'm not suicidal Carter" I say softly

He nods slowly, "I know that now...."

I sigh, "Look if I tell you one small thing about what happened with me and Eliza will you drop it?"

He folds his arms and I find myself having to train my eyes to look anywhere but at his muscles, "That depends"

I ignore his comment, "If she sees you speaking to me then just know that that is very bad for me, so please do us both a favour and don't speak to me in school.... Like at all"

He scoffs, "Why can't I speak to you"

"Just do it Carter-

"No, this is fucked up Carmen" He says annoyed

"I gotta go" I open the front door

"If I wanna speak to you then I'll speak to you, who cares about what Eliza wants-

"I do"

He narrows his eyes at me, "Then that's just sad"

"Welcome to my life" I reply before walking out the door

You know, I honestly believe that Eliza would do what she said she would because that's just the type of person she is. She's evil and would do whatever the fuck she wants to get her way, she's Regina George reincarnated.

I made it back home after a ten minute walk, the clock on the kitchen wall reads 8:55

"Mi hija" Dad smiles

"How was work?"

I take off my jacket, "Fine"

"Your just in time for dinner-

"I already ate at Melissa's" I reply

"At least sit with us"

"I'm tired"

"You'll get your phone back"

I sigh before following him into the dining room, all my siblings are at the table minus Daniel, moms at the head of the table as always. "What time did you start today?" She asks

"3:30"

Lola frowns, "So then.... Where were you for the whole day?" She says confused, Enzo looks up from his plate

"Shut up" I mouth, she clearly didn't get the memo

Dad frowns, "What are you talking about?"

"She wasn't at school-

"Dude" I scoff

He then looks at me annoyed, "Carmen"

"You just don't know when to shut up do you" I say annoyed

Mom rolls her eyes as she mutters under her breath like always, "Why is it Lola's fault that you weren't in school" Adriana says amused

"If I'm talking to you then I'll look at you"

"Jeez" She mutters

"Why didn't you go to school?" Dad questions

I sit back before shrugging, "Because"

"Because what" He demands

"Because of shit"

"Every bodies got shit got going, don't use that as an excuse" Isabella replies

"Oh trust me mother your high blood pressure is just karma coming back to bite you in the ass"

Santiago gapes and Matteo widens his eyes, Enzo just sighs.

Isabella narrows her eyes at me, "How can you say that to your own mother?"

"Because you treat me like I'm somebody else's kid and you've been forced to look after me" I scoff

Enzo clears his throat, "You kind of do" He agrees

Wow do my eyes deceive me or did he speak up

Mom looks back at him with shock, "I do not"

"Your mother and I love all of you the same" Dad interferes

"Your fooling nobody with that speech" I reply before getting up

"Where are you going?"

"Upstairs before the shouting starts, and I know there's no way that I'm getting my phone now so.... Night"

"Carmen-

"Dad just stop, I'm tired"

Mom refused to even look at me which is fine because she knows that what I said was true.

I had a shower and then went to sleep

-

"Fuck" I shut my eyes tightly as the sun shines through the curtains

My head is literally pounding, I don't even know if I should move. I reach over to my nightstand before pulling the draw open and taking out a pack of tylenol, it probably won't have an affect but it's worth a shot. Showering was just torture, I couldn't have the water at a hot temperature because the steam would've been too much for me to handle. I managed to change and get downstairs just fine though

"Luckily for you mom and dad aren't here" Enzo says

What happened to good morning

I tie my hair up and he frowns, "What's wrong?"

"I need coffee"

"Let's go then...-Matty come on!" He calls out

Thankfully we stopped at Starbucks on the drive to school and Enzo ordered me a medium sized iced coffee, it kind of helped with my migraine. We dropped Matty to school before driving to ours, "You think you'll be ok to go in?" He asks

I sip on my straw before nodding

"Zoe came by yesterday, she wanted to know how you were"

I shield my eyes from the sun, "I'll talk to her in class" I reply as he pulls into park

"Need a ride after school?"

"I'm gonna go straight to the Millers" I reply before getting out

School was definitely a haze. I put my mask on whilst I was with my friends, they need to see that I'm ok so that they can stop worrying. It seemed to work, Sienna and Zoe gave me relieved looks when I told them that everything was fine and that the Eliza situation was sorted out by Enzo. Then of course I had history and English which meant I had to avoid Carter, he didn't actually bother me which I'm grateful for.... However he was still watching me. Eliza definitely used the fact that I wasn't speaking to him as her advantage, every time I saw her she was trying to flirt her way back into his life.

Things were ok until lunchtime, that's when my migraine decided to pay me another visit. That's why I'm currently leaning on one of the walls in the bathroom, I close my eyes for a second. "Moving too fast Carmen... too fast"I scold myself

The bathroom door closes and footsteps ascend towards me, "Carmen?"

Just my luck

June assesses me with narrowed eyes, "What's going on?"

I splash my face with cold water, "Nothing"

"Really? Cause to me it looked like you were in pain"

She watches as I wipe my face with the sleeve of my hoodie, "I can assure you June, I'm fine"

"You don't have to lie with me-

"Oh like the same way you lied to me when you said we'd be friends forever?" I say amused

I didn't need to bring that up but somehow it just came out

"I know how you feel about me C but I still care about you"

I squint my eyes a little after accidentally looking up at the light, "Is this like when we were fourteen" She asks quietly

I frown, "The migraines that you always had because-

"It's not that"

"Carmen-

I look at her annoyed. "You've done a great job pretending I didn't exist for the past year, don't break your streak"

She means well and I know that, but I'm honestly fine.... It's nothing I haven't dealt with before.

~*~

"If you could wish to become anything you ever wanted what would you wish for?" I say amused

"To be a princess" Grace replies as I brush her hair

"I guess you could be one if you wanted to"

"Now I just need to find a frog"

I rub my head a little before continuing to do her hair, "Maybe you shouldn't kiss a frog... it's not ideal"

"What's ideal?" She says confused

"Never mind"

Grace then looks up at me, "Have you found a frog yet?"

I smile a little, "Unfortunately not"

"Maybe ideal could be your frog"

"That's not.....- ok then" I laugh a little

"Carmen"

"Hmm?"

"What would you wish for?"

I narrow my eyes as I think,"I suppose I'd wish for happiness"

"That's boring"

I smile a little, "Trust me Grace, when your a teenager happiness is something you'll need"

"I just need a frog"

She's honestly one of the only reasons I still smile

-

I got back to the house at around five. I was out with some of the guys from the football team, today was a so called cheat day and it was Aaron's turn to pick the location. The only reason we were out for longer is because a few of the guys got drunk so we were basically playing cab driver.

As I take off my jacket I hear princess and the frog playing in the front room, the lights are off. Carmens twirling Grace's hair around her fingers whilst she focuses on the tv, it's cute how she looks so focused.

I sit down besides her and she gives me a look, "We're not in school" I shrug

She smiles a little before facing the tv once more. My guess is that I don't have to tread lightly today, C looks happy yet miserable at the same time.

"Carmen"

"Hmm?"

"Can you just tell me what Eliza said or did" I plead

"Why"

"Because I hate seeing you upset" I say softly

She doesn't reply to me for a moment, it's almost as if she was debating on whether she should tell me or not. I'm hoping that it's not as bad as I think it is.

"She knows" I frown

"Eliza was able to figure out how I lost a lot of weight"

And then it hit me

"She said I had an eating disorder"

I narrow my eyes because that surprisingly never crossed my mind, and as bad as it sounds Carmen could possibly have one.

I can see the tears reflecting in her eyes, "Do you think you do?" I ask quietly

She shrugs one shoulder as she wipes her eye quickly, "I don't know"

She just doesn't want to answer the question and I get that, "What did she say after that" I ask softly

Carmen exhales tiredly, "That I had to stay away from you or she'd tell everyone about me"

I take her hand but she refuses to look back at me, "She was gonna caption the post as bulimic whore or anorexic Rodriguez" I frown with annoyance and shock

The tears that were threatening to come out finally fall and she closes her eyes for a second, I could not be anymore mad at Eliza than I am right now, I didn't think someone could be so jealous.

Carmens lips form a straight line which I know means she wants to cry but won't, I pull her in for a hug and she lies on me, "Baby I'm so sorry" I whisper sympathetically

"I didn't want to stay away Carter.... I'm sorry"

I kiss her on the head, "You know I can't let this go right?"

She nods slightly and I hold her closer, "Carter" She then whispers

I release her from the hug and she looks at me tiredly, "I-...

I tuck a hair behind her ear, "What's wrong?"

"I'm so hungry" Her voice breaks as she says this

I honestly don't know how long it's been since she's eaten but I have a feeling it's been longer than usual. This whole situation has me feeling a lot of things, annoyed for one. Annoyed because Eliza has just given her another reason not to eat when she was doing so well. Sad for Carmen because I can't even imagine what's going through her head right now. And also worried.... This has been going on for too long. Does it make me a bad person for wanting to tell someone about her situation?

"Come on, I'll warm you up some food"

She gets up and I make my way towards the kitchen..... that was before I heard the thud. It was like my worst nightmare was finally coming true, it's actually happening.

Grace screams and I widen my eyes as I kneel down, "Fuck-.... Carmen wake up" I plead

She stays lying on the floor and I sort of freeze for a moment, it's like my mind was still processing her fall. However Grace's cries then snapped me out of it and I got up quickly before grabbing my phone and keys. There's no time for me to call an ambulance because God knows how long they'll take, I'll have to drive there myself.

My sister sobs and I look back at her, "Grace I'm gonna need you to get your shoes"

"But, C-... Carmen-

I wipe her eyes, "She's gonna be ok, we're gonna go to the hospital. Get your shoes"

She runs towards the shoe rack and I sigh before lifting her up.

-

"It's immortality my darlings"

I scoff, "What the fuck is this shit?"

"Shhh" Lola hushes me

She's forcing me and Matty to watch pretty liars with her, I don't understand this show but all I'm saying is that Alison girl is a bitch.

A ringing causes Lola to look over at the kitchen annoyed, "Just pick up or decline the noise is annoying!"

"Relax" Enzo replies before answering the phone

"Santi pay attention" Our sister then says to me

"Nah man, there's a reason this show is for kids"

"What?"

I look back, "Where are you now?"

I watch curiously as Enzo finishes off with his phone call, it's probably one of his friends but still I'm interested. "I'll be there in ten"

"What happened?"

He puts his shoes on quickly, "Carmen fainted, Carters taking her to the hospital"

I sit up, so does Lola and Matty, "What?" We all scoff

"If your coming then hurry and get your fucking shoes" He says annoyed

The three of us get up immediately before grabbing them and Adriana frowns as she comes down the stairs. "If your going to McDonald's then get me a cheeseburger"

"Nobodies going to McDonald's"

"So then why are you all running around like headless chickens?-

"I don't know maybe we're going to the hospital"

"Why?"

"Carmen fainted-... Matteo hurry up" Lola scoffs

Adri raises her eyebrows, "I'm coming" She decides

"I have five seats" Enzo reminds us all

"There's five of us you dipshit-

"Someone else is using Daniels car you idiot-

"So Lola will carry Matty it's not a big deal" Adri scoffs

"Hurry up"