Hey, everyone, I realized I made a huge error in this chapter with Gem's brothers apparently rediscovering she was abused when there was, like, two whole chapters dedicated solely to her past. I'm making edits now to try and fix that giant mistake. I apologize profusely and hope you guys can forgive me.

Thank you to those who pointed this out! It would've taken me forever to find this on my own.

There are a few bits that are different so you if you reread at any point and go "Hey, that didn't happen," well, now it has. If you don't reread, that's fine. It's nothing huge so don't even worry about what you missed.

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Absolutely not!"

"Absolutely... Yes?"

"Gemma, I said no."

"And I said yes. I think my opinion counts more than your's does at this particular moment."

"I'm your legal guardian, my opinion is doubly more important." Tobias pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. I bit my laughter back and continued to stand on my bed, hands on my hips as I looked him in the face.

Was I standing on my hospital bed wearing an itchy dress? Yes, yes I was. I wanted to be able to look Tobias in the face while we argued. It seemed fair.

"I want to talk to Janie or Janice or whatever her name is. You let me talk to the police about George already." I pointed out, shifting from foot to foot to remain balanced on the seriously lumpy bed.

"The police didn't give us much of a choice." Zion spoke up from where he was typing out a work email in the corner, sitting down in one of those uncomfortable recliners every hospital room has. I made a face at his words.

"Oh come on, we all know you guys could've stopped them if you wanted to." I scowled. It wasn't fair that they were letting me talk to who they wanted to but not who I wanted to talk to. It wasn't like I was inviting a serial killer into my room, it was my social worker who was growing increasingly impatient.

Damian skipped into the room, instantly stopping when he saw where I was standing. The color in his face drained and he swept me up, picking me up by my underarms, and setting me down gently on the floor.

"Let's not fall and break a bone when we're this close to escaping." Damian advised, holding his fingers ridiculously close together.

A knock on the door quieted whatever Tobias was about to say. We all turned to watch an older lady with frizzy grey hair and warm eyes enter the room, a manila folder clasped tightly in her hands. Her eyes widened behind glasses at the sight of three of my four intimidating brothers packed into a tiny room.

Sinclair was bringing me a burger, since Damian had forgotten in the three hours he was gone yesterday.

"Am I in the right room?" The woman, I was guessing Janice or Janie, asked. I nodded happily, easilyignoring my brother. spluttering at the unexpected sight of my uninvited social worker. Well, what he thought was an uninvited social worker. Little did he know that I'd gotten my hands on Zion's phone and emailed the poor woman.

Zion still hadn't changed his password from 1234. Silly boy.

"If you're looking for Gemma Perigoso, then yes, you're in the right room." I smirked up at my aghast big brother. Poor Tobias wasn't used to people going against what he said, defying his orders.

Janice took a hesitant seat in the faux leather recliner that Zion vacated in favor of my bed. I sat on my bed beside him, leaning my head against his chest unconsciously. His hand moved over my head, brushing my hair from my face and then smoothing all the knots out.

"Typically we would meet in the child's home, but due to special circumstances, I've made an exception. We do need to discuss Gemma's medical history, which is nonexistent, and her education, which is also lacking in records." Janice or Janie (man I really needed to figure out what her name was) linked her fingers together, jumping right in.

Tobias and Zion paid full attention to her every word while Damian was twiddling his thumbs, mumbling a song under his breath.

"I talked to Gem's doctor and he said she didn't have any records. I assumed that was because of the kidnapping." Tobias theorized.

Huh, I hadn't even considered the fact that I'd never been to the doctor weird before finding out that I'd been baby-snatched.

"You'd be correct. It's also a common tactic abusers use to keep their victims under their control. If the child is raised thinking the doctor is bad, they'll never be exposed to people who would report the injuries. It's similar to brainwashing, in a way." The lady - honestly, I was starting to feel guilty about not knowing her name - explained.

I knew all of this, but both Tobias and Zion seemed shocked.

"Brainwashing?" Damian asked, his tone calmer than I'd ever heard. It was frightening, to say the least.

"In extreme cases, yes. In almost all cases, child comes out of the abusive home with a need to please the people they're around as a survival tactic. Brainwashing is just a term for those who've never been in such situations so they understand the gravity and impact abuse can have on the survivor." She informed them.

I came out to have a fun time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.

In eerie synchronization, all three of my brother's turned to look at me. I craned my head back, looking up at the ceiling, like the answer to all my questions was hidden in the plaster. Unfortunately, those answers were not hiding in plain sight.

"Gemma? Baby?" Zion asked in a whisper, looking down at me as I took that opportunity to shove my face in his neck.

I officially did not like my social worker.

She licked her lips and flipped to another page in her folder, clearing her throat a couple of awkwardly silent seconds later.

"While waiting for Tobias to pick her up, the police gave Gemma a cumulative exam that would've placed her in whatever grade she needed to be in, considering she's never been to school. She aced the exam, which means that she knows everything a high school graduate knows." Janice or Janie or whatever her freaking name was, changed the subject quickly. Thank goodness for that.

"Okay, so do we set her up at a college?" Tobias asked, scooting forward in his seat out of curiosity. The lady's smile flattened a little as she looked through, I was guessing, my test scores.

Yes! Yes! I wanted college!

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea. Children who have lived in abusive homes are normally a bit socially inept, so I think surrounding Gemma with kids her age might do a lot more good than sending her to college, where she'd be unable to connect with anyone due to age differences." The lady advised.

I really didn't like this chick.

"So we send her to, what? Sixth grade? She'd push everyone away simply to prove a point." Zion's chest rumbled under my cheek when he spoke. I mean, he wasn't wrong.

The lady sucked on her teeth, eyes flickering around the room until they landed on me.

"It's seventh grade. But, you wouldn't do that, would you, Gemma?" The lady asked, smiling warmly in my direction. I arched an eyebrow at her before glancing back at Damian, who was moving from a song to childhood rhymes. Zion tensed under me and Tobias's face went stern.

Apparently they got super protective when people tried to talk to me? That was new.

"Uh, probably would." I shrugged. The lady's mouth tightened even more, seemingly displeased with my honesty. And here I thought most adults wanted the truth from the youth of today? Well, my mistake. Won't be doing that ago.

"I think it would be healthy for her to learn some social ques." The social worker gave me a pointed look as she spoke, as if I was supposed to understand what she was implying. She needed to try harder because I was observant and even I was having trouble deciphering what she was trying to say.

I thought I had great social skills.

Person walks up and tries to make conversation + a long history on the evolution on genetics = person going away.

Seemed pretty simple and effective to me.

But whatever. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if said opinion is wildly incorrect.

"So you're suggesting we enroll someone with a high school graduate level of intelligence into the seventh grade and expect her to make friends with a bunch of kids who are years behind her, mentally and emotionally? Seems like a load of bull." Damian snorted from his corner of the hospital room. One of the monitors let out a loud beeping noise when he started fiddling with the wire.

A nurse fixed the problem before warning Damian to stay away from the equipment (again).

"How about you enroll her and by the end of the first semester, if she's still unhappy with the situation, you take her out of the school?" My social worker asked, trying to compromise.

Tobias looked back at me, gauging my reaction to her words. I knew the last thing he wanted to do was put me in a situation where I felt uncomfortable or unsafe.

"Sure, I'm down to try it." I shrugged, leaning further into Zion's chest. Tobias was surprised by my decision, I could tell that much from his wide eyes and slightly parted lips.

"If Gemma's okay with it, so am I. We'll have her enrolled in a local school by the weekend." Tobias clapped his hands together, obviously ending the conversation.

Great. So now not only did I have to worry about my brothers deadly lives, I also had to worry about seventh graders.

Why had I agreed to this again?