Edith decided to take a bath once Carmen was gone. She checked with us, and we were fine with it. We have two bathtubs and three restrooms: the one in the basement only has a shower.

I used to rarely get permission to take a bath in my parent's private restroom that is only accessible in their bedroom. Usually when I was sick and they wanted to check on me. After naturism returned, I had a few occasions to take my bath there.

Fine, I didn't mention it because when I was 12, I felt fine about it, but when I was 19, I felt disgusted by it. Let me explain.

My parents would fill the bathtub, and we would use the same water for the three of us. Usually, my mom would be first, she likes her bathtub scalding hot and does more than wash in it, she soaks in it. My father would eventually join her, but he would stay perhaps 3 minutes. Barely. He is more of a shower guy, and most of the days, both my parents and I each take a shower. Well, either 2 or 3 showers, sometimes they showered together.

But when my parents were out, I could get into the bathtub with the same water in it, so be in their glorious heart shape bathtub... with jets in it!

When I was 12, the idea of sharing the bathtub water with my parents didn't matter to me at all. It's not like the water was that dirty! We would shower or take a bath every day. Well, almost every day. But when I was writing the first chapters, and I was in college, admitting I shared bath water with my parents as a tween and even later, as a teenager, bothered me. Now that I am older, I can be more honest with you.

And sometimes, they would stay, and we would talk while I washed. We are nude all day anyway. I rarely spoke to them while they were washing up, but sometimes with my mom when she was soaking in.

When Edith left the bathtub, she was fully dressed. In fact, it took her a while to be topless again, as she had a new shameful thing to hide: her wound.

It took a few days for her to admit it, but despite being used to baring her weird breasts, she couldn't accept showing anyone her wound. Well, my mother needed to clean it, but that was done in a low light situation, and it made Edith rather uncomfortable.

Edith wanted to call Mindy to tell her the news, but she wasn't capable of it. I did it for her, sitting next to her.

Clara answered. At that moment, she was still oblivious to the situation, but it wasn't my place to tell her. My mother would tell her right after anyway.

"Could I speak to Mindy?"

"Sure, she is in the bathtub, I'll bring her the wireless"

After a change of phone. Wait, you realize that this was a landline, right? People still had landline phones back then. All the phones were connected to the same line in the house. If you answered with a wired phone, you could go and pickup with a wireless phone and then hang up the original one. It was the same call...

Being a naturist, Mindy didn't even bother to lock the bathroom door. She doesn't when visiting my home either, and I suspect she never thinks about it.

"Hey, I am in the bathtub, can I call you back?"

"Well, I have a big news, maybe I can give it to you and then, we can talk after your bath?"

"Ok, I give you 15 seconds", she says.

But I took way more than fifteen seconds.

Say what you will about Mindy. She gets overexcited, doesn't think much about the others, is a little careless.

But that day, that evening, on the phone, she listened. She really listened. And she wanted to be 100% sure that Edith was ok.

I told you about my own formative moments. A hug between Clara and Peter. A meal I particularly liked. I needed help in dealing with others, but caring for others? That was instinctive to me. Mindy, was wired the other way around. She didn't need others to open her up, she needed others to learn how to slow down and be there for others.

I don't know if she saw it, but I am convinced that this was a formative moment for her. That realizing how hurt her friend was, and how there was nothing she could do to help, forced her to realize that others matter.

But there was really nothing that Mindy could so. Nothing at all. Even coming here was out of the question, Edith was in no mood to interact with others. Even with me, she was barely there.

The next day, we were back at school, but Edith begged to stay home. My father was of the opinion that she needed to get to school, my mother was torn, so Carmen was called. Yes, my parents got her cell phone number the previous day for that sort of questions.

Carmen was happy to hear from them and spoke to Edith. In the end, she got permission to take one day off. Not two, not three. One.

I met Mindy at school and told her a lot more that I didn't want to say in front of Edith, notably how I felt about it. How terrified I was for our friend. I didn't tell her I saw Edith as a half-sister. No need to cause jealousy in Mindy, who was friends with her first.

We each went our way to class, and ate in our secret spot, as always, but this time, just the two of us.

Mindy was a lot quieter than usually. I think she was scared for Edith. Just not that she could be hurt, but like, how can you become an adult without your parents? For Mindy, who always great parents and a wonderful relationship with them, it was assumed that Edith needed them.

I had my own rough patch with mine, granted, it was mostly my fault, well, the fault of my hormones, but now that I was good with them, I knew what Mindy meant.

After school, I found that Edith was taking a nap. That she slept almost all day, which isn't surprising: she hadn't after the fight, and it just took her some time for the adrenaline and the shock factor to fade out.

It wasn't a single nap. Edith sometimes emerged to eat a little, which my mother helped her with.

I met my parents downstairs. They were negotiating more medical supplies to import, while calling clinics to know if they were interested.

My mother, however, had news for me.

"Her father was arraigned this morning", she says.

"What does that mean?"

"Do you know how a trial goes?"

"Well, there is a jury, and a judge, and they decide if guilty or not guilty?"

My mother laughed a little. "Pretty much. But it's a little more complex than that. In our country, for a trial to occur, there needs to be accusations deposed against the defendant. The defendant meets the judge and hears the accusations deposed against him at his arraignment. It's when he first pleads guilty, not guilty or no-contest"

"What is that last one?"

"When it's a minor offense, you can make a plea deal. Instead of risking, say, a year in jail, you can say, I am innocent, but I am willing to spend 30 days in jail because I don't think I can win this trial. But I am not guilty"

"Oh"

Back when I was 12, this seemed all so foreign. Now, I know how horrible these plea-deals are. They make accused believe that by pleading no-contest, they get minimum jail time or even just community work, but they still get a criminal record which can deprive them of their right to vote or prevent them from having a job.

Still, Edith's father wouldn't get a no-contest plea deal, so let's ignore that.

"What did he plead?", I ask.

"Like most people, not guilty. He will get a grand jury review, more proof will be sent to the case, and he will get a second chance to plead guilty or not-guilty"

I looked at her. I didn't understand then why it was so complicated, but the next part was more interesting to me.

"It's also when they decide the bail conditions"

"That's the money they pay to get out of jail, right?"

My mother probably would have chuckled at my naive understanding, but this was too serious.

"Well, to be out of jail until the trial. If found guilty, they still go to jail and get their money back. Same if found not-guilty. But if they flee or break their conditions, they lose the money"

"So, how much does he have to pay?"

"Nothing, Kiddo. He was denied bail"

"Wait, so he will remain in jail until the trial?"

"Or until his attorney finds a way to convince the judge. Apparently, Edith's mother has multiple hospital stays for wounds he gave her, and she pressed charges a few times in the past, each time dropping them. The judge decided he was a danger to her, and his daughter"

"Good. From what Edith hinted at, he is not a good man"

"Kiddo, I don't think Edith told you everything about him. But respect her privacy, please."

Now I know more. He had been violent with Edith in the past when she was younger. It had calmed down, but I suspect that even that, was Edith hiding some things. And honestly? It's not Edith's story. This is mine.

That evening, I had brought the notes from the classes shared between Mindy and Edith, but also some between Marge and Edith. Right, I never mentioned Marge for the simple reason that I barely knew her back then. Marge is in many classes with Mindy and Edith. The three girls are friendly, but not outright friends. Well, not best friends. Not before this.

Edith was happy to busy herself with homework, much to my surprise, and that night, she asked me if she could sleep in my bed, that she didn't want to be alone.

It wasn't our first sleepover, but this one felt different. Because for at least a few days, Edith would be my roomie and this wasn't like a normal sleepover.

She cried a lot before sleeping, and I ended up cuddling her. I don't normally cuddle in a sleepover, but it felt right. It felt like I was there for my friend, for my half-sister.

We didn't need two sheets, she had her pajama on, even if I didn't have one.

Edith felt a lot better, and went to school the next day. Much to my surprise, only Marge suspected something and only because we weren't telling her anything, "making us look suspect", and she ended eating with us, in our secret spot.

If three girls is a crowd, four is more like a gang.

Marge didn't know at that lunch break what happened, but she was excited about how Edith was cool.

I'll be honest, it's not that day that I formed another rule of cool. It's a few days later, when thinking back to this day. My new rule is that, cool people don't care about the outcome. I now use the big girl term "outcome independence" but, of course, not when I was 12. Edith no longer cared about much, so in way, she didn't care about what would happen. This, increased her coolness.

Marge ate again with us the next day, on Wednesday, and the previous evening, Edith was a little better.

But that Wednesday evening, Carmen came over. It was a surprise visit, and she allowed us to remain nude. Well, the three of us, Edith wasn't. Carmen didn't undress.

"I have some news, Edith, and I am not sure if you are going to like it"

"My dad got out?"

"Oh, no, he is still in prison. Don't worry about him. This is about your mother."

"Is she okay?"

"Well, yes, but the district attorney decided to ask us and the judge to terminate parental rights"

"So my father will no longer be my legal parent?"

"No, I don't think you understand. He wants to strip both of your parents of their parental rights"

"Wait, why?"

"Well, I think you know why. What I wanted to know if what you thought about it"

"What do you mean, what I though?"

"Edith, if the judge agrees, you will be placed in the care of the state. This means that your parents, will no longer be responsible for you. They will no longer be allowed to visit you, to pick you up at school, and so on"

"My father is in jail"

"Sure, but he might get out on bail someday. Or be found not guilty. And your mother isn't in jail, or accused of anything other than losing her parental rights for neglect"

I think Edith wanted to object, but she couldn't. Her mother had been neglectful. She didn't care about her.

"Can I stay here?"

"Well, we'll see. This was temporary. If Kylie and Steven want to, can they file for a more permanent stay, so they would be your host family until you are 18."

"And after that?"

"After that, you are an adult, Edith. You do whatever you want. You can reconnect with your parents, you can stay here, you can get a job and an apartment. Your life will be in your own hands. But until then, the state has a duty to protect you, and the district attorney thinks that your mother cannot."

"I see"

"But if you do want to live with your mother, I can bring you in front of the judge tomorrow and have you explain to him what your wishes are. You are 14. He will listen to you."

"If Kylie and Steven no longer want me, what happens?"

"We find you a new host family."

"Could I ask to return to my mother, if that occurs?"

"Maybe. We'll need to see the progress she made, the progress you made. And what happens to your father"

"Right."

Most of Carmen's time was spent on making 100% sure that Edith was fine. That being a textile with naturists was ok with her. Edith explained her thing about vulnerability, and it only reinforced Carmen's belief that Edith shouldn't return to her mother.

Edith was at peace that evening. We played some Animal Crossing, but then, she called Carmen again.

"What about the rest of my things? My Wii, my other clothes?"

And that could be solved the next day... When the same two police officers picked up Edith, after the judge had stripped her mother of her parental rights, they went to her home to help her pick up her things.

When she came back with more stuff than I thought possible, including the rest of her clothes, a ton of books, video game consoles, makeup, more stuffed animals than I thought possible to own, and even some Barbies.

"The police officer told me to do as if I were never coming back. It was breaking my heart, but like, I couldn't take my bed, I was unable to take my favorite glass. It's like, there was this division between what was really mine, and what was really my parents's but used by me."

"Did you see your mom?"

"She was there, crying. I mean, they kept us apart as much as they could. They even brought her to the backyard to keep her away from me, but like, it's not what I wanted."

"I bet," I said.

"I wanted her to tell me she was sorry. That now that my father was away, she would be a better mom. That she would be nicer. I was hoping for things that can't exist"

"Maybe with time, perhaps not."

My father grabbed a television from the basement, which was our previous television for the living room. He put it in Edith's room and connected her Wii to our Internet. That way, we could visit each other's village in Animal Crossing from the same house. That, was fun. Until we grew bored with it and Edith wanted to sleep. In her bed this time.

I respected that. There was just one day left for school before Halloween, and, well, with everything going on, neither of us would wear a costume.

Around 11, however, my door opened. It woke me, I saw it was Edith, who was crying.

"Can't sleep?", I asked her.

"Not alone"

"Come over," but I was barely awake. The only reason I even remember it occurred, is that I went to bed alone, and woke up with Edith next to me.

To my surprise, however, my mother hadn't forgotten Halloween and had a series of costumes for us to pick. Edith picked the princess costume. It's what she needed to feel like. I picked a police officer one, as I felt it's what I need to be for my new half-sister.

Mindy wasn't costumed, she told me quietly that the real one she wanted to wear wasn't allowed. Marge was a pirate, and she decided that I was her enemy. She found a plastic sword for me, and all day, when we would cross paths in the corridors, she would pretend to fight me.

I don't know where it came from, but Marge was nice, and she was concerned with whatever was happening with Edith, and she knew that Edith was sleeping at my house. Maybe she wanted to get close to get information?

I had no idea, but Marge was nice. I said that. I'll say it again. I was blessed to have 3 great friends that year, even if Marge arrived late.

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