Jade poked her head into the twins’ room. Lizzie sat on her bed, eyeing her black eye in a mirror. 
“Dana got you good, huh?” Jade leaned against the doorway.
Lizzie sighed and snapped the mirror shut. “It’s my fault. I threw the first punch.” 
“Yeah, it was definitely not your fault.” 
“What do you mean?” Lizzie furrowed her eyebrows. “Of course it was my fault.”
Jade sat down next to her. “Dana provoked you. And nobody else on that field had your back.” Jade made sure to catch her eye. “It’s not selfish for you to stand up for yourself. No matter what anyone else says.”
Lizzie looked up, clearly still doubtful.
“You should probably do it more often.” Jade laughed gently. “Maybe less fists and more words next time, although that’s dealer’s choice I guess.”
“What I should do is just learn to ignore it.” Lizzie sighed. “Just not let it bother me, like Josie says.”
“And what is ignoring your abusers going to do?” Jade demanded, sitting up straighter and getting angrier. “Other than give them a pass to just keep doing it?”
“It’s not -”
“It is.” Jade clenched her jaw, waiting for Lizzie’s next argument. It didn’t come. “What Dana does to you is wrong! And so is anyone else who says those things.” 
It was Lizzie’s turn to sit up straighter, jumping to her sister’s defense. “If you’re talking about Josie, she loves me -”
“I didn’t say any names,” Jade pointed out the raise of an eyebrow.
“She’s my twin!” Lizzie argued. “And sisters fight!”
“Not like that.” Jade couldn’t understand how Lizzie couldn’t see that. “I’m not saying she doesn’t love you, but sisters don’t treat each other like that. You don’t treat Josie like that.”
Lizzie lowered her eyes and spoke quietly. “I’ve done awful things to her. I’m selfish and suffocating.”
“What did you do?”
Lizzie looked up, eyes roaming around the room like she’d find the answer hidden somewhere on Josie’s side of the room. “Well I …” She shook her head. “I don’t know, but Josie was just having to forgive me for something the other day.” She took a quick breath, coming to a sudden realization. “God, I’m so self-centered that I don’t even notice what I do.”
Jade went in gently. “If you don’t even know what you did, did you ever think maybe you did … nothing?”
Lizzie crinkled her nose. “But then Josie wouldn’t have anything to be forgiving me for …”
“Exactly.”