Author's note: This is a flashback that will be featured in Imposter, but has to deal with the previous protagonist from the Without Me one-shot. I was inspired by this song and wrote it on a whim. It was fun and I hope y'all enjoy it!

"Wow. I never thought I would come out of a parent teacher's conference feeling so refreshed!", the young lady wearing a black dress, whom the other me had called sister, teased.

"Oh. Stop it," I responded back.

"Come on, bro. I can't believe you've improved so much! I was right...all you needed was some motivation...and I see it comes in the way of positive peer pressure from friends!", she cheered all through the halls.

The younger me sighed and continued strolling, only to bump into a teacher I recognized from the orientation meeting in the beginning of the year. I think he was a teacher from the Assassin program or something...I had not been really paying attention then.

He towered over me with a 6-foot tall frame, trimmed curly brown hair, chestnut hands and a gleaming white-toothed smile that made me think he must have it all together to act so confident.

That is I thought so until he caught my guardian's eyes...

"Emilie?", he called out and as my sister finally caught up, her black heels stopped dead in her tracks.

"Todd? How are you doing?", she asked nonchalantly as the steel-cold man I had met a second ago melted into an insecure, bubbling fool with eyes only for my sister.

"I'm alright," he managed to squeak out and asked, "What about you? How is your...kid?"

"Oh, this is my little brother", she replied as matter of factly.

"I thought he was..."

"This is my other younger brother, older than that one," she said and she muttered, "Say hi, Marcus."

"Hi, Mr..."

"That's Mr. Hawk to you, Marcus."

My jaw dropped in shock. This guy was the famous assassin who brought down high-profile targets under maximum security by swooping in and decimating their armed guard? Hawk was a legend and...my sister just called him Todd like he was nothing. Wow.

Hawk commented, "I heard through the grapevine you were promoted, congrats."

"Thanks, Todd. I still can't believe you ended up working part-time as a teacher here. In my memory, I remember a very different Todd who would get distracted easily and stare out the window when the teacher wasn't looking...", she chided.

"Hey, I always was an active kid, between basketball and skateboarding, it was a miracle I was even awake...", he retorted.

"As if...you were always an energetic kid and if I remember correctly, preferred to spend time skateboarding rather than studying," she rebuked.

"It's not my fault you were the poster child for studying," he joked.

"I had to be..." Her composure wavered a bit, but her grimace quickly turned to a smile as it were never there.

After a brief silence, he uttered, "And on a brighter note, school was always brighter with you and your multi-colored braces around!"

"OMG...please don't mention those god-awful things..."

"What? They along with your festive ribbons were pretty cute."

By this point of the conversation, I was already uncomfortable with his blatant attempt at flirting with his school crush aka my sister so I politely coughed and kicked my sister's heels once.

In one fall swoop, my sister grinned, pressed down on my toes with her heels and said, "Well Mr. Wannabe Tony Hawk, we better go so take care!"

"Wait, is it possible we could...have dinner sometime, maybe tonight if I may be so bold?"

My sister smiled and said, "Sorry, I have to be in Dubai by tomorrow, so I better drop off my brother and take-off."

"Oh...some other time?"

We strutted out and Emilie remarked, "See you around Todd."

I waited until we had reached the school's exit before I tugged on her arm and asked her what had been on my mind during the entire walk towards the parking lot.

"Why did you push him away?"

She pretended to be oblivious. "What? What do you mean? Don't you recall me swearing off men?"

"Yeah...but Hawk seems nice..."

"You just want to fangirl all over him, is that it?", she postulated as I buckled my seat-belt.

"Maybe...or maybe I want you to be happy and not date douche jerks like the last one," I explained.

"I'm fine...you make me sound like a single mother in need of a man."

"I'm just worried about you...maybe give him a chance?"

She parked the car and answered, "Guys like him aren't interested in girls like me."

"Last time you dated, all you did was shop compulsively over the guy when you broke up with him...by the way, you're quite materialistic, aren't you?"

"If you're accusing me of being superficial, I could charge you with the same thing. All of us are vain in some way."

"No, it's just I wish you would let people inside your life...besides me, of course."

She rubbed my hair and said, "Why would I need anyone else, squirt?"

It was in this moment that I realized something very important.

In her mind, she thought she was unlovable. Her experiences with those who were supposed to care for her had shaped her to be calculating and independent with no need for anyone to take care of her.

The only one she could trust was herself.

She failed to realize one thing though.

She wasn't the only one  in this car who thought they didn't deserve love.