Unfortunately this book is almost finished, hence why updates are more frequent. I just want it over and done with. I haven't finished a book in ages. But don't worry, I inevitably won't make it seem rushed. I've published all the pre written chapters anyway.

"What were you thinking?!"

"I wasn't thinking."

"That's right, you weren't thinking!" Lilibet had yelled at Savannah at home. "I can't believe you would do something like this. I don't know what's wrong with you but something has definitely gotten into you!"

Savannah had just arrived home from Silvercloud Holding Centre after speaking to Jackson.

On her way home, Lilibet had texted her to come home immediately instead of going back to her university room.

Having a go at her over everything had seemed more meaningful in person compared to the phone. However, that wasn't the only reason Lilibet wanted her back.

Savannah's punishment was to help Lilibet at her hair salon throughout the week, until the Valentine's Day talent show in a few days' time.

One had to buy a ticket for that and it wasn't refundable. Savannah wasn't going to miss that, even if her mother did initially forget about it.

Working for Lilibet with less pay than usual (though still paid) was a good punishment because Savannah would have normally snuck off halfway either way.

Like she had done before she had met everyone in YSHM when Josiah had texted her to come to his house for a meeting.

His siblings were away and it was a perfect opportunity for everyone to each other for the first time.

Silvercloud Holding Centre had called Lilibet saying that Savannah had been charged for trespassing and invading Jackson's privacy twice. Jackson was even the one that charged them, albeit at least he had given them a heads up.

How they got her number, Savannah didn't know. Lilibet had never been there before ... although come to think of it, they most likely got everything from Ashanti.

"I'm sorry but it's not my fault you kept Jackson away from me!" Savannah shouted back. "Have you ever considered things from my perspective? Do you know how hard it was for me to find out that you had been keeping my brother away from me? All this while I thought that I was an only child. You made it seem that way!"

Whilst Lilibet understood that, Savannah was simultaneously making it seem like she was innocent and what she did was okay or perfectly acceptable.

As if breaking into Silvercloud Holding Centre when one was not supposed to was not a crime and she hadn't been charged for trespassing. She was very lucky she hadn't been arrested.

Perhaps if she wasn't still in education then she would have been. That didn't make things any better though.

Savannah was also slightly cross at Ashanti for breaking the promise she made her of not telling anyone about this.

"A lesson had to be taught. I told you millions of times all the things wrong with visiting Jackson but you didn't listen. Don't bring me into this! You wouldn't take no for an answer."

It then dawned on Savannah that she forgot to remind Jackson not to say anything to anyone about Darius, Lilibet or his past in general.

Hopefully he would have still remembered. He had to.

"What's not okay is that you could have had a criminal record," Lilibet hissed sternly. "All your friends could. And if you think I'm happy with that..."

"I never said you were happy with that," Savannah proclaimed. "Stop putting words in my mouth. And stop acting so innocent. You said nothing about Jackson and lied to me my entire life. I understand why you didn't tell me but you should have told me at least once. No. Instead you made me flipping believe that I had no other siblings!!"

Savannah raised her voice at the last bit, with Lilibet screaming at her not to speak to her in that tone.

All hell broke loose, with Lilibet sending Savannah straight upstairs, announcing that she was grounded straight after she had come back home from Santorini State of the Arts during the holiday.

And she had to come back, otherwise she would have extended her punishment.

As Savannah stormed upstairs, Lilibet shook her head, sincerely apologising to Ashanti that she had to see all that.

Ashanti decided to pay her a visit after she had gone shopping for the wedding tomorrow.

Lilibet and Kesiena went shopping for that respectively, however they spoke earlier, ranting about how irresponsible their children were.

"I can't believe that girl. Who does she think she is? Suddenly turns 18 and acts like she owns the place. Her behaviour is changing and she is breaking all my rules."

Ashanti remained silent, trying to see things from Savannah's perspective.

She may not have felt guilty for breaking her promise, though she did feel sympathetic for her, in an odd way.

"To be fair, she has a point."

Lilibet looked at her as if she had just said that Savannah had done nothing wrong.

Though Ashanti wasn't just talking about Savannah. She additionally brought up Darius at the end of what she wanted to say.

Jackson was hard to talk about, yes - and Ashanti had seen why Lilibet had avoided talking about him to Savannah all this time.

Even then... that didn't exactly mean she had to pretend he didn't exist for Savannah's entire life. Savannah had a right to know.

Just because Lilibet seemed ashamed of Jackson didn't necessarily mean that Savannah would have been. And she wasn't even.

Jackson was actually a very nice person... after his extremely dreadful past had been explained to him through Savannah, Josiah, Reminisce and Khalifa.

"Not just that. You put Darius in an extremely tight position. You clearly wanted Jackson euthanised. You just kept on denying it. How do you think poor Darius felt? He didn't know what to do. So he put him in a coma because he didn't want him dead. But then at the same time, he wanted to please you. The drug he used for the coma had a 90% survival rate. He told me everything. No offence, Lilibet, but you are a hypocrite. You and Darius divorced each other for something that you caused."

Ashanti was happy Jackson was still alive, but at what cost?

He didn't know his parents. Ashanti didn't even know how he had felt about them.

That hit her hard but it had to be said.

"I'm also not saying that Savannah is innocent. She isn't. She messed up really bad - all her friends did. But she's not completely responsible for this. I'm even going to talk to her after I finish speaking with you. If I were you, I'd give her space. I'll tell her to give you space as well. Figure this out before it's too late."

She then jumped from the high seat she was sitting on, hopefully giving her some perspective on everything.

Like she had said she was going to do, Ashanti went upstairs to go and speak to Savannah, as Lilibet in the meantime was in a deep blue funk.

For some reason, she didn't do it though, she wanted to somehow contact Darius. She didn't have his new number, or any of his accounts on social media anymore - and she definitely wasn't getting it from Kesiena.

She would have gotten the wrong impression.

She wanted to apologise ... but that could have all gone horribly wrong. She didn't want to risk it.

No. He's moved on. You should too. He's with Kesiena now.

One day they would have maybe miraculously crossed paths again. God willingly not in prison or in any other bad place.

For now?

Lilibet had to keep her distance from both her daughter and Darius. Darius' entire family.

She knew she did, it was the right thing to do so she did it.

**********

"How much trouble are y'all in?"

"Grounded as soon as summer starts," Khalifa had deadpanned to Savannah. "Also I can't rap anymore. It's been pretty hard for Reminisce though. She low-key won't talk to anyone."

As Ashanti had talked to Lilibet downstairs, Savannah had FaceTimed both Khalifa and Josiah upstairs in her room.

Realistically speaking, she wasn't even supposed to be using her phone in the first place.

Lilibet may not have explicitly said that her phone was confiscated, but Savannah really should have known better.

"My mum wants me to withdraw from my my course after the Valentine's Day talent show," Josiah lamented, with Savannah and Khalifa gasping. "It's that bad. At the same time, she knows it wasn't exactly my fault. I've never been in this much trouble before."

Thankfully, none of them had blamed Savannah, even if it was her fault. If their school had found out about this, they would have been expelled anyway - not that anyone was dwelling on it.

"I'm so sorry, you guys. I was being selfish. I didn't consider your feelings, and that's almost made us end up with a criminal record."

"Don't sweat it," Khalifa shook his head. "But I really got to go. I don't want to get into even more trouble for using my phone. I'll tell Reminisce y'all send her regards."

They nodded, with it being just Savannah and Josiah. Josiah seemed rather mad at her and Savannah didn't blame him.

He just told her what was done was done and there was no going back when Savannah apologised to him again.

Then he hung up.

Strategically waiting until after the phone call, Ashanti knocked on the door despite the fact that it was half opened already.

"You know, just because your mum didn't mention your phone doesn't mean that you can use it." Ashanti commented, sitting down on her bed.

Not replying, Savannah gave it to her, confessing that she was still mad at her for betraying her.

At least she had hers though. She knew Sotiria and Zipporah had theirs confiscated last night. Hence why she couldn't and didn't FaceTime them.

As for Reminisce, she didn't pick up, even after three tries.

Ashanti didn't do anything wrong - or at least she didn't think she did anyway, even if she had still apologised.

"You've never broken a promise before. I don't know why you had to start doing that today."

"Savannah. Your mum was going to find out anyway. Will you stop being so inconsiderate? And I would have gotten into trouble for knowing about this but not saying anything about it."

She remained silent, not saying a word again.

Ashanti was just there to let her know that she was there if she needed her, and she had to go.

She had spoken to her mum, so by God's grace, when the time was right, they would have sorted everything out.

"You spoke to my mum?"

"I tried to make her see things from your perspective."

Smiling, Savannah hugged Ashanti and vice versa, but now Ashanti had to go.

This was a good lesson though. All actions had consequences - and whether they were good or bad depended on what someone had done.

That's it for today! Hope you're ready for the Valentine's Day talent show in the next chapter.

I'd be lying if I said this chapter was fully easy to write - it wasn't. I had a plan but it wasn't even enough words so I just kinda improvised for the first time.

Hope you enjoyed!❤️