Strong Enough (An Older Brother Story)

"Amelia being parent-y"

Sophia's POV:

It has been a few weeks since the smoking incident, and Clay has started to ease up on me a little bit. I have most of my clothes back, some of my stuff (including my phone! Yay!), and most importantly my bedroom door. Not having that was the worst! I still can't believe he actually took it, I thought he way exaggerating. I guess I also didn't think he would really wash my mouth out with soap though, and he did that too. Ick, that was so gross! I did call him an asshole though, so I probably deserved that. I still think that he is going overboard, but I am definitely never going to smoke again or betray his trust like that. It is pretty frustrating being grounded for the entire rest of the school year though, and it has been hard not to have an attitude about it. I'm also getting kinda annoyed with Amelia, but differently than I used to. She is just being much more parent-y lately. It is weird. I would never admit this to her, but despite the fact that it can get a little annoying, it is also kind of nice.

Clay is already at work today, he had to go in early to get ready for a meeting or something, so Amelia is taking me to school. Luckily the middle school starts almost an hour before the elementary school, so she can drop me off and still get to work on time. I hear her call from the living room "Sophia, it's time to go!" I yell back "Coming!" and rush out to the living room. She hands me a brown paper bag and says "I packed your lunch, I wasn't sure if Clayton had given you any lunch money." I roll my eyes and say "I can pack my own lunch Amelia, I'm not a baby..." she gives me a look and says "Sophia" she may not have the mom look down yet, but the teacher look is pretty close. I mumble "sorry" and she says "Come on, let's go." The ride to school is pretty uneventful, we just listen to an episode of the podcast about theatre that we have been listening to together. We pull up to the school and as I get out of the car Amelia says "Have a day at school, love you, make good choices!" I struggle to not roll my eyes at the last part, but I just respond "love you too" and head inside.

*end of the school day*

Amelia's POV:

I pick Sophia up from school and as soon as she gets in the car I can tell that something is off. I ask her "How was your day at school?" and she just responds "fine" while looking down. The ride home is fifteen minutes of awkward silence. As soon as we get in the door Sophia heads for her room. There is a part of me that really wants to just let this go, not because I don't want to talk to her, but just because I worry about putting myself in the middle of things. I know that I shouldn't do that though. I stop her and say "Hey Soph, can you sit down on the couch for a second?" She nods, looking confused. I have no idea what I am planning on doing here, but I just know that something is going on with her and I need to get to the bottom of it. I ask her "Are you sure that everything at school was fine?" She says "Yeah..." not looking at me, but then I hear her voice crack as she says "No, I did something really terrible..." and she breaks down in tears. Oh no, I don't know what I am supposed to do here! I ask gently "Do you want to tell me what happened?" She says "Yes, but just please don't tell Clayton!" I say gently "Honey, you know I can't promise that." She nods and says "Yeah, I know..." and is silent for a few seconds, but then she says "I really need to tell someone though. I feel so guilty, it is making me sick." I say sympathetically "Having guilt eating at you like that doesn't feel good. I am here to listen if you feel like you need to talk." She nods and says "Thanks Amelia. Okay, so I was in the locker room changing and I didn't want to change in front of everyone, because it just makes me feel kinda uncomfortable, and so I went to the bathroom. But when I came back out my friends started making fun of me and said that I was a prude because I am Christian." I interrupt her and say "Soph, you are 12, you can't be a prude." She says "Well, it feels like it sometimes! All of my friends have already had their first kiss and some of them even have boyfriends. Sarah even said that she has had sex!" I say "Sophia, you do not need to be worried about that type of stuff right now. No one should be having sex when they are 12 or 13!" She says "I know Amelia, but it is really frustrating! Sometimes I just wish that I wasn't a Christian and I didn't have to worry about honoring God with my body." I say "I get it sweetie, I really do. And I am not going to say that it gets easier. It will just get harder from here until you get married. Clay and I have been dating for a really long time, I would really like to be able to..." she cuts me off and says "Ewww Amelia! I don't want to think about that with you guys!" I laugh and say "Anyways, we got off track, what did you want to tell me?" She says "Long story short, my friends dared me to Snapchat a picture of me without clothes on to this boy in our class and I wanted them to stop making fun of me, so I did it..." I inhale sharply, oh my goodness, this time Clayton might actually kill her if he finds out. I am so upset with her that I am contemplating it at the moment and I know how I am feeling is nothing compared to his reaction. Before I freak out too much I ask "What do you mean by a picture without clothes on?" She explains that it was just a picture of her in a bra without a shirt on, which is better than what I was fearing, but it is the principle of the thing, especially at this age.

Sophia's POV:

I can see the disappointment in Amelia's eyes when I finish talking. She takes a deep breathe and is about to say something when she says "Hold on a second." And she gets up and walks into the other room.

Amelia's POV:

I walk into the kitchen and call Clayton. He answers and says "Hey honey, I'm at work, is this something important." I say "Yeah, it is. Sophia did something really stupid, and I want you to give me permission to handle it." He ask concerned "What do you mean something really stupid?" I sigh and say "Please just trust me that you do not want to know, because you would not be able to handle it rationally." He says skeptically "Okay..." and I ask again "Will you please give me permission to handle it and to not tell you what happened? I need you to trust me." He says hesitantly "Okay, I trust you." I say "Thank you, I hope you have a good rest of the day at work, I love you." He says "Love you too." and hangs up.

Sophia's POV:
Amelia comes back in the room and says "Okay, Clay told me that I could handle it and I don't have to tell him what happened." Wow, that is a relief. After the relief washes over me, it hits me that Amelia is going to punish me for the first time ever. This is really weird. She sits down next to me and says "Let me see your phone Soph." I hand it to her, but then she hands it back and says "No, unlock it." I do and then she takes it and goes to my Snapchat. There is a snap from Evan, the boy that I sent the picture to. She opens it and it is a picture of his... well you can probably guess... She clicks out of that and then reads the message he sent me, it says "Hey baby, why don't you send me a picture without that bra?" I can feel my face getting red, and Amelia looks at me and ask "Is that really the kind of guy that you want to date? Or the kind of relationship you want to have? He is a pig." I say "No..." She says gently "When you do stuff like send inappropriate pictures to boys that you barely know, that is the way that they will treat you. I don't want that for you Soph, you deserve better than that. Other people are not going to respect you if you don't respect yourself." I nod and say "I know, I'm sorry Amelia..." She is right, that was so stupid. She ask "Did you know that it is also illegal? If you are under 18 it is child pornography, and if you get caught sending or revisiting pictures like that then you could be registered as a sex offender." I say, shocked "I didn't know that..." she nods and says "What other reasons are there that you should not do that?" I say, feeling pretty disappointed in myself, "Because it is a sin. I am a temple of the Holy Spirit and I am supposed to respect my body. Also, it is encouraging other people, like Evan, to lust, which is also sinful. And that type of thing should be saved for marriage." She nods and ask "Do you understand why that was a bad choice Sophia?" I say "Yes, because it is not respecting myself, it is illegal, and it is sinful." She continues "And why there has to be consequences for choices like that?" I nod and say "You and Clay are trying to help me become a good person and that means that sometimes you have to correct me when I make mistakes." She nods and says "Okay, so I guess this is the not so fun part. I want you to give me all of you social media passwords, and I will be checking them to make sure that what you are posting and messaging people is appropriate. You are also grounded from your phone for two weeks." she stops, and I am waiting for more, after a second I ask "Is that all?" She says "I can add more if you would like..." I say "No, no, no that's good." Clayton's punishment for this would have been 10x worse, maybe having Amelia act parent-y isn't the worst thing in the world. She says "I think that you understand that this was a mistake, and I don't think that you will do it again, so I think that is a sufficient punishment." I say "Thanks Amelia." She says, half jokingly, "You're welcome, but if I ever catch you sending actual nudes I will go over to my parents house and get the paddle that they used on me as a teenager out of storage, got it?" I laugh and say "Yeah, I got it." I think that she is kidding, but I still make a note to myself not to test that theory. She ask "Do you want to pray?" I nod and she puts her hand on my shoulder and says "Lord, I ask that you watch over Sophia as she comes to a time in her life where she will have to make difficult decisions. And that you give her wisdom to make good decisions and grace when she doesn't. I ask that you help her to know how much You love her and how much Clayton and I also love her. I ask that you give us wisdom and patience as we try to guide her. I just ask that you watch over our family Lord...." she stops and I continue "Please forgive me for the sinful actions that I have committed today, and help me to make better decisions in the future than honor you God. Thank you for everything that I have been blessed with, especially Clayton and Amelia. In Christ name me pray, Amen." and Amelia mumbles "Amen." Then she says "I am going to make dinner so that it is ready when Clayton gets home, why don't you get started on your homework." I start to protest "but..." and she just cuts me off with "Don't argue with me Sophia." and gets up and hands me my backpack and then heads into the kitchen. See, it is nice sometimes, but definitely pretty annoying at other times.