You were right, Lafayette. We should have listened to you. I'm sorry we didn't listen ...

I'm sorry we had to go and make fools of ourselves.

And I'm sorry, Eliza, for keeping this from you. My beautiful Sister.

Both my beautiful sisters. You have no idea what's going on. And since when?

Since when did we start keeping secrets? From each other?

It's my fault. I ruined us.

Yes ... I ruined us.

:::

Angelica wasn't there when Mr. Washington arrived at the scene. She was told later that he had shouted "What is the meaning of this?" and ordered both boys to the clinic, while the entire grade watched from the sidelines.

Angelica had begun to make her way home by foot, when she heard her name being called behind her.

"Hey! Angelica!"

"ANGIE!"

Angelica turned around and saw Eliza and Peggy running down the empty sidewalk towards her, skirts swishing. It was late evening, but to Angelica's amazement the streets were quiet.

It was never this quiet downtown.

"Where are you going?" Eliza asked, catching up to her eldest Sister.

Angelica stopped walking, but really couldn't look either of them in the eye.

"Away," was all she answered. "I'm just going away."

She turned and started walking again.

"But - wait! Wait, Angelica ..." Eliza's voice rang on in the eldest sister's ear, as she tried to catch up. "I don't understand ... I don't understand what happened."

God. Please, Eliza, just go away. I don't want to talk to you about this, Angelica thought. I don't have the heart to tell you about this.

"Yeah! Me neither!" Peggy exclaimed. "I mean, I knew Alex and Thomas hated each other, but ... not so much that they would give each other broken ribs."

Angelica whirled around at this.

"They broke each other's ribs?" She shouted.

"What? N-No, no! I mean ..." Peggy looked away, nervous. "Well ..."

"It wasn't really clear," Eliza answered for her, locking gazes with Angelica. "There was just blood ... it could have come from anywhere."

Angelica looked away and glued her eyes to the sidewalk. She just stood still now, like one of the tall sad lampposts.

"This is all my fault," she said to the sidewalk. Her hands climbed up her cold arms and stayed there, trembling. "This ... is all my fault."

A hand laid on Angelica's shoulder. It was Eliza's, "No, no. Don't say that ..."

"But it is ..."

"How?" Peggy demanded.

"I ... I ..." Angelica closed her eyes. She didn't want to say it. She didn't want to confess.

But she had to. She had already put this off for so Long. Months. Now was the time.

Angelica felt tears biting her eyes. They quickly turned into sobs, and then suddenly - there were too many.

She reached up and covered her face with her hands, as now the tears were spilling quickly one after the other and her face was red. The sobs broke out in heart-wrenching sounds, scattering the clouds above to show dark grey-blue skies.

"Oh my Gosh," Eliza whispered, putting her arms around her Sister. "Hey, it's okay."

"Why are you crying?" Peggy exclaimed. She hurried over to Angelica's other side, eyes wide. "Angie ..."

But Eliza shot her a look and she fell silent. And so they stood there. The three of them huddled on the sidewalk in the late evening, at some point in time eventually moving to sit on the curb, a bundle of pink, blue and yellow silk.

There they sat. The Schuyler Sisters, but more than ever they were strangers.

:::

Peggy and Eliza were silent after Angelica had finished sobbing her way through her explanation. Neither of the sisters had tissues, to she had resolved to simply letting the tears fall on the pale silk of her dress.

"Well, this took on a sad turn of events," Peggy said finally, looking confused and awkward. "Totally unexpected."

Eliza didn't answer. She didn't say anything for another three minutes. Just sat there, staring at the road, looking lost and confused.

Angelica stole a glance at the second-eldest Schuyler Sister, when she realised this was the case. Her heart began to break all over again.

"Eliza?" She whispered, trying to calm her sobs but now they were more violent than ever. "I'm ... so sorry -" she hiccuped "- about everything."

Silence.

Crap. Angelica thought. I knew this was gonna happen. I should never have gotten involved with anything. This really is all my fault.

But to her surprise, Eliza said, "It's okay."

There was a moment of silence as this registered, and then another moment as Angelica tried to calm her sobs.

"Wait ..." she sniffed. "... what? Really?"

"Yeah," Eliza replied. There was a weird smile on her face. "I mean, if everything is as you say it is ... then I say go for it. You love him."

"But so do you!" Angelica blurted.

"No, I don't."

"What?" She wheezed, rubbing her eyes frantically so that she could have this conversation. She was torn between relief and annoyance, almost as if saying Why not?

"You know what, I'm just gonna go ..." Peggy said, and stood up to leave. "I mean, this conversation isn't for me ... so bye ..."

She left in a flurry of awkwardness, leaving the two eldest sisters alone.

"I never said I loved him," Eliza said, calmly, after Peggy had left. "Never told him I loved him ... never did love him."

"But ..." Angelica's face was awash of confusion and surprise. "But you were always so -"

"Crazy about him?" There was a bitter laugh in Eliza's voice as she said this. She mopped back a wave of black hair. "Yeah. Yeah, I was. I wanted to love him."

"So -"

"But I never got an opening to," her gaze downcasted to the grimy road beneath her blue heels. She looked like an angel, sitting in her wash of pale blue silk amongst New York's filthy streets. "He never gave me an opening. And I tried ... really hard, actually ... to make it love. I wanted someone to love me like - like how they do in movies. Like how Alexander loves you."

Silence cloaked the two sisters, sitting pink and blue flowers in a haze of black and white.

"But Alexander never let it get any farther. So here we were, just stuck in a loop. Not going anywhere," Eliza laughed darkly, "I'm so stupid."

"Eliza ..." Angelica felt her heart breaking again. It was like her heart was constantly being repaired by her sister's words, and then smashed to bits again with the same hammer. "You're not stupid. I - this is all my fault."

"No, no. It's not all your fault ... and I am stupid," Eliza said, and her eyes were glazed over, like glass. A sheet of shining tears. "For thinking that I would find someone who ... could ever ... love -"

"No," Angelica whispered, voice cracked and hoarse. "Eliza don't say that. You are beautiful ..." she reached out and grabbed onto Eliza's hands, that were shaking out of control. "Someone will find you. And when you're found ..."

"I want you to be happy ..." Eliza said, tears rolling down her face at full force now. She stared at Angelica through a dozen layers of blur. "And I ... want to be happy ..."

"Eliza," Angelica said, and another sob wracked her. "Don't start crying, or you'll make me cry."

"You're already crying," Eliza said through the raining tears on her face.

"I know, but you'll make me cry more."

And then they had both turned and buried themselves in each other's arms, grasping for warmth and love. The two Schuyler Sisters sat there, crying their hearts out and whispering comforts to each other. Until eventually, there was nothing left to cry.

And maybe they felt a little bit better.