"Don't blame me, love made me crazy."
Jules Howard has always lived in the shadows of her sisters, being the middle child is never easy, especially when you're only half related. When a tragic accident ends the life of her parents and her eldest sib...
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Nobody expects to be an orphan, especially not suddenly and definitely not at sixteen. It happened so fast. One minute Jules was sitting at home whilst her parents were travelling to pick up her eldest sister, Lucy, for spring break, and her youngest sister, Jackie, was at a school mixer that she'd help put together. The next, her Uncle Richard was banging down the front door and telling her the horrific news.
Nothing was the same after that. Jules didn't return to school after spring break, no matter how much her Uncle insisited, but she couldn't, not when he was constantly working and she now had to look after her younger sister.
Once Jackie's freshman year was over, it was decided by law that the two girls were legally supposed to be living with their God-parents. So they had to pack up all of their belongings, get on a plane and fly halfway across the country to live with a family of people they'd never met.
"Jackie!" A voice caught the two girls attention as they stood with their piles of suitcases in the airport waiting area, "Jules!"
The long, shiny ginger hair was the first noticeable thing on Katherine Walter, the second was her cowboy boots. In contrast to Jackie and Jules, it was a big difference from their city girl outfits. They could've stepped out of a fashion show, Katherine and her husband George looked like they'd been at the stables.
"I'm so happy you're here." Katherine said, giving each girl a hug, although Jules was apprehensive, "You ready to go?"
Jules wasn't sure she was ready at all.
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The car pulled up outside a gorgeous, big house which sat in front of a barn and some stables, and was surrounded by acres of land. It was definitely different from Manhattan and it's busy streets and loud traffic and continuous buildings.
Jules and Jackie climbed out of the vehicle, admiring their new home. Katherine smiled at the girls, "Let's get you two inside. We'll introduce you to everybody."
When Jackie turned to her, she could instantly see the fear running through her eyes. She assumed they looked similar to her own, but being the older of the two, she had to put on a braver front.
"Come on." Jules handed Jackie her brown backpack as Katherine answered a phone call, "We'll be okay."
When the younger Howard's back was to her, Jules took in a deep breath. The one good thing about being here was now they had adults to look after them and take care of groceries. Jules was used to being the one to look after Jackie for the past six months, maybe now she could focus on other things, like school, again.
