That's When ~ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen

Chapter 6: I should've known

"Hey, do you wanna crash at my place?" Bella whispers into Quinlynn's ear as they walk down the street, Lucy, Zeke, and Yiannis walking in front of them.

"Thanks, but I should probably head home," Quinlynn murmurs softly, turning her head away so that Bella can't see her face. She's been crashing at Bella's place on the weekends for the last couple of weeks and needless to say her parents weren't thrilled.

"Tomorrow then?" Bella asks hopefully. She hasn't said anything yet but she's not blind, three black eyes in the span of two months isn't normal.

"Can't. Funeral," Quin answers simply, glancing up at the street signs to make sure they haven't passed her place.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Bella says softly as the wind blows her hair into her face.

They had been going through a warm stretch for the past few days so in proper north east fashion, the wind that's coming in is freezing cold. Quin groans inwardly at the thought of a 3-5 day stretch with temperatures under 50 degrees. She's been really enjoying not needing a coat, especially considering she doesn't have one. And while she's sure she could afford one with the money she's saved from working, right now all that money is going towards, hopefully, buying or renting an apartment with her older brother once she's graduated.

Her older brother, Hunter, is already nineteen. But because he repeated a grade he's a senior rather than in his freshman year of college. So the plan is that her brother will attend NYU and live on campus freshman year. Then once Quin graduates they'll rent a place where he can commute to school and she can figure out what the hell she's doing with her life. And, though she'd really prefer to emancipated, her brother will get their parents to sign over custody to him and all their problems will be solved. Well not really, but she's trying this new thing called 'optimism'. She can't say she's a fan though.

Realism is just so much more... well, realistic. Shocking, right?

"Girl, where is your coat?" Yiannis asks, turning around to look at them and promptly walking into a street sign.

"I left it at home," Quin lies, giving him a weak smile. It's fricking freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth, Quin thinks to herself. And yes, she does laugh slightly at her own reference.

"That sucks," Lucy says, giving her a sympathetic smile as she turns to look at her and Bella. And, unlike Yiannis, she doesn't hit a street sign.

Quin smiles at her briefly before glancing down at her phone. 7:46. "Shi- shoot! I gotta go," she says as they finally approach her street, although she'll still have to walk a solid 10 minutes before she gets home.

"Okay, girl, I'll see you tomorrow," Yiannis waves as Quin crosses the street.

"Bye," Zeke and Bella call after her.

And she hears a shouted "text me when you get home" which she assumes is from Lucy. She's always telling her to and she's not totally sure why; and Quin always ends up wording her texts so weirdly. It's strange for someone to care about her making it home safe.

After walking for a few minutes she glances at the time. Damn, they were further away from her house than she thought. So she takes off sprinting though she's sure the sudden exercise is terrible for her asthma and heart condition but she'd rather be dead than late. Although, she muses as she runs, if she's late she'll probably end up dead. Oh, the irony.

She makes it home just in time, granted she can't breathe but who cares? She slides off her shoes, picks them up, and shoves them in her cubby. She knows better than to walk around the house with shoes on. She then hangs up her coat and bag before walking fully into the apartment.