Along Came Seth

When It All Changed

"Summer 2013 woo!" My fraternal twin sister, Talia, screamed in my ear.

The bell, signaling the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, had just rang and my crazy sister decided it was an opportunity as any to crash into my physics class. She was wearing a pair of ripped black skinny jeans, a silvery top, and brown wedges which were the complete opposite of my pleated skirt, white polo, and oxfords. What could I say? I liked safe.

"Why are you so loud?" I mumbled pushing her off of me. She pouted her pink lips and tossed her naturally brown, now blonde, hair over her shoulder.

"Why are you so boring, Trish?" She huffed and turned on her brown wedges, "I was with you when you bought that skirt. You totally ironed the pleats in" she sighed over her shoulder.

I quickly packed up my bags into my backpack and mumbled 'goodbye' and 'have a good summer' to the three out of thirty kids I actually made eye contact with in the class.

"Where's Elliot? I need to get my tan on" Talia shrieked running into the hallway.

"When has Elliot ever been on time?" I shrugged. Elliot, my older brother, was NEVER on time for anything. He would have probably had been late to his own birth, if he had anything to do with it.

"Can you stop with the sarcasm?" Talia rolled her big brown eyes and fluffed her hair, "I need to start tanning ASAP! I feel the pastiness creeping in"

"Trust you to make the last day of school overdramatic" I muttered.

"Excuse me?" She whipped around and fixed me with a glare.

"Can we quickly go to my locker? I need to empty out all of my AP textbooks" I sighed.

"You don't need to rub it in" Talia said sadly falling into step beside me.

"Rub what in?" I asked making a hard left turn towards my locker.

"You can't tell mom and dad, I'm trying to find the right time to say it" Talia dug into her silver Michael Korres bag, a present from an ex, and thrust a set of papers into my hands.

"Great. Paper. Definitely gonna need that this summer" I rolled my eyes stuffing the papers back into her hands.

"Ha-Ha, your too funny" She deadpanned lowering her voice, "For real, just read it"

I dramatically sighed and looked over the paper. What could possibly be wrong in Talia-ville?

"You failed English?" I shrieked as a group of seniors, soon to be graduates, bustled by.

"Lower your voice" Talia shushed me.

"How did you fail English?" I asked dumbfounded. English was Talia's best subject and she currently held the highest English mark, with me coming in a close second, at our school for all four grades, or at least she had. English was one of the few scholarly things that Talia didn't have to ask me for help in, and by help I mean her copying my answers word for word.

"Mom won't like this"

"I know and I'm freaking out!" Talia looked at me worriedly. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if it weren't for the fact that our mother was an author and our father was a big time professor at UCLA. They had co-written fourteen books, and counting, and were New York Times bestsellers. Our grandfather had also been an English professor, so one could definitely say English ran in the family.

"How is this possible?" I asked her just as a tall figure blocked my line of vision.

"Hey Brett" Talia cooed. Honestly, who coo's anymore?

"Hey, Talia. How was your final English score?" Brett asked cockily. I knew he was cocky because he happened to be six four, muscular, had a gorgeous olive complexion, was wearing Hollister, and had a clean head of brown hair on his head. When have you ever met a guy who fits that description that wasn't cocky?

"Morrison failed me" Talia said sadly, "English has never really been my subject, you know?"

I looked around Brett to Talia in shock. English wasn't her subject? Was I missing something, here?

"I signed up to be a peer tutor for summer school, this summer. I could always help you one on one" Brett suggested.

"That would be amazing Brett" Talia twirled her hair around her fingers.

"Um, excuse me" I mumbled into Brett's back.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there" Brett said lazily.

"Passed English but failed a vision test, I see" I muttered to myself.

"Your Talia's sister, aren't you?" Brett said understanding dawning on him.

"Ofcourse not! It's not like we look alike or anything...total strangers" I said looking up at him. He had dull brown eyes, a ski slope nose, and lips flatter than a line.

"Cool" He smiled, "I'll call you later, Tals" He said walking away.

"OMG! HE called me Tals! WE now have super cute pet names for each other" Talia exclaimed.

"So that's why you failed English" I laughed as realization washed over me.

"You say it like it's a bad thing. I've had my eye on Brett since freshman year and I took my opportunity to swoop in"

"By pretending to be bad at English?"

"No, by turning my smart bulb off for a bit and allowing love to take its course" Talia said triumphantly.

"Oh no, whose Talia in love with now?" Elliot grinned brown eyes twinkling. He was in his usual Elliot attire of khaki's, a graphic tee, and his Sperry's. His brown hair was wet and curled around his ears slightly.

"Ew, you look like you took three laps around the field" Talia said blocking her nose.

"This, my friend, is the glorious scent of my last football meeting as a vike" Elliot laughed giving her a bear hug. Elliot was now an unofficial graduate.

"Get your paws off me, you filthy animal!" Talia groaned peeling Elliot's fingers off her. She straightened out her top and turned to me, "The faster we get out of here, the quicker I can pretend I don't know you guys"

"Whoa Whoa Whoa. On the social ladder, I'm way higher than you" Elliot said defiantly. Elliot was captain of the football team and was responsible for ushering the South High Vikes to victory for three years running. Elliot was probably going to go down in school history for being the youngest captain to have ever been titled (He was a sophomore when he earned the title).

"But not by much. Remember that" Talia rolled her eyes. Talia had been lead in every single school play our school had ever had since freshman year. She was the drama queen and made no attempts to hide it. Talia's personality and ego were quite possibly bigger than any of her roles had ever been.

"And Trish is right there..."Elliot trailed off. He didn't have to finish because I knew exactly what he was going to say. Trish is right there with the band geeks. Maybe even lower. In our family I was the brains, Elliot the Braun and Talia the looks. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't ugly or anything, I just wasn't good at using it to my advantage the way Talia was.

"With the nobodies" I shook my head and finally opened my locker to retrieve my textbooks. For as long as I could remember I was always Rachel and Skylar's daughter or Elliot's sister and even Talia's less attractive twin sister.

"Oh sweetheart, you aren't a loser" Talia pouted.

"What an understatement" I sighed as a black notebook slid out of my hands.

"Whats this?" Talia grinned. I snatched my notebook back and glared at her. She knew my notebook was off-limits.

"Honestly. You could easily be one of the cutest girls in school if you stopped hiding the McGuiness locks of mightiness in those stupid buns or if you stopped dressing like grandma" Talia said fingering the loose strands of hair that I hadn't caught into my bun.

"I DO NOT dress like grandma. And the bun is awesome" I said swatting her hand away, "It's my thing"

"Well at least take your nose out of all those books" Elliot muttered earning him a punch in the arm, "Ouch, I'm sorry"

"You better be" I ground out.

"Why aren't you always that assertive?" Talia smiled.



"Can we be done with this conversation? I have a book I need to finish" I said slamming my locker door closed and walking away.

...................................................................................

"We're home!" Elliot yelled once we got home. My parents were working on their latest novel and had been working from home for the past two months.

"We're in here" Dad yelled from the living room, "We'd like you to join us"

WE all looked at each other confused.

"Maybe their finally getting us our own cars, Trish! Lord knows I've been riding in the Elliot-mobile, aka loser train, for too long" Talia said excitedly.

"What's the lawyer doing here?" I muttered noticing the balding man dad always had present on him during contract signings, sitting on the couch. Mom and dad were situated at the front of the living room with their hands clasped in front of them. Dad looked worried but mom looked fine.

"We're getting a divorce" Mom said getting straight to the point. She wore a black pantsuit and had her dark hair curled around her face. Her face, as usual, was a mask of no emotion and her pink lips stood pursed .

"Wait what?" My Elliot asked shocked.

"We're getting divorced" Mom said a second time. I stared from mom to dad trying to make light of the situation.

"WE haven't been very happy this last year and~"

"What do you mean you haven't been happy?" Elliot yelled cutting mom off, "You just signed on to write a sci fi trilogy that'll make you even more of a billionaire!

"Money isn't everything, son" dad said sadly. Dad rolled up the sleeves of his blue button down and sighed. How could they not be working out? Mom and dad were awesome together. Dad was like the daffy duck to moms Cruela De ville.

"When two people love each other the way I and your father do, they'll work at everything to make things work out" Mom smiled sadly.

"What a crock of~"

"Language, Elliot!" Dad said sharply running a hand through his short blonde hair.

"We've tried and it isn't working. We're tired of being unhappy" Dad said.

"So you're tired of trying?" Talia said meekly. I turned to my sister and held her as she shook with tears.

"When your grown and you find someone you care for~"

"If you cared so much, you wouldn't be calling it quits" Elliot muttered.
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"WE just couldn't do it anymore" dad sighed. I saw a single tear slide down his cheek and watched as mom remained as stoic as ever.

"Great, just perfect" Elliot angrily ran his hands through his hair. I stood in shock whilst still holding on to Talia.

"Why is he here?" Talia stopped crying for a second and pointed at the lawyer.

"He's here to split our assets" Mom said.

"Oh my gosh" I whispered as it all sunk in. My parents were over, done. Twenty years of marriage and eighteen years of joint parenthood, down the drain.

"You can't do this!" Talia whimpered.
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"You really must toughen up, children" Mom said hastily, "We've decided that a change of scenery will do you all some good so we've arranged for you to go up to a summer house in Maine for the summer"

"So you're breaking up and you're shipping us off. Cool" Elliot said sarcastically.

"Of course not, I will come with you. It'll give me a chance to finish my book and for your father to...do what he must" Mom stumbled over her words a bit but immediately sharpened up. "We leave in two days"

With that mom click clacked her way out of the living room.

"I'm so sorry kids" dad said pulling us in for a hug, "I love you guys so much"

"This past year has been a charade and we couldn't continue on the way we were going. We were going to wait but the situation was inevitable" Dad pulled back a little and stared at us.

"Can't we stay here?" Talia blubbered. A summer in Maine with mom didn't exactly scream fun, actually it just plain sounded like torture. My entire life dad had been the soft, caring, nurturing parent who nursed my wounds and read me bed time stories. Mom was the stoic professional parent who read over my essays, pointing out every single flaw and told me to get thicker skin because I broke too easily. A life without dad was a life I couldn't and wouldn't imagine.

"No, there are some things that we both need to figure out and we won't be able to get it done together. Its just best if you all go to Maine" dad smiled weakly and I saw the wrinkles around his eyes deepen.

"Yeah, your right" I said finally finding my voice. Dad stared at me and smiled, while I earned confused looks from Talia and Elliot. This was what I always did, Dad knew it but Elliot and Talia looked like they were ready to kill me.

"You're the parents, you decide. Right?" I shrugged my shoulders and took the stairs two at a time, leaving my family stunned in my wake.

"Are you crazy?" Talia and Elliot barged into my room.

"Did you guys see his face?!" I said quietly. They both stared at me confused.

"He looked so broken. Mom broke dad. If this trip to Maine is what he wants from us, it's the least we can do" It was no surprise that mom initiated this divorce.

"So we have to pretend to be A okay with all of this?" Elliot paced the length of my room.

"I guess so" I muttered ushering them out of my room. It wasn't till I had shut my room door did I allow myself to cry and cry and cry.



Among my brother and sister I was always the one who did what mom and dad needed me to do. Talia was always too mouthy and Elliot too cool. One could call me a goody two shoes but I didn't care. Being the middle kid was hard enough, having to deal with two stupidly over exaggerated people, but then having to deal with two people with personalities as different as my parents'? Now that was a whole different story. I was always expected and I suppose that was the reason mom and dad always depended on me

.............................................................................................................................................................................

"Isn't it cute?" Mom cheered happily.

The car was winding up a vast cobblestone driveway lined with tall pine trees. As we wound up the driveway, it gave way to a sort of miniature cul-de-sac that sat in front of the house. In the middle was an elaborate angel fountain that looked like it belonged in old day England. The house was absolutely gorgeous, to say the least. It looked the type of house that belonged in Beverly Hills, 90210. Not Maine. It was tall and white and I noticed that at one of the higher levels, there were balconies lining the perimeter. To the back of the house was a smaller little house, which really wasn't that small, and a gigantic pool.

"Totally cute" Elliot deadpanned once mom put the car in park. Talia stood in shock as she stared at the house.

"Are you sure we're in Maine?"

"Yes, I'm sure" Mom rolled her eyes and opened the trunk, "Get your belongings"

WE hurriedly got our suitcases and followed mom up the stairs to the house.

"Let me show you your rooms" mom said smoothly leaving her suitcase at the entrance and beginning to walk up the marble stairs. My eyes widened and I tried, to no avail, to take in all the beauty at once.

Once you entered the house the first thing you noticed was the gigantic living room that was sporting a Baldwin piano and a big screen the size of my school. Off to the right was a huge set of marble stair cases, which mom stood on impatiently, that wound all the way to the top floor. To the left was a series of maze like halls that I probably wasn't going to get the opportunity to discover until later. Fine portraits lined the walls of the house and the furniture was all whites and sea blues. The house looked like it was ready for the president.

"Would you hurry up?" Mom said stamping her foot impatiently. We quickly followed her up the winding stairs to what appeared to be the bedroom level. The bedroom level made a sort of semi circle at the beginning of the stairs and then split up on either side.

"That first room, right there, is Talia's. I know how much you hate sharing a bathroom with Elliot, so I've given you the bathroom there" Mom pointed to right side of the split.

"And on this side is your room, Elliot" Mom sauntered to the first room on the left with the yellow door, it was literally the only door that wasn't white. She then stretched her hand a little bit down.
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"And that's all you, Trish" The rooms were far apart enough to give us space.

"So Talia gets her own wing?" Elliot asked.

"Would you rather share a bathroom with Talia or Trish?" Mom snapped. Elliot looked over at me and shrugged. Talia and Elliot were both on the same level of messiness, while I was much more on the neat side. I literally had to color coordinate the medicine cabinet or I wouldn't be able to function.

"Where are you staying?" Talia wondered looking at mom.

"I'll be on the third level" She said pointing up, "Its like my own little writing cave. Its wondrous. This way, I cant disturb you And you surely wont disturb me."

"How do you even get up there?" I asked.

"There's an elevator down stairs" Mom said like I had asked the stupidest question ever, "There's also one right here" She said pointing to what I had thought was a coat closet in between Talia's wing and the rest of our rooms.

"Is that just an extra?" Talia asked pointing to the room right across form mine, seemingly forgetting moms little writers cave.

"Don't be silly, that's Mackenzie's" Mom laughed lightly.

"Who is Mackenzie?" I asked confused.

"I told you Mona was going to Paris this summer. She didn't feel right leaving Mackenzie all alone so she begged for Mackenzie to stay with us. What kind of a gal pal would I be if I didn't let her kid stay here?" Mom laughed at her joke, even though I wasn't aware it was meant to be funny

"Don't worry, Mackenzie is a darling" Mom smiled

"She better not hog the bathroom" I mumbled. Me, Elliot, and this Mackenzie character were going to have to share the bathroom on our side, while Talia got her own, and I couldn't deal with any one remotely as nasty as Elliot.

"She better be hot" Elliot grinned running back down the stairs to get his luggage.

I Was ready to comment on his stupidity when I heard a series of loud car honks coming from outside.

"They're here!" Mom trilled. WE all descended the stairs to greet Elliot and my eyes practically bulged out of my head.

A woman stood at the door beaming. I literally had to stare DOWN at her, which I didn't think would ever be possible since I barely hit the 5'7 barrier. Mackenzie was a fifty something year old woman wearing a floral maxi dress. She had long blonde hair and smooth velvety skin, which was incredibly untanned.

"Mona!" Mom threw her arms around the woman and I released my breath. She wasn't Mackenzie.

"Mackenzie!" Mom yelled going down the cobblestone steps.

"Hey, Mrs. M" A deep voice laughed.

"Children, meet Mackenzie" My breathing slowed as I witnessed the greenest eyes I had ever seen in my history of being on this earth. Those green eyes were only a couple inches, about five, Higher than me and were placed on a flawless tan face with dark eyebrows over them and the pinkest of lips below them. They all worked impeccably well with the angular jaw line that brought it all together. On top of this gorgeous face was a wind blown halo of light brown hair that stuck out at angles, even a protractor couldn't find. In a word, whoever this person was, he was perfect.