again,, TW: do not read if you are easily triggered and do not read to purposely trigger yourself.
Margo's POV; age 14
I suck in a deep breath, planning out each of my steps through the small house. I don't think you could call it a house since it's a trailer, but it takes away from the sadness of the situation.
"Abigail, wake up." I whisper, quietly shaking her awake. Nixon begins rolling around in his crib so I walk over towards him, picking him up and propping him up on my hip.
"Go get ready for school, I'll finish your homework." I whisper, reaching into Nixon's crib to find his bottle.
Abigail is taking a quick shower, the water barely on with the fear of waking mom up lingering over us. I make Nixon's bottle as I finish our homework and get ready for school.
This is a normal day, take care of them, go to school, come back home, repeat.
"Abi we have to-" I stop dead in my tracks when I notice a tall figure coming out of our mom's room. I run to the bathroom with Nixon and close the door as quickly as possible without making noise.
We sit in silence as the front door closes and I hear two car doors slam. Great.
Getting the kids to their designated places is as simple as it's always been, but school for me was different today.
I trudged towards my locker, not bothering looking at or listening to anyone. The only thing on my mind being how I'm going to get through the day.
"Margo!" Giselle grins, skipping up to me as if we're in a movie. "Guess who invited me- us to their concert this weekend?"
I stare at her blankly, not even bothering to imagine who would do such a thing. My brain can't handle it today. I turn to my locker and begin entering the code before answering. "I don't know, who?"
"Luke Hemmings." She grins and I let out a long sigh, preparing myself for the rant that's about to take place. "He came up to me and asked if you were here and I said nothing yet so he gave me a paper with the address and said he wanted us to come and- oh my god there they are." She gasps, grabbing my arm as I shove a few of my books into my locker. "Act natural."
She nervously shakes me, making me feel as if I'm going to fall over. I back up, reaching to close my locker when a tall figure slams into me. They catch me before I can fall and I look up to see Luke.
"Margo, right?" He smiles at me as I rise back up to my full height. "Gina told me that you weren't here yet."
"Her name is Giselle, and I just got here." I pull away from him and glance at the other three guys that are standing behind him as if this is some coming of age movie. "I don't see why my whereabouts are any of your concern though."
"I- we were wondering if you wanted to come to our show this weekend?"
Its easy to say no when Giselle invites me, but I don't know how to say no to strangers.
They're not exactly strangers, but it definitely a weird that they're talking to me.
"I'm busy, sorry." I close my locker and begin walking away when he runs up to my side.
This has to be a fucking movie.
"You can't go out for one night? I'll even give you a ride." He eagerly begs and I turn to look at him, expecting him to seem angry, but he doesn't.
"I'm sorry." I decline his offer one last time and he nods.
First period goes by quickly, its second period I'm worried about. I quietly enter the classroom as everyone talks amongst themselves.
"Margo, may I have a word with you out in the hallway before class begins please?" The teacher asks and I nod, attempting to swallow all of my fear.
I slowly walk out into the hallway as he orders the rest of the class to take their seats before joining me. He closes the door, barely leaving it cracked.
"Do you know why I called you out here?" He folds his arms over his chest.
"Because I miraculously won Jeopardy even though I've never played it in my life?" I attempt to lighten the mood, only causing him to shake his head.
"You're failing my class." He looks down at me, disappointment written on his face like a book I'll never want to read. "It's not because you're a bad student, you just don't do your homework and when you're here you're always falling asleep. I may have to call your-"
"No!" I jolt at the possibility of him calling my mom. "I'll do the work and I'll stay awake. Just please don't call her. Please."
"You have one more chance then I'm making that call, Margo." He sighs and I nod frantically. "Get to your seat. We're starting a new lesson today."
———
"What are you doing after school?" Giselle asks as we sit at our lunch table.
"I have to go home right after school." I mumble, setting my food down with the knowledge that I won't eat it.
"You always have to go home." She frowns and I do my best to ignore her.
Yeah, Giselle; I do, but only because my mother is a fucking crack whore.
"Sorry." I apologize when Giselle gasps, looking over to the group of girls she's been hanging out with more often recently. Leaving me all alone.
"I'll be right back." She stands up, grabbing her tray and approaching the girls before I can respond.
I sit at the table in silence for a few minutes before another figure joins me, causing me to jump.
"I didn't mean to scare you." Luke lets out a laugh. He's the type of guy with a smile that would make you think he's never been sad a day in his life. "You're quite jumpy."
"Yes, I know." I look down at my tray as he nervously taps his fingers on the table. I recognize the rhythm immediately and it causes me to snap my eyes back up to him. "Is that your new song?"
"Sorry?" He raises his eyebrows, clearly confused as to what I'm talking about.
"The song you were just tapping with your fingers. It's your new one." I point to his hand as he looks down at it as if he doesn't realize where it's placed.
"Yeah, it is. How did you know?" He smiles, looking up at me.
"Giselle showed it to me one time." I gesture towards Giselle who is now sitting with the group of girls.
"Why is she sitting with Hailey and her clique instead of you? Is it because Hailey is American?" He looks back to me and I shake my head.
"It's because she fits society's standards of what's seen as attractive and she has a semi-good fashion sense." I answer his rhetorical question and he shakes his head.
"She's basic, her style is basic, and she has no sense of humour." He argues and I look at him with wide eyes.
"You can't say that!" I smile, letting out a small laugh at his statement.
"I can say whatever I want." He leans back and I raise my eyebrows.
"Why because you're the lead singer of a band?"
"No, because I'm the lead singer of a band that's going to be famous one day." He grins at his dream that he's stating out loud.
"Yeah, I could see that." I smile, tilting my head. "They may have to warn all of the other pop-punk artists."
"Yeah, and you'll be there too." His statement causes me to freeze, my eyes as wide as saucers.
"What? No, no I can't. I'm not fit for that lifestyle." I quickly shake my head, looking away from him.
"Margo, you're one of the only talented people in this town. You might even make it before I do." He reassures me and before I can argue, the other three guys walk up.
"They didn't have spaghetti." Calum frowns as he takes a seat next to Ashton as Michael sits between Ashton and I.
"Shut up, Calum." Ashton rolls his eyes before looking at me. "Why did the teacher call you out into the hallway this morning?"
"You can't just ask her shit like that, dickhead." Calum hits his arm, causing him to wince.
"I just wanted to know!" Ashton defends himself, tossing his hands up to shield himself from anymore hits.
"It's fine, he just had to talk to me about my grades." I shrug, causing all of them to look at me.
"I thought you were one of the smart kids? The smart kids never really talk to people." Michael scoops some of his food into his mouth and I let out a soft laugh.
"I am, I'm just busy with other things at the moment." I let out a sigh, looking down at my phone and realizing it's time for me to go take my pills. "One of which, I need to go do right now."
I stand up from the table and reach for my tray when Michael stops me. "You're not going to eat?"
"No, you can have it if you want." I push the tray towards him and he grins, grabbing the items he wants. "Also," I turn to Luke who is still watching me. "I'm really sorry I can't make it to your gig. I'll definitely have to find a time to go to another one. Thank you for sitting with me."
———
"You can't be fucking serious!" The man yells, throwing stuff around the house like it's a junk yard.
He's been arguing with mom all night and hitting her as if he doesn't have morals. I pulled Abigail and Nixon into our room, but the walls are so thin there's barely a difference.
"I'm scared." Abigail whispers, moving impossibly closer to me. I wrap my arm around her as I hold Nixon in my lap, attempting to calm him down.
"I know, we're going to be okay though." I whisper, kissing the top of her head. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
A gun shot rings out through the house and it makes my heart stop. Abigail lets out a scream as I rise to my feet.
"Abi, take Nixon and get in the closet." I hand the screaming child to her as she crawls towards the closet. "Do not move."
I run out of the room, looking around the hallways for our mom, hearing her cries come from her bedroom. I run to the bedroom and notice the man on top of her as she attempts to move.
"Get off of her!" I yell, running up to him and hitting him as hard as I can.
He turns around, shoving me to the floor with no struggle. "Who is this?" His grin sends chills down my spine and I feel as if the walls are crashing around me.
He grabs me by my neck and pushes me against the wall as I notice my mom cowering on the bed. She's not saying anything, just watching.
"Please, don't hurt her." I whisper as he brings the gun up to my head, dragging it across my cheek as he strokes my hair.
"Aww, no I won't hurt her." He looks down, scanning my body with his hungry eyes. "You, on the other hand, you look so much like your father I want to kill you."
I blink, tears streaming down my face.
"No, don't cry, you're going to look like a child. I don't like children." He shakes his head and I feel my lungs collapsing.
"Do whatever you want to me, just don't hurt her." I manage to choke the words out and he smiles.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear."
Bye I keep forgetting to update</3