Chapter 1
***TESSA'S POV***
"Tess! You ready?"
I heard Cary yelling up the stairs to me as I was pulling my dark red jean shorts on. It seemed to go well with my too big off white sweater. My shorts peeked out of from the bottom of my sweater.
"Coming!" I shouted down the stairs. I quickly brushed my teeth and raced downstairs. I grabbed a water bottle, a bagel, and my purse. I met Cary in the doorway as I heard stumbling footsteps on the front porch.
"Sh*t..." I mumbled. Lucas was home. He fell in the doorway and made then room fill with the stench of alcohol. He always came home like this. Well, ever since my mom remarried to this guy and started ignoring him. Now, we lived with a work-a-holic and an alcoholic. Best. Life. Ever. Hint the sarcasm.
As my step-father staggered over to Cart and I, he was cursing and slurring nonsense. I watched him with cautious eyes. I was scared at what he might do next. I've been beaten many times when he comes home like this. So has Cary.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by a foot in my ribs. I clenched my teeth and crumpled to the ground into a ball.
"Tess!" I heard Cary cry and then a thud next to me. I recognized that thud as Cary.
"St-stupid b*tches.." Lucas slurred. He kicked my shin and even though it was softer than the kick that came in contact with my ribs, it still hurt a lot.
I heard refrigerator door open and close, along with the rattle and chime of beer bottles.
I groaned as I tried to pick myself up off of the floor without hurting my ribs. I gnomes the pain and helped Cary get up and clean her cut that she had on her forearm. I put Neosporin on it and placed a Band-Aid on it. I kissed her cut and asked her if it felt any better. She nodded, playing along with my joke.
We left the house and went to the local mall. Even though we didn't have a whole lot of money, we went there just to get away from Lucas and the bad memories. I felt like the mall was the only place where I was safe. As strange as it is that my safest place was a public building full of crack dealers, they didn't hurt me.
Cary and I window shopped for a while and popped into Jack Wills. We know we won't be able to buy ANYTHING in there, but we go anyways. We head to the back towards the clearance rack and start shuffling through them.
"Lou! Hurry up! We're leaving!" I snap my head towards the dressing rooms. My wavy brown shoulder length hair flew over my shoulder. ***A/N picture on the side of who plays Tessa***
I watched the dressing rooms to see a sandy brown haired boy in stripes, known as 'Lou', leave the dressing rooms followed by a boy with a brown head of curls and piercing green eyes. I followed Cary up past the registers.
We left the mall and headed home. I dreaded home. I would've wanted to live anywhere but there.
I walked in the door to be suddenly met with harsh hands grabbing my shoulders and throwing me into the living room. I landed with a thud on my face. I heard Cary give a shriek and a thud and I could tell that she was beside me on the floor. I sat up to see Lucas, glaring at me and Cary, obviously twice as drunk as before. He was red in the face and you could tell that he was completely pissed. If he was a cartoon character, he would have steam coming out of his ears and you would see the speech bubble full of punctuation marks.
I looked down to see his hand gripping a cane. 'No.' I thought. My life was about to take a nasty turn. I closed my eyes waiting for the impact. I heard a door open a slam shut. I felt the searing pain of the cane hitting me in the stomach. I curled up, holding back tears. I wasn't letting him have that satisfaction. I opened my eyes to see him with the cane about to bring down on me again. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing. I waited for what felt like a couple minutes. He would never wait that long to beat me or Cary. I opened my eyes to see my mom holding the cane and yelling at Lucas. I heard the sound of car doors closing and a mixture of sirens. My mom had called the police.
I tried to sit up but ended up laying on my back, propped up on my elbows. I examined the scene. Cary was crying in a corner. My mom was speaking to the police while Lucas was being led outside in handcuffs. I should have been excited that Lucas was being sent to jail, but I guess that I was in so much shock. I was shocked that my mom had actually built up the courage to contact the police. She had always cowered from Lucas, thinking that he would've hurt her, too, if she told and he would have, too. It would have been the three of us being beaten.
My mom ran over to me and engulfed me in a hug as she started sobbing.
"Ow!" I winced as she had wrapped her arms around my middle.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, honey. I never meant to ignore you guys. I was just being a selfish adult that should have stepped in." By now, Cary was crawling over here, "I was too worried that if I had told somebody that he would've hurt me, too. I should've risked myself instead of putting you guys through that. If you could in anyway forgive me...? I understand if you don't forgive me.."
She was right. I was never going to forgive her. She was never there for us. She never stepped in and stopped it. She could've if she wanted to. I still leaned in a gave her a hug as best as I could. Cary turned it into a group hug and we just sat there.
I know what you're thinking. Why did you just give her a hug if you won't forgive her? Well, that's because if she feels better about us 'forgiving her' then she won't be sobbing her eyes out the whole time.
Well, apparently the cops left without checking to see if we were okay. I tried standing up, but I could only get enough energy to get to my bedroom. I fell onto my bed and immediately fell asleep.
***THE NEXT DAY***
I woke up to the sound of my growling stomach. I grabbed it as if to tell it to shut up. I winced as I clenched my stomach and everything from last night came back. I fell back on the bed and looked at the clock. It read 7:15.
"Sh*t" I muttered under my breath as I shot up to get ready for school. I ignored the pain from my stomach. I had to leave in thirty minutes. I quickly stripped and hopped into the shower. I was in and out in five minutes. I jumped into some medium wash jeans and a pink t-shirt from the ice cream place down the street. I brushed my teeth and slipped my hair into a messy bun with a headband. I sprinted downstairs and grabbed an apple and a granola bar. I pulled on my Converse and shoved my books into my backpack.
"Bye!" I yelled as I ran out the door to the sidewalk. I walked to school from there. It was about a ten minute walk.
I hated going to school. It wasn't the classes, it was my classmates. They would always tease me because I was the quiet one. I hated it, but I didn't pay attention to them. Well, I didn't react. It stung why they called me. I go to my locker everyday to find notes that say things like 'Die in a hole!' and 'The world would be better without you in it!' I would keep the notes for who knows why. I just did.
The first half of the school day passed just like any other. Teasing, bulling; I was just glad that it was the last couple weeks of my senior year.
It was almost time for the bell to ring to release us to lunch.
'Mr. Walter? Do you have Tessa Fletcher?' the secretary said over the intercom. I looked up from my math, confusion was written all over my face.
"Yes, I do." Mr Walter said.
"Please send her to the office, ready to leave." she said.
"She's on her way." he said, smiling at me. I gathered my things and headed to my locker to get the rest of my stuff.
I walked into the office to see my mom talking with the secretaries. I was confused to see my mom there.
"Hey, sweetie." she cooed. She gave me a hug and led me out the door. "I needed you home to tell you and Cary some news." I hopped into the car and buckled my seat belt. I was a little worried, but didn't say anything.
When we got home, Cary was sitting on the couch. She was worried, too. My mom sat down on the couch next to her and I sat down next to Mom. She held both of our hands as she tried to think of the right words.
"You guys h-have to move to London."
"WHAT?!"
"I can't take care of you guys anymore. I thought it would be better if you guys just started a new life somewhere else." she sighed, "You have a brother there. He stayed with your father when I moved over here. He should be 19, the same age as Cary. You shouldn't remember him, Tessa. I was pregnant with you when u left them."
I took me awhile to let this sink in. A million questions were running through my mind. We sat there in a thoughtful silence. Cary was the first one to speak.
"W-when are we leaving?" she asked, still taking in the shock. "And isn't his name British or something like that? I kinda remember him."
"You guys leave in three days. I'd like you guys to make a list of all the things that you need and would like for me to get. I'll be going shopping tomorrow." Cary and I only nodded in understanding. "I don't remember his name, but he'll have a different last name than you. He's probably kept your father's name."
"Why don't we just move in with Dad? If he's with our brother then why not him?" Cary asked.
"Well....Last time I heard anything about your father was about a year ago. By then he was an alcoholic and he died in a car crash because of him being drunk." Mom explained.
"What about school?" I asked. "I'm not saying that I want to wait for school to be done. I really don't care if we leave before school's done. We only have two weeks left anyway."
"I've already talked to the school and they said that you could take the exams on paper and then send them in." I nodded. I had already finished learning everything I needed.
"I'll still need to get my stuff out of my locker. We won't be coming back to live in US any time soon, right?"
"I don't know. That decision will be in your fathers hands. I'm staying here in California. Though, you will be visiting a couple times." I gave her a confused look and she just waved her hand as if to say 'You'll find out why soon.'
"Omigosh! I have to go pack!" Cary suddenly cried out, jumping off the couch. She darted upstairs as Mom and I laughed at her.
"I'm going to miss you guys. I know I was never there for you and I was probably the worst mother on the planet. I completely understand if you won't forgive me." she said as she started to cry a little. I gave her a comforting hug or as comforting as I could be. I still didn't forgive her and I wouldn't.
She sniffed and sat up, pulling herself back together. She got up and walked Ono the kitchen.
I followed her and decided to make my list. I listed all the basics from face wash to girl things. I wrote somethings that weren't nessecary, but luxuries. I had put a jar of Nutella on the list. I absolutely LOVED the stuff. It was the food that I couldn't live without. I put some more snacks for the plane ride, knowing that it would be awhile, flying from California to London.
I finished my list and stuck it in my mom's purse. Cary came down and put hers in there, too.
"Hey, mom?" I asked.
"Yea, honey?" she turned her back to face me.
"Can I come shopping with you tomorrow? I need some new clothes and all I really need to do at school is clean out my locker."
"Yea. I'll just wait for you in the parking lot while you run inside." she said as she turned back to making sandwiches. I forgot it was lunchtime.
***LATER THAT NIGHT***
I went to bed that night a little worried about my soon to be new life. I jumped into a pair if sweats and a random t-shirt. I ran through a mental list of what was going to happen during the next couple days. I was going to clean my locker and go shopping. I was going to have to pack a suitcase. I was going to have to get a passport and fly to London. I was going to be reunited with my older brother. From there, I don't low hat was going to happen. I only know the facts that my mom had given me.
I fell into a restless sleep. I dreamed that everything was going to go wrong. That Lucas was going to take me and Cary right as we were about to board our plane. There were plenty of people around to stop him, but nobody even noticed. I was shoved into a van and I tried to scream but no noise would come out. Nothing at all.....
I woke up next morning to find Cary sitting next to me on my bed.
"Sleep well last night?" she joked. I shook my head 'no.' "Same here. Dreamed that Lucas was going to take us away right as we were going to get on the plane."
"What do you remember about our brother?" I asked, curious about our sibling.
"Well, he had brown, scruffy hair...and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. He was always laughing at something, getting into trouble, or eating. He started his physical age early, I guess. I had just turned one and he was about one and a half when Mom and I moved over here. You were born a year after I had turned one." she said, thinking hard.
"How about Dad?" I asked.
"Ummm....He had light brown hair, like you and me, and blue eyes. Uh...He was a great dad. Always playing with me and Brother." Cary and I started calling our mystery brother 'Brother' because we didn't know his name yet. "He and I would always go for ice cream once a month. It's really amazing the relationship I had with him at such a young age." she said.
"Now I know what to expect, kinda." I said. "Now get out. I need to shower." I pushed her out the door while she laughed at me. I stripped and turned on the shower. I examined my many bruises on my stomach. I poked and prodded at some of them wincing. I hopped into the shower and let the steam take over my body. I washed my hair and face. I shaved my armpits and my legs. I just stood in the water, thinking.
I stepped out of the shower and put on a pair of dark wash denim with an old camp t-shirt. I brushed my teeth and left my hair down. I ran downstairs to see my mom making bacon and eggs at the stove. 'Mmmm....' I thought. I had never really had eggs or bacon before. I had cereal or an apple with a granola bar for breakfast. I was snapped out of my thoughts by a plate clinking in front of me.
"Eat up!" my mom said to me as I grabbed a piece of bacon. I bit down on it. It broke into a billion savory pieces. It was delicious. I ate piece after piece. I tried the eggs. They were good, but not as good as the bacon.
I grabbed backpack and purse and headed for the car. My mom stepped in and started the car. The radio blasted a song I had never heard before. Then again, I hadn't really had any access to anything outside my house.
'So c-c'mon. You've got it wrong. To prove I'm right I put it in a song-ong-ong.
I don't know why. You're being shy. And turn away when I look in your i-i-eyes.
Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you-oo.
Baby, you light up my world like nobody else.
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed.
And when smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,
You don't know-oh-oh
You don't know you're beautiful.'
The rest of the song was good, too. I payed attention to the radio announcer after it was done.
"That was a band called One Direction with their first hit 'What Makes You Beautiful.'" he said. Hmmm...
We pulled into the parking lot and I ran inside to collect my things. It really didn't take that long. I scrapped what I didn't need and kept the rest. But I still kept the notes...
I skipped back to the car and threw my backpack into the backseat.
"Got your stuff?" I nodded in reply. "Where do you want to go?"
"Umm... Well, I need a new swim suit. I know that it won't be very warm there so, maybe a new coat."
"Kay. I guess we're going to the mall, then." she pulled on to the main road and in minutes we were at the mall. I jumped out and grabbed my purse that had only bad paying babysitting money and cheap Chapstick in it.
***THAT AFTERNOON***
We had gotten home about an hour ago. It was now four-thirty. I had changed into sweatpants and a sports bra. I was going through my packing list making sure I had written everything down. I went over to my closet and new suitcase. It was a huge, shiny green one. I shoved my assortment of old t-shirts and sweaters in on one side and put my different colored jeans and shorts on the other. I grabbed all of my underwear and bras and put my new tankinis in as well. I packed everything from floss to flip-flops. My suitcase held everything I owned that was clothes or toiletries related.
I had a small duffle bag for my non-clothes items. I packed my only stuffed animal that happened to be a narwhal. I also threw in several books that I hadn't read and several that I had really enjoyed that I wouldn't mind reading again. I loved books.
I threw in my jumbo jar of Nutella and a bag of pretzels into my backpack that was going to be my carry-on. I packed a bag of Chex Mix as well. Lots of snacks were in my bag that might be shared with Cary. Emphasize on the word 'might'. I took my food seriously, especially my Nutella.
I dragged my green suitcase downstairs, while balancing my duffle on my arm. I had my backpack on my back, obviously. I almost fell down the stairs when I tripped on my suitcase. Luckily, I was on the last step. I sighed relief and continued to drag my suitcase to the living room where Cary's bags were already waiting. It was heavy and I wasn't even sure how I would be able to get it on the plane. Then I remembered that I was putting this bag under the plane. My duffle was going overhead.
I placed my coat and hoodies on top of my backpack. I remembered that I needed to have things to do on the plane. I searched the house for some crosswords or something. Nothing. Guess I'm reading and sleeping the whole way.
"Guys, I'll give you the tickets and passports tomorrow morning. Your plane leaves at nine-thirty. We'll need to be out of the house by nine. I'm going to bed. Love you guys!" Mom called to us.
"Love you, too!" Cary and I chorused.
"I'm pooped. I'm turning in, too." I said as I headed up the stairs. "Night, Carebear."
"Night."
I didn't change out of my sweatpants and curled up under my blankets. The last thing I saw was my list of things to pack last minute tomorrow. I fell into a very happy sleep.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
I had decided to write another story and I know that this chapter is really long but I needed something to set the story and it was a long set up......
Hope you enjoy the story!
A pic of Tess and Cary on the side. I know that it's the same person but the looked so much alike that it's only their hair cut that's different even thought they are different ages.....
Anyhoo!! Love you all!!
mewnyc