I awoke to something smacking into my face.

Bleary eyed, I forced myself to glare up at my attacker. "Fuck off. I'm sleeping."

The blunt force of a pillow stung my nose yet again. The plush weapon was wielded by a freckled face masked with wide rimmed, square glasses.

"Not anymore, you're not. Be nice or I'll tell Mom you're being a bitch. Now move. You're in my spot," Elaine threatened from behind the couch, hands on her hips. "She won't want you swearing around Jim."

I groaned, rolling onto my stomach. "Since when do seventeen year olds wake up before noon?"

"Since the Patri has been airing so many broadcasts about the Congregation that my favorite show had to move up to ten in the freaking morning. Now move it." Not giving me a chance to move, Elaine hopped over the back of couch and landed on my hips.

"Get off me!" I gasped, squirming under her. I hadn't been particularly expecting a warm welcome from the Bennett rebel child.

Elaine's edgy attitude was probably just a phase. Still, it could get her into trouble, and of course, Mom believed it was all thanks to my influence.

I might not have fit the stereotype of a Trujohnese woman, but Elaine shattered the mold. Although it made me mentally retch, part of me thought that if she were older, Elaine would have made the perfect partner for Ander. She had far more in common with him than I did.

She completely refused to wear her Trench Coat, and half the time she didn't even wear her Filtration Mask. Elaine made it very clear that she wouldn't get married, but that she had no plans of finding a place in Trujohn. On top of that, she made no attempts to keep her many one night stands a secret. She seemed to make it a personal goal to break as many laws as possible, short of actually killing someone.

"Is Jim still in my room?" I asked, already knowing the answer. Finally, I managed to wiggle out from under my sister, curling groggily in a far corner of the sofa.

"Of course. Also, have you ever seen a four year old that snores?" Elaine snorted loudly. "Must be from Michael's side of the family. Jim better just pray he doesn't inherit his dad's looks."

"Oh, be nice," I chided, although I grinned at her snark. "Michael's a good husband for Mally. He's everything she ever wanted."

"If by everything Mally ever wanted, you mean a possessive business man who wants to come home to his little wife cooking dinner, then yes."

Elaine had a point there. My older sister, Mally, and I didn't share that opinion when it came to men. If Elaine was as rebellious as they came, Mally was the exact opposite. She was everything a Trujohnese woman should be. At twenty-six, she'd been married for five years, had a four year old son and another baby on the way.

"And how long are they staying?" I inquired, mostly wondering when I'd get my room back.

"Not too long," Elaine promised, elbowing me gently. "Would it make you feel happier about it if I said they'd come in for your graduation?"

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "It might if I believed you."

Elaine laughed brightly, flipping through channels on the television until she found the program she was looking for. I didn't recognize it, but judging by the smoking, leather jacket wearing actor, I doubted it would be my cup of tea.

The digital clock on the wall beeped loudly, signaling Ten Thirty AM.

Elaine groaned her annoyance as her show muted, the screen splitting to make way for a video clip of the orange Trujohn flag, flying above the Tower House in the Eastland, where the Father lived.

"Get up," I hissed, getting to my feet before the television.

"No way. They can interrupt my show, but they can't make me say their stupid pledge." Elaine crossed her arms over her chest, slumping into the sofa cushions.

My eyes widened. I wasn't aware my sister now elected to abstain from reciting the Trujohn Pledge every morning.

"Elaine, that's a crime!" I reminded. It was a highly punishable one at that. "The Patri might be listening right now." The walls had ears and the Patri could listen in on any private dwelling at will. You never know when someone's spying on you.

"That's the idea," she grumbled. "And what are the odds that those old fools are listening to our house at this exact moment."

High enough that risking it makes you the fool.

Before I could argue, the recorded voice of the Father blasted from the television, reciting the pledge. I placed my right hand over my heart and spoke the familiar words in unison with the recording, and almost all of Trujohn. "Here I pledge eternal loyalty to the Greatness of Trujohn-Fatherland. I pledge my word to serve the Father, whose rule will protect and defend all those who support him, and whose wrath will expel all enemies from our nation."

"Hail our great Fatherland," The Father's voice spoke. "May you serve Trujohn well, and have a wonderful day."

With that, the flag disappeared from the screen, and Elaine's obnoxious program returned.

I lowered my hand and scowled down at my sister. "You know, you're going to get yourself arrested one day, and I'm going to laugh."

Laugh until she's actually dragged away in handcuffs, I mentally added. What was meant as a harmless tease could so easily become reality. I knew Mom had nightmares about Elaine getting arrested.

"You laughing and me flipping off the Patri will make quite a sight." She snorted. "I look forward to it. Now shut your mouth. I'm watching this."

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"Jeanie?" Mom called, bustling frantically about the kitchen. "Set the table!"

"Yeah, Mom." I paced into the meagre kitchen, warmed by the humming oven. The faded yellow walls were obscured by a buzzing, silver refrigerator, a small silver freezer, a black oven with a sizzling stove top, an out of date toaster, a wall mounted Waverun Oven and numerous pots and pans.

"Don't make Jeanie do it if you don't want hair on all the dishes," Donald commented, reclining on the little table in the center of the kitchen. "She sheds like a poodle."

"Poodles don't shed, dumbass," I snipped, attempting to flip my long, dark brown hair into his face.

"Language, Jeanie. Respect your older brother," Dad warned, rummaging in the refrigerator for a beer bottle. "Besides, Don knows he's a dumbass."

"You all need to watch your language." Mally strolled into the kitchen as if she owned the entire house.

You don't even live here anymore, Mally.

Women might not often own property, especially not mothers, but Mally certainly enjoyed acting like she was the boss. She wore her Trench Coat even in the house, little Jim on her hip. The model Trujohnese woman.

The toddler squirmed in his mother's grasp, wrenching up his round face in protest. "Momma, I want to get down. Let me go play with John. He has a new game!"

Mally only held the four year old tighter. "Not now, sweetheart."

The boy stuck out his lower lip as far as he possibly could, curling his hands into fists and crossing his arms dramatically. "Not fair, Momma. I have rights."

"Not here, you don't, kid." Micheal Ryan strolled into the kitchen with as much confidence as his wife had, ruffling his son's chestnut brown hair. "Wait until you're older."

Jim stuck his tongue out at his dad, before a sly smile stretched across his face. He scrunched up his nose. "One. Two. Three. Four..." The little boy used his stubby fingers to count. "...Ten! I'm older now. Now I have rights?"

"Try ten years, not ten seconds," Micheal replied, plopping beside Donald at the kitchen table. "Hey, Jeanie, want to grab me a beer?" He propped his outrageously sized boots on the table, gesturing with his hand towards the refrigerator.

Get your own damn beer, the voice in my mind grumbled, even as I made my way to the fridge. Micheal's request wouldn't have bothered me, if he hadn't been standing next to the fridge literally two seconds before he sat at the table, whereas I was holding a tray of silverware on the other side of the kitchen.

But I grabbed the frosty bottle and brought it to my brother-in-law with a respectful smile. I ought to think better of him. He was far nicer to Mally than many husbands were to their wives.

"Grab me one too?" Donald asked, mimicking Micheal's nonchalant lean into his chair. Don seemed to worship Micheal for reasons I could never guess.

"Elaine's closer," I retorted, thrusting my thumb to the teenager sitting on the counter in a short, black skirt that had probably belonged to a prostitute at some point.

"Bite me," Elaine drawled, typing away on her phone.

Don raised an eyebrow to our little sister. "You want to fight that fight? Grab me a beer."

Sure. I can get you a beer, then shove it somewhere painful.

But I retrieved a second bottle, with a far less pleasant smile. I did not go to college to be a housewife. Or a house-sister.

"Well," Mom groused, hands on her hips, "isn't it just lovely to have the whole family over."

"Calm down, Betsy," Dad chuckled, shoving Don's feet off the table. "You've been going nuts without your daughters here to make you miserable."

"Without your daughters?" Elaine repeated. "What does that make me?"

"An uncultured wild child that was probably raised by wolves," Mally suggested, setting a pillow on top of a chair so Jim could reach the table.

"Or by strippers," Don added, earning a laugh from Micheal. He beamed as if he'd been personally praised by The Father himself.

"What's a stripper, Momma?" Jim blinked up at Mally from behind long lashes. He picked up a spoon from the table and began waving it around like a scepter.

Mally yanked the spoon from his grasp and set it atop a napkin. "Something your uncle Donald should not be talking about."

Mom brought a tray of steamed vegetables and roast beef to the table. "John! Get down here, dinner's ready!"

"Mom," Elaine sniffed, sauntering to the table, "I thought I told you I don't eat meat anymore. It's not humane the way those animals are treated. Their entire purpose is to die."

"And I told you that that is everyone's purpose, and that you can be a vegetarian when they make tofu that's cheaper than pork," Mom grunted, tapping her foot impatiently. "Until then, you eat what I cook. Your dad works too hard for you to be fussy."

"I'm going to die, Momma?" Jim's eyes went wide with innocent worry.

"No, baby," Mally promised, kissing his cheek.

Sure, lie to the kid.

John nearly bumped into the wall as he entered  the kitchen, black goggles strapped to his face.

"No video games at the table!" Mom ordered, flitting to John's side and snatching his goggles away.

"Hey! I was about to reach level two-twenty-four!" He protested. "I'm gonna have to start back at Midland Base One. I was all the way to the Patrione."

Mom glanced at Micheal and Mally apologetically, her forehead creasing. "We bought John some new video game for his birthday. We can hardly get him to put it down."

"Patri Savior is not just some video game, Mom!" John groaned, flopping into his chair. He didn't hesitate before piling his plate with beef. "You get to defend the country from foreign threats and fight people from places like India and Korea and even England!"

Mom rolled her eyes. "I must have misspoke. We bought him the most amazing video game in the whole world for his birthday. We can hardly get him to put it down."

"Okay, okay," Dad muttered, waving Mom into her seat. "Let's eat. Hail The Father for this excellent country, ripe with bounty and free of famine."

"Hail out Great Fatherland," we chorused, even little Jim, but the words felt bitter on my tongue. What had Ander said?

'Crime and poverty runs the country.'

Could it really be free of famine?

I picked up my fork, more aware of the cool metal on my skin than the chatter of my family as I reached for a cut of beef. I hadn't checked my phone this morning...

You should tell him you made it home safe, sniveled the meek, kindly voice in my mind, recalling Ander's frantic instatexts. Maybe give him another chance?

The doorbell rang loudly, dinging the first six notes of the Trujohn National Anthem, just like any other doorbell in the country. The bit of music snapped me out of my musings.

"Could you get that, Steven?" Mom asked, trying to break up a disagreement between John and Elaine.

Dad grunted his consent and set down his silverware. He stood stiffly and marched out of the room.

Conversation returned, but the tension in the room muffled the words. It could be anyone at the door. A neighbor? Dad's boss? A Patri member coming to arrest Elaine for refusing to say the pledge?

I returned my attention to my meal as Mally vividly recounted Michael's oh-so-riveting job promotion. Apparently, getting moved from vice manager of produce to vice manager of sales was a huge accomplishment.

"Jeanie!" Dad hollered from the living room, causing Mom to flinch. "Get over here."

Oh no.

Who would care to see me? Had Ivana's father decided to report me for my rudeness towards his daughter? My legs felt like jelly, but I forced myself to rise from my seat. As if in a trance I passed down the hallway, unaware of the shrinking distance between me and Dad at the front door. That was until I was looking straight at the man Dad was speaking to.

My heart plummeted. My knees locked and I nearly fell over. He could ruin everything out of sheer spite.

"Ander!" Just how mad was he? Could he have been so angry I'd rebuffed him that he'd make our affair public? It wouldn't harm his reputation in the slightest, most likely help it, but... that could get me arrested. My stomach knotted.

"Hey, Jeanie." He waved, single dimple showing as he grinned at me. "So glad you're home safely. I was just chatting with your father a bit."

He told! shrieked the boisterous, rude voice in my mind.

No, replied the quieter one. He wouldn't do that... would he?

((Well, I know it's been a super long time since we got to check in with Jeanie. As I've said, this book isn't my top priority at the moment, but I couldn't just leave Jeanie out to dry when the idea struck.

What did you think of Jeanie's family?

Elaine's little rebellion?

Will Ander reveal their affair?

I can't make any promises when the next chapter will be out, but thank you so much for your patience!

Dedications

Restuva - You are my first reader and I'm so grateful. Your questions about the characters and the society really force me to add more to my world building and I'm super grateful for that.

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sierrathescribe - I absolutely adore your comments. Thank you so much for your interest in Trujohn, and in Jeanie.