The Chanria twins grew up living their lives as only children each with their own parent half, at first it wasn't easy especially for Dora, she still had to live in the same neighbourhood and deal with the same neighbours and friends her age, at school she was constantly reminded about her sister's absence for the first few years and it only brought back the worst memories, she had tried to ask her father after her sister and on so many occasions it led no where, David tried to show love to his daughter and pay attention to her affairs but he could barely keep up with the child, he missed recitals, practices, shows, plays, dances and so he made up with gifts and money and anything else Dora wanted, he spoilt the girl without realising it.

Dora grew to be a bossy, snobbish queen, you couldn't tell her nothing, she had her daddy's money and affluence and no matter who you were, you just couldn't cut it, she fought down everyone who mentioned her sister or mother till no one dared to anymore; everyday she grew to be beautiful, easily one of the most beautiful girls in st.Ives High School, years had passed since her parents separated and since her mother decided she didn't want anything to do with her, Dora had grown past all that or so she thought; the teenager with her extremely attractive features was easily the most popular girl at st.Ives High School and she was smart too, rare combination, every girl at st.Ives wanted to be like her, she had tons of admirers in school, she became head cheerleader in her senior year of high school and in her senior second year, she even stared dating Ezra Philips, only the hottest, most wanted, freshest male in st.Ives.

Ezra Philips was the ideal boy every other guy wanted to be, the guy every girl wished paid them any kind of attraction, he had a heavy reputation as a ladies man and the all time player but all that seemed to changed when he started dating Dora, all that bad boy reputation just disappeared, Ezra and Dora simply became st.Ives golden couple amongst the students, in their eyes, they were the best thing after Bonnie and Clyde.

Deborah on the other hand lived her her life in the countryside with her ever doting mother, ignorant of her mother's poisonous drinking streak and only in the know of her perfection, life wasn't all roses for Debby though; in fact from the start life was never all roses, she grew up missing her sister terribly, it was the one promise her mother couldn't seem to keep, she always said she would take her to see Dora again but that never happened and soon Debby simply gave up on asking, she never spoke to her father or sister again or at least she was sure she had no recent memory of them, it was really hard cause she grew up knowing she'd never know what her twin was like, if she liked boys, if she was quiet or loud, if she could sing or dance or act, if she was shy like her; yes Martha's sheltering over Debby only grew over the years and the girl really had no friends except her mum, she found it quite difficult to speak to people, she always hung her head low to avoid eye contact or any reason to acknowledge a person's presence but the girl was extremely smart, she excelled greatly in school though you'd never be able to tell except you see her results, she was home schooled for the first five years after relocating, learning faster than her peers and beyond their scope, putting her ahead of everyone when she finally started school in the countryside's town school.

Who knew country people had a mean streak too, school was supposed to be Debby's breath fo fresh air, having been home schooled, she felt suffocated and begged her mother to let her go to a regular school, they had no friendly neighbours so she had no friends, everyone sort of kept to their business and the houses weren't even next to each other, they were at least a mile apart with a span of grassland in between so yeah school was the next best thing where Debby would live, she had such high expectations for the friends she would make and memories they would share together but all that was short lived "get out of the way fatso!" some skinny teenage boy yelled and pushed Debby out of his path, first day of school and she was on the floor, her knee scraped from the fall, she was struggling to get up when a group of girls passed "don't tell me this is the new kid?" one deadpanned "oh christ, not a pig" the second one said actin frustrated "definitely a big pig" the third voice came as they walked away sharing their disappointing thoughts on Debby, she had never been exposed to such harshness and couldn't even understand it, tears blinded her eyes as she made her way into the school doors and through the hallway and the comments didn't stop.

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Five years at Belmont High and Debby was almost still the same, she'd gotten chubbier, more beautiful and even smarter regardless she was still the fat kid everybody picked on, not like she was the only fat one in the school but hell she could swear she had it worse, they picked on her for being homeschooled, for being rich, for being smart, for being pretty then for being fat and in all those five years not once could Debby speak, she just swallowed it all and prayed to die, she couldn't bring herself to kill herself, she promised her mother she would never try again; she tried once in her junior 3rd year, slitting her wrists with her mother's blade and laid in the bathtub waiting to go away peacefully ignoring the pain but that never happened, her mother found her not long after and rushed her to the hospital, a hysterical wreck, after surviving Debby never said why she did it no matter how many times her mother begged to know, she started seeing a therapist but no on could really get it out of her and so she suffered silently, the news of her attempted suicide spread across the small town like wild fire and when she finally resumed school again, everybody knew; that's when they gave her a break, it was like they could tell they caused it, no one hit her anymore, no one tried anything physical or too harsh but the glares didn't stop, the cold looks, the irritated glances remained, the insults even resumed after a year but asides that most of the time she was ignored but still received looks, on bad days she was subtly reminded of how ugly and unwanted she was, some even mentioned how she had no father.

Belmont High was Debby's worst mistake but she could never tell her mother that, her mom almost died with guilt after Debby's attempted suicide, she increased surveillance, she stayed at Debby's side all day and she really started to believe school was good for her, 'how wrong she had been' Martha's life wasn't getting any easier, she had developed a liver disease from her excess alcohol intake which only increased after Debby's incident, she blamed herself, she suffered in silence, refused to see a doctor and acted perfectly fine as an act for her beautiful daughter, she always reminded Debby that she was beautiful but Debby wouldn't believe, she was reminded everyday even more consistently that she wasn't, after all every parent thought their child was beautiful.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, Debby waited as usual for the driver to pick her up, it was how every one else figured she was a rich kid in school, asides from town's gossip tales of course. A very lonely girl she was, she prayed everyday for a chance to start her life elsewhere, some place new and familiar maybe, a place where she didn't have to be alone, just one friend was all she wanted, Debby was a very good writer and she used all her spare time to write away on her phone or laptop, she'd write poems and stories all carrying heavy emotions, sometimes she'd write about the life she wished she had or about what she thinks her sister would be like or about her mother's undying love for her or about the pain she thinks her mother is in, she would just write away about all sorts of things. This Wednesday afternoon was no different, she sat on one of the many sit-out benches around the school compound waiting for Mr. Albert to come get her, normally she tuned out the snarky rude comments from students passing cause surely if no one would touch her, almost everyone had something along the lines of 'get a life fatty Debby' or 'loose wight already, you're taking up too much space', so of course Debby would pretend not to listen or hear them, like their words weren't imprinting on a new part of her body like an invisible tattoo.

"Miss, Ms. Debby, Ms. Deborah!" Albert called out repeatedly to snap her out of her thoughts " the poor child was going through a lot just like her mother, Albert thought "oh, Mr. Albert, I'm so sorry..." she answered with a shy smile "I was distracted, lost in thoughts" she continued, Albert nodded with a smile and led her away from the school grounds to where he parked the car, opening the door for her and going ahead to drive her home. "Where's my mother?" Debby asked. On Wednesdays, she and her mother always went shopping for groceries after school so her mum was meant to come along with Albert today. "Mrs Martha wasn't feeling well earlier today so she took a break and is resting at home" Albert replied much to Debby's dismay "mom? ill? she's never been ill, slight headaches maybe but not ill ill" she queried "your mother is fine Ms. Debby, she is just taking sometime to rest, the groceries have already been bought, she had the maids get them instead" he explained "oh okay" Debby resigned and let the drive go on wordlessly as she dozed off.

Albert's voice woke up Debby and brought her out of her slumber "Miss Deborah, we are home now, wake up"...."hmm...alright, thank you Albert" Debby said as she rubbed her eyes with her hands, taking in the view of her mother's mansion and got out of the car muttering thanks to Albert again, 'even in her sleep, she's polite' Albert thought as he carried her backpack and made his way up the stairs to the front door with Debby following right behind him. "Thanks, Mr.Albert" she said, collected her bag and headed for the stairway leading to the rooms. The house was a grand one, very well furnished, expensive tasteful furnishing, it didn't look like it belonged to the country side but there it was with a huge foyer in the middle, a magnificent fireplace by the side, an extremely large screen for the TV and plush white chairs with gold lining, a vast majority of the house was painted white giving it a very vogue feel, Debby raced up the stairs, her house had six rooms and they were only two asides the help, her room was opposite her mother's, she pushed her door open and flung her bag to the bed, immediately ran out and headed to the opposite room, calming herself down, she knocked gently "mom?' she called "can I come in?" she asked, waiting, she got no response "mom?" She called again but this time slowly opened the door to go in, her mother was there, she laid in her queen-sized bed with blankets draped around her, the room was cold, freezing even, 'the air conditioner must be turned on' She thought as she confirmed her thoughts, it was turned on, she noticed everywhere was dark and strode to the window which was also the door that led to a balcony, that side of mom's room was covered in glass, it allowed a lot of light into the room, right over a breathtaking sight of their backyard where there was a pool, a garden and a mundane farmland. The garden and the pool made the green area look exquisite at first sight but with time it was just normal but nice still, Debby grabbed the curtains and opened them to the side allowing sunlight to brighten up the room.

She walked to her mother's bed, still in her school clothes, 'her mother looked awfully pale' she thought, she looked like she needed a hospital,"mom, I'm back from school" Debby said but Martha barely made any reaction, Debby went on to move hair out of her face when she noticed, she didn't just look pale, her mother looked dead, "mom?" she called louder upon realisation, shaking the older woman to wake up, Martha didn't budge, her body was cold, Debby realised. "Mummy, wake up...." she pushed this time, turning her mother over, the woman didn't even act like she felt anything, panicking Debby began to cry, still trying to wake Martha up somehow but also realising that she was actually dead, she started screaming for help "help, help, Albert! Esther!, who's there? please Albert" her mother's unconscious body laid there like she was just resting except Debby knew she wasn't, the entire house bustled with footsteps and enquiries.

Albert first pushed his way in, shocked at the sight of Debby crying over a lifeless Martha, 'she couldn't be dead' he thought, she had sent him off to pick Deborah, when did it happen, he went to Debby's side to take her away from Martha's body as other maids came in "call 911" he said to no one in particular, he couldn't help but feel pity for the poor child who sobbed profusely in his arms, he would have to report to Martha's lawyers because what else could he do? nothing much.

DEBBY'S POV

My mother died that Wednesday afternoon, she must have passed minutes before I came home, she couldn't even wait to tell me goodbye, I had to sit through all the confusion in pain and anguish, the worst I have ever felt before, she was sick, terribly ill and I never noticed, too selfish and drowning in my own little problems, my mother struggled to live right before my eyes everyday and not once did I notice her fight, I just couldn't forgive myself, it was all hard to watch, she left me a note though, a very incomplete note, it literally was just getting started, like she didn't know what to say and she laid to rest for a while and instead she just died in her resting state, she probably didn't even know she was going to die, the note read:

Darling Debby baby,

You do know I love you and your sister so much,

and that was all, a comma and it ended there, the date was there at the top of the paper, she said 'you do know I love you and your sister, I had almost forgotten mom wasn't my only family, the lawyers explained the terms of the divorce between my mom and dad. Mother never wanted to see him again till she died which explains why we never saw him but 'what about Dora?' I asked, they said dad agreed not to come near us if the same terms were extended to him and he would have one of us being Dorothy and that was it, we were separated for life until we were adults to make our own decisions. 'What a way to ruin your own kids' I thought sadly, I've never been more heartbroken, my mother meant the whole world to me, loosing her felt I lost everything and that damned letter could only comfort me in the littlest way possible, mom had a dog named Fifi, it was hers cause I really didn't do pets but with mom dying Fifi suddenly became mine, I couldn't sleep without her, I slept in mom's bed wrapped in the same sheets she died in, I stopped going to school no matter what anyone had to say, a couple of neighbours came around, I was surprised they put the effort, all the while reminding me in subtle ways how they expected me to have lost weight with all my grieving, they were all really a very insensitive bunch, I barely survived talking to some, accepting their fake condolences, I don't think I ever even saw a genuine visitor, some just wanted a chance to see the interior of our big house.

I couldn't care less, I was going to be out of this town in no time, mom's funeral is going to hold this weekend, my grandparents flew in already, I really like them, they are warm and very nice people, the nicest people I have met, whatever caused my mom to keep me away from them all these years, turns out the house is one mom inherited from her grandma, my great gran and we have a family cemetery somewhere among all the never ending land in the area. Dad and Dorothy were coming for the funeral too and I was leaving with them, the lawyers decided that I'll do my last year of high school there, my grades were perfect so skipping school for a month had nothing on me, I'll just go through this summer with my sister and father and then start school afterwards, it shouldn't be so hard.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey everyone, so chapter two of Loving Me For Me is done and up, tell me what you think so far about LMFM in the comments, I do hope you enjoy reading this baby. See you in chapter three (trois). Bye loves.