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✧ . ✧　　 　　 * ✦ ·　· 　　　　. 　𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝟐 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝟏𝟒　 　 　* ˚ ✹ 　　 ✷ · 　. 　 　 ✵ 　 　　　 ˚

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𝐀𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃, 𝐀𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒 . At first, she had thought that the screams were from a dream she was having, a bad one at that, but the sound had continued to drag on and on even after she had already opened both eyes. Getting up, the Cline stiffly crept towards her door to check out what all the commotion was about, her head raced with the possibility of what I might've been. Option 1 could've been simple, her mom was late with the water bill again. She never seemed to be able to pay it on time, even when Aerin would stick a dozen post-it notes around their kitchen somehow the task would always slip her mind. Which meant they would always end up having to take more than cold showers for 2 tortures long and painful weeks.

Option 2 might've been a tiny bit more serious than the first one. Aerin remembered her mother writing a lengthy, less than distasteful paragraph on the school's Facebook wall about how lackluster and downright shit their education system was. She wrote from her second account, appropriate named mom uncensored, but Astrid had still made it obvious that she was the one who was behind the cryptic post, and Figgins must've caught her red-handed. Finally for Option 3, the worst option out of all three of the other ones. This might've been the dreaded phone call her mother's ex-boyfriend had threatened to make once he found out where they were again.

Back in Arizona, a couple of months after Derek Cline had died from cancer, Aerin's mom had begun to go off the rails. She would spend most of her late nights out drinking with her 'gal pals' at an all-exclusive bar down south. Those nights would turn into days and eventually into a whole month. She had left Aerin and Atticus alone and scared, promising them that 'she would come back in the morning' and that 'everything would be okay',  it was far from that.

Her disappearance was the whole reason why Aerin began to spend most of her time in the arms of other guys, people who could be there for her when the one person who was supposed to be had up and left for what felt like a lifetime. She did eventually come back, but Astrid had brought a souvenir with her too, a new drug lord for a boyfriend. Aerin never cared to learn his name, why would she, he was just some useless tattooed freak who had just so happened to trick her mother into thinking he loved her.

Aerin migrated from her bedroom to the edge of the stairs, she leaned up against the banister as she continued to listen in on the conversation. The loud ruckus had also woken up Atticus, the boy let out a large yawn as he approached Aerin on the banister. His eyes were bloodshot red, which was most likely caused by him rubbing them too aggressively, and he also reeked of morning odor.

" What is going on ?" Atticus groaned as he stretched his arms, Aerin scrunched her nose from the horrible smell that was protruding out of her brother.

" She's fighting with someone over the phone, it's probably her druggie ex-boyfriend," Aerin sighed.

" Willis? It can't be that loser, he got sent down for 20 years," Atticus informed with a mundane tone. This didn't phase her in the slightest, he was going to end up in prison eventually with all the petty crime he managed to commit on a daily basis without getting caught by law enforcement. What shocked Aerin more was that Atticus knew what his name was, Willis.

She had expected his name to be more dangerous, a nickname that spread fear in the hearts of those who wronged him. Something like El Mysterio or Evil Ed even Elmo had a more dangerous and mysterious appeal to it than Willis.

" Well, whoever it is I hope they drop the phone so I can get an extra hour of sleep before school starts and before Lennon wakes up," Aerin exclaimed as she moved to the wall, leaning up against it whilst her hair fell in front of her face. A small silence fell between the pair before another topic question came up between the two.

" Quinn dumped me," Atticus stated bluntly with a monotone tone, a small smirk formed on the blonde's lips once she heard those three words. Finally, Quinn had seen the light and decided to leave her brother in the dust. However, by the look on Atticus's face, this breakup had really hurt him. Which was odd, since he never was sad after breaking up with anyone in his whole dating career.

" Don't worry, there are plenty of fish in the sea," Aerin consoled, reaching over to pat Atticus's shoulder.

" But I wanted that fish, she was the greatest catch, the Quinn Fabray," Atticus emphasised, his hands crossed over his chest area. Aerin couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the boy, why was he treating Quinn like some object, a prized possession that had to be bought rather than cared for.

" I heard that Brittany's single again, maybe she'll go out with you ?" Aerin suggested, she knew there was no way the unicorn lover would ever go anywhere near her brother, but it was worth a shot. A sly, douchey toothy grin filled his face as he bit his lower lip creepily.

" 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑," Atticus gloated, his grin growing wider on his face. Aerin turned to punch him squarely in the shoulder in response to his more then misogynistic comment. Atticus loudly cursed before he began to rub the spot exaggeratedly, "What the hell was that for.."

" To shut you up," Aerin hissed, narrowing her eyes once more before she moved back to her spot on the banister.

" I'm pretty sure she's a total lezbo anyways," Atticus began, Aerin snapped her head around in his direction.

" Have you seen her and Santana, they practically undress each other with their eyes, and Azimio told me they made out at a house party, tongue and everything, you can't fake a connection like that," Atticus stated, this only enraged Aerin even more. Santana and Britt were best friends, everybody knew that. They kissed each other on the cheek on occasion, and they had a habit of linking pinkies every time they walked the halls together, but making out with each other ? no way. Britt had been a more then committed relationship with Artie Abrams up until 2 weeks ago, before that she had told the blonde about the time she, Santana and Quinn had slept with Puck in the same year.

" Everyone makes out at house parties, especially when you're drunk out of your skull," Aerin snapped back, her head beginning to fill with weird images of her girlfriend and Britt swapping spit with one another.

" But you actually have to drink to be drunk," Atticus suggested, "And they hadn't touch a drop of alcohol that whole night, Azimio saw them on the balcony just below the garden-"

" Maybe you should stop believing everything Azimio loud mouth Adams tells you," Aerin suggested back harshly, cutting off her twin before he had the chance to continue his exposition on how her girlfriend and her best friend might've been casually hooking up behind her back.

The loud ruckus from downstairs had now died down, Aerin's mom walked up the stairs to meet the eyes of her two annoyed children. There was not one once of anger pent up in her, not even a spoonful of rage or fury. She sat on the top stairs calmly, her phone intertwined in between her dainty fingers, and her head rested on the wall that was on the side of the stairs.

" Well ?" Aerin asked with a raised brow, her foot tapping against the carpeted floorboards as she waited for an explanation. The mom of two looked into the distance, her gaze transfixed on the cuckoo clock that hung just below the railings, she bit her lip before a few tears began to break free from the corners of her eyes. All Aerin could do was stand and stare, in all her 17 years of life, she had never bared witness to her mother crying. That was the one thing she always admired about her and sometimes hated about her too.

" I-I'm so sorry," Astrid finally spoke up, her breath shaky. Aerin's mind began to go through the three options once more, she hoped it might've been the second one since that wouldn't have really affected her in the long run.

" What did you do ? Is it the water bill, please don't tell me it's the water bill-" Aerin rambled intensely as she began to pace up and down. Her spine shivered from the thought of having to take icy, numb-piercing showers again. The Cline crossed her fingers in anticipation for what her mother was about to tell them.

Astrid let out a couple more sharp sobs before pulling out a large slip of paper, she handed it to her daughter and her sobs calmed down into small whimpers. The was coated in red, and it was about 8 inches long and 216 millimeters wide. On the top, in big bold letters it said the worst word known to man, EVICTION. Aerin's hands began to tremble, her eyes scanned the page to make sure she hadn't mistaken what she had just seen for something else. " you finally managed to do it, didn't you ?"

A fresh swell of rage rose in her, like an uncontrollable fire in a egregious storm. Aerin had warned her mother, no pleaded that she would give up gambiling. The constant bets, the promises of all the families life savings just for a measly car stereo, she had warned her that this day was going to come. Aerin's hand began to form into a fist, which ultimately caused her to crumble the eviction notice into a tiny ball. Her mother had just gambled their life away

" I told you, I pleaded with you to quit whilst you still could," Aerin mumbled, her voice gradually getting quieter as the realisation of her family becoming homeless caught up with her, " You promised me, one last game, and all of this would be over. You cared more about how much money you'd pull rather then your own kids, your own grandkid, what kind of a mother are you-"

" Don't you dare ask me that, Aerin you have no right to judge me," Astrid spat as she stood to attention, "I practically raised your daughter whilst you went out with your little school friends and that loud obnoxious girlfriend of yours," she had proceeded to make air quotations around the word girlfriend, and this only pissed off Aerin even more.

" Santana is the best thing that ever happened to me," Aerin barked, her fists balling even tighter from the fury that was currently welling up in her chest, ready to explode.

" And Lennon? What about her, you've seemed to forget about her existence altogether, you told me you'd be there for her, provide for her, care for her through thick and thin," Astrid retorted, her cheeks painted with a violent shade of rosy red. Aerin approached her mother with one thing on her mind, she was about to give this bitch a piece of her own medicine. Atticus could see the angered look in his sister's eyes, he reached for her shoulder to pull her back a little but she nudged him straight in his sweet spot.

" And you told me you'd do all those things for me too !" Aerin cried out, the dragon within her had finally been awoken. Her mom had no right to tell her how to care for her baby when she was the one who had just screwed them over for the twelfth time this year. She was never there for Aerin through anything, she certainly did everything but provide for her child, and care for through thick and thin? well, there was no point in even addressing all the ways her mom had failed them in that category.

" I might be a bad mother, but never would I dream of gambling Lennon's life away like it meant nothing to me," Aerin lamented, her gaze shifted down to her palms, tiny cuts had formed on them from her digging her nails deep into her skin. It should've hurt, but for some reason, the pain just didn't kick in at all. She was done fighting, taunting her mother wouldn't get the eviction notice lifted from their home, she just had to fast facts, her life was over.

" 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐋 𝟔 ? 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐏𝐎𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆, Quinn consoled, as Aerin shoved her backpack into her locker. The blonde didn't even want to think about it, staying in a motel was one of her biggest nightmares. They were home to rat infestations and curdling moldy carpets which stunk of blue cheese and pickled onions. And the walls were super thin, which meant at night you could probably get an ear full of forbidden noises coming from the other side.

" They're taking the house next week, my mom said she'd barricade us in but I've pretty much given up on anything that woman has got to say," Aerin grumbled, she forcefully shut her locker which made Quinn jump a little. " Jeez, give a girl a heart attack why don't you ?"

" Sorry, I just needed to let out some leftover steam from this morning," Aerin apologized, her AP History textbooks firm in her hands. She was still having mild flashbacks to those treacherous 30 minutes, her mother's harsh words still played on in her mind like a broken record player.

" You know if you ever need a place to stay, I have a vacant room," Quinn suggested as she leaned up against the locked beside Aerin's. An appreciative smile formed on the blonde's lips, she didn't deserve a friend like Quinn. Even after all the hateful, rude, and demeaning things she had said behind her back, the Fabray was still willing enough to forgive Aerin.

" I heard you and my brother called it quits," Aerin smirked, the blonde was met with a playful, semi-annoyed eye roll from Quinn. " Don't pretend like you're not happy about it, I know you're secretly celebrating on the inside A," Quinn smiled as a chuckle escaped her mouth, she seemed to have been taking the break-up a lot better than poor Atticus.

Aerin heaved a huge sigh of contentment and shot her a toothy grin. She hesitated at first, but then after some thought, she decided to nod her in response to what Quinn had said. There was no doubt in her mind that she deserved so much better than Atticus, a man who would treat her like the queen that she was.

"So, are you thinking about going out with any guy anytime soon ?" Aerin asked suggestively, her eyebrows raised. Quinn quickly shook her head, time after time each guy had always let her down or betrayed her trust in some way. They were more than exhausting, and some days, deep down she felt like abandoning the thought of going out with boys altogether.

" No, I'm completely done with men," Quinn stated firmly, " From now on, I am going to live my life as a free-spirited, single, strong, and independent woman who refuses to be dragged down to the depths of loserville by any of the male species for as long as I live."

Aerin gave the Fabray a well-deserved round of applause. She never knew that Quinn had a feminist side to her, but it was nice to see her put her happiness above the men who had constantly tried to reach havoc on her life. Just as Aerin finished her standing ovation, the two were suddenly interrupted by the infamous Sue Sylvester. She wore a red tracksuit that had the cheerios logo printed on the back. In her hand, she held a massive clipboard, which probably held the information that had brought her towards the girls in the first place.

" Oh look, if it isn't McKinley's favourite teen mommies, Juno and Former Preggo," Sue sneered.

" I'm not in the mood for your insults today Coach Sylvester," Aerin sighed, her and Quinn both gaze at one another with a confused expression, not a single clue as to what the cheerios coach had in store for them. Sue moved closer to the Cline, her eyes narrow and her grin slowly turns into an intimidating smolder. Aerin racked her brain for a reason as to why Sue was practically confronting her. But, this was Sue Sylvester, the woman didn't have to have a reason to confront anybody.

" Frankly, I couldn't care less what mood you're in Quinn 2.0, I just came here to warn you," Sue grimaced gleefully, her tone cold and menacing.

" Warn me about what exactly ?" Aerin asked slightly worried. She had never been on Coach Sylvester's bad side before.  Which was rather impressive, considering all the stuff she had done in the school in the last 4 months since she had first started attending  William McKinley High School.

" A little birdie tells me you decided to go all Gaga and try out for our very own football team," Sue replied snidely.

" And ?" Aerin replied breathlessly.

" And, I'm here to tell you to watch your back, very closely, there is no way I will allow you to ruin the program at this school by gender-bending sports," Sue threatened, her eyes narrow with bitterness and deceit. This was getting too much for Aerin, she walked away and kept her head low. Quinn followed behind her as protection, they quickly walked to their class as they both tried to drown out Sue's empty threats and harshly words which were only a scaring tactic to warn the Cline away from the football team.

" I will take you down at any cost, fear the wrath of Sue Sylvester !"

◜ -ˋˏ 𝙍𝙊𝙉𝙉𝙄𝙀'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀𝙎 ! ˎˊ- ◝

another long chapter, you guys i'm lowkey on a roll this month i deserve a raise

next chapter will be out on tuesday, so stay tuned! my uploads will gradually become less as the months go by as I'm slowly approaching exam season @ school. if you're a student/ were a student you will understand the literally pain of the mock exams, it's so annoying. so please hang on, and don't give up on me just yet bbys <3

also...THANK YOU FOR 7K on this story, I can't believe how much it's grown already, I'm glad you guys are enjoying it so far. don't forget to vote and comment for more content !

gonna go back to watching sam and bucky compilations on youtube as one does-

have a good evening, ronnie loves you !