____________________________________

____________________________________

Jade rolls over in her bed, groggily as she awakes from her second nap of the day. The brunette has grown tired of sleeping. A feat no human could ever think of achieving but Jade Hill has accomplished it.

The darkness of the room created by the wavering olive green curtains symbolizes the loneliness and isolation that she feels. Her body has become one with the memory foam mattress, making her groan at the idea of actually getting up.

Jade rolls over to the nightstand to press the flat, circular button at the bottom of her phone. The screen lights up before her, burning her retinas briefly before they find a way to adjust. The time indicates that it's only a quarter to two. Something she didn't expect when it feels like she's been asleep for an entire day.

Despite her fatiguing condition, Jade considers her sleep to have been a partial success as she finds herself more numb to the memories. They continue to pain her emotionally, but do not overtake her enough to elicit a visceral, or physical response.

Her stomach grumbles, serving as motivation for her to get up and eat something. The rumbling progressively increasing in magnitude after having been ignored for the past couple of hours as the brunette slipped in and out of sleep.

Jade goes to lift herself from the bed, but she suddenly feels the fatigue in her arms as they barely hold enough strength to carry her body up. Each motion seems crucial in preventing her from falling back onto the bed.

Her weak legs slide out from under the covers to meet the outside world. A breeze washes over her warm legs due to the really short plaid black pajama shorts she has on. Her feet land on the carpeted flooring, toes wiggling as they adjust to the new surface.

She ultimately pushes herself upright and grabs her phone, walking out of the bedroom into the empty household.

As she strides out of the long hall, she finds her brunette sibling in the kitchen chopping up vegetables. She tries to reduce the sounds of shuffling caused by her socks but Melanie is already aware of the sudden change in the atmosphere. She can literally smell the anxiety radiating off of Jade's body. Her head snaps up to find a hesitant Jade.

"She's finally risen from the dead!" Melanie exclaims at the sight of her sister. A smile stretching from cheek to cheek as her eyes light up.

Jade blinks slowly at her sister, unimpressed by her enthusiasm. "Not yet, my grave is still wide open if I ever change my mind," Jade adds in a low tone, finding herself still out of it.

The younger sister groggily stalks up to the kitchen bar to take a seat in the same chair her mother was sat in when she crushed her daughter's heart for the nth time. Nth meaning that it's happened too many times to keep count of.

Melanie rolls her eyes at the comment, "That was too dark, even for you."

Jade doesn't respond. Her foggy head laying atop her folded arms on the granite countertop.

"I'm just glad you've finally decided to get your ass out of that bed," Melanie informs with a weak smile. Even though Jade can't see it since her head is down, Melanie is genuinely excited to see her sister up, on her own terms. It's a good sign.

"Wash up and come back. I'll cook you something," Melanie directs, giving Jade's shoulder a light pat.

Jade can't deny that once Melanie mentions food she can feel her right foot twitch a little as it hangs a couple of inches off of the floor due to the height of the bar stool. Her love for food wins against her depressed state. She slowly lifts herself from the bar table to turn around and head to the bathroom.

As the younger stalks away, Melanie takes the opportunity to chuck one of the baby carrots she was snacking on at Jade's ass. The carrot actually makes contact with Jade's left cheek before bouncing off and falling onto the floor.

Jade rolls her eyes with a slight smirk creeping onto her face as she continues to walk away, not looking back. Melanie's guttural laughter is heard, permeating throughout the empty space of the house. She finds herself funnier than she actually is, Jade thinks as she refuses to give her sister the satisfaction of seeing her smiling.

Jade moves across the hall to the bathroom to do as her sister says, finding it easier to just comply with Melanie's commands after years of living with her. She knows the persistent ass of a sibling she has would annoy her until she did so.

Jade doesn't waste any time brushing her teeth and washing her face before heading back out to the kitchen that's starting to smell like fried vegetables and eggs. Her nostrils consume the various scents every which way they come.

Jade heads back to the barstool and nonchalantly takes her seat, once again. Once she's comfortable, she finds herself staring at the woman pacing the kitchen before her. The strongest woman she knows, walks back and forth, cooking with a smile on her face as soft music plays in the background. The R&B coinciding with the naturally free spirit of her older sister as she glides through the kitchen with finesse. Jade wonders how she can be so care-free.

"Why the fuck are you so happy?" Jade questions, wording her thoughts in the only way she knows how.

Melanie chuckles, "What do you mean?"

She notices that Jade doesn't laugh or reveal any sort of sarcasm.

She finishes chopping the onions and drops them into the pan containing oil. A sharp sizzling sound follows causing Melanie to flinch back before seriously turning to her sister as if it didn't happen.

"Jade, it's not about being happy. Everyone is always trying to chase happiness like it's some cure for everything fucked in the world, but it's different for everyone. I'd say I'm content," she remarks. "Happy carries too much weight."

"How can you be content when life keeps making you feel like shit," Jade pointedly asks with her arms folded casually on the countertop.

"I-" Melanie pauses, "I don't think of it as life having a thing out for me. I just go with the flow," she concludes, smiling at her sister as she whisks the eggs in a small glass bowl.

"That's cute. Wish it was that easy," Jade offhandedly remarks.

"It can be," Melanie adds.

Jade takes a moment to this about it. If that is the case, then why is she making life harder for herself? Can she just accept who she is?

Sadly doing so would require actually knowing who that person is when for so long she's done what she thought everyone else has wanted her to do. Who the fuck is Jade Hill?

The two linger in a comfortable silence until Melanie finishes with cooking the meal. The older serves up two plates on the long stretch of counter space so that the girls can eat directly across from one another.

"Thanks for making me breakfast in the middle of the day," Jade sarcastically mouths as she starts poking at the omelet with her fork.

"At least, I made you food. You know the only thing I can cook is eggs, so appreciate that shit," Melanie defends as she takes a seat across from her sister.

Jade lightly chuckles, "Thank you, Mel. I appreciate all that you do for me, even if it doesn't seem like much." Jade deflates as she continues to awkwardly poke and prod at the food before her to find a piece of eggshell embedded into the thick omelette.

Melanie doesn't notice this as she is too busy basking in her sister's supposed complement.

Melanie starts digging in, so Jade takes this as a sign to do so as well, or at least attempt to.

Jade admits that despite the omelette having multiple shards of eggshell in it, it really did hit the spot. She hasn't had a homemade meal in a while so anything is acceptable. The thought of her parents comes and goes as it usually does.

The sisters munch, silenced by the food.

"So, have you thought about any universities, yet?" Melanie asks, mid-chew.

Jade swears she must have choked on a piece of egg-shell as she starts coughing, "Don't you think it's a little too early to be thinking about that now? I'm in the eleventh grade."

"No, not when you're a fucking genius that could go to Harvard if she fucking wanted to,"

"Okay, you're doing too much. I'm not that smart."

"Okay, maybe not that smart, but you get the fucking point. You know that I won't let you stay here and go to community college. You need to get out of here, for both of us. You can't stay and continue to be ignored by our lovely parents."

Lovely. Jade scoffs at the word that is used to sarcastically describe her parents. Absent would be a better replacement.

"Abandon this life and act like my childhood trauma never existed. Great idea. Honestly, it's what my generation is good at," Jade charismatically adds, plastering a fake, tight-lipped smile across her face.

"That's not what I'm saying. I just think you'll be better off away from all of this," Melanie says, exaggeratedly waving her arms outward to let Jade know that she is talking about the home and its environment.

Jade is silent as she chews on her food.

Melanie squares her eyes at the girl before her, "Seriously, what's up with you? This is the last time I'm gonna ask before forcing you to get help," Melanie confronts in a sigh as she drops her fork on the white porcelain plate. The clank catching Jade's attention.

Jade cuts her eyes at her sister. "You wouldn't dare."

"Yes, I would. When you call me and have a panic attack, before starving and locking yourself away from the only person you seem to trust on this damn planet, I have no other choice," Melanie expels in one go as her breath runs out.

"Nothing is going on," Jade assures, looking her sister in the eyes.

"So, nothing happened with Kaley?"

"It's Kinsey," Jade snaps subconsciously.

"You see. Something is up. You wouldn't give a fuck if I messed up anyone else's name."

Jade looks down at her food.

"Do you guys have something going on?" Melanie tentatively tests. Just come out to me. It's okay.

"No, nothing is happening. Shit's all in my head and I'm being a dramatic teenager that doesn't know how to deal with her hormones, okay. That's all."

"Jade, you're annoying me at this point. Why can't you trust me?"

I can't risk losing you.

"I'm not hiding anything from you. I can promise you that. You said it yourself. Why would I lie to the only person I trust in this world? I would tell you if something serious was going on. I just left her house because she was being a pretentious dick. That's all," Jade states, immediately looking back down at her food.

A shuddering wave of guilt runs over her. She knows damn well that wasn't the case at all. Her mind flashes back to the way Kinsey's eyebrows furrowed as she paid attention to every word spilling out of the brunette's mouth when she was talking the other day. It was something Jade found strange about the arrogant blonde, but she'll admit that it was also soothing to have someone actually listen to her.

Jade looks up into Melanie's eyes. Melanie tentatively searches her sister's features, not completely believing her. She's annoyed at how much her sister is insulting her intelligence, but she's just happy to be talking after not being able to for the past couple of days.

"Fine, but I still ship you and Katelyn."

Jade sends the older sibling a pointed glare before rolling her eyes.

Melanie laughs wholeheartedly in response before slipping another piece of the omelette in her mouth.

"Shit," she hisses before pulling an eggshell from out the corner of her mouth. "Fuck, I really am bad at cooking."

"At least now you're aware."

Melanie shoots Jade a glare. The younger shrugs in innocence at the older sibling.

Jade starts getting up from the bar as she finishes the last bite of her food. "Thanks for the great meal. Ihavesomeonecomingovertoday. Don'tbeweird," Jade speedily informs as she tries to make a run for it.

"Really?" Melanie's eyes lighten up, "Oh shit, my baby sister is making friends! Should I bake a cake or some shit? Is that what people do?" Melanie genuinely asks, excited for her sibling to have a potential friend.

"No, what the fuck?" Jade shakes her head, disappointedly as she looks back at her sister.

"I'm still making cookies."

"Have fun with that. Just give me a heads up when the firefighters get here," Jade shouts since she is already halfway to her bedroom. Having Lucia over is going to be interesting.

________<~>________

Ugh, I need a sister like Mel in my life! I wanted this chapter to focus on the two, what'd you think of their conversation?

...

Also, we're gonna have Lucia over... there's gonna be some tea spilled so be prepared. 😏

...

Okay, I'm leaving now. Don't forget to comment and show me some love by sharing and voting on this story. ❤️ It's so much fucking fun to write and I can't wait to publish the rest of the chapters because shit is moving along... *insert chef's kiss here*