____________________________________

"Mel?"

"Ahhh shit!" The long-lost older sibling exclaims as the widest grin takes over her face. "I knew this day would come. So, I'm guessing you two don't need me to cover sex Ed anymore?"

Jade scoffs, trying her best to avoid the heat developing in her face after her sister just walked in on her and her girlfriend post-sex. The brunette shakes her head in shame and disappointment at her older sibling who appeared different, to say the least.

Her familiar chocolate brown locks are chopped down to her shoulders, rocking a new hint of blonde balayage to them. The hair lightens up her soft features, accentuating the youth in her visage.

A ray of sunshine seems to surround Melanie Hill while a contrasting thundercloud surrounds her younger sibling who stares at her in disbelief and utter dismay. Jade's eyes have yet to accept what they are perceiving before them.

"You can't be fucking serious, Mel?" Jade blurts, catching Kinsey off-guard a bit with the weakness in her voice, almost as if she'll burst into tears if something else tips her over the edge.

Melanie's bright expressions dampen as she takes in Jade's visible strife. The older sibling sighs, dropping her shoulders, and says, "Put some clothes on and meet me downstairs. We need to talk."

Her bright face dims immediately dampening her own mood. That is how she chooses to end the short conversation before swiftly turning on her heels to exit the room.

The silence that is left behind is sharp enough to slice through thick skin. Kinsey feels major intrusion on the sibling moment. She doesn't know how to move or what to say so she remains silent, pitifully glancing over at the girl beside her, running her hand through her own frazzled mess of hair.

Kinsey places a gentle hand on the small of Jade's back to rub small circles into the tender skin. The rhythmical motions bring temporary comfort to Jade's muscle tension.

"I guess it's time to have a little tea party with my long-lost sister," Jade chuckles nervously, cracking a smile. A smile that exposes how clueless she is as to how to deal with this. Kinsey knows because she's never seen Jade smile like this before. Everything about it feels fraudulent and tense.

"I mean there's no better way of waking up from a sex-induced coma," Kinsey shrugs, cracking a small smile.

Jade smirks weakly at the blonde wanting so badly to find humor again, especially after it's been taken from her so abruptly by her older sister showing up out of the blue.

"Let's go," Jade says, pecking Kinsey's forehead. The blonde melts at the innocent kiss, staring at Jade as she commences to remove herself from the bed.

Kinsey rolls her eyes, fighting the selfish urge to stay in the bed and get some sleep. No one could resist memory foam, except Kinsey Scott at this very moment.

Kinsey peels herself from the bed to helplessly follow behind her girl. Weakness develops in her legs as she takes her first step away from the bed. The blonde's legs wobble beneath her, threatening to collapse her entire being. But she muscles through, fighting the aching going on between her legs.

Damn, she got me good.

___________

Kinsey and Jade sit across Melanie in an interrogative manner. The older stands on the opposite side of the kitchen bar staring down at the pair clinging onto each other like love bugs. She holds a mug in her hand while Kinsey and Jade restore to sharing a bottle of water, passing it back and forth every now and then as they open their ears to Melanie.

Melanie stands across the two, sipping infrequently from her mug, her eyes downcast as the words continue to exit her mouth.

"Once I left, I didn't want anything to do with the Hill family at all. I really thought I left everything behind forever."

Jade tenses, tightening her grip around the water bottle enough to cause it to make a crackling sound. Kinsey observes Jade's behavior, now realizing that she's never seen Jade exhibit aggressive anger in her presence. It's always been frustrating yelling and passive aggressiveness, but this is new. It kind of scares Kinsey since she's never seen Jade appear this intense before, not even when mentioning the girl's name that shall not be mentioned.

"I was going to move on. To start ov-"

"So, after you said 'fuck Jade' you decided that you were gonna start a new life and forget that I existed!" Jade sends an annoyed look Melanie's way. Her eyes tell a story of disappointment more than one of pure rage.

Melanie flinches at the intensity in Jade exhibited through her venomous tone, clenched jaw, and tightened fists. Kinsey is also startled, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend's waist to help calm her emotions. But that isn't going to do anything for Jade. In her mind, she is on a rampage to get an inkling of an explanation for what the fuck happened to her anchor, her older sibling, her protector, and her rock.

"Jade, I know it was really shitty of me not to call you but you have to understand that I couldn't."

"And why is that?"

Melanie pauses warily.

"Why, Melanie?" Jade challenges, with gritted teeth.

"Because..." Melanie runs a hand through her straight locks. "Because I was too high to even remember my own name."

Jade chuckles hysterically, "And whose fault is that?" She narrows her eyes at Melanie, making the older scoff in disbelief whilst licking her bottom lip.

"Mine, and I know that. It's just that I wasn't in the right place mentally... I-I've lived with that woman for so long and I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take it being the one she brutally hated for being different."

Jade gulps, recalling her childhood in a dump of flashbacks. Struggling to maintain her sanity as she goes through the Rolodex of traumatic experiences filled with verbal abuse and neglect.

Jade particularly remembers the time when Melanie was fourteen and Jacqueline told her to change out of the tie-dye crop top she wanted to wear out. Jacqueline told Melanie that her "muffin top was spilling out" of the cropped top to prevent the young girl from going out in such revealing clothes. Jade vividly remembers how much Melanie cried that night since she could hear it through the walls.

"Jade, you were able to be everything she wanted but I never could. The straight A student, the less combative daughter, and the one who still admired her and respected her. You could fake it until you made it but I couldn't. I couldn't be the daughter she wanted even though I tried so hard at first, just like you. I failed endlessly and I thought that if I could fail even harder then it wouldn't matter how much I disappointed her. I rebelled against her so much because it didn't matter anymore."

"But why leave when you know we were both struggling?" Jade adds, passing the water bottle to Kinsey to cross her arms on the countertop.

"Because!" Melanie raises a hand.

Jade flinches back.

Melanie was only running her hand through her hand again. The rise in her voice scared Jade's naturally anxious being. Why the fuck did I flinch?

Luckily, no one noticed the subtle flinch as much as Jade did. She continues to stare at her sister to distract from her brief moment of terror.

"Because I had to think about myself for once! Since you came into the picture, it'd been my personal goal to make sure that you were protected from anything and anyone. I made it my goal to care for you and make you feel like at least someone loved you... since I never had that for myself."

Jade maintains a roughness in her expression, still harboring her anger. But she remained silent because no matter how angry she is, she can't deny Melanie's truth. She can't deny that it was probably best for her sister to get away from all of this once it happened. But it still hurts. Jade can't lock away the feelings of abandonment that she felt when Melanie left without any explanation.

The same sense of neglect she's felt since childhood that's made her afraid to trust others. It seems that whenever she puts trust and faith into people who care or at least, are supposed to care for her, she would be left behind, abandoned.

"When you left, I had no idea if you were dead or alive. Then, all of a sudden you end up living with dad. As if you took his side against mom and me."

"Jade, I'll be honest with you, I'm never going to forgive that woman as long as I'm still breathing. There's never going to be any love there. I've heard that you two have found some common ground and that's great, but she'll never be my mom." Melanie's voice cracks during the last phrase, blinking her eyes incessantly as they begin to glisten under the lighting in the kitchen.

Jade bites into her lip as a means of holding back her own emotions. Jade recalls a similar sentiment in her own heart not too long after Melanie left. The brunette had given up the idea of a mother for so long only to be granted another chance. And for Melanie to no longer have that chance, broke her heart.

"That doesn't mean I chose dad. Luckily, I hit rock bottom sooner than I thought once I crashed my car into a light pole while I was high off bath salts. The first person they called for me at the hospital was dad. Once I left the hospital, he picked me up, offered to cover the expenses, and offered to let me stay with him. That's how I ended up living with dad. That man is fucked in his own way but I rather be taken care of than 'loved' conditionally."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean." Jade rises from her seat with hands pressed against the granite countertop.

Melanie sighs, placing the mug down delicately. "It doesn't mean anything. It's just that we so happened to connect to our own version of fucked up parent. You with mom and me with dad. That's how it's always been and that's how it ended up."

Jade gnaws on the inside of her cheek as she holds her glare at Melanie. Their hazel brown eyes challenge one another with the older sibling carrying a softer tone in her eyes while the younger carries a fierce one.

"Jade, I didn't mean to leave you hanging. I didn't mean to make you worry about me... I-I just had to figure things out for myself for a little bit."

"And you couldn't give me a phone call in the middle of your bullshit finding yourself journey?"

Melanie stammers for words in the presence of her sister, who is staring at her with rage but sadness in her poor, little eyes as they swell with tears.

"You abandoned me like everyone else, Mel! You left me to fend for myself just like the both of them," Jade confronts, finding it hard to maintain a steady voice.

Kinsey continues rubbing at the small of her back, nearly tearing up herself for the girl beside her. Imagining all that she's suffered through in her childhood with these people that are supposedly her "parents".

Kinsey had grown up in an environment with a loving family. Surrounded by people who prioritized her health mentally and physically as they encouraged her to follow her heart. That is a privilege that Kinsey always took for granted.

"Jade, it's okay. Drink some water," Kinsey encourages, gazing up at her girlfriend with sorrowful eyes.

Jade quietly subdues her anger to listen to Kinsey. She slowly sits back down on the tall stool and takes hold of the water bottle. She takes a small sip from the bottle as she regulates her breathing.

"So, how'd you get in here anyways?" Kinsey asks, abruptly directing her squinted brows at Melanie. The blonde puts on an additional tough exterior as she confronts the older sibling for the first time since appearing out of thin air.

"Spare key." Both siblings answer at precisely the same time. Melanie answers more enthusiastically than Jade who answers with more of a sigh.

Kinsey nods, not expecting the coordinated response. "Thanks, guys."

Jade sulks as she gulps the water, her pouted lips make Kinsey's heart go weak.

Melanie stares at her sister solemnly, feeling bad for what the younger has been through but not feeling sorry for being honest about how she feels.

Melanie Hill had always been the scapegoat to her mother. She would be blamed for everything. Her simple existence was unorthodox and unruly in Jacqueline's book. The way she did her hair, walked, talked, and even breathed at one point when Jacqueline had to stay home alone with the young six-year-old Melanie when the child was too sick to go to school.

Her unsteady breathing and incessant coughing aggravated Jacqueline enough to a point where the mother frustratedly yelled at her six-year-old daughter to "shut it!"

Memories like those made it difficult for Melanie to even consider forgiving her mother, especially when she didn't have to. Jacqueline had already stopped supporting the young adult once she had turned eighteen, cutting off her allowance without a hint of a heads up. Melanie found out the day after her birthday when her card was declined at a local taco truck when she went out for lunch with a friend.

Melanie was always on her own, even when she lived in this nightmare of a house. But Jade didn't know. She had only known Melanie's abuse to be equivalent to her own and the older sibling kept it that way. Jade didn't need to be reminded of how horrible her mother was when she was already living through hell. Melanie always wanted better for Jade.

And she's glad that Jade has built a relationship with their mother now. It's all that a younger, more naive Melanie could have ever wished for.

The older glances down at her phone, to distract herself from the tension. Her phone lights up as a result and the time on the screen has her immediately jerking her head up.

"Shit!" The whisper catches the attention of both the girls sitting across from her. They watch her carefully.

Melanie starts for her beige tote bag with a cartoon image of the Earth on it. She grabs it swiftly from the countertop, slipping it over her shoulder.

"I-I have to head in for work. My shift starts in fifteen. I thought I would pass by to talk with you for a bit since I didn't see her car, but I have to go."

Jade nods, fighting from saying anything by tightening her lips. She nods nonchalantly at her sister with her glossy doe eyes. Her heart doesn't want Melanie to leave again, but there isn't anything she can do about it. Her sister made her decision and all Jade can do is live with it.

"Jade, I'm so sorry," Melanie starts in a rushed tone as she walks around the bar, "I'm gonna call you alright? I'll talk to you soon. And Kinsey please keep taking care of my sister," she pauses in her tracks to hold eye contact with Kinsey, "You seem good for her."

Kinsey nods with an awkward smile at the older sibling. What the fuck do I say to that? I guess I'm good for her but I'm not sure if we're still mad at you so I can't be too nice to you.

With that, Melanie walks right out the door like a fever dream. Kinsey is speechless and Jade is tired of surprises.

___________

Tracy bobs her head up and down to the soft melody emitting from the small cylindrical speaker sitting on the television mount. The song has no lyrics which makes it easier for her to concentrate on her homework as she scribbles down random answers to each question. Her only goal is to finish the assignment since her father said so. His instructions only specified completing the assignment. He said nothing about actually making sure anything was right.

The younger Scott daughter lies on her stomach, scribbling through the questions with her legs kicking in the air without a care in the world. Her head bobs from side to side to the beat.

"Now look at my little girl working so hard," Mr. Scott compliments in his deep, jovial voice. He watches in awe at his daughter happily doing her homework on the floor of their living room. His wide grin is enough to satisfy Tracy. The younger smiles back, assuming she got away with her little scheme.

"Yessir," Tracy adds, sending an eye smile her father's way before turning back to her "work".

The older male nods and starts for the end of the stairs. He rests his arm on the wooden guard rail, looking up the stairs.

"Kinsey! Jade! Can I speak with you both downstairs?" His big voice bounces across the walls and reverberates through the upstairs hallway, enough for the girls to hear, or at least Kinsey. The blonde always gets on the brunette for her bad hearing, comparing her to an old lady who can barely function without her hearing aid.

"Coming!" Kinsey responds, lifting herself from the bed as Jade lies beside her. The couple was cuddled together as Jade read to Kinsey against her wishes. It was sort of soothing for Kinsey to hear Jade's calming voice reading poetry, but she wouldn't admit it. To everyone else, Kinsey hated reading in any capacity even if it involves her favorite person with the sweetest voice ever.

"What do you think he needs us for?"

"Not sure. I'm thinking mom must've left him in charge of dinner tonight. He probably can't decide between ordering pizza or Thai." Kinsey shrugs, slipping on her Nike slide sandals.

Jade chuckles, slipping on one of Kinsey's old fluffy slippers from when she was twelve. Luckily, Jade's feet are small enough to fit in the shoes but the floppy bunny ears on each sandal don't make her feel any less stupid.

The pair reaches the bottom floor. Kinsey stuffs her hands inside the pockets of the Super Mario hoodie she "borrowed" from Blaze. Jade stands close beside her with her skinny jeans from school still on. Her hair is matted from laying on Kinsey's bed for so long. Her finger fumble with fixing her hair so she can look somewhat presentable in front of Mr. Scott. Jade could never get too comfortable. That wasn't in her nature especially growing up as a product of Jacqueline Hill.

The man raises his eyes and exchanges a glance with each girl. Suddenly, his bright expression tones down into grimness.

Fuck, not again.

Jade can recognize the look of pity on anyone's face since she's seen it so many times.

"We got Zoé to come in."

"Well, fuck that's great news!" Kinsey exclaims, punching the air with her fist. Her eyes then avert from her dad's expression to Jade's unchanging one. She is confused now as she looks back at her father, the man itching to say more.

"She was brought in for questioning the day after you put in your report. We had her in questioning for quite a while until her lawyer showed up. She wouldn't say anything until that smug bastard showed up."

"He wouldn't make any deal with us that gave her jail time. He turned down everything and unfortunately the sons of bitches that are her parents are very connected. Within a few hours of the lawyer being there, my captain came in to aid with the deal, which never happens. All we ended up with was fifty hours of community service and a restraining order filed to keep her at least a hundred yards away from you."

Jade sighs, piercing her cheek with her tongue as she stares out into nothing. Kinsey warily glances at her girlfriend, not sure how she'll react. The past couple of days have been rough and this didn't make things any better. Her sister hasn't called her back in days which left the brunette feeling even more desolate. Kinsey would catch her constantly checking her phone throughout the day as if that would make Melanie magically call her out of thin air.

Now, this. One would have hoped in the perfect fairytale that the fucker would be put behind bars but that's not how the justice system works. It doesn't fight justice for all, only for those who exist in a certain tax bracket with friends.

Kinsey and Mr. Scott share a look before looking back at Jade.

The brunette finds herself back to the present, shrugging her shoulders. She resists eye contact with the father and daughter. She can't manage to feel anything besides anger but she doesn't have the energy to show it. And to be honest, she's tired of showing so much damn emotion. Physically and mentally she is spent. She's cried too damn much, hurt herself too damn much, and has had her heart broken too damn much.

"That's fine." Jade cranes her neck up at the older man patiently waiting for her response. "At least she's not allowed anywhere near me."

Kinsey slightly nods.

Mr. Scott coughs, tightening his thin lips together making them go pale. "She also filed a report against you."

Jade's eyes widen.

"The fuck? How is that even possible?" Kinsey raises her voice, stepping closer to her father. Of course, she is enraged by the situation and not at her father.

"It is possible for both parties to be ordered to refrain from contact. It's called a mutual order of protection since Zoé is claiming that you were stalking her."

"This can't be real?"

"Don't worry too much. She needs to provide adequate evidence of this for the permanent order to take hold. The mutual order of protection is temporary for fifteen days until we go before a judge to present evidence on each side to see if they become permanent."

"So, you're saying that if she proves that I was fucking stalking her, then she can place a fucking restraining order on me!" Jade's voice gradually increases, pointing a finger at her chest. She didn't mean to curse in front of Mr. Scott and Tracy but this agitated her to no end.

The redhead has the audacity to even say that? Like how are her parents supporting this crap even though they've never been around? They were never home and didn't even notice Jade at their house every day after school until 2 months into her and Zoe's friendship.

This is unbelievable and it has Jade speechless while Kinsey seems to be thinking hard. Usually, the blonde would be more outspoken.

Finally, Kinsey speaks up through the silence. "Jade, you have to show them everything. You have to explain everything," Kinsey suddenly says, breaking eye contact with the ground to look up at Jade. Her eyes bring on sincerity as they narrow.

"What do you mean everything? They have all the pictures that she posted and the report."

"No," Kinsey sighs, "You have to show them the scars. You have to explain how they got there and let them know that someone wouldn't stalk someone who did this to them." Kinsey chews on her bottom lip as she watches how Jade immediately crumbles before her.

Jade appears pale and gaunt as she brings her wrist up. She stares daggers through the already scarred skin on her soft skin. The healed scars leave subtle marks of their existence.

"Kins, I don't know. I've never told anyone about them. That's too embarrassing."

Kinsey takes a hold of her hand, "Nothing is embarrassing about what you went through. You survived it and lived to grow past it. That sounds fucking strong to me, okay."

Jade nods, following Kinsey's eyes.

"We'll be there with you," Kinsey states, looking at her father and Tracy lying on the floor gazing up with her big eyes at Jade. "I'll be there with you." Kinsey squeezes Jade's hand tightly.

Jade turns to Mr. Scott. "Can you prepare me for the hearing?"

Mr. Scott's wide smile comes back, "Absolutely. We're going to protect you." He rests a hand on Jade's shoulder.

_________<~>_________

I'm back with a quick update. I'm planning on ending this book soon. We've been on a wild ride but I think it's time. Thank you so much for supporting me on this journey of accomplishing my first completed book. I am so grateful for all the support you all have given me and I hope this book has been a source of happiness and relief for you all. With that being said, I'm not sure if I will be continuing writing on Wattpad following the completion of this book. I still haven't made a solid decision yet but I think I've grown weary of updating and having people wait on me all the time. I have lots of things going on in my life and I can't keep stressing about updating. So, I will see if I feel comfortable about coming back in the future.
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Anyways, I didn't mean to have this long ass paragraph. Let's enjoy these last couple of chapters! I hope you enjoy it! ❤️

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Once again, don't forget to vote, comment, and give me a follow if you'd like. See you soon!