"Are you serious? This is like our third red light. I swear, this town already hates us."

"Suzy. The town is named after us. I doubt it hates us. Besides, a town isn't a sentient being, it's just a spot on a map."

Suzy rolled her eyes at me with an exaggerated groan, slumping back in the driver's seat. "Technically, it was named after our great-great-great-grandfather."

I heaved a sigh and perched my feet on the dashboard, my woolen socks slipping against the plastic. "And don't you forget it. Especially around Pop. Or you'll never hear the end of it."

The light finally changed to green and my little sister hit the gas, trying to catch up to Aunt Rachel in her minivan. Most of our stuff was in her vehicle, but Suzy and I had our precious book and film collection in the backseat of the Toyota that we shared. We didn't want to be far from it.

"Aunt Rachel is really gunning it..." Suzy muttered.

"And you don't have to. She's just concerned about the weather. The news was predicting a storm to come through this afternoon. This is your first winter driving, don't mess it up. Take it easy. Or else I'll be the one in trouble."

"Okay, Miss Micromanage-the-World." Suzy smirked, not taking her eyes off the road or hands off ten and two. "You are the legal adult in the front seat after all."

I was two years older than my firecracker little sister. Suzy was nothing like me. Vivacious and rebellious, with enough sarcasm to sour milk, our dad's recent scandal had left her more wounded than she was willing to admit. The day after it had happened, she bought a box of scarlet hair dye and gave herself streaks in her black hair. Then she cut her own bangs into the Rockabilly style that our father had forbidden. I had to admit, it looked good on her oval face.

On the other hand, as cut and dry Laurel Eayre, I was just trying to get shit done. Power through these next few months till the end of the school year and then run far away from the state of Vermont to a place where nobody had ever heard my last name. My grades were good enough to get me into a sizable state university where I could disappear into the crowd. Pop would pay for tuition, he'd always blustered about doing so. Suzy and I were Pop and Nana's only grandkids after all.

"There it is..." Suzy slowed down.

Snow flurried as we crept by Eayreston High.  The old building was on the edge of town amid thick patches of wood. It had been built at the turn of the century and added onto in the 1980s with a modern overpass and gym. Two brick stories were lined with long windows like a church. Our dad graduated from it back in the '70s and Pop as well during World War II. At the very center of the roof sat a steeple of a belfry. Inside were the etched initials of kids throughout the decades who had been daring enough to scale the building. Our father was one of them.

"You know we're going to be a couple of social pariahs, right?" Suzy's tone was serrated with bitterness as she hit the gas. She skidded over the light layer of flakes coating the pavement. "Like a couple of lab rats. That whole school is going to be studying us for weeks."

I swallowed dryly, tucking my hands deeper into the heavy folds of my sweater sleeves. "It won't be that bad..."

"For you maybe. You're out in what? Four, five months? I've got two more years in that pit."

"You don't know anything about it yet."

"I know enough from those last few weeks at our old school. That was hell and we've been there for six years. These people... we moved when I was in the fourth grade. They don't remember me."

I couldn't help thinking that would be a blessing if the kids at Eayreston High didn't remember us. But of course, that was impossible. Our dad's face had been blaring across the news for days since word of the scandal broke. And his court date hadn't even been set. It was just going to get worse.

Suzy cut the wheel and skidded into a nearby 7-Eleven parking lot. Jerking the car into an empty space, she fluffed her coat collar around her cheeks and opened the door.

"What are you doing?"

"I need a pint of ice cream," she groused. "You in?"

She didn't need to ask me twice. Wrapping my knitted, blue scarf around my neck and tugging on my mittens, I followed her through the snow towards the convenience store. 

The bored, teenage cashier was sitting with his beat up chucks on the counter, flipping through a video game magazine. He didn't even glance up as we walked past him. Both Suzy and I kept our heads down. The TV was on, but thankfully it was the weather. 

"You go get the ice cream, I'll snag us some chips and soda. Knowing Nan, she'll have nothing for snack food in their cupboard," I directed under my breath.

Suzy saluted me. "Whatever you say, chief."

I didn't even register the bell over the door ringing as another customer walked in or the muted laughter between them and the cashier. I was too busy trying to find chips with the most promising expiration date. Apparently, that 7-Eleven was rarely restocked. Tucking a couple bags of BBQ and Dill Pickle chips under my arm, I made my way to the sodas.

I was an old fashioned kind of girl when it came to soft drinks. While Suzy was always trying the newest twists on Coke or Pepsi, I was content with root beer. I reached for a liter on the cornered edge of a shelf. As I did, another hand from the other side went for the same bottle, his fingers grazing my mitten. 

I snatched my hand back, gaze shooting up to the stranger's face. My heart dropped. Of course this would happen. I knew that face from anywhere, even though I hadn't seen it in six years. He didn't look at me though.

"Sorry," he clipped, grabbing the liter right behind and leaving the other before brushing past me towards the counter.

I gulped, staring after him in shock.

Gil Levy. 

"You ready?" Suzy appeared at my side.

I jumped again, eyes wide. "Huh?"

She crooked a neatly filled eyebrow. "You okay?"

My mouth snapped shut and I gave her a perfunctory smile. "Sure."

I lingered behind as we made our way towards the check out counter. Gil's back was to us. He wore a backwards cap, brown curls edging the sides. He was so much taller than when we were twelve. He had to be well over six feet and so skinny, all arms and legs. And then there was that stupid leather jacket he wore like some wannabe James Dean or Marlon Brando in 'The Wild One', though that was one of my favorite movies.

The cashier chuckled over a mumbled joke between them and snapped the register drawer shut after counting out Gil's change. 

"Have a good one," Gil called before striding out the door with his liter of soda. 

He tucked a packet of Marlboros into his pocket. I almost scoffed. He had been so vehemently against smoking when we were in the sixth grade. We would pass high school kids on their smoking patio by the school and he would wax poetic as we walked our bikes back to our neighborhood. He used to say only losers who wanted to be like everyone else smoked. He said he never wanted to be like everyone else, never a part of the crowd. 

It seemed like even Gilbert Levy had downed the kool-aid served at American high schools across the country. It was easier to be like everyone else, after all. You didn't stick out and if you didn't stick out, you were left alone by the herd.

Suzy slapped the ice cream on the counter as the cashier turned up the sound on the television. She prompted me with eyebrows raised.

"C'mon," she urged.

I turned from the door and put my things beside hers while I dug for my wallet. My shoulders stiffened as the chirping news anchor read aloud the afternoon report. Suzy grabbed my elbow like we were children again and she wanted to hold my hand.

"... and the latest on the Eayre Scandal concerning the representative and the allegations being brought against him from his colleague is still taking the capital by storm..."

The cashier snorted and shook his head as he rang up our items. "What a prick."

I bristled despite myself. Despite the fact that I agreed with him. Because no matter what he had done, my dad was still my dad. That was what hurt us girls the most. We loved him and despised him for how he had ruined our family and our lives. Even though he was still claiming his innocence. It didn't matter. The damage was already done.

The cashier looked up at us with a blank stare. "Will that be it?"

I shoved a debit card towards him.

"I need some ID with a card."

My fingers trembled as I handed over my driver's license. This was it then. Our first encounter in Eayreston as the daughters of the disgraced Elliot Eayre. I wanted it over with as quickly as possible, like ripping off a band-aid.

Studying my license, the acne ridden cashier gave a surprised smirk that melted into something of a sneer. "Sucks to have that last name, huh?"

I gave an icy smile. Suzy almost stepped forward, but I shot her a glare. She grimaced and looked away.

"Any relation to..." the cashier motioned towards the TV screen.

"None of your business, creep. Just do your job," Suzy snarled back.

I winced. The cashier looked amused. "Christ, just a question..."

Grabbing our bags and not meeting his eyes again, we raced out into the snow storm. Aunt Rachel, Pop, and Nana would be wondering about us. A beat up truck drove past, a hand resting on the open driver's side window with a cigarette between the fingers. 

Gil flicked on his turn signal and casually glanced in our direction. I froze, heart thundering in my ears. Had it really been so long? At that moment, I felt like I was twelve again. But he only blinked then looked away with no recognition in his dour expression, only disinterest. He drove away.

My chest caved in with devastation, both painful and startling. Apparently, not being remembered could be much worse than being recognized.