Chapter 1. . Kaily

Kaily woke to the sound of rain. Her eyes still closed, she shivered and burrowed further under the thin blanket.

But soon enough, she knew she had to get up. With a theatrical groan, she cast away the threadbare quilt and stood on the shag carpet with shaky morning legs as she stretched.

She yawned and glanced over at her sister's bed, which was empty.

Hiding the irrational panic that bubbled up in her stomach, she went out to the sitting room and looked out the sliding glass window. She noted with relief that her sister was sitting on the railing of their creaky deck, getting soaked in the light rain.

She slowly slid open the glass door and stepped out onto the wooden porch that overlooked the parking lot on their second story apartment.

"Hey," she said softly. She hitched herself up onto the wobbly railing. "What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare again," Amber said in a small voice.

Kaily scooted closer to his sister. "Amber, I'm sorry," she whispered. She pulled her into a hug. "Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

"U-um," Amber sniffled and wiped her nose, "About mommy leaving. And never coming back."

"Sweetie, she left just that one time," Kaily comforted, "Listen to me. She's never going to leave again. She needs me to take care of her."

The girl's mother, Janet, was a severe alcoholic, and often left her children for week-long drinking binges. But the time that had scared them both the most was when she had been gone for over two weeks. By accident, or maybe by chance, Kaily had found her mother unconscious behind one of the bars. Unfortunately, Amber remembered the incident and had nightmares about it more than she should, causing her to grow and mature beyond her 9 years.

"You know," Kaily told her sister, "I can see why you would come out here. It's pretty quiet. I bet it gives you time to think, doesn't it?"

Amber nodded, resting her chin on her knees as water dripped from her hair into her eyes from the rain. "Yeah."

"But it's also cold," Kaily continued, "Want to go inside?"

Amber thought for a moment, then nodded and dropped down from the railing back onto the porch. Kaily followed suit and the two went inside the apartment.

"Let's get ready for school, okay?" she told her sister.

Amber nodded, and Kaily winced when she took a quick peek into Janet's room. Their mother wasn't home again, but Kaily had been hoping it would take a few days before Amber became curious.

Kaily was protective over her sister. She had every right to be, of course, but in some cases it wasn't fair that a seventeen year old girl had to take care of her sister like she did.

"Whoa, watch out," Kaily told her sister, noticing the puddle of water on the bathroom floor. "Let me put a towel down."

Amber stepped back immediately and let Kaily spread a towel on the soaking floor.

As one could imagine, with a mostly absent mother, the girls didn't live in the best environment. In fact, the apartment building that they lived in probably should have been condemned a while back, but as things were on that side of the city, it wasn't.

Shaggy carpets, a couch with springs poking out of the cushions, two small bedrooms, leaky faucets, and no heating. Yep, that was their home. It really wouldn't have been too bad if it weren't for the small problem that no one was around to pay the bills, except for Kaily. She was too young to worry about that sort of thing. But if she didn't, who would?

"No, lemme," Amber reached for the plastic brush that Kaily held poised in her hand.

Kaily handed the brush to her sister and allowed her to yank the knots out of her hair, wincing even so. If it brought her sister a little happiness, who was she to refuse?

She gathered her hair back into an elastic band. It was stupid, but she got the smallest of satisfactions from not bothering with her hair in the morning as everyone at her school did. Besides, having her hair up made her feel safe somehow.

She bit her lip as she glanced at the time and quickly went into her room and changed into jeans and her green jacket. School would be starting soon.

"I'll see you later, okay Ambie?" Kaily told her sister when they were both ready. She brushed a piece of lint off of her sister's shirt.

"Okay," Amber replied. She gave Kaily a quick hug and skipped out the door.

Kaily left the apartment a few minutes later, vaguely registering her stomach growling. They didn't have any breakfast, however, or much food at all really, although she was used to the feeling by then.

She shivered a little as the bus pulled up to the stand. Winter was almost here. She got onto the public bus that would take her to the North side, where the private school was that she went to. She shuddered slightly when she noticed someone glancing at her, baring his teeth suggestively.

Other than a woman with a sleeping toddler and the man, the bus was pretty empty, luckily.

She got to the school when the sun was halfway out of the sky, although it was still obstructed by clouds and the rain still fell relentlessly.

When she got inside, there was barely anyone at school yet, but it didn't matter. Her feet made almost no noise on the gold and brown carpeted floors of the school as she crept down the hallway.

There was where normal people came to die. Not literally, of course, but it might as well have been. There weren't many people on scholarship-meaning none- like Kaily, which was probably better. When she'd first gotten there, she'd been bullied multiple times, as teenagers will do when they think someone is below them. But now, as a senior, she was pretty much ignored.

Was it unfair? Probably. Kaily didn't know a difference, however. But it was safe to say that she had developed a strong dislike for everyone else that attended Ridgewood Prep.

When Kaily stepped into the music room, however, she let out a sigh of relief. And when she got picked up one of the light wood guitars and slid to the floor, the tension drained out of her shoulders and she began to play.

Since Kaily didn't have many people to confide to, hardly anyone knew about her playing, or her astounding voice. Well, no one on this side of town anyway.

Music, really, was her escape. She didn't know how she would make it at this school without it. Who could live without the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, The Doors…? The list went on and on. On contraire, she hated the newest music coming out that the people at her school blasted out of their phones.

Time passed far too quickly, and Kaily soon had to get up to go to class.

Sure enough, when she opened the door, students were rushing past, laughing and flirting with each other. She waited for a break in the traffic of people and then slipped into the hallway.

It's one of the truths of life that people tend to feel intimidated when they are around a large crowd. And that's exactly how Kaily felt when she was slowed in the hallway by a large group of boys. She vaguely recognized some of them as football players, and she wasn't sure what the rest did.

Not that it mattered; they were all arrogant, self-centered jackasses, in Kaily's experienced opinion. Sure enough, as she pushed her way through them to get to her classroom, she was met with taunts and perverted comments from the testosterone-fueled teenage guys.

Just as she was hitting the center of the group, she glanced up for half a second and her eyes caught a head of messy chestnut hair and icy blue eyes. A moment later, the guy averted his gaze to grin and something his friend said, but Kaily unconsciously took note that he didn't join in the taunting.

So distracted by the guy, she didn't notice that she was finally in the classroom. Exhaling a breath, she shook her head and sat in a chair. It was going to be a long day.