Chapter 2

Justin POV

I woke up on Monday morning with the worst hangover I have ever had in my whole life. My head was thumping like someone was banging a hammer against my temple. AJ and Amber weren't helping. They were sitting on the edge of the end of my bed in front of the TV playing Grand Theft Auto and for once Amber was winning and she was making it clear.

"In your fucking face, AJ!" she squealed delightedly.

Her high voice sounded like a bullet shooting through my head. I groggily lifted my foot and shoved her off my bed with a good hard kick in the ass.

"OW!" she groaned as AJ guffawed. I threw a pillow at her in response.

Slowly I got up and left before Am got into her spider monkey mode and latched onto me and slapped me like crazy. While it was an ineffective method of combat when used on me, it worked pretty well in all the girl fights she got into at school when she had hair to pull. Apart from the sexy badassness, that was one of the reasons I shaved my head.

I slumped down the stairs quietly unlike my usual loud thumping descension, trying not to worsen my headache.

I knew Ben and Nancy would be pissed. Amber, AJ and I were at the beach with our friends yesterday and I went to another party last night after AJ, Amber and I sneaked out on Saturday night to Karen Clancy's house party on Saturday night. With Mom and Dad looking for houses in New York, the eight of us were meant to pack up as much as possible and me, Amber and AJ had done fuck all to help the other five. I didn't give a shit. I'm not the kind of dude who lets his little brother or sister tell him what to do, especially when it came to Nancy. She corrected me and gave me orders at every opportunity she got.

Today I planned to lie down on the couch with a bag of chips and a beer can and take some aspirin. Just as I collapsed down onto the couch with the beer and chips in my hands and with aspirin swallowed, I heard the voice of doom: Nancy.

"Justin get up! All you have done for the past two days is go to parties and sleep while the rest of us packed up like Mom and Dad wanted us to do! We need your help with the heavy lifting!" she yelled in a bossy tone. Her voice was like a second bullet shooting through my head.

I groaned in annoyance. "Nancy, for Christ's sake, just shut up and let me deal with my hangover in peace."

"I'm afraid I can't. Justin, you've had a hangover for the last two days and you haven't lifted a finger around here! You know that's why you're never in charge even though you're the oldest. You're the most irresponsible person I have ever come across. That's why you get along best with AJ and Amber! They're fifteen and at the same level of maturity as you. You aren't even thinking about college, are you? Ben's already decided about the Ivy League and Tyler's going to that photography thing and you're just getting wasted day after day. And don't think I don't know about you smoking marijuana! Tyler saw you and AJ with it. Do you have any sense of pride?!" she ranted condescending and furious.

My blood was boiling. I was known for my short temper in this house and headache or not, I exploded, suddenly jumping to my feet.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!? All you do is judge people and spread your negativity and make everybody miserable because you're a fucking judgmental bitch! You think you're always right but newsflash, YOU'RE FUCKING NOT! You just assume shit about people when you don't have your facts straight! Yeah, I smoke weed. Is that your business? NO! Yeah, I have a good time and get drunk. Is it your business?"

"It is when -"

"No it FUCKING ISN'T!" I roared cutting her off. At this point my voice could be heard throughout the house and all our siblings were huddled at the door watching with utter shock. "So what if I get along with AJ and Amber? Since when is it a bad thing to get along with your sister or your brother? I get along with Brenda, Tyler, Alex and Ben most of the time but you know who I don't get along with? YOU! At this fucking point I don't give a fucking shit if you are my sister or not because all your life you made nasty comments about everybody!"

I was flinging cushions, books and other crap that was left around the room as I bellowed at my sister. Years of pent up anger was suddenly released at her.

"Shut up, Justin! You're just trying to turn this around on me when this is really about you not helping pack up!" she screamed back in my face. Then she looked at AJ and a for once nervous Amber, who was cowering behind her twin and Alex. "And you two! You haven't done anything either!"

My fury grew even more. "Leave them out of it! You just don't wanna hear what I have to say because you know it's TRUE!" my voice must have been heard down the street by now. I felt veins popping out of my forehead as I went on. "You don't know when to stop! When AJ got a C on his math test EVERYBODY else was telling him how good it was knowing that was a high for him and you KNEW it but you still told him it was shit! Even when Amber drew pictures for you when she was six, you had to point out every last fucking flaw! You criticize Alex's clothes and style like he's wearing a tattoo of fucking Hitler! You take things too fucking far, Nancy! I can't remember the last time you said anything nice to ANYBODY here! You think you're Little Miss Perfect but YOU'RE NOT!"

As my explosion of pure anger and fury ended I raised the coffee table over my head and slammed it into the floor making it crack with a loud bang as it collided with the floorboards. After that the room was completely silent apart from my heavy breathing as my chest heaved. Nancy and I glared into each others' eyes as if we were trying to made one another's heads explode. All of our siblings stared at us with astonishment.

I didn't care what they were thinking right then. All I was focused on was the fact that I'd just let out years of anger that had built up because Rita had always told me 'That's just how your sister is. But she means well and loves you, and that's what really matters in a family.'. I never got along with Nancy. We'd bicker non-stop. It was never like the way we bickered with our other siblings or how our other siblings bickered with each other. We never ended up laughing or making up after arguments.

Something told me that we weren't about to make up after this either, and that our relationship was only going down from here on out.

But I didn't give a shit.

Brenda POV

Ben and I were in the den packing up the whole room. The room had bright red walls, mahogany floorboards which had been there since Mom and Dad moved in before even Justin was born. There were eight bean bags tossed on the floor, one for each of us. Alex's was black and covered in gray skulls whereas Amber's was pink with red kisses all over it. There were board games, a deck of cards, a teeny mini fridge that could only hold three bottles and three shelves of food. Justin always put vodka and beer in the back of the shelves and hid them behind junk food. He made it a rule stating that it you took something out of the mini fridge, you better replace it. He knew that if Mom or Dad found the bottles he would be in deep trouble, especially because they thought he was the only child who had ever been drunk.

"We could have had it all...Rolling in the deep..." I half sang, half hummed. to myself as I cleared out the food.

"We better get rid of that before Justin, AJ or Amber get their hands on it." Ben laughed as I grabbed a bottle of vodka.

"They've got a six-pack of beer in here too." I said then grinned. "What are you going to do to keep them away from parties tonight?"

"Oh, I don't know; duct tape them to the wall?" he joked referring to Justin's favorite prank: duct taping people to walls and when Amber was his unfortunate victim, ceilings.

"No, AJ and Justin could easily break free. I think blackmail is your only option." I smirked slyly.

"Whoa there, is this an evil side of Brenda Johnston?" he chuckled playfully.

"Yes, why yes it is," I replied. "And you will blackmail them by threatening to send all their stuff to the charity store if they leave tonight."

"Nice, sis!" he complimented me giving me a high-five.

I loved Ben. I know we aren't meant to have favorites in the family, but if I had to choose my favorite brother, I'd choose Ben. We got along so well all the time. We were like a second Mom and Dad when the real Mom and Dad were away, like now. Nancy always thought she was in charge but with her temper and attitude she needed to be handled with care, which made her really bad at running this place.

As Ben finished rolling up the red furry rug, we heard a yell.

"Who the FUCK do you think you are!?"

It was Justin's voice, no doubt. Ben rolled his eyes and sighed. "We better sort this out."

He propped the rug up against the wall and we both rushed downstairs with Amber, AJ, Alex and Tyler on our heels. We all burst into the living room and halted in a huddle watching the scene unfold between Nancy and Justin. I knew this was not going to end well.

"...but you know who I don't get along with? YOU! At this fucking point I don't give a fucking shit if you are my sister or not because your whole life you made nasty comments about everybody!" Justin roared down at Nancy. She was near six-foot, but he was near six-foot five.

He was hurling cushions, books and other things that were lying around as he bellowed at her. I'd never seen him this angry at anybody, ever. Nancy decided to do some more yelling of her own.

"Shut up, Justin! You're just trying to turn this around on me when this is really about you not helping pack up!" she screamed right in his face. Then she turned to AJ and Amber. Amber was huddling behind AJ and Alex. "And you two! You haven't done anything either!"

Justin grew much angrier. "Leave them out of it! You just don't wanna hear what I have to say because you know it's TRUE! You don't know when to stop! When AJ got a C on his math test EVERYBODY else was telling him how good it was knowing that was a high for him and you KNEW it but you still told him it was shit! Even when Amber drew pictures for you when she was a kid, you had to point out every last fucking flaw! You criticize Alex's clothes and style like he's wearing a tattoo of fucking Hittler! You take things too fucking far, Nancy! I can't remember the last time you said anything nice to ANYBODY here! You think you're Little Miss Perfect but YOU'RE NOT! You are a judgmental BITCH who can ROT IN HELL!"

Justin's face was red and his eyes were full of pure hatred and he suddenly raised the coffee table above his head and slammed it into the floor and it split in two with a deafening crack.

The room became silent. Nobody knew what to say. We were all dismayed at Justin's outburst. It was as if time had been frozen. No one moved. No one made a sound.

Everybody knew that Justin and Nancy never got along, even when they were in diapers; but nobody thought they could ever say this to each other. I was beginning to see that the two of them would be the kind of siblings who left home and never spoke to each other after and ignored each other at family weddings and funerals. And honestly a small part of me died when I thought of that. The eight of us had always bickered and argued and fought, but I always imagined us together when we were old and wrinkly in a nursing home, laughing and bickering as we always did, with our children and grandchildren visiting us every day. Now that was clearly never going to be the case. Big fights as children were normal; they were easily forgotten. Justin was nineteen now, nearly twenty. He was an adult and he was mature beneath his bad-ass joking personality and Nancy may be seventeen but she is seventeen going on thirty. This fight had severed what remained of their brother sister bond forever, way beyond repair. I could see by the tears Amber was trying to hide, she sensed something like this too. She was the wildest of all the Johnston girls, and one of the least emotional. She hadn't cried Alex saw her wiping a tear away and discreetly put one arm around her hugging her tight.

In my heart I wished Justin and Nancy were like Alex and Amber. They fought nearly all the time but when it mattered they cared. Ben made eye contact with Alex and nodded towards upstairs. Receiving the message, Alex guided Amber out of the living room and up the stairs. AJ decided to follow.

After what seemed like hours, Ben finally spoke. "Um, Nance, I need you to go to the store and buy some, um, uh...milk."

"Why don't you ask the alcoholic? Oh, right, he has a hangover and is unable to drive. As usual!" Nancy spat, taking the keys from the counter and leaving before Justin started up again.

"Holy shit, man." Tyler said to Justin totally abashed.

"Are you okay?" I asked not knowing what to say.

"Yeah Bren, I'm good." he replied casually as if nothing had happened. Tyler became more alarmed. Justin calmly walked upstairs with his usual confident swagger.

"I didn't even get a photo." Tyler groaned frustrated, throwing himself down on the couch.

"Never mind that! How am I going to explain this to Dad and Mom?!" Ben snapped as he thrust his arms in the direction of the coffee table that lay upside down and split in half on the floor.

"I don't know but we better move it and sweep up." I answered looking at the splinters surrounding the table.

"What will I tell them? 'Hey Mom, hey Dad. Yeah, everything was great while you were gone! Oh, but Justin accidentally slammed the table you guys got handmade and engraved with your names for your tenth anniversary!'. Yeah, Brenda, that'll go down well." Ben said sarcastically.

"Yeah man, you have a point." Tyler agreed then grinned. "Haha, you're screwed!"

"Oh my god, you're right, they're going to kill me!" Ben panicked.

"No they won't, Ben." I told him. "Just get it fixed."

"Brenda, you can't glue wood together! Even if we did glue it, it would break as soon as something was put on it and if it survived that it would definitely get trashed to splinters in the moving van." Ben sighed stressed out. He pushed his glasses up as they slipped down his nose and ran his tanned fingers through his blonde curly hair.

"Buy a new identical one, dude." Tyler suggested.

"We can't. My money is being saved up for college and nobody else saves their money apart from Nancy, and she won't help pay for something Justin broke. Even if we managed to get a similar one Mom and Dad could easily tell the difference. The ring pattern would be completely different and the edges wouldn't be worn. Plus all the tea and coffee stains." Ben pointed out, still thinking hard.

"You could say we got burgled."

"AJ, how long have you been standing there?" I asked, jumping as I heard his voice from the doorway.

"Few seconds. Amber's crying but Alex and Justin are with her so I thought I'd come down to you guys." he explained.

"Is she okay? She's not usually much of a crier." Tyler asked.

"It's her time of the month. She gets all hormonal." AJ replied lounging on the couch beside Tyler. Tyler and Ben nodded at AJ's statement. Amber was known to be irritable and whiny every few weeks. I knew Mom tried talking to her before about PMS, but Amber was having none of it.

Ben's face suddenly lit up. "Hey, get up. We have no time for lying on the couch. I've got a plan. Uncle Trevor has an identical table in his attic, remember? From when he thought this one would look good in his living room? Tyler and Brenda, you go and beg him for it and ask him to keep it a secret! AJ, you and I are going to clean this up and when they text us and tell us if they got the table or not, we bring both tables to that furniture store in the mall and get the engravement copied. Then we toss the broken table in a skip on the way home. Understood everyone?"

"Understood." Tyler and I chorused as AJ groaned.

"I'm driving!" Tyler said to me seizing the keys from the counter as the two of us left.

We clicked our seat belts in, he put the keys in the ignition and he pulled recklessly out of the driveway, making me squeal as he zoomed around the corner, making the house disappear from my sight in a blur.

Amber POV

That night, I needed to get away from my brothers and sisters. Melanie, Jordan, Mike, Danielle, Lori or any of my other friends were all studying for the algebra test tomorrow. So I decided to go to the mall. I had my hair in loose curls and I wore a glittery black midriff shirt with faded blue denim shorts and silver wedge heels. I spent ages choosing the right shade of red lipstick, getting my eyeliner perfect and putting on my mascara. My skin is like, from the gods so I never really needed foundation or concealer or fake tan.

Everybody knew me in this mall. I was a regular. All the kids in my high school hanged out here.

I stalked over to the fountain, swaying my hips as a walked. Little huddles of kids from different cliques were sitting around the spraying water; geeks, drama club, artists, Asians that didn't speak English, the normal kids. All their eyes focused on me, trying to figure out if they were going to be the victim of my cutting words or if I was about to push them into the bottom of the fountain with the pennies. My ice-cold glare met their wary stares and they quickly looked away, apart from a few guys ogling my boobs.

"Damn."

I turned around as I heard his voice. I watched him smirk at me. I smirked back. "My eyes are up here, not on my chest."

"As if you expect me to look away? I thought you knew me better than that!" he chuckled. "We gotta get back to my truck. Helena's got a date so I'm stuck with Rory and Sarah." he said with clear reluctance at the burden of babysitting his little brother and sister while his mom went on dates. He hated his mom. Helena Hudson was known as the local floozy, giving her whole family a bad name since she was a kid. She was nearly forty now and spent most of her time drunk and walking home in clothes she wore the night before. Shane knew this but we never spoke about it. His dad left before he was born. He was a guitar player in a band that lived in a minivan, travelling around the state. He got bored with Helena and a baby and drove off again. Frankie Grimes, Mom said his name was. All three of Helena's kids had different fathers, Sarah's and Rory's probably being one night stands. Mom told us the history of their family saying that as long as we didn't turn out like them, she wouldn't care how much of failures we turned out to be. She said the last part sarcastically; I think.

Shane had his hand on my lower back, steering me through the parking lot to his black pickup truck. It was old with mud caked around the wheels and dents decorated most of it. Behind the slightly dirty windscreen were two kids: a little girl with dark curly, slightly bushy hair and blue eyes and a smaller boy with green eyes, short dark hair and chubby cheeks. Sarah, the girl, was seven and Rory, the little boy, was four.

Shane swung the truck door wide open an ushered me in.

"Ammy!" the kids squealed, grabbing at me excitedly.

I spent a lot of time with them because Shane had to look after them so often so they knew me really well. Sarah loved me because I was a 'big girl' with pretty hair and clothes and Rory thought I was funny.

"Okay guys, you know the drill." Shane reminded them as he hopped up into the driver's seat. "Buckle up! Rory sits in Ammy's lap and Sarah sits between me and Ammy."

That was the seating arrangement because there were only three seats in the truck and Rory was small enough for the belt to fit around both of us comfortably.

"Ammy, guess what? Mommy gave me this!" Sarah beamed proudly waving a cheap plastic necklace with sparkly red rubies, which were clearly fake and worthless. "Mommy says Daddy sent it from his king castle! The rubies are real, mommy swore they were. Isn't it pretty?"

"It's beautiful! You're a lucky girl." I smiled sweetly playing along. Her mom lied about her dad all the time. Soon when Rory would start asking questions I'm sure she would tell him a fairy story about some special hero who was too busy saving lives or ruling imaginary kingdom to be in little Rory's life.

Shane was rolling his eyes at me. He always told Sarah that their mom was lying and that her dad just bailed on her, but Sarah was adamantly ignoring him and choosing to believe the fairy tale. I knew how much that annoyed Shane. He constantly gave out to me for 'encouraging the lies' when the kids were out of earshot.

"Ammy, who is your daddy?" Sarah asked smiling giddily.

"My daddy's name is Eddie." I answered.

"Does he live in a king castle?" Rory piped up looking up at me adorably.

"No, he lives with me in my house with my mommy." I told him.

"Because her mommy isn't a whore, and yours is." Shane snapped at them, glaring at me.

He hated that I treated them like what they were: little kids. The happy voice I used irritated him and he despised that I sugar-coated everything for them. His opinion was that life was a bitch and they better learn it.

Sarah's gleeful grin vanished at her brother's words and she sat silently. Rory's eyes lost their happy twinkle and he too fell silent and stared straight ahead at the road as Shane drove. I made eye contact with Shane, shaking my head at him. "It's the truth!" he mouthed at me as if that settled it.

"So, McDonald's or Chuck E Cheese's?" he asked after a miserable silence.

"Chuck E Cheese's!" they squealed delightedly, all smiles once again. Rory clapped excitedly in my lap, singing about Chuck E Cheese's the whole way there.

After what seemed an eternity of a musical rant about pizza, fries, playing in tubes and coca cola which Sarah decided to join, the truck was parked right in front of the door of the restaurant. The kids dashed in and Shane and I followed.

"You shouldn't have said that." I said quietly. "It was mean."

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about Princess." he retorted, calling me that annoying name. He didn't mean it as a term of endearment, oh no. It was an insult of how spoiled I was and how I was above everybody else.

"Yeah, you do. You are telling them that their mom is an awful mother and doesn't care about them. They go to kindergarten and they see moms and dads dropping their kids off, looking happy and loving and you are telling them that their dads are deadbeats and their mom is to blame! Tell me how that is what they should know!" I pleaded. "They deserve some innocence, Shane. Try to give a shit about them for once!"

That really pissed him off. Scrap that, he was beyond pissed off. He stopped walking and looked like wanted to punch me right in the face. I started getting scared as I stood in front of him. He grabbed my wrists roughly and dragged me behind a van, making sure Rory and Sarah wouldn't see. He pinned me tightly against the van as I struggled against him. His hands secured my wrists effortlessly on either side of my head and his knee was pressing against my crotch, lifting me off my feet. His grip on me was so tight I was in agony. A passerby would think he was about to rape me.

"Let me fucking go you bastard!" I hissed.

"I'm a bastard, am I?" he spat at me. "Well slut, I'm going to get something straight for you. Those two little kids don't live in the same world as you. They don't live in a big happy family where Mommy and Daddy love them and spoil them. They live in a shit hole of an apartment that their whore of a mom brings strangers back to every night to bang. Their mom doesn't even know who their dads are and the rest of their family is in prison or worse. I'm being real with them. I'm not going to pretend that life is all fun and games for them because for them, it's not! So don't you dare say I don't give a shit about them, because you fucking know I do!"

"I-I'm sorry." I apologized, my voice barely audible as tears streamed down my cheeks from the pain.

His face changed completely when he saw me crying. His aggressive glare turned into a soft worried expression. He immediately released me and looked at my red wrists. "Am, I didn't mean to hurt you...are you okay?"

I nodded as he gently wiped my tears away. He was rarely ever this nice. He hugged me and kissed my lips passionately. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he ran his tanned fingers through my hair as we made out. His hands moved down my back and squeezed my ass. We kept going, getting more aroused. His little guy was starting to make and appearance when I froze.

"Shit! Rory and Sarah." I moaned as he sucked on my neck.

"Oh yeah." he mumbled less bothered than I was. He put me down reluctantly and we ran inside the restaurant holding hands.

"Where were you?" Sarah demanded stamping her foot. Rory stood beside her with her little arms folded on his chest.

"You took this long!" Rory exclaimed at me, dramatically thrusting his arms as wide as he could, nearly falling over.

"We're here now, aren't we? Quit looking at me like that!" Shane sighed, annoyed that he had to take his hands off of me because of them and even more frustrated that Rory was mad at him. Obviously Rory had decided to be angry at Shane for saying Edna was a whore.

All four of us sat at the table staring at menus. Sarah was scanning through every single food on the list while Rory sat beside her looking blankly at the words nodding his head and scratching his chin. He couldn't read but he was set on convincing us he could.

"So buddy, do you want a pepperoni pizza and fries?" Shane asked him, knowing that Rory was still upset with him. "You can have ice cream if you want. No?"

"I can't hear you, meanie!" he sang clamping his hands over his ears.

"What do you want Rory?" I smiled, knowing what he would say.

"Pizza, fries and ice cream please Ammy!" he beamed back. Shane rolled his eyes and shaking his head.

"And what about you, Sarah?" I asked biting my lip to stop myself from laughing.

"Bacon and jalapeño pizza and buffalo wings."

"You're getting a bacon pizza with fries." Shane corrected. "You won't eat jalapeño or buffalo wings and you know it."

Sarah stuck her tongue out at him, waggling and flicking it around.

"Ugh! You fucking spat on me!" Shane said disgustedly wiping the saliva off of his cheek.

I snorted, earning a dirty look from Shane and a giggle from Sarah and Rory.

"Well, Princess, what would you like to eat?" he asked, purposely spraying spit on me.

"Ew! What the hell?!" I shrieked. "How old are you?!"

"Not so funny now, is it?" he smirked.

Sarah and Rory were playing in the play area while Shane and I sat at the table. I didn't order any food, just water. As head cheerleader I had to stick to a diet, and fries and pizza were out of the question.

"So, what's it like having a free house?" Shane asked chewing on his pizza, which seemed to have every available topping piled up on it. "Oh, I forgot. You're stuck with seven dip-shits."

I slapped his arm playfully. "They are not dip-shits!"

"My siblings are pains in my ass, but yours take pain in the ass to another level. They're a load or dumbasses." he chuckled, enjoying winding me up.

"So you don't like Nancy and Justin. Doesn't mean the rest of them are dumbasses."

"Your twin - TJ or whatever -"

"AJ."

"Is a total dumbass! He couldn't pass first grade if he tried."

"Shut up, you fag. He's dyslexic!"

"Taylor -"

"Tyler."

"- stalks people. Don't get me started on your fat sister...!"

I thought I was about to slap him then. "Well have a nice time jerking off tonight because you're not fucking me."

Just as I was about to storm out, I heard crying. I turned my head and saw Rory scurrying up to us sobbing.

"One of the big boys pushed me onto the floor!" he wailed. "It hurts!"

"Get over it. They wouldn't have been able to if you weren't such a scrawny wuss." Shane deadpanned coldly. I shot him a look.

I picked Rory up and wiped away his tears. I held him on my hip and he rested his head on my shoulder and clung onto me.

"How old were they?" I asked him.

He pointed at two thirteen year old boys messing around in the play area. I walked towards them confidently. They saw me coming and knew I meant business. I knew I was intimidating. Even seniors moved to the side when I strutted down the hallways in school.

"Are you gonna use bad words Ammy?" Rory whimpered in my ear.

"Yup." I confirmed.

Long story short, I am now banned from Chuck E. Cheese and I have a criminal record, mainly because the manager does not appreciate the broken nose I gave him. He was a total dick, in my defense.

We were driving back to Shane's apartment. Rory was asleep on my lap and Sarah was leaning on me sleeping too.

"So, you got a criminal record!" he teased. "I wonder what Daddy's gonna say about that..."

"If I were you, I'd shut up and behave." I hinted biting my lip sexily.

"You take sex off the table, I take good behaviour off the table."

"Well I nearly got sent to jail and and there's been a fight at home, so I'm pretty stressed out and I need stress relief." I whispered in case I woke up Rory or Sarah.

"You're gonna have to be clearer." he lied. I knew he just wanted me to talk dirty and I gave him what he wanted.

"I'm fucking horny and I want you to do me."

Needless to say, the second Sarah and Rory were asleep in their room, Shane and I went at it like rabbits.