It was Monday, three days after the party, and Austin hadn't been in school since then. I wasn't necessarily worried, but Caleb and Seb were definitely hiding something. God, Tina, you've only talked to the guy like three times and you're already a worried wreck over a few days of him being absent.

Talk about crazy...or maybe it has something to do with my birth chart? Hmm, I should ask Tara, she gets all that star crap.

My weirdness aside, the only good thing that came from whatever was going on with him was that I didn't have to be his slave yet. For that, I was beyond grateful.

"Ugh, I need to get drunk asap" Tara groaned as she desperately tried to stuff like 10 books into her locker all at once.

"Oh no, not that again! Count me out this time..." I held my hands up in defense."I've been doing that too often for my liking..."

"It's been two parties. Get over yourself, you grumpy grandma!" She scoffed at me, finally shutting her locker with so much force the bang bounced off the walls of the hallway.

"That's a lot!" I defended myself, only slightly offended."For me!" I added.

Tara laughed, leaning against the lockers next to me."Yeah, exactly, for you!" She nodded."But for me, that's nothing. I need to let loose. I need to feel like I'm actually having fun not just drowning myself in books and homework..."

"Sounds like a personal problem" I stuck my tongue out at her just as the bell rang.

"Maybe you don't wanna go out because you know Austin won't be there...hmm, now that sounds like the real reason" She squinted suspiciously.

"Yeah, right!" I scoffed, pushing myself off the lockers.

We started walking towards our next class when Tara stopped abruptly.

"Shit!" She cursed, immediately digging through her purse like a feral. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused as to why she was acting this way."Shit, shit, SHIT!" She chanted before fetching her phone out. She quickly unlocked it with trembling hands.

"What is going on?" I raised a single eyebrow.

"No..." She froze as soon as she found whatever she was looking for. Staring at the screen in shock, she whispered various numbers to herself as if she were counting weeks or something.

"Can you explain what the hell is going on?!" I started to get worried as I looked at her traumatized expression.

"I'm late," She said, staring at nothing in particular. I scrunched my eyebrows at this."Ten days late" She added with extra emphasis.

"Wait..." I thought about it. She has only been with Seb for a few days...and before that, she told me she got with Jay again at a party...and oh my Go-

"Jay" She gulped, interrupting my thoughts. I was right.

"What are you going to do?!" I exclaimed, trying to keep it down and not cause a scene but failing. She looked around the hallway, noticing that everyone was already in class.

"I need to go buy a test" She spoke so quietly, I barely heard her. I nodded so fast, it felt like my head was going to snap off.

With that, she grabbed my hand in hers and we raced out to the parking lot.

On the bright side of things...

I know I'll be a great godmother.

***
"Crap, crap, crap" Tara paced back and forth in the mall's tiny restroom, as I sat on the sink with her test laying next to me.

We were still waiting on the results and Tara appeared to be losing her mind.

"It'll be alr-"

"I'm going to throw myself in front of a fucking truck!" She cut me off with wild eyes. Well, I guess it won't be alright then...jeez.

"You're being a little dramatic. Everything will be okay. I'm right here, no matter what" I slipped off the sink, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and nodded.

Just then, the timer she set on her phone went off, startling both of us."Here goes...everything" She muttered as she cautiously picked up the test.

Before I knew it, Tara screamed like a crazy 5-year-old who just opened all of her Christmas gifts. Or a crazy 5-year-old who got coal instead of gifts. Pick of choose.

She raced to me with the test, holding a trembling hand over her mouth as she couldn't hold her emotions in. I looked down to see what she was screaming about because it was very difficult to tell if she was happy, sad, scared, or relieved.

Not pregnant.

I exhaled, relieved."Jesus, that was a wild ride!" I laughed breathlessly.

"Remind me to always wear condoms and never EVER forget!" She took multiple deep breaths as she fanned herself repeatedly.

"Emm...I don't want to be there every time you're about to do the nasty, but aaaalright..." I laughed awkwardly.

"You know what I mean!" She laughed too."Come on, we've got school. We already missed Bio and Math, my parents are going to kill me..."

''Well at least they'll kill you for skipping class, not for getting knocked up'' I shrugged.

We exited the restroom, running into like 5 angry middle-aged women who must've been waiting for forever to go to the restroom.

"Sorry..." I cringed at them as Tara pulled me away with a loud laugh.

So much for trying to be polite...

***

I unlocked the front door, dreaming of plopping down onto my bed and taking a nap right away. I had one too many emotional rollercoasters today and boyyy did I need the sweet embrace of sleep...

As I opened the door, I came face to face with Gina. She gave me a once-over with a wrinkle of her nose and a roll of her eyes."Hi, Loser" My stepsister greeted me in her usual manner.

I pressed my lips tightly together and smiled at her through gritted teeth."Hello to you too, Richard's unfortunate offspring" I shot back, swiftly walking right past her.

She followed me into the kitchen, wearing a gnarly scowl on her face. As per usual, she didn't appreciate my smart-ass comebacks. Boo-hoo...

"Mom and Dad are going to be gone for 2 weeks, they told me to tell you" She clicked her tongue as she got onto the bar stool with zero effort. I rolled my eyes at this, feeling a tiny pang of jealousy. I could never get on one of those so easily. No wonder it looks so effortless, she's a frickin' giraffe compared to me.

"Great..." I groaned in reply, staring into the huge but useless fridge. It was stacked with fruit and veg, nothing even remotely unhealthy. Countless cans of wellness drinks and health shots, and not one can of diet coke. Yikes...

"Don't be so disappointed, I'm leaving too" She smirked, holding a shiny pair of keys with her manicured fingers.

I stared at the keys, raising a single brow. They looked like keys to a hotel room."And where do you think you're going, Child?" I questioned.

It wasn't the first time Richard and my mother left for a business trip, but Gina never left anywhere before. I was always supposed to 'look after' her while they were gone.

"Your mother is an easy woman" She shrugged, smugly."All I had to do was whine about how moody and boring you are...and she bought me a ticket to a modeling camp for 2 weeks" She smirked, twirling a strand of her tightly-curled blonde hair.

I gritted my teeth at her words.

And the woman complains when I ask for a new pair of shoes...nice. Thanks, Mom!

"Great. I hope you stay there for a month instead of two weeks, xoxo!" I blew her a mocking kiss and walked off to my bedroom. Sadly, she wasn't done with the unusual news broadcast, so she followed me again.

"Dad told me to give you this so that you don't starve yourself to death" She handed me a credit card with a roll of her eyes. Wow, how nice of him...

Another nag at my eating disorder.

I took it reluctantly, ignoring her sour expression."Not that you need it, though. You'll probably just hide out in your cave anyway..." She looked into my room, a glint of interest in her eyes.

I shut the door behind myself, mumbling profanities under my breath."Stop snooping around and go on with whatever you were doing before I showed up" I groaned, begging her to leave me the heck alone already.

She flicked her long, curled, blonde hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at me."I was packing. My driver will be here in half an hour, actually!" She stated smugly.

I rolled my eyes, opening my door to escape her."Good! Have fun, don't die from walking in a straight line for like 50 hours in heels, and wear protection with them sugar daddies. Bye!" I hurried out before slamming the door in her face and locking it immediately.

Ugh, she's so tiring.

After a tiny nap of maybe just 20 minutes, I was awakened by the loud doorbell my mother got installed because she couldn't hear the previous one from all the way upstairs. It was funny to me because our old home didn't even have a lock on the door, let alone a frickin' loud doorbell...

"I'm leaving, Grouchy Gremlin!" Gina called as she pranced down the stairs, right on the other side of my bedroom wall. She knew this very well, because every time she walked down the stairs, she banged on the wall just to annoy me.

I grabbed a pillow, pretending to smother myself with it."Good riddance!" I exclaimed.

"Don't get pregnant while you're home alone! Oh, wait! You're an absolute loser with zero social skills, I doubt you've ever even talked to a guy before!" She cackled on the other side of my bedroom door.

I glared at it, as if I was staring at her through it."At least I won't catch an STD!" I shot back, definitely leaving her speechless as she stormed out the front door and slammed it shut.

I got up off the bed to watch her get into the limo. Yes, limo. She let the poor driver carry her countless bags to the trunk and I frowned at the sight. If she's like this now...what is she going to be like when she grows up?

I shuddered at the thought and grabbed my phone.

Me- Free house for 2 weeks

In barely a minute, my phone buzzed and I grabbed it again.

Tara- Perfect timing. I need to celebrate the lack of a fetus in my womb. Let's host a fucking paaaarty! Oh, wait, the snakes there:((

Me- First of all, what party?! Second of all, look out the window.

Tara- Oh my God, the snake is leaving!!! Wait, where is she going?

Me- Modeling camp or something like that. Don't care, don't wanna care! What matters is that I've got a credit card and an empty house.

Tara- A credit card??? We NEED to have a party. Come onnnnn, please:((((

Me- No party.

Tara- How about just us, the boys and Sasha?

I stared at my phone's screen, thinking hard about the question at hand. What if they wouldn't even want to come over? What if I would just make a complete fool out of myself? What if-

Tara- Too late, already invited them over. They all said yes, so we have 2 hours to prepare;) I'm driving us to get snacks!

Well, it looked like I didn't have a say in any of it anyway. Can't say I was mad about it though. Tara always seems to read me like a book, so I usually just went with the flow.

Me- Fineee!

Tara- Aaron can come too right? He's nagging me and threatening to tell Dad:(

Me- Sure!

Aaron was Tara's twin brother. He was the 'popular jock with a kind heart' type. He definitely had all the qualities of a player, but to my surprise, he wasn't one. He was actually rather soft in the relationship department. He only ever had one girlfriend and she left him for a college dude. He was depressed for years after, at least that's what Tara told me. To the public, he's just a friendly, outgoing, bubbly person. To close friends and family, he was a quiet and kind person. He had two sides and I was glad I got to see the second one for the most part.

A knock on my back door shook me from my thoughts and I quickly slipped my Van's on. I swung the door open to reveal Tara standing there with a pissed off expression.

Right next to her, stood Aaron.

"Hey, TT" Aaron grinned, contrasting Tara's sour expression. He called Tara ''T'' and he called me ''TT'', because he claimed our names were too similar. We, however, thought he was just a weirdo who liked being difficult.

"Hope you don't mind me tagging along" He winked, wrapping an arm around Tara's shoulders. She ripped his arm off as she gagged dramatically.

"If you touch me again, I'll file a lawsuit" She warned seriously.

"I'm your brother, T" He rolled his eyes at her childish behavior.

"Yeah, and I'm Patrick-Star!" She mocked his stupid grin.

I stifled a laugh as I locked the door, drowning their bickering out. I hadn't seen Aaron in a few weeks because he was away at some soccer thing for his school.

He seemed much more chill than before. Maybe it was a much-needed getaway of some sort for him. Either way, I was glad he was back to his usual cheery self.

"I call shotgun!" Aaron called and raced to the passenger seat.

"In your fucking dreams, A" Tara scoffed, grabbing by the fabric of his sweatshirt in an attempt to stop him.

"Guys, it's fine I'll just-"

"No!" Tara cut me off with an 'are you crazy' look on her face."I'm not letting this monkey control the music we listen to on the way to the store!"

I laughed, remembering one time we all went on a mini road trip and Aaron played the Peppa Pig theme song on repeat for an hour just to drive Tara insane.

It worked, as you can tell.

Joke.

That was a joke.

"I'll feed your eyeballs to the birds!" Tara growled as Aaron battled her for access to the passenger seat door.

Okay, maybe it wasn't a joke. She really is crazy...

"Okay, you know what?" Aaron panted, dropping Tara from his back."I'll be a gentleman and let TT sit in the front" He smirked smugly.

Tara gave him one last push towards the back before pulling me to the passenger seat. I laughed at the two of them and plopped into the seat, immediately grabbing the aux cord.

"I take back what I said about your music taste, Tina" Tara muttered more to herself than to me as the engine roared to life."I rather listen to your old-ass 2000s songs than Peppa pig and Bob the builder..." She shook her head.

"Hey, that was one time! And I only did it to annoy you! For your info, I actually have a good taste in music" Aaron defended himself from the back seat.

I snorted at this, making him scoff at me in a joking way.

"Oh, because Drake and Kanye are soooo much better than Peppa" Tara dragged out sarcastically.

"Hey!" Aaron exclaimed, reaching to slap Tara across the head.

Here we go again...