60~ Colorful

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

"Summer is finally here!" Gabe cheers.

Zev looks up from his chemistry textbook, "Technically, we have one more exam then summer is here."

He flops back down in his chair, stuffing a fry in his mouth. "Why you got to kill my buzz like that man?"

I roll my eyes at his disappointment, glancing back down at my sketchbook. I've already taken my Lang exam but Ms. Miller is throwing an end of the year party to celebrate all our hard work.

Avery walks over and takes her new seat between Gabe and Ashton, offering everyone a small wave as she joins us. I can't help but admire what a difference these last two weeks have made.

After prom, Avery and I decided to start on a whole new slate. The Monday we got back to school she walked up to us at lunch and asked to sit down. I was so happy she actually decided to do it that I was at a loss for words. Then I became even more surprised when Stella pointed to the only empty seat left and told her to sit.

I'm not sure of everything she apologized to Stella for because it wasn't any of my business but they no longer hate each other. And that's enough for me.

It will be baby steps with Avery for a while but we'll get there eventually.

"What is everyone doing over break?" Zev asks, eating a tater tot.

"Helping dad find a new place to live." Ella offers, picking at her salad. Sage pulls her in for a hug.

Dave and Jane officially came clean to her last week and it wasn't a pretty sight. She spent two days hiding at our house before she would talk to either of them. It took a lot of convincing but she finally heard them out. This summer definitely won't be easy for her.

"We're going to South Korea to visit mom's family." Stella says to change the focus, smiling over at James.

"And I'm going with her." He adds, sounding genuinely excited to meet the rest of her family.

If he thought Kim was scary, boy does he have another thing coming. I've only met that side of the family once and that was more than enough.

"I'm just going with the flow." Gabe says, leaning back in his chair.

"What happened to your internship?" Avery asks.

Gabe blushes and I laugh. There won't be much going with the flow while he's working with Uncle John. He may be a player and a partier but Gabe is great with business.

"I'm doing that too." He admits, "What about you, Miss Model?"

Avery fidgets at his question. I watch the two interact with an inquisitive eye. They both agreed to be friends, claiming that the feelings were from middle school. For some reason I don't think that claim is as true for them as it is for me but I guess we'll just find out.

"I'm going to New York, hopefully to find a better management team." She says.

"What about your nose job?" Stella asks, genuinely interested.

Avery and I share a look, "I don't think that's happening anymore."

Fingers crossed.

"Well I'm going to Florida to visit my Abuela." Ashton says, pretending he didn't notice the look my cousin and I just shared.

"And we're going to Miami." Sage adds, a smile on his face.

That we are. Uncle John bought the tickets last week. He's building a hotel down there that needs his full attention and there's a baseball team that's interested in having Sage play for them. I think it's going to be a pretty good summer, even if Ms. Miller is coming with us.

We get to do all the things dad used to love doing and spend hours at the beach. Plus, Ashton will only be an hour away so I'll be able to see him whenever I want. Ella might even be flying down for a week or two.

It's going to be pretty epic.

The bells rings and we all jump at the chance to finish our last day of school. Ashton holds me back, a curious look on his face.

"What exactly do you two have planned?" He asks, pointing at Avery's retreating figure.

"Don't you worry about it right now, I'll tell you later." I promise him, hopeful that I'll have nothing but good news to share on our date tonight.

It takes a moment but he smiles, "Don't do anything too reckless."

Me, never.

*****

"Are you sure about this, Scar?"

Sage parks our car, not moving to unlock it. I nod my head reassuringly as I unbuckle my seat belt. "This needs to be done. You don't have to come with me."

I unlock the door and get out of the car, taking a moment to straighten my dress before walking up the driveway. I don't make it five steps before Sage scurries up next to me. We walk up to the door and knock on it twice, purposely hitting the glass. Seconds later, Avery appears on the other side, checking behind her before throwing the door open. She offers us both hugs before closing the door.

"Are you sure about this, cuz?" She asks me, sounding slightly afraid of what I have planned.

I smile at her, taking note of her more formal attire. Good, everyone's already here, I would hate to have to wait. "Absolutely."

And with that she leads the way to the formal living room.

Earl is sitting in his usual chair, a pipe held up to his lips. Edna reads a magazine, sipping on a martini. Karen and Robert sit on separate ends of the couch, facing away from each other while Conner sits awkwardly on his phone.

I offer him a wave and he grins back, ready for our conversation to begin. Once he learned Avery officially apologized he did the same, the twins accepted his apology after learning he was good at video games. Now their trio has become a quartet and the transition was certainly a lot smoother than ours.

"Avery, who was banging on our door?" Karen asks, not bothering to look up from her phone.

"That would be me, dear aunt." I say sweetly, enjoying the looks of shock on their faces as they finally notice me.

Edna even drops her magazine.

"Scarlett, what do you think your doing in our house?" Karen demands, eyeing me with distaste.

I don't crumble under her gaze, instead, I square my shoulders and take a step forward. She doesn't scare me anymore, not now that I know what a pathetic excuse of a mother she really is.

"Just here to pay my respects and offer a final goodbye, especially since you were so eager to wash your hands of us." I inform them.

Robert pales but his wife doesn't back down. "Get out, you're not our problem anymore."

I laugh, pulling an envelope out of my bag. "I'm certainly not, this envelope contains every penny you gave us these past two years. That way there's no business left unattended to. You owe us nothing and we certainly don't owe you a damn thing."

She refuses to take the envelope, snarling her lip. "I don't want my money back."

"Actually, it's mom's money. We had to use yours to survive but I figured she would've wanted me to pay you back." I tell her with poison dripping from my tongue.

Paybacks a bitch, isn't it. I push past her and rest it on the coffee table. Looking at all of my family, I offer one last smile, "Thank you for absolutely nothing, please stay the hell out of our lives and we'll do the same."

Edna gasps in shock but I'm already turning to leave, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as I go. I make it four steps before Earl clears his throat. "Where did you get those earrings?"

I stop, a wicked smile forming on my face as I face them again. "Oh, these earrings?" I ask, pointing to my mothers diamonds safely attached to my ears.

"You know damn good and well what earrings I'm talking about." He seeths, his face turning red.

"They were a Christmas gift."

"You stole them from our safe." Karen accuses, stepping forward like she might rip them from my ears.

I'd like to see her try.

"Actually, I gave them to her." Avery says, moving to stand next to me.

Karen's eyes bulge out of her head. "You little-"

Avery lowers her gaze but I grab a hold of her hand, "Actually if anyone here is a bitch it would be you. Now sit down and shut up."

My aunts jaw falls to the floor but she does what I say, sending her husband a do something look. He just shrugs his shoulders.

"Avery will not be flying out to California nor will she be getting any sort of plastic surgery unless she makes the choice to do so. You will let her go to New York to find a better team that knows how to work with her beauty, not try to change her."

"How dare you try to tell me what to do with my daughter. I'm her mother not you." Karen says, slowly losing her composure.

"It's my decision and Scarlett is a better parent than you'll ever be." Avery says, finally facing her mom.

"You will not be making any decisions, you're my child-" Karen tries to gain control of the situation.

"I'm eighteen, I can legally make my own decisions and I'm choosing my own path. I don't want to be you mom. I'll make my own friends and make my career on my own terms. And I'm starting that by being Scarlett's friend. No more harassing her, we're there for each other and I don't care if you're okay with it or not."

Karen stomps her foot in outrage but before she can say or do anything else Robert grabs hold of her. "I think that's completely reasonable, Avery, we can work out the details later."

I give her hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go, "Now, if that's all I think we best get going."

Standing there I take a second to stare each and everyone of them down, "You were willing to abandon us. You were willing to put my family into foster care rather than take care of your own. My mother never gave up on trying to fix the bond between our families but I never want to see your faces again."

The four adults stare at us, all looking ready to burst at the seams. It took me a while to decide how I wanted to handle them. At first I was angry but over time that anger turned to vengeance.

"Katherine-" Earl starts, gripping the arms of his chair tightly.

"Keep our mothers name out of your mouths, her memory doesn't deserve to be ruined by your tounges."Karen scoffs and I turn to her, "If I ever find out you try to force Avery or Conner into something they have no interest in doing or if you ever take things too far I will take you to court and sue you. After all, no sixteen year old should be left in charge of children."

Avery and Conner share a laugh as Karen grapes at me like a fish, true fear evident on her face.

"I hope you all burn in Hell." I offer lightly.

Sage offers them a dramatic bow before flipping them off. "Thanks for absolutely nothing."

We walk casually from the room, not caring to see how they react. It's all behind us now. Once we get back out to the car I take one last look up at the house, trying to remember the last time we had a happy memory within those walls. I think it was Easter of my 8th grade year, mom had forced us to come for brunch with the hopes of finally burying the hatchet. The brunch went terribly but she still left with a smile on her face, promising me she knew it would be like that.

At least she tried.

Sage starts the car and I offer the house one last nod, we tried too.

*****

The twins and Saffron are waiting on us when we get home, expecting stories of a fight.

"Did you at least slap the old hag?" Silver asks after we share the details of the conversation.

"No, it's not always about being violent." Sterling corrects him before turning to me. "Although a slap would've been nice."

I laugh at them, not at all disappointed by their reactions. My family may be unpredictable but I know them pretty well. We sit in the tv room, watching Impractical Jokers to pass time.

"What are we going to do for Thanksgiving this year?" Saffron asks quietly.

Sage pauses the tv, sending me a weird look. "What do you mean, Squirt?"

She shrugs, "We always go to their house, what will we do now?"

It bothers me that she only knows that as our norm, Earl and Edna shouldn't be her go to childhood memories. Pulling her into my lap, I ruffle her hair. "We'll be together."

"We can make pumpkin pie." Silver offers.

"We can watch Charlie Brown." Sterling continues.

"We can play football." Sage adds, making a passing motion to Silver who jumps for the imaginary ball.

"We can stuff our faces and be thankful for each other because at the end of the day that's what matters most. We have each other and I'm so lucky that I'm able to say that." I tell her honestly, trying to show her the positive side.

"Uncle John will be there too." Silver promises.

"And it can be like that for Christmas and Easter too, Saff, we decide who we get to spend time with now." Sterling assures her.

Saffron blinks, looking at all of us with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Really." We all say together.

She tackles us all for a group hug, "I love you guys so much."

Even as I'm crushed by my siblings weight I can't help but smile, "I love you guys more."

*****

"Ashton, will you please tell me where we're going?" I beg for the thousandth time in the last twenty minutes.

He showed up at my house with a blindfold and hasn't given me one clue as to where he's taking me. I hate surprises.

"Sorry, Sweetheart, just a few more seconds." He assures me as the car stops.

He pecks my cheek before getting out and running around to open the door for me, I protest every step of the way.

"You know this is dangerous?" I remind him.

"No, it's not." He snorts.

"I should remind you that I'm a very clumsy person. I could trip and die and it would be all your fault." I press, my hands reaching up for the blindfold.

He grabs my hand and I stick my tongue out at him, what an asshole. "That would be a tragedy but we're here."

The blindfold is ripped from my head and I blink, readjusting to the light. It takes me a moment but I finally take in all the graffiti on the cement walls surrounding us.

"We're in the park?" I say but it sounds more like a question, still taking in the ever changing graffiti that I haven't seen in almost three years.

"We are." Ashton confirms, tucking the blindfold in his pocket.

I spin around to take everything in, in complete awe of all the different colors and techniques. "Why?"

He scratches the back of his head, "After I first moved here I asked this chick to check out this park with me."

Turning to face him, I raise an eyebrow. "Did you now?"

"Yeah, I did." He laughs, almost like he's remembering the text he sent. "She gave me a rain check but I figured now was a good time to call it in."

I did shut him down pretty quickly.

"Well, that was an awfully long wait." I tease, throwing my arms around his neck.

He smirks, "She was worth it, I didn't want to experience this with anyone else."

Happiness bubbles inside me and I can't help but say a silent thank you for my life being this good. I go to kiss him but he shoves a can of paint between us. "Go do something."

I stare blankly at the can, "I don't use spray paint, that's more of Sage's area of expertise."

Mom banned me from touching it because I constantly got paint on bystanders, never being precise enough to handle it. Plus, it smelled.

"I don't care if it looks like Ronnie did it, go paint something." He orders, shoving me towards a blank space.

Timidly I shake the can, trying to think of what to do before an idea comes to mind. Covering my mouth, I get to work. After a while I step back, smiling triumphantly at my horrible attempt at graffiti. Sage would die of laughter if he saw this but oh well.

"Charming and Sweetheart?" Ashton reads my work.

I look at the letters and the crown and heart I added to the names. "They sound like a pretty dynamic duo if you ask me."

Throwing the can on the ground I go to explore but Ashton pulls me in for a hug, "They really do, I hear they're a great power couple."

I'm about to make a comment on how stupid his comment was when he kisses me. My mind buzzes as we pull apart, not wanting to separate just yet.

"I'm so happy you ran into me in the hallway." He whispers, wrapping his finger around a curl.

"Excuse you, you ran into me. I was the one who opened the door." I protest, annoyed that he would blame me for that.

Ashton smirks, completely amused by my frustration. "We hit each other."

I go to protest, wishing he would just admit it when he kisses me. I'm beginning to think he does that just to keep me quiet. "Fine, it's both our faults,"

"Its a good thing we were so careless." He offers, his gray eyes shinning with happiness.

"Being mean has never paid off so well for me before." I admit, remembering how I yelled at him. Then punched him. Then flipped him off.

"You weren't mean, you were feisty." He assures me, pulling on a strand of my hair.

I laugh, "You like feisty."

He smiles as I throw his words from that day back at him. "That I do, but can I tell you a secret?"

"What's that?" I ask, my fingers playing with his hair.

"I love you."

"I love you more." I tell him, my heart thudding inside my chest.

"That's impossible." He counters, a determined glint in his eyes.

Something tells me we're tied pretty even in that category but I don't argue, instead I kiss him one more time.

Who would've thought my life would become so colorful.

*****

Dear god only the epilogue is left, I honestly have no words to describe this... I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you stick around.

I love you all so much
XO-Mo

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net