Chapter Nine
THANKSGIVING

     Mara woke up to a sudden pressure on her stomach. She groaned and opened her eyes. Hawk shifted from beside her too and opened his. "Wake up, lovebirds!"

Mara looked up at her cousin, Ace. It was Thanksgiving the next day and Ace along with her aunt had come to town. Mara just wasn't expecting them to come so early in the morning.

"What the hell, Ace! Can't you see we're trying to sleep?"

"Can't you see I don't care? We have to go shopping early! All the ladies will be out on their morning runs."

Mara rolled her eyes and laid back down beside Hawk, burying her face into his neck. "Hold on a second. Eli? What the hell did you do to yourself? Is that a tattoo?"

Mara kicked blindly and Ace groaned as he fell off the bed, holding his stomach. "Bitch."

     "Dick." Mara got out of bed and walked over to her closet. Grabbing some clothes she walked into the bathroom. "Give me 20 minutes." She shut the door and Ace pushed himself off the floor.

     "Twenty minutes for what?" He turned to Hawk who was sitting up in bed. "The tattoo is horrible by the way. Really? A hawk out of all things?"

Ace got up from the floor and sat at Mara's desk. Twirling around in the desk chair he looked around her room. "I remember it being way lighter in here. Is she emo now or something?"

     Hawk looked at Ace confused. "Um, no."

     "Bummer."

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Mara's hair blew in the wind as she drove down the street. Her sunglasses sat firmly on her face and her window was down letting out the smoke from Ace's cigarette.

Hawk sat in the backseat since Ace called shotgun, and he glared at the curly-haired boy who was also wearing sunglasses. "I still don't get why I had to sit in the back."

"That's your punishment for getting that stupid ass hairstyle." Ace took another hit of his cigarette and turned to Hawk with a smile. "It's your fault, not mine."

"Can you stop, Ace? I like his hair."

"Your only saying that cause you're in love with him. I see it for how it actually is. I'm a non-biased source since I didn't like him as Eli and I still don't like him now."

Mara rolled her eyes and snatched the cigarette out of his hand, taking a drag, and handing it back. She blew out the smoke and looked at her cousin unimpressed. "That's the exact definition of being biased. You're only insulting him because you never liked him."

     "Whatever." Ace held his cigarette between his lips and connected his phone to the car speaker. "What do you like to listen to, Hawk? Let me guess. Justin Bieber?"

     Mara smacked him on the arm and Ace rolled his eyes as his music started to play. Mara and Ace both bopped their heads to the beat as Hawk glared at Ace from the backseat.

"I got five on it, grab your four, let's get keyed
I got five on it, messin' with that Indo weed," Mara sang along with Ace.

     The curly-haired boy put the cigarette in her mouth and let her take another drag as he continued to sing. "I got five on it, it's got me stuck, and I'm tore back. I got five on it, partner, let's go half on a sack."

     They continued to sing to Ace's playlist until Mara pulled up at Tory's. The blonde girl wanted to come shopping with Mara to get her mother and brother something for Thanksgiving. She didn't have a lot of money, but since her mother wasn't doing so well she wanted to surprise her.

     Tory hopped in the backseat, nodding at Hawk and turning to the two in the front seat. "Who's this?"

     Ace pulled down his sunglasses and turned around to her. "Who are you?" He looked her up and down and smirked. "Name's Ace. What's yours beautiful?"

     Mara smacked his hand away. "Off-limits." She turned to Tory who gave her a questioning look. "He's a man-hoe, don't pay him any attention."

     Ace took another drag of his cigarette. "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

     "I'll hate both," Hawk said from the backseat and Ace turned to glare at him.

Mara looked at Tory and shook her head. "Just ignore them."

"Was already planning on it."

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     "You know, I used to wonder what it felt like to be in love, but now I don't have to wonder anymore." Ryan stood in the kitchen as he helped his Aunt start to cook their Thanksgiving meal.

     "Mhm. And who's the lucky boy?"

     Ryan whipped his head around to look at her. "How did you know I was talking about a boy?"

     "You didn't actually think I would believe you were straight, right? It's painfully obvious, Ry."

     Ryan looked down confused and continued cutting up some vegetables. "There's no way I'm that obvious."

      Aunt Vera looked at him. "When you were 13 you cried to me because a girl kissed you on the cheek."

     "That doesn't mean anything. Every thirteen-year-old thinks girls have cooties."

     "Whatever you say. Make sure you cut those smaller."

Ryan nodded. "So grandpa is alive."

Vera dropped the empty bowl in her hands and turned to Ryan. "What did you say?"

"Grandpa Kreese is alive. He gives me the weirdest vibes. He has this creepy bond with Mara and she's gone completely psycho. Like I heard Kyler complaining in school the day before break. Apparently, Mara pulled his arm out of socket and then popped it back in because he made her angry.
Oh, and you remember the kid across the street?"

"Yes of course. Eli is a sweet boy."

"Yeah, well he's not so sweet anymore. He joined Grandpa Kreese's dojo and then I hear that he bashed Brucks' face in. And no one cared. Like I get the guy was a bully, but that's a little too far."

"Promise me you'll stay away from that man. He's a very bad person and he is manipulative and evil. Your mother and I were lucky enough to get away from him without being brainwashed ourselves."

"Trust me. I'm not going near him, but it's a little too late for Mara. If she's not home or with one of her friends she's with him."

"That's not good. That's not good at all." Vera took off her apron and dialed a number on her phone.

"Aunt Vera? Who are you calling?"

"An old friend."

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"No matter what I do, All I think about is you
Even when I'm with my boo, Boy, you know I'm crazy over you," Mara pointed at Hawk and he rolled his eyes halfheartedly.

"No matter what I do, All I think about is you
Even when I'm with my boo, Boy, you know I'm crazy over you," Ace turned to Tory and sent her a wink and Tory rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

Ace just smirked at her and took a drag of his cigarette. The four had already gone to the store and were heading back to Mara's house to drop off the groceries.

"You'll come around one day, Tory. Now one can resist Ace. Especially a fine specimen like you."

"Did you just call me a specimen?"

"You're damn right I did. You like it."

"I really don't."

Mara turned to Ace. "She really doesn't."

     Ace rolled his eyes and looked out the window as they stopped at a red light. He noticed a girl walking down the street. "Hey, cutie. You have the nicest legs. They would look better over my shoulders."

     "Creep," the girl spat at him before quickly walking away.

     Ace rolled his eyes and stuck his head back in the car. "Is it a crime that I like admiring the masterpiece that is a woman? God, their legs, their eyes, their hair. They're just perfect."

     "Weirdo," Mara laughed at him and Tory couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.

     Mara pulled into her driveway and the four got out and grabbed the groceries from the trunk. Ace threw his cigarette away first so his mom wouldn't catch him.

Walking into the house the four put the bags down and started to unpack the groceries. Aunt Vera came around the corner. "Mara darling, can I speak to you?"

     Mara nodded and followed her aunt down the hall. "I heard you've been hanging around your grandfather lately and I just don't think that's the best idea. He's a terrible man and I promise you he doesn't care about you as much as you think he does."

      Mara bit her lip to try and hide her smile. "You know everyone's been telling me that, yet I still don't see proof of him being a bad person. I'm sorry that he actually cares about me and my well-being unlike several of the other adults in my life. Did Ryan tell you what dad did? Or is he covering up for him again? After he screwed up again?"

     "What did he do?"

     "He hit me. I found him trashing my room and you know what he did? He slapped me. Across the face. Hard. That doesn't seem like a very fatherly thing to do."

     "Mara I didn't know."

     "Oh, and there was also the time that he threw a glass bottle at my head and I got cut by the glass and what did Ryan do? He hung up on me because he was eating cake."

     "Ma—"

     "And the years before that. After mom died. It was constant emotional abuse and Ryan got none of it. He had it so easy and he decided to help people bully me. And he still hasn't apologized for it. He just dumped all of his problems on me. So I'm sorry if I actually want to spend time around people who care about me. Grandpa wants to prepare me for the real world. So I'll never have to feel that kind of pain again. He's going to make me a winner and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it."

     Mara walked away from her Aunt who's mouth and eyes were wide in shock. This wasn't the Mara she remembered and she didn't like it. She also didn't like that she didn't know what had gone done in this house over the years.

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Thanksgiving was the next day and everyone was eating silently. Ace and Ryan were shoving food in their mouths while Mara gave them disgusted looks and ate slowly. Aunt Vera was sneaking glances at everyone and Shane was eating with his head down.

"Why don't we have a conversation," Aunt Vera asked them all.

Ace nodded and took a drink of his water. "Yeah. I'll start. Mara's friend is really hot and I got really hard just looking at her."

Ryan spit out his drink and Mara stopped chewing and slowly turned to Ace. "You're literally disgusting."

"At least I don't have unprotected sex."

Aunt Vera and Ryan both looked at Mara and she sunk down in her chair and drank her water. Ace smile and continued shoving food into his mouth.

"Literally Mara, what the hell," Ryan scolded her. "I have so many boxes of condoms in my bathroom and you can't take one?"

"What do you need condoms for? The last time I checked the only action you're getting is from your hand and a bottle of lotion."

"You little—"

"Enough!" Shane glared at the three kids. "We are supposed to be having a nice thanksgiving dinner, not talking about your sex lives that none of you should have. This is about spending time as a family."

"When's the last time you actually spent time with your family," Mara asked him. "I mean the only time we see you is where you're yelling at me, calling us fags, and hitting me."

     "Mara that's enough. This is not the time."

     "No, I think it's the perfect time. We're here, eating dinner, pretending to be a happy family. You have the nerve to ask us to share what we're thankful for when you're not thankful for your own family. You don't abuse the people you love! You don't treat them like absolute shit and turn around and tell them they should be thankful."

     Her father slammed his fists on the table and stood up glaring at her.

     Mara stood up too and smirked at him menacingly. "What are you going to do? Show them. Show them how you really act when they're not around. I dare you."

     The two faced-off, Shane glaring at his daughter and Mara having a sinister smile on her face waiting for him to crack. He took a deep breath and sat down and Mara smirked. "Sit down, Mara, and have some manners."

     Mara backed away from the table. "Fuck you." She walked down the hall to her room and slammed the door closed leaving the dining room in complete silence.

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So you all met Ace! He was just making a guest appearance for the Thanksgiving chapter. He was created by Lixywritez

This was a pretty intense chapter but one that was needed. This truly captured the anger Mara is feeling and how Kreese has used that to put her on his side and there isn't anything that can shake her mindset...right now.

As always if you liked this chapter vote and leave a comment.