Oh Brother

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 7

Continues..

“Christian seems popular,” Dee commented, smiling.

I turned my head to my left and spotted Christian. He was leaning against a locker, talking to a couple of girls. A huge smile was plastered onto his face as the girls laughed at his words, causing my eyebrows to furrow. Just a weeks ago he had been a total loner.

“Where’s your comment about how he doesn’t deserve this and should burn in hell?” Dee asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

My head flew to look at her. “Huh?”

“You don’t hate him anymore?”

Blush quickly filled my cheeks. I had to admit, I did talk shit about him to Dee and Cheryl often. It wasn’t that I wanted to be so negative, but Christian just brought that side out of me. Well, he did until the bath incident. Now I felt like I could just ignore his presence for some reason.

“I still hate him,” I said honestly. “I just don’t care about him at this point. This is my new life and he’s a part of it. Whatever.”

Dee smiled. “Wow, aren’t you optimistic.”

I laughed. “Shut up.”

Dee laughed as well and I smiled. Things weren’t perfect, but now that it was October life seemed manageable. Mom and Stephen were never home, but I was fine with that. Christian and I just left each other alone, which I was also fine with. Life had changed, but what the hell could I do about it. Honestly, what could I?

“You know, those girls are flirting with him,” Dee suddenly said.

My eyes flew back to where Christian stood. Only then did I realize the girls were standing too close to him and were laughing at everything he said. I rolled my eyes, feeling disgusted.

“He’s not even attractive,” I said, looking back at Dee. “I don’t get those girls.”

“But he is attractive,” Dee said, eyes brightening as she glanced at Christian. “Honestly, the things I’d do to that boy.”

I made a gagging sound, feeling suddenly violated. Dee had made a huge deal about Christian’s looks, but this was unexpected. And, extremely disturbing to the point where I actually wanted to throw up.

Dee suddenly laughed. “Okay, that was too much information.”

“Way too much.”

Dee grinned. “Come on, you have to admit it eventually. He’s hot.”

I shook my head vigorously. “Stop. He’s not.”

Dee laughed again. “Okay, you’re his step-sister. It would be incest if you found him hot so that’s why you disagree.”

I frowned. “It wouldn’t be incest, we don’t have any of the same blood.”

“Then admit he’s hot.”

I groaned. “Dee!”

She laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh as well. This conversation was whack, but beauty was in the eyes of the beholder. To those girls he was hot, to me he wasn’t.

---

“Well, Christian has gotten popular,” Cheryl commented.

I groaned as I found myself about to be thrown into another conversation about Christian. The exact person I didn’t want to talk about, or see.

“Perks of being hot,” Dee chirped in.

My eyes narrowed at her and she giggled. I shook my head at that and sighed as I looked at the table where Christian was sitting at. Once again, he was surrounded by girls. Gorgeous girls.

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my can of coke and said, “Those girls are desperate. He’s the new guy and they think they can get him.”

“And you think they can’t?” Cheryl asked, raising an eyebrow.

I felt blush rush into my cheeks, knowing I had an answer to that question. An answer, I would never admit to anyone. Not even to myself.

Cheryl’s eyebrows rose higher. “Did something happen between the two of you? You haven’t been hating on him lately.”

“No.” I sighed. “I just don’t care about him or his life. This is my new life, so I have to deal with unwanted parts of it such as him.”

“She’s turning into an optimistic,” Dee chirped in again.

I nodded, forcing a smile as Cheryl studied me. She seemed to be calculating me with her hazel eyes. I shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, good for you.” Was all she ended up saying. “How’s your new step-dad?”

“He’s nice enough,” I said, taking a sip from my drink. “He hogs my mom though.”

“And how’s your mom?”

“Everyday she is less of as mom, but she’s happy. That’s good for her.”

“Very optimistic, I see,” Cheryl commented, frowning.

I smiled sadly, knowing I was lying to myself. Really lying to myself because I hadn’t accepted this new life I was given. In fact, I hated it. Despite being able to push through it, I despised it. But like I said, what could I do about it.

“Autumn, you know you can talk to us, right?” Dee said, frowning at me.

“I know, but there’s nothing to talk about.” I shrugged, lying. “This is my life.”

“And you’re not happy with it,” Cheryl said. “Why don’t you talk to your mom about everything. You did say Stephen is hogging her.”

I shrugged. “There’s nothing to talk about… With her. She doesn’t really seem to like me anymore.”

That was also true. Now that Christian was here, she had a new child. A child, she preferred over me – her actual child. My heart ached at the thought.

“Autumn.” Dee slid closer to me. “You’ll get used to the change. Trust me on this.”

“I know I will,” I lied. “I already have.”

Deep down, in the depths of my heart I knew I would never accept the way things were. Not when only four months ago it was just my mom and I. The two of us against the world, both loving each other in the way a mom and daughter should. In a way, that was the complete opposite of the way my mom was now.

Stephen was nice, I had to admit. And I didn’t know why I hated Christian, but I could at least ignore him as of now. When it came down to it, it was my mom who was hurting me. She was hurting me without even knowing it, and that was the worst part. The person I was would never talk to her about my feelings. That was just too girly and depressing to me.

“Change sucks,” I suddenly admitted out loud.

Cheryl and Dee’s eyes softened as they stared at me. I was too tired to get angry at them for pitying me, so I closed my eyes. I closed my eyes and tried to remember the good old days. The ones that didn’t consist of Christian or Stephen.