'feet in the swing over the creek'
"are you up alice?" steve harrington asked from outside his younger sister's bedroom door.
"yep." she replied, knowing her father always made steve go check if she was awake.
she'd been up for an hour already, mostly reading, but also get ready.
"can i come in?" he asked.
"yeah." she replied.
he opened the door and walked into her room, then closing it after himself.
"mom and dad are going on a business trip tuesday, so i'm having a party!" steve explained.
"with tommy and carol?" alice asked, hopefully. carol was like an older sister to her, having taught her almost everything she knew about life.
mrs harrington had always been too concerned with her messy love life to pay any attention to her two children.
"yes, with tommy and carol." steve replied.
"three people makes for a pretty lame party." alice teased.
"it's actually four, hopefully." he smirked.
"yeah, good luck with that." she smiled, sarcastically.
"alright asshole." steve snapped. "anyway dad wants to see you, so hurry your ass up."
"ok, get out then." she replied.
and he did.
she took a moment to prepare herself before heading down the stairs.
"good morning." she said, cheerily, walking into the kitchen.
"alice. your science teacher called, said he was concerned because you looked tired. what's that about?" her dad asked.
"i don't know." she replied. lie.
"really?" he asked, sarcastically.
"yeah, i've been getting plenty of sleep." she smiled, lying once again.
he began walking towards her.
"don't lie to me." he said, calmly.
"i'm not lying." alice told him.
"i said don't fucking lie to me!" he yelled, striking her across the face.
she lowered her eyes to stare at the floor, so she wouldn't cry.
"at least that should've woken you up." he laughed.
"alice, get your shit! we have to go!" steve said quickly, rushing into the room.
"language!" their dad yelled, as she left the room to go grab her school bag.
she ran up the stairs, grabbed her school bag and a pair of shoes, then ran back down.
