Strong

Chapter 3

POV Petal

The night was trying to say the least. After we double and triple checked everything, Margo and I got ready for the party. We wore sweet dresses that our fathers and brothers picked out.

"This is gross." I sighed as I looked down at the dress.

Margo nodded.

"Yeah. They must think that we're ten." she agreed.

"It's fucking pink for fuck's sake!" I added.

Margo and I had no problem with someone liking the color pink it was just our least favorite color. It could be because our 'family' bought almost everything we owned in the color. The fact that none of them realized that we hated just spoke volumes about our relationship with them.

I felt yet another stab of hurt. My family should at least know what my favorite color was. My twin should. He never asked me. He never asked me anything about myself. Neither did either of my other two big brothers. Len/Shooter was five years older than me and I think that we may have had one conversation in the last six years. Milo/Joker was even worse. He was two years older than me and absolutely insane. He would snap at the drop of a hat and he never even made eye contact with me. It was like I didn't even exist to him.

Dad never spoke with me either. He commanded me, he scolded me but he never had an actual conversation with me. Margo's dad was just as bad.

Ace didn't talk to either of us as well. Lately I had been noticing that both him and Tommy were trying with both of us. They would start to say something to one of us but we would end up rushing away as soon as possible. We didn't miss the look of disappointment in their eyes. Margo and I both felt a twitch of guilt at that but then we reminded ourselves that they had 18 damn years to get to know us. Now it was just too little, too late. Their neglect had left us with bitter wounds in our souls and hearts and I didn't think that we would ever be able to forgive them.

To be honest, we didn't want to forgive them. The last six years had made us angry and we used that anger to grow stronger. We used it to ensure that our future would be brighter than anything we could have possible had here.

"It's time to go." Margo said and I nodded.

We hadn't used any makeup. We weren't allowed. We brushed our hair and put it up so our family would approve.

"We just have to get through tonight. Then we can make our own choices, our own path, our own future. Fuck these assholes. They don't deserve us." I whispered to Margo.

"They never did." She added.

There was a bang on our door.

"Come on! We're waitin'" Her Dad bellowed.

We both stood up straight, smoothed our dresses and put our chins up.

"Chins up." Margo whispered.

"Or the crowns slips." I replied.

She grabbed my hand as we walked out the door. Both our fathers were in the hallway.

"'Bout damn time." My dad grumbled.

I clenched my jaw but kept silent as Margo's hand tightened on mine.

"Sorry. We wanted to look nice for all of you." I managed to say.

Dad looked at me and his eyes softened for a moment.

"You both look beautiful." he hastily stated.

Margo's dad nodded in agreement.

"Like two princesses." he added.

They walked us down to the bar where the club girls and old ladies had cleaned and decorated. It looked nice but it wasn't anything Margo or I would want. All pink streamers and balloons. I did appreciate that the boys were going to have to deal with all this pink all night.