𝙎𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. ʸᵃⁿᵈᵉʳᵉ ˢⁱᵐᵘˡᵃᵗᵒʳ ˣ ʳᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

Chapter 1

[𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻]

You sighed as you lay in your new room. After a day of nonstop unpacking, it was nice to relax and adjust to the new surroundings. You smiled as you looked around your room, knowing that all of your hard work had paid off. After all, your father had allowed you to choose all of the new decorations while leaving the old ones you didn't like behind.

This was the first step in your new life, and you loved it. You were looking forward to getting rid of everything and starting over. Your past, on the other hand, was not something you could easily forget. As memories began to flash through your mind, you sat up against your bed frame.

The bullying, fighting, and divorce replayed like scenes jumbled together in one, with voices that were difficult to hear. You furrowed your brow in agony, desperate to be rid of those dreadful memories you'd labeled as your own. You'd been at the center of every one of them, the main topic, the problem. It was absolutely suffocating.

A knock on your door had kept you from delving deeper into those trenches thoughts. Your door was directly ahead of you, so you lifted your head.

"(Y/n)?"

That was none other than your brother's voice, Quincy. An easygoing boy who was a few inches shorter than you and appeared to be your younger brother but was actually eleven months older than you, earning you both the nickname Irish Twins.

Quincy slowly lifted his head from the doorway, concerned that he had not received a response. His crimson hair had flicked back as he jumped back when he noticed you staring at him in the doorway.

"Couldn't you just sit there and not scare the living daylights out of me?" He squinted his eyes at you in annoyance.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." You shrugged, giving him lazy eyes that suggested you didn't care at all.

He sighed and leaned against the doorframe. "Dad said we'd start at the new school next week, so we could just settle in here for the rest of the weekend."

"You planning on going out?" You asked.

Quincy smiled at you, "Mhm, I saw a bakery while we were passing by, planning on going there tomorrow!"

You exhaled a sigh. "Didn't you hear what Dad said about cutting back on the sweets?"

"The audacity you have to think I was paying attention at all is ridiculous," he chuckled. Quincy then looked around your room, nodding in agreement with your sense of style.

"Nice room, I see you've gotten rid of some things," he said as he smiled back at you.

"The old stuff was just uncomfortable, so I took it down and Dad helped me get new ones."

"Speaking of uncomfortable, Dad said if you still didn't feel comfortable going to school now, you could take the first day off..." Quincy said, looking at you with a worried expression.

You smiled at him as if to reassure him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine; after all, I'll have my big brother to help me anyway."

He returned your smile, saying, "Dad wouldn't come home until after midnight, saying he still needed to work out something with old friends or something, so I guess we eat whatever we want for dinner."

You locked your gaze on him. Even if your life depended on it, you didn't want to taste your brother's cooking again, and you weren't planning on making dinner today because you were already tired from packing.