𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝐉𝐉 [edited]

003

The car ride home was silent. Kiara sat in the passenger seat with her arms crossed and her knees tucked into her chest. Riley kept her eyes on the road, feeling an overwhelming sense of anger course through her entire body. Her knuckles were white by the time she pulled into the driveway.

Kiara jumped out of the car before Riley could even put it in park. The sound of the door slamming behind her sister made the rage in Riley bubble to its surface until she felt like she couldn't take it anymore.

"You're a real fucking piece of work you know," Riley called after her, just as she had begun to ascend the stairs to the front deck. Kiara stopped dead in her tracks and Riley heard a scoff escape her lips. She slowly turned around, showing the girl an amused look on her face.

"Oh, I'm the piece of work?" She scoffed again. "Coming from miss 'we're leaving now!' and 'he's a maniac!'" She used a high-pitched tone to mock Riley's voice, reflecting an unrealistic immature sound.

"You're friends are fucking maniacs! JJ held a gun to Topper's head!" Riley yelled.

"And your fucking friend is a maniac! Topper almost drowned John B! Same fucking thing!" Kiara screamed back. The two couldn't care less that it was well after midnight and their parents were surely sleeping directly inside the house.

"You have got to stop hanging around those dirty fucking Pogues," Riley seethed. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Right, right," Kiara scoffed, stepping closer to her sister until their faces were mere inches apart. Her eyes went dark then and her fake smile completely dissipated. "If you call my friends dirty, stupid, maniacs, or any goddamn name one more time I'll-"

"You'll what?" Riley laughed. "You gonna hold a gun to my head? Pogue style?" Kiara placed her hands on her sister's shoulders and shoved her backward. Stumbling a few steps back, Riley let out a malicious laugh. "Right, real Pogue style of you."

Kiara gritted her teeth. "Like you'd know the first thing about 'Pogue Style.' You will never know what it's like to be a Pogue. They're too good for you. They'd never want anything to do with you. Ever."

A few moments of silence lingered, the only sound heard being their ragged breath as they stared with threatening looks at one another. Suddenly, Riley couldn't help but burst out into laughter. All sense of reality had left her body and she felt the blood rushing to her head, the anger pulsating through her veins. She was numb to any conscious thought of consequences and so she opened her mouth and said words she never in her life thought she would say, in front of the person she imagined least she would ever say them to.

"Oh yeah? How about you ask JJ if he's ever wanted anything to do with me?" Riley whispered, letting her deepest secret slip from her lips. She couldn't help but giggle as she watched her words register in her sister's mind. Kiara's face dropped, her eyes darkened and then narrowed as she stared, her mouth agape, at her sister smiling bitterly in front of her.

"I know you're not implying what I think you are."

"Right cause as you said, 'a Pogue would never want anything to do with me,'" Riley said, using the same high-pitched mocking tone her sister had used moments before.

"You fucking didn't" Kiara screamed. "I know you fucking didn't. You bitch ass whor-"

"What in God's name is going on out here?" The twin's mother came running out of the front door, a look of complete bewilderment on her face. She looked at both girls, their faces red with anger, standing feet apart. They kept silent, simply staring at the ground while trying to steady their shaky breaths. "Well?"

"Sorry," Riley mumbled. "Just got into a little argument."

"Right cause that's all you two seem to do these days," Anna exclaimed. "I mean, where did I go wrong? You two are twins for God's sake. What the hell is the issue?"

The girls remained silent, not daring to look at one another or their mother.

"Get inside and go straight to bed," Anna ordered. "Now."

They sulked up the stairs, Kiara first and then Riley. Riley was almost through the door when her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"You know, I expect this from Kiara but not you," Anna said, disappointment coating her words. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately but you need to get it together. Your sole focus needs to be on that Merit Scholarship, not getting into these stupid little fights with your sister."

It was always her fault. Everything was always her fault in her mother's eyes and she would never be able to do anything to change that. "Sorry, Mom."

She brushed past her and climbed the stairs to her room. Kiara stood outside of her door, leaning against its frame with her arms crossed.

"You're pathetic," she said. "Don't ever fucking go near my friends ever again. Understand?"

"How about you tell your friends never to come near me again," Riley muttered behind gritted teeth before slamming the door in her sister's face.