True Blue

Chapter One

Bullies. That was one of my main reasons for not wanting to move here. Back in Oxfordshire, I never had any bullies and I preferred it that way. No one to judge me because I had eight siblings. No one at all. That is until all of a sudden both my parents moved the whole family to New York. I've watched shows and read books all about bullies in American high schools, not that there weren't any in England, but they weren't interested in me. 

I also for some reason hated America and now we have to stay here. Honestly, it's like I can feel America glaring at Europe because of me...

“Are you gonna help pack or are you going to keep on daydreaming? ” Diego, my 21 year old brother said.

Before answering him, I had to analyze the whole place and saw that only James and Luke were actually helping to pack anything into the house. Mick was doing push-ups, Roger was studying a flower, probably gonna write a poem about it or something, Adrienne, my twin sister was vlogging as usual, Drake and Kyle were climbing a tree, and Diego here was was taunting me. God.

“Are you talking to me or them? ” I ask sarcastically.

“You know that I'm like six whole years older than you, right?” he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Just because you're older doesn't make you the boss of me.” I look at my nails in a way that annoys him. I love it when I annoy him.

He clears his throat. “I totally am ​​​​the boss of you when Luke, Mum and Dad are out. ” 

I stare at him in a way that says, just give up already!

“Well then good for you since neither is happening now.” I give him the kind of grin you see the Cheshire cat do.

“Just—just go and help! ” he snaps.

“I'll go and help when everyone else does.”

He glares at me before turning on his heel.

God, I just love annoying my siblings. I'm never comfortable around anyone but them.

I smile inwardly as I look at the farewell gift my friends gave me when I told them I was leaving, a bracelet with my initials on it, AW. They were the only friends I've ever had growing up, Bobby and Carla. I knew them for as long as I can remember and now we had to be separated because of Dad.

All I hope is that I find people like them here, if not better.

I sigh as I walk over to Adrianne.

“Whatcha doin’?” I ask as I flung myself onto her shoulders.

“What does it like I'm doing... ” she scrolls on her phone until she screams.

“What happened?” Diego rushed.

“I hit ten thousand! I hit ten thousand! ” she squeals grabbing my shoulders and jumping up and down.

“Ten thousand? ” I ask clearly confused.

She nods fastly. I shoot a look at Diego that clearly said, You are not needed here.

“I have hit ten thousand followers! Unbeatable right? Even by you!” she laughed. 

Oh no. She did not just say that I'm not popular.

I cross my hands over my chest and give her a dead hard glare.

“Who said I can't beat you? I don't want to beat you, not because I can't, but because it's a waste of time.”

She dramatically puts her hand over her mouth.

“Harsh.” she squeaks. “Wait till my Adriennites hear about this!” Her Adriennites were her followers that she told everything about her life.

“They will anyways.” I mutter so she doesn't here me.

She turns to me confused.

“Hm? You said something?” she asks.

I gulp having not wanting her to here me say that. Whoopsie.

“Well uhhh...”

God bless Luke for causing a distraction.

“Adrienne, Adrianne, your room is ready.” he said, his blond hair fanned across his face covering his warm blue eyes. 

“We'll be there in a sec.” Adrienne says at about the same time I say, “Thanks a lot!” 

Who knew people so identical could be so different. I definitely didn't.

So far, the only difference between our names is an A and E. She's Adrienne Waters and I'm Adrianne Waters. When I asked my parents why our names were so alike, mum said, “It's because we can hardly tell you two apart and the only way to solve it was to give you two names that sounded almost the same because you're so identical.” I then asked her why should it be Adrianne and Adrienne not other names and she said, “Darling, you know that the way an A is three letters away from an E, well you are three minutes older than her.” 

And yet she behaves as if she's all 26 letters older me, God.

I dump my backpack on the bed and run a finger through my wavy blonde hair. Only Luke has blond hair among all my siblings. The rest all have dark brown. It was Mum's warm welcoming blue eyes that were common among all of us except Diego who had Dad's watchful grey eyes. 

As I pull out my phone, I notice something new on Adrienne's small bookshelf.

Emphasis on small.

A book. A new book. God, those were the advantages of becoming a vlogger. Adrienne had tons of viewers and followers on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and all those other social media, so she has a lot of people paying her to advertise some stuff for them. Her frequent customer is Avery Hillman. Avery Hillman was this writer who's writing I literally worshipped. I don't normally read, but because of her, I literally live in a book sanctuary now. And the book I saw on Adrienne's shelf was a new book Avery has definitely written.

Cautiously, I move towards the book, as if scared it would run away. I carefully lift the book up and see the title. A Night to Remember. God, that makes me want to just eat it all up. The cover page showed a broken wine glass with blood trailing down it. I swear, if this book was food, I would have eaten it all up by now—

“What are you doing with my stuff?” Adrienne's voice came from the other side of the room. My face goes red as a tomato as I shove the book under her covers and spin round.

“Nothing!” I retort hoping not to sound as flustered as I feel. God, I was planning on stealing my own sister's book!? What kind of person am I.

She smirks as she takes a step further into the room. “That nothing sounds like something. What are you up to?” 

I look at my feet wishing I could just bury myself right here and now.

I gulp and run my hand through my hair as I make my eyes come up to meet hers.

“I was—” I close my eyes knowing she'll burst into a fit of laughter when I tell her, “I was planning on stealing this.” I squeak almost inaudibly as I pull the book out of her covers.

Note:

Hello to my wonderful readers! I finally published this! I hope Sa'ada will be happy with my decision. She's the person that always bugged me on publishing my books, I didn't want to publish this until after I publish my Once Upon A Time series which will be available hopefully by December 2024.

Carry on with your lives and don't forget to vote, comment and check out The Demigod's Destiny, a Harry Potter and Percy Jackson crossover fanfiction I'm writing.

—nifayahhh 

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