Attracting Trouble

Chapter 16: The Three Musketeers

I've screwed up enough times in my life to know when I need to fix things.

All I want to do is sit in a corner, pull my legs to my chest, and let my tears drown me.

But I can't do that. It's not in me to do nothing. I've always had to help myself.

When my sisters ganged up on me when we were younger, I sucked it up and dealt with it.

That's what I'm going to do this time. Except I'm going to set things straight.

I hope to find my mom home when I get there, even though I know she might not be, so that I can lay it all out on the table. I don't want anymore secrets. I don't want anymore rumors.

I want to be in control of my own life again.

The car sitting in my driveway doesn't belong to my mother, though. Tori's car sits there, all shiny like she had just taken it through the car wash.

I grab my things and go into the house reluctantly. I'm in no mood to deal with her.

I don't stop to let her know I'm home. I climb the steps tiredly, every inch of me feeling emotionally drained. The bathroom sink is cluttered with Tori's bags of makeup and hair stuff.

I roll my eyes to myself and walk into my room, sit down at my desk, and grab a notebook.

My pencil flies across the paper as I wrote down my apologies to my mother. It's going to take forever for her to forgive me for not making it on the team, but most importantly for lying to her.

My bedroom door suddenly flies open and in comes Tori, phone clutched in her hand and hair pulled into a messy bun. She looks as tired as I feel, but I don't care.

"Do you know how to knock?" I ask her and she gives me a look.

"What's wrong with you?" She replies. "I just wanted to snoop on my baby sis. What are you up to?"

I quickly flip the notebook upside down and lean my elbows on to it. This is not going to be like when we were younger and my sisters would bully me into giving them my things. I'm done being walked over.

"Nothing, Tori." I look out the window in front of me and watch a few cars pass by before she finally backs off and lies down on my bed.

"Dad did say you've been acting kind of strange," she says more to herself.

I turn to her. "What? Why?"

I gulp and hope I didn't sound too guilty.

Tori sits up and stares at me - at my face.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Her face contorts into something I'm not used to seeing from her - concentration, maybe?

"Nothing's up," I deadpan.

She stands and marches over to me, grabbing my chin and gently pulling my face towards her so that she can look at the side of my face.

"What happened to you?" There's a hint of humor in her voice, but I think even she knows it's more serious than me being clumsy.

"I fell off the bed," I lie so smoothly it surprises me.

She narrows her eyes. "And smacked your face off what? Chuck Norris' fist?"

If it would have been a normal day, I would laugh.

I pull my face away from her grip and open the notebook to new page to doodle on.

"Well, whenever you decide to tell me, I'll be in my room," Tori says as she gets up to leave.

"Why would I tell you, Tori?" I blurt out. "You never wanted to listen before."