Until Mia (Until Series #1)

Chapter One

She's still here. The moment my eyes land on Celine Thomas I knew she never left her spot on the couch last night. She must have fallen asleep there because she was still dressed in the silk black nightgown and cheetah print robe she walked around in the house all day yesterday.

It's the first day of summer and instead of sleeping in like a normal teenager or on my way out to the beach like most people my age do on their summer vacation, I'm trying to get my drunk mother sober so she could go to work.

For the few weeks she managed to stay sober she was able to land herself a cleaning job for one of the wealthy residents in a small town over. It's the best job she's ever had. The hours are fair and the pay is more than this family has ever made. So she should be doing everything she can to keep it, instead, it looks like she's doing everything she can to lose it.

And I can't let that happen.

This isn't just for me, but for my little sister as well.

We are all each other have... and I'm not going to let our mom screw us over more than she already has.

"Mom, get up. It's time to get ready for work." I tell her as I grab the remote off the table and turn off the TV she more than likely left running throughout the night.

"Hey, I was watching that!" She snaps, her lips curving up in disdain as she stares at me.

"Come on, go get ready." I ignore her and grab her hands and try to pull her up from the recliner.

"Get your hands off of me girl! I don't need you to help me up." She smacks my hands away and stands up on her own. "What time is it?" She wonders, turning her head in search for a clock as she stumbles her way into the kitchen. Her dark brown hair is standing in all sorts of directions while the rest fights for dear life to stay in the ponytail she styled her hair in.

"It's already six." She has to be at work at seven.

"Where's your sister?" Celine asks, scratching her hair as she pulls open the fridge.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes and not be irritated that she doesn't even know where her youngest daughter is.

"Remember Layla is at summer camp? You signed the permission slip last week. She won't be back until the end of summer." I remind her. It's times like these that I wonder how she managed to be the mother while I was the child. She's obviously one herself and doesn't deserve to have a kid, much less two of them.

"I did?" A look of confusion crosses her face. "Oh that's right I did." She sounds like she remembers but I doubt she even remembered what she had for dinner last night, let alone what she signed a week ago.

As much as I miss my sister, I'm glad she's able to get away from all of this for a little while.

One of us deserved to.

"So now that we're all caught up, can you go take a shower so you can go to work before you're late? I'll make you a pot of coffee." I tell her.

"I don't want to go." She tells me, and I stare at her, not sure if I heard her clearly.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me... I don't want to go work. I'm tired." She twists the cap off of the gallon of milk in her hands and chugs.

"How the hell can you be tired?" I scream at her. "You've been sitting on your ass all weekend."

"Watch your mouth little girl. Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" She glares at me as she takes slow, steady steps towards me.

Celine stops just inches away from my face and I can smell her breath, it's a mixture of morning breath, alcohol, and now milk.

I try hard not to make a face but I do take a step back.