A Chosen Life (Hard Time Series Book 4)

The Other Household

As the bright California sun started to rise  it shined right into the  young 14 year old latin girls bedroom as she had just gotten home only two hours ago. After a typical night of heavy drinking, smoking and partying Mariana could barely crawl out of bed for school as she heard her cell phone go off. Ignoring it she put her head under the pillow only to hear it ring again. Of course she knew who it was judging by the time, her cousin Frankie.

"Hello?" She mumbled finally answering.

"Mari get up. I'll be there in 10 minutes so we can walk to school together."

"I'm not going I'm tired." She groaned as her cousin on the other end didn't want to hear she. Frankie never wanted to hear any of Mariana's reasonings for not wanting to go for they bullshit.

"No excuse. You are coming. Be dressed. You are too smart not to go."

"Frankie I..." But before she could say anymore her older cousin hung up as Mariana tossed her cell back on the dressor. Right now school was the last place she wanted to do but she had promised Frankie, her aunt Stef and Lena, as well as Judy she would go. Even if Judy felt like a distant memory to her and had reversed the adoption when she was a kid  so that she could be raised by her biological mother, at times the latin girl was confused about how she felt about her. On one hand she loved her, on the other she wasn't so sure and felt abandoned by her and Mike. 

If she was honest her life was fucked and had been for years even with the help of her family.  Unfortunately, Peaches had a done a good job alienting mostly everyone by visiting Roxy in jail on many occasions, by her choices in relationships, and her lack of attention toward both Mariana and her little son Jesus. Yes she had cheated on Mike which partly lead to their divorce and had one boyfriend after the other. It also seemed her preference for women was no longer on the table as she also went from one job to the next barely making ends meet. Stef and Lena had tried to help as much as they could especially when she ran out of food and so had Miss Rosa. On many of those occasions both Mariana and her little brother would stay with Stef and Lena but Peaches often snatch her kids back accusing the family of trying to steal them. Of course that was far from the truth and it was unfortunate that Mariana's environment was so unstable and would lead to even more troubles for her.

Crawling out of bed she made her way through the messy hallway to brush her teeth. Since Peaches divorce from Mike she barely had any money and they moved from one crappy apartment to another. They moved so much that Mariana was living out of boxes and refused to unpack for she was waiting for them to move again. Throwing her tight short shorts on and tube top, which was certainly not age appropriate she loved how she dressed. It got her a lot of attention from guys who bought her more clothes and sneakers then she could imagine along with jewelry. Maybe she didn't do the most kosher things to thank them but it was what it was and she had not been a virgin for some time. Yes her aunt Stef had spoken to her about it as well as Lena but Mariana didn't listen. She never did.

Applying some makeup she threw a change of clothes into her backpack just in case she went to Frankie's after school. That was one thing the girl was aware of. That her aunt Stef did not play around when it came to anything. Nothing and she tried to be on her best behavior whenever she was with her and Lena.  It wasn't fake in fact she loved the two women more then life but she was aware of their rules, how strict they were and that she couldn't dress how she normally did or even wear makeup. The last time she mouthed off to Stef over her clothing it got her smacked across her face and a punishment for the entire weekend when she stayed over. Something she knew nothing about for Peaches had no control over her and Mariana had no respect for her.  Especially since she found recent love notes from Roxy address to her mother.

Deciding she looked good and most likely wouldn't  make it through the entire day of school anyway she headed out of her room only to see her two year old baby brother on the couch with a bowl of dried cereal and Peaches coming out the bedroom giggling in her robe. Mariana knew that giggle meant she had another man over which only infuriated her even more.