Kamille Ali considered herself lucky for being able to find a second family in a world that constantly stole from her. She found a second mother, she found a girl who she loved dearly, and she had finally learnt the truth about survival. She was liv...
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Kamille was staring at the cheesy sticker by the front door that she remembered her mum impulse buying from the supermarket. It was the most 'middle-class, White mum living in the suburbs' thing Kamille had ever seen, detailing the 'house rules', which included telling the truth, making memories, working hard, and every other cringe statement one could think of.
She looked away and recognised the corridor to her family home, confused to how she'd ended up there. It looked the same as it always had, before the world had changed for the worst. She'd grown to miss it, surprised she remembered as much detail as she could since she rarely thought about it.
Her feet suddenly moved themselves, leading her to the living room door, which she pushed open easily.
"Kami, dear, how was your day?"
Kamille opened her mouth to speak, though no words came out as her mum stared up at her expectantly from the couch. She looked perfectly healthy, glowing, alive. Her dad was there too, sat by the coffee table with his laptop, probably doing some work. But he instantly smiled up at Kamille when she stood at the door.
"Shoulda pulled a sicky like me." Adam was there, teasing her playfully from beside their mum, who gave him a knowing look.
"We've been waiting for you to hurry back, Kam."
Alicia was there too, standing up from her seat on the couch and approaching Kamille with a beautiful smile on her lips. When she stopped in front of her, she pulled her close by the collar and moved to her ear.
"You look really cute in your uniform," she whispered, before pressing a kiss to her cheek.
As she wrapped an arm around her shoulders and faced her parents, Kamille furrowed her eyebrows and looked down, noticing her old school uniform – that nasty plaid skirt, white blouse and ugly tie. She hadn't worn that in years, since before they moved to America.
It wasn't making any sense.
"You picked up my homework, right?" Adam asked, making Kamille look up to see him staring at her. "Mr. Hollows already hates me. He'll kill me if I don't catch up." Mr Hollows our year 7 English teacher?
