Midnight Silpper

Chapter 6

Adrienne

The next few days saw Robin spending serious money and Elaina and Violet getting settled into their new school. Robin spared no expense decking out the house. My father didn't seem to mind, as long as it seemed to make her happy. He still went to work, but he came home at a more reasonable hour to his fiancée's pleasure.

Elaina and Violet were the new kids in school and I attempted to make them feel as welcomed as I could. However, Elaina didn't seem to have any trouble making new friends, along with Violet as Elaina immediately sidled up to the most popular group in school in her year. Seeing as how we were in two different grades, our friends didn't overlap as much.

I still hung out with Riley, who was in the same grade as me and continued about my day. I confided in Riley about the eventual possibility of Elaina and Violet becoming my new stepsisters. Riley nodded sagely, but I knew she wanted to say something.

"What is it?" I questioned her.

"I don't like her," Riley said matter-of-factly. She always prided herself on being able to read people. "She's not...nice."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I heard her talking to Justine Williams," Riley said, one of the most popular girls in school. She was also kind of a bitch. "She was talking all this crap about you."

"Oh," I answered. I wasn't surprised, but more disappointed.

"It doesn't bother you?"

"Maybe she was trying to fit in," I excused. Honestly, I didn't care.

"By talking crap about you?" Riley questioned incredulously. "She couldn't earn friends the old-fashioned way?"

The weeks flew by, as school proceeded its natural course. I continued to go to the high school, spotting glimpses of Zayne, who was busier than usual with practice. I eventually got the chance to tell him that my dad was getting married again and I was going to have two stepsisters.

The wedding was set in the spring and in Robin's usual fashion, she wanted something extravagant. It was a destination wedding and so for my spring break, we flew to the Bahamas, where they got married.

Dad and Robin had their honeymoon after they returned home. With every passing day I wondered how much of a good idea this wedding was and how much of it was because dad was lonely. While Robin seemed nice, Elaina had turned out to be a complete bitch, with Violet following right behind. At school, they pretended not to know me, even though everyone knew we were stepsisters. Riley told me that Elaina was spreading nasty rumors about me and the animosity between us was made worse.

The older girls even began to bully me.

I found crap in my lockers and nasty rumors that held no water really, circulating between group chats. One time, my gym clothes had been stolen and another, someone had trashed my locker, as rotting garbage fell out of it. I knew that it was all perpetuated by Elaina who gladly took front and center of the attention. After all, how cool was it that a seventh grader was bullying an eighth grader?

I could take all of the crap. The harassment didn't bother me. After all, my own fucking mom lost her mind and tried to kill me. My perspective in life had drastically shifted. While I was happy for others, I struggled to find happiness for myself. Dad was absent most of the time. It was like he checked out after mom did.