High Grounds - Reality (Chapter 3)

 

 

Three

 

 

 

 

 

Island Grounds is the

playground for the rich kids …

 

 

 

In the Pizza Hut in Island Grounds mall – the posh mall within spitting distance of Grounds Academy – Rebecca’s spirits were not exactly soaring either. As usual, by afternoon, she was worn out by trying to make it through the day alive. She just could not stand how rich kids behaved. It was as if they owned the world!

And yet, here she was after school, working for them, serving them.

If she weren’t quite so hard up and practically the sole breadwinner of the family, Rebecca would be hiding away at home, slogging through her studies – she was going to make it to Yale, no matter what it took – instead of being here, pleasing rich brats’ whims.

Rebecca was born with just the average amount of everything: average size of brains, average looks, average talents … She knew she had to work hard to get what she wanted, unlike those rich brats. They didn’t even bother listening in class and they could still get straight A’s. Some of them even skipped school sometimes. But she supposed that was how the world was; she was still trying to get over the injustice.

Island Grounds was where those aforementioned brats came to chill when they decided to cut classes together – although, frankly, Rebecca did not quite understand what they had to chill from. They just did not realise how good they had it. At least, they didn’t have three siblings to look after, nor did they have to get a part-time job to make some ends meet, nor were they the one signing her sibs’ school trip permission forms.…

Rebecca stood lost in thought, a wave of sadness threatening to break free. If her dad had not gotten into coma because of that untimely accident, her mom would not have become what she was now, and Rebecca would be at home, striving hard towards her goal instead of attending to whiny royalties’ (or so they thought they were) needs.

“Rebecca! Hello, earth to Becky!” her co-waitress, Annabel, called out.

Rebecca snapped back to earth upon hearing the nickname her parents used to call her by. No-one else called her that.

There was a time when she was a chirpy, lively Becky instead of a sullen, moody Rebecca.

But that was ages ago, Rebecca thought, shaking herself out of her heartbreaking reverie. Everything’s changed now.

“Skiving much?” Anna said, a playful eyebrow lifted.

Rebecca allowed a slight smile. “No, just daydreaming,” she replied.

Anna laughed, her cheeks, as usual, glowing radiantly. She was probably the only person Rebecca was ever civil and friendly to. Rebecca hardly showed any feelings at all ever since her father got into that accident. She tried to be strong so that her family can keep moving on, since her mom had proven to be an irresponsible idiot by ditching her children and hooking up with the bottle.

Entering Grounds on that scholarship was the best chance she had of entering Yale with a better record and her getting accepted made the family proud.  

But that jubilance, it proved, was short-lived. The kids there hated her just because she was poor, and for goodness’ sake, they chose friends based on their family back-ground! Whoever did that? Rebecca knew upon first glance that she would not be making any friends anytime soon in her years in Grounds Academy.

Oh wait, make that ever. She did not exactly have a problem with people being rich; it was the attitude that was included in the package. She preferred someone more down to earth, someone like Anna, thank you very much. Anna was nice, though she was pretty well-off herself too. At least, she wouldn’t have told her to ‘know her place’, like Vanessa had.

And then, as if ostracised by everyone at school was not bad enough, things got worse over the holidays. That was when her dad slipped into a comatose state and everything started to change horribly.…

“More like in a trance,” Anna said thoughtfully in response to her co-waitress’s comment, jolting her out of her thoughts once again. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to take the rest of the day off or something?”

Rebecca forced a smile. She had wondered what Anna was doing here, working, when she lived in a house that was definitely bigger and fetched a heftier price than Rebecca’s shabby little three-room flat. Anna had told her that her parents wanted her to be more independent and work to pay her tuition fees when she was in university. So Anna thought she’d better start saving up now, since she had only one year left to save up for her vast expenditure. Compound that with the taxing A’ levels, one would expect her to quit after a while, but no, Anna remained upbeat and held her grades decently high. Some people just seemed to have it all.

“Those kids over there by the wall mirror look needy, and I’m just back from taking an order. Give me a hand over there?” she now said to Rebecca.

“Sure,” Rebecca said, though she was grimacing in her heart.  Serving that bunch of people was unbearable.

Rebecca was new in Pizza Hut, so she was still unable to hide out behind the counter. Instead, she had to serve those stupid, awfully privileged kids.

“Hey, miss, can I have a basket of wings and two Pepsis … no, no, no, make that three Cokes … no, wait. Make up your minds, guys! Okay, two baskets of wings and four Pepsis. Hurry up, we’re, like, starved,” the thirteen-year-old boy, who was always here with his friends, said. It was a wonder how they never got sick of Pizza Hut.

Sure you are, Rebecca thought as she walked away, having taken down their order. These kids need to check up the meaning of starved.

After piercing the order chit down the spindle, Rebecca caught sight of a familiar face at the frame of the Hut, with two of his idiot friends, Alex and Gerald.

And they were yet to be served.

And Rebecca was the only waitress available.

She sighed. If she was going to take up a job, she might as well put up an ‘I’m-so-glad-to-serve-you!’ face with it, even though nothing could be further from the truth.

“Can I take your order?” she inquired flatly, her order pad and pen poised in her hands. Luke and his friends looked up from their menus.

“Rebecca?” Luke said, a little surprised. Was she working here? He had never seen her here before. “Uh … Hey, it’s good to see you here,” he said, trying to be friendly.

“Yeah, it better be, since I’m serving you,” she replied snappily. Okay, down, girl, she thought inwardly, bad work attitude.

But Luke took it as a joke and laughed at it. He had a nice laugh, Rebecca noticed. His eyes were genuine and shone, like a refreshing wave.

Rebecca almost smiled, but she caught herself just in time before it creeped onto her face. She chided herself for taking such notice of a guy. Of course they looked good; rich kids had the money to make them better-looking than the rest, didn’t they? Hell, the guy was probably even some model, or something.

“We’ll have two personal Hawaiians and one Pepperoni, two iced teas, one glass of water, some garlic bread and onion rings. That’ll be all,” Alex said, not even glancing up at Rebecca as he ordered. He passed his menu back to Rebecca while debating with Gerald about who was hotter: Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova or the up-and-coming Nicole Vladivoska (or something).

“Maria’s younger! Anna’s already married to that Enrique guy! She’s not even in the court anymore!” she heard Alex exclaim as she walked away from their table.

“But isn’t she already with that Roddick?” Gerald countered.

“That’s not the point,” Alex argued obstinately. “We’re talking about who’s hotter, not who’s available.”

Of course, Alex pretended like he did not know her. After all, which rich boy would be willing to associate himself with a lowly waitress such as herself?

Wouldn’t that be, um, Luke?

Rebecca shook that thought out of her mind as she pierced the chit down the spindle. As she got the drinks, she was suddenly uncomfortably aware that Luke and his friends were talking about her, the two of them having abandoned the pretence of debating which tennis player was hotter.

“She looked like she was going to bite your head off, man!” Gerald exclaimed. “Seriously, how can you still be so civil to an absolute spitfire like her?”

“Totally,” Alex agreed with a snicker. “Was she rude to us just because she thinks she knows you or something?”

Rebecca saw in the mirror that Luke was sneaking furtive looks at her, and pretended to find pouring water into glasses an utterly fascinating activity.

“Hey, keep it down, guys,” he hissed to his friends.

“What, are you afraid she’ll go back to the kitchen and cry?” Alex cracked and he and Gerald guffawed like morons.

“Shut up, you guys, that’s not … nice,” Luke mumbled, his face reddening, hoping Rebecca would not despise him for hanging out with friends as contemptuous of lower-class people as Alex and Gerald. They had been friends since primary school, and though he knew that they could be idiots sometimes, he had gotten accustomed to it. Still, it wasn’t … nice.

“Nice?” Alex echoed. “I thought we agreed that was the girliest word on the planet,” he said, looking at Gerald.

“No, actually, we said ‘mean’ was the girliest word,” Gerald corrected.

“Whatever.” Alex turned back to stare at Luke. “Are you serious?” 

“Wait a minute. You’re not, like, interested in her, are you?” Gerald asked him with a raucous laugh as he punched Luke’s shoulder the way boys always did.

Rebecca stiffened and gripped the tray tightly.

“No! Of course not! She’s just a friend, and a group-mate. What is wrong with you guys?” Luke replied.

Rebecca’s vice-like grip on the tray loosened. She found herself feeling a little dismayed – just a modicum – although she could not understand why herself, seeing as she was not even remotely attracted to him.

“Oh yeah, speaking of which, what’re you planning to do for that project?” Alex asked.

And thankfully, the conversation soon drifted on to the project.

Rebecca returned to the boys’ table with their drinks and was about to get the hell away from there, when Luke started to engage her in small talk.

“So, have you got any ideas about Reality?” he asked her.

Rebecca saw three pairs of eyes tuned to her and knew she had to say something. At least, be nice.

“Um, not exactly,” she ventured. “But I was sort of thinking about Jason’s idea. And I thought … we could sort of – you know – do a film or something, or a play?”

She did not understand why she was so nervous. They were just three idiots who were probably not interested in what she was blathering about.

“Huh,” Gerald said, neither interested nor impressed with her lame babbling. He proceeded to scan the entire Hut like he was scouring for someone.

Before Luke could say anything, Alex butt in. “Jason? That geeky weirdo who is, like, so gay he’s probably in love with every guy in Grounds? And you actually take him seriously?”

Rebecca’s face clouded.

“I take everyone with brains seriously, actually … but you wouldn’t happen to know that, would you?” she said lightly.

Fortunately, Alex was a bit slow to comprehend the full meaning of that statement, which just justified Rebecca’s remark fittingly.

Luke was chortling a little under his breath, appreciating the joke. “Well, Jason’s alright,” he said, while Alex finally comprehended Rebecca’s hidden meaning and scowled at the waitress. “And the idea of a film is good – except that who’s going to act in it?”

“I dunno,” Rebecca mumbled and left the table.

It was probably not politest thing to do, but she didn’t care. She had had enough of Luke and his friends. So when their food came, Rebecca asked if Anna could serve them.

 

*

 

When seven o’clock came, Rebecca tore off her apron and asked Anna out for dinner. She wondered if her sibs had eaten (they usually did at Mrs. Lay’s downstairs, who was more than happy to have them over and treated them more like a mother than theirs honestly did these days) and decided to grab something else back for them. She knew her mom was probably out again – goodness knew where she went every time – and so did not bother to get any bites for her.

Since Island Grounds was a moneyed teenager’s paradise, it therefore did not have any food court. So Rebecca and Anna just got some pretzels from Auntie Anne’s (Anna’s treat, on the pretext that she had the same namesake as Auntie Anne’s, despite Rebecca’s protests) and sat at the benches lining the events square to eat.

“So have you saved enough for your tuition fees?” Rebecca asked as she attacked her first pretzel with voracious vigour.

“Actually – I suppose I have. I’ve got about eighty thousand in my account, but I’m not really keen on quitting. Having a job is so fun!” Anna said enthusiastically.

Rebecca almost choked on her food. “Fun?” she echoed incredulously. “Since when was juggling school and work fun? Well, I guess it’s not as if you’re exactly hard-pressed for money. You can get fired the next day and shrug about it.” She returned to her pretzel, disgruntled over the unfairness of it all.

“Hey.”

Rebecca looked up at her friend. “What?”

“No self-pity where I’m around, okay?” Anna joked.

Rebecca let out a monosyllabic laugh. Anna was right, though. There was not much use in wallowing in my-life-stinks self-pity. What was the point, anyway?

“So how’s your dad?”

Rebecca paused her eating and thought of an appropriate answer for that seemingly innocuous question. “He’s still in bed. I’m thinking of visiting him on Saturday. All this work is sapping me of all my free time and energy. I don’t know how you do it, Anna. I haven’t visited him for nearly two weeks now, what with all those entrance exams and everything.”

There was a moment of silence as the two girls chewed quietly on their pretzels. Rebecca was just on her second pretzel when she saw Luke and his friends still loitering around.

“I want to get home, Luke, what’re we still doing here? I’ve seen enough of this place to take to my grave!” Gerald whined.

Luke made towards Rebecca briskly, while Alex and Gerald hung around behind, looking highly peeved. They began nudging each other when they saw Rebecca sitting with Anna though.

“Hey, Luke,” Anna said. Rebecca looked at her as Luke said Hey back, wondering how they knew each other.

“You might want to go quell their hormones, or something,” Luke said, gesturing faintly to his friends, who were still nudging each other, sneaking glances at Anna and pushing each other to go up and talk to her. Anna merely rolled her eyes and did not move from her spot, though she did offer them a wave and a smile, leading them to argue over whom she had directed those to.

“Hey, guess what?” Luke said to Rebecca excitedly. “I know who can act in the film. Us! I mean, you know, everyone in the group. We can act out our play!”

Rebecca stared at him. Was he insane? Did he drag his friends all around the mall just to wait for Rebecca to knock off to tell her about his little brainwave – which, frankly, didn’t sound like such a marvellous plan at all?

“Um,” she said slowly. “Yeah, sure, except – I don’t know about the rest, but my acting skills are kind of nonexistent,” Rebecca confessed and Luke laughed. Her cellphone rang shrilly in her bag suddenly. “One second,” she told Anna and Luke.

It was Shauna, her ten-year-old sister. That’s odd, Rebecca thought, what’s she calling for? Dinner?

“Becky! Mandy’s missing,” Shauna screamed in her ear the minute she answered the call. “Her room’s empty. She took everything with her.”

“WHAT?!” Rebecca screamed into her cell, standing up, not even bothering that Luke and Anna – and quite possibly Alex and Gerald – were watching. “When did this happen? Call up all of her friends and ask them if they know where she is … Okay, stay put. I’m on my way.” She looked up at Anna and Luke as she threw her cell back in her bag. “Amanda’s missing,” she told Anna.

“Who’s Amanda?” Luke asked concernedly.

“My thirteen-year-old sister,” Rebecca replied absently, getting up from her seat. “I’ve got to go find her.”

“Well, I’ll get my chauffeur to give you a lift,” Luke offered as Rebecca and Anna got up.

“No, that’s fine, I’ll just –”

“Come on, Rebecca, just let him give you a lift,” Anna persuaded. “It’s an emergency.”

Rebecca relented and they made a dash for Luke’s chauffeured black Mercedes. Luke explained what happened to Alex and Gerald along the way, and Rebecca could hear them exclaim, “Why are you doing this for her? You don’t even know her, man!” But they got in the car all the same.

“Where to?” Gary inquired, and Rebecca rattled off her address.

Only Luke and Anna went up to Rebecca’s house with her, Rebecca taking the lead in charging home. Luke took in her tiny three-room impassively as two kids – a girl and a younger toddling boy – barrelled towards her, each fighting to speak.

“All her stuff are gone, Becky, and –”

“Did she go on a vacation without us?” Connor asked, staring up at his eldest sister, wide-eyed.

“I tried to call mom but –”

“Where did Mandy –”

“Then I realised I don’t have her number –”

“Okay, SHUSH, you two!” That was Rebecca, apparently. “We’re going to go look for her. You two stay put and wait for my call.” She made to leave, paused, then turned back and said, “Here’s your dinner,” dumping them their pizzas.

As they rushed out the house, Anna told Luke, “I’m sorry, but if it’s fine we need your car again.”

“No pr –”

“No, we don’t, Anna,” Rebecca butt in, panting pretty hard. Seriously, was her life ever going to let her stop running around from place to place, trying to put everything back in order again?

“No, it’s fine, really, Rebecca, it’s no bother at all. So how does your sister look like?” Luke said unrelentingly.

“Five feet four, willowy, with short bristly hair … streaks of brown in it – she dyed it,” Rebecca said briskly as Luke yanked open the car door and got in after her and Anna.

Alex and Gerald were dead to the world, snoring lightly in the front and back seat respectively. They jolted awake when the party returned, slightly groggy.

“Wha – whas’shup?” Alex murmured drowsily, smiling drunkenly at Anna.

Rebecca fished out a picture she took with Amanda recently and showed it to Luke. Truth be told, she had not seen her in a long time, not since they took that photo together. And that was perhaps a month or so ago, before their father sank into slumbation.

Rebecca wondered if she had missed out on something. Was she too preoccupied with her studies and work that she failed to pay enough attention to Amanda? Was this running away a way of demonstrating her unhappiness with her life? Had she been that unfair to Shauna and Connor too? She sincerely hoped not.

“Hey,” Luke’s deep voice pierced through her thoughts. Rebecca looked at him and found herself staring into a pair of dark liquid eyes that seemed to infiltrate her and read her mind like it was a book cracked open to the spine.

Rebecca tried to tear her eyes away from them, but found she could not.

“Are you beating yourself up for this?” he asked casually, as though he was asking her for her stand on pizzas and pretzels.

Luke had been observing her ever since she got into the car. There was a certain air of melancholy about her that he felt that he should protect her from, even though, like his friends said, he barely knew her. She seemed tough exteriorly with her cynical glare and the dragon hide, but he knew she was anything but that; she was hurt and felt that she did not deserve to be.

“You don’t understand what it’s like being me, rich boy,” Rebecca snarled, irritated by his nice-guy act. Why was he so interested in her problems? It was almost as if he were gloating at her. “So quit acting like you do.”

Rebecca could see some hurt in Luke’s face as she said that. While one part of her felt righteous smugness putting him back to his well-cushioned seat, another part felt guilty. Maybe – maybe he really did want to help.…

But the expressions on his friends’ faces told her to snap out of that thought. Yeah, right. They despised her, didn’t they? Why would they ever want to help her unless they got some form of entertainment out of it?

“Where are your parents? Shouldn’t they be – you know – at home or something?” Luke asked again, not willing to give up. He ignored friends, who were rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at his futile attempts in getting Rebecca to talk.

Rebecca wanted to scream in frustration. She was hyperventilating about her sister, and all this guy wanted was her to answer his stupid questions!

But she was using his car, and unless she wanted to get kicked out of it and roam the cold streets alone, searching for Amanda on foot (and risk getting lost, on top of that), Rebecca figured she should at least be civil.

“My dad’s in a coma and goodness knows where my mom is. I’d prefer it if she weren’t at home, actually; the whole house reeks of liquor when she’s around.”

She was holding back her tears, something that she was able to control after so many nights of crying her eyes out. Had her dad not been knocked down by those rich kids on their stupid spin and gone into this seemingly interminable coma, all of this would not be happening now. She and her sibs would be at home, safe and warm, and she would not have to worry about her sister’s whereabouts now, travelling in some rich boy’s expensive-smelling limo searching for her.

She could feel uncomfortable silence fill the car once she said that, but Rebecca kept her eyes trained on the streets. It was eight-plus, almost nine, and the sidewalks were almost empty. It was a typical Monday night. Everyone would probably have finished their dinner at home by now….

They had combed several estates and neighbourhoods, winding through alleys and flats, but there was still no sign of Amanda.

For the umpteenth time, Rebecca wanted to scream. What had she ever done to be cursed with such a life? Why could she not lead the life that other kids seem to lead? Other kids did not have to spend their dinnertime searching for their missing sisters, or work part-time to support the family, or have a mother who did not love or care about anything at all.

Much as she kept trying to deny it, she knew she was ashamed of her family. It was so screwed up, had been so ever since her dad ‘sank into slumbation’.

And schooling with an entire school of rich, unbelievably privileged kids who seemed to have it all did not make the proverbial lemon go down any better either.

Maybe that was how Amanda felt when she decided to run away, Rebecca thought as a tear slipped down her cheeks. Maybe she was sick of all this too.

She felt a warm hand cover hers on the car seat. She looked down at it, up at Luke’s concerned face, and then yanked her hand away vehemently, glaring at him. She did not need any sympathy, even less so from him.

Luke looked at Rebecca silently. She had a despondent air around her, and he could see that she was angry at the injustice done to her. She was having a lot to pull through now, and he could excuse her for her hostility.

He genuinely wanted to help, but that gesture always seemed to go to waste on Rebecca. But he knew she was just trying to be tough and independent, and was the sort who hated to rely on anyone….

Especially not a rich kid like me, Luke thought dryly. It was the first time he ever felt so insulted by that term. He was usually ‘whatevs’ to it, but this time, coming out of Rebecca’s mouth, it sounded like a contemptuous profanity.

“Where exactly are we heading to? I haven’t got all night, you know,” Alex asked, his bold voice cutting the thin air like a cleaver.

Rebecca did not respond, but instead strained her eyes to look into every dark alley as the Merc cruised along the streets.

“Wait. Is that her?” Anna suddenly cried out from the other side of the back seat.

Rebecca whipped her head in the direction Anna was pointing and saw a few lone figures in a basketball court, unsuccessfully dunking balls into the hoop.

She hopped out of the car even before it stopped, dashing towards the court. Luke and Anna got out after her.

“Amanda!” Rebecca yelled as she stormed towards her.

She was with four other friends: two were girls and two others were older guys. Crushed empty beer cans littered the area they were loitering around.

“Becky!” Amanda exclaimed, shocked. “Becky, I … how did you find me?”

Ignoring her question, Rebecca demanded as she neared her sister, “Are you running away?”

“I’m staying over at Gina’s for the time being,” her sister replied, hiccupping a little.

Rebecca noticed her face was an unnatural red and that stench emitted from her smelt familiar.

It smelt like their mother.

“You’ve been drinking!” she screamed, seething. Her blood boiled. Honestly, didn’t her sister learn anything from their mother?

Her sister argued feebly. “It was only a sip, Becky, I….”

“Mandy!” Rebecca screamed, unable to express her rage. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

She felt like slapping her sister, or shaking the brains out of her. She was driving her across the border! She was not going to let her sister do this to herself.

Instead, she gripped hold of her sister’s hand tightly and marched her firmly to the car, aware of everyone’s gaze on them.

They had barely traipsed four steps when one of the older guys in a grunge tee stepped forward and blocked their way. “Hey, pretty,” he leered, appraising Rebecca up and down.

Luke and Anna glowered at him, though Anna remained where she was while Luke made to charge forward and ram him down. It was probably a good thing that Anna held him back forcefully.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t take her away just like that,” grunge-tee guy said.

“Yeah? Try me,” Rebecca snarled.

“What are you, a dictator or her mom?” he slurred menacingly, if that was even possible.

“If you simply must know, I am her sister. So I have the right to tell her what to do. You, on the other hand, are messing with her by giving her beer! She’s underage!” Rebecca replied – rather prissily, Luke thought wryly.

“Well, hey, I –” the guy protested.

“I don’t want to go back with you. I’m fine the way I’m living now,” Amanda told her sister petulantly, cutting him off mid-excuse.

“She says she doesn’t want to go back with –”

“Oh, yes, by downing cans of beer and wasting your time dunking balls into hoops, hanging out with this bunch of losers?” Rebecca retorted, ignoring the guy.

“You have no right to control what I do, Becky! You’re just my sister! And I’m not going back with you.”

“She says she’s not going –”

“Yes, I heard what she said, thank you,” Rebecca snapped sharply at the guy who kept trying to interfere. She turned back to Amanda and said, “No, you’re going home, Amanda. And you’re not going anywhere other than school from now on.”

“You’re not my mom!” Tears were streaming down Amanda’s face now.

“That’s right, I’m not,” Rebecca retorted swiftly, her voice a slab of unyielding concrete. “But since mom left me to take care of all of you, I’m telling you now that your life is my responsibility. And how you lead it concerns me.” Her voice was wobbling dangerously, tears threatening to break free.

“Why don’t you just run along home and study, Becky?” Amanda said harshly. Her eyes were slightly unfocused.

Rebecca stared at her sister, speechless. “What.…?”

“That’s the only thing you’re ever interested in, isn’t it? You going to Yale and doing the family proud. That’s the only thing that keeps you going. You take care of us only because you feel you have to. Well, I’m telling you now that I’m shedding a burden for you. You can wash your hands off me from now on; I don’t need you anymore!”

Rebecca swayed a little at the forceful impact of her sister’s words. To think she actually felt this way about things! And she was only thirteen!

“Mandy, I’m not trying to make anyone proud because I don’t have anyone to make proud of….” she said. “And you know I care about all of you. You’re my sister! This is absurd, Mandy, I don’t take care of you all because I feel that it’s my responsi –”

“Whatever, Becky. Just keep your hypocrisy to yourself.”

“For goodness’ sake, Amanda, please! Hanging out with these people isn’t going to get you anywhere –”

“At least they care about me. They’re not too obsessed with getting into some hotshot school and ditching their family behind. You know who that last part reminds me of? Mom, that’s who. First mom, now you too.”

Rebecca was silenced. She had never realised that her sister felt this way. The word ‘mom’ stung her where she thought she never would be again, and being compared to a flake like her hurt Rebecca no end.   

“I’m not like mom,” she said quietly, her voice hard and stony, wondering if that was true.

Am I?

“I’m not,” she said more loudly, as though trying to convince herself she wasn’t.

Amanda stayed silent, knowing that she had struck her sister where it hurt the most. She wished she could take it back, but then again, she was sick of it all and this was the only time Becky could entertain her with her complains; at others, she was always too busy.

Rebecca stared at her sister right in the eye boldly, widely, as though daring any tears to sneak up behind her eyes. “I won’t ditch any of you, you know that. And you’ve got no right to compare me to mom, Mandy,” she retorted bitterly, “considering how you’re ditching your duties in your studies –”

“Ditching your duties in your studies,” Amanda mimicked in a high, wobbling voice, which caused her friends to snicker.

Luke shared a look with Anna, which asked, Should we do something?

Anna shook her head.

Rebecca backed off a little, dodging the hateful stench of liquor. Amanda suddenly seemed like a vile incarnation of their mother.

“Is that all you ever think about, Becky? Studies?” Amanda demanded. “Is there nothing else that matters to you other than Yale? It’s like living with a freaking working machine, so tired out and sick of us, her family, but pressing on anyway, pretending to be braver than you really are!”

“If I don’t, then who’s going to? Who’s going to keep us all from really falling apart? Mom’s gone and dad’s as good as gone. I’m the only who’s able to make some money for you to even be able to run away like this!”

“Oh, Becky, stop being so melodramatic,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes.

Rebecca scoffed, “Oh, look who’s talking!”

“Hey, pretty –” the other older guy interjected again.

“You shut up and stop butting in! I’m talking to my sister here,” Rebecca snapped impatiently, wishing she could bite off his head. She turned back to Amanda and said in a calmer tone (well, as calm as she could get in that overwrought state, at least), “You wish to turn out like mom, don’t you? Spend your nights wasting your youth and money on beer, and your time with this bunch of miserable losers?”

“Hey, that’s enough, b***h,” one of the older girls with a smudged lipstick stood up and spat at Rebecca, who stiffened and looked at her coldly. “Who’re you calling losers?”

“Sugar, I’m sorry to see you so sad, okay, but you can’t take her away. We’ll be taking care of her from now on, so back off,” one of the older guys stepped forward and said, in what he probably thought was a nice tone. He stood close to Rebecca and tried to threaten her with his hulking build. He raised his hand and tried to flip back her fringe. Rebecca pushed it away roughly.

“Hey, man. That’s way uncool. Back off and stop interfering with their problems,” Luke entered.

Rebecca glared at him. Look who’s talking about interfering. What was this guy’s deal with righteousness? Why was he always standing up for her? She did not need him to; she had a back of her own … Although, perhaps this time, she kind of appreciated him backing her up.

“Oh, are you telling me to back off?” The guy merely looked mildly amused. “Get lost, rich boy. You don’t belong here. Go back to your Mercedes,” he said offensively, giving him a hard shove on the chest.

Luke bristled, and Anna, sensing danger, laid a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Come on, Luke, let’s go,” she said quietly. “Let’s go!” she hissed. “Don’t start picking a fight with these people.”

Luke was still trying to pull free, but Rebecca held him back, laying a hand on his chest.

“Let’s just go,” she said to him softly, her jaw clenched tightly, though her eyes glistened in the warm light of the streetlamp.

Luke noticed she had loosened her grip on her sister’s hand. He backed down and the three of them went back to the car, where Alex and Gerald were waiting outside, watching the happenings.

“Wow. And after all that, you still didn’t get your sister back?” Alex, leaning against the Merc, said incredulously to Rebecca. He shook his head. “Whoa, she’s as tough a nut as you are,” he remarked.

Luke shut him up with a hard look before he could come up with anymore unnecessary comments.

In the Merc, Rebecca looked out the window disconsolately. Alex was right. After all that, she was still unable to get Amanda to go home.