Chapter One
The Twins
"Damn it, River! You know that's not true!" Angel huffed angrily. Her curly hair was flame red at the moment and hung in a loose cascade to her waist. Sighing, she shoved a pale hand through her locks, pushing them out of her face. Her green eyes darkened with unshed tears as she glanced at her twin sister, her exact opposite in every way.
"I know, Ange. My temper... you KNOW it's bad." Reaching up an olive toned hand, she gripped her long chestnut ponytail in frustration. Her chocolate brown eyes flashed with anger as she gripped tighter.
"This CANNOT go on. We have got to get out of that damn house!"
Looking at the two eleven year old girls, you would never be able to tell that they were related in any way, let alone twin sisters. Standing in front of the faded crimson lockers of Bellville Junior High, they were surrounded by other students. Yet the students gave them wide berth, the masses swirling around them didn't even glance their way as they continued to their final classes of the day.
River stood tall, her back strait as she and Angel talked with their back to the other children their age. River wore black slacks, slightly faded from washing, a cream button up shirt, black vest and three inch pumps that put her taller than her sister. Her clothes accented her voluptuous figure. Breasts larger than any other girls in school and a perfect bubble butt. Angel wore worn, baggy denim pants with a black hoodie that was a few sizes too big. Her black converses were grey with age and tattered on the sides. Her clothing hid her body, but her figure was just as curvy as her sisters.
"River, we will find a way... just... please. PLEASE don't make him angry. I know it's our eleventh birthday, but you and I both know he will be too drunk to remember. Ok?" Angels soft voice was meant for River alone. She didn't want someone to overhear her.
River tossed her head, "Of COURSE he forgot. We are his only children. Why remember OUR birthday?" Rivers voice was just as low as Angels but it thrummed with repressed rage, her jaw clenching and unclenching.
Angel reached up to lay her hand on Rivers arm, the contrast between her pale fingers and her sisters sun kissed skin was startling. River immediately calmed, her beautiful dark eyes softening with the love she and her sister had for each other.
"Fine, Angel. This ONCE I won't aggravate Tommy, ok?"
Angel smiled at how her sister refused to call their father anything but his first name. She agreed, however. He lost the right to be called father when their mother had passed.
"Thanks, Rivie." River grimaced at the nickname her sister called her, "let's go to class. You have band and I gotta get to choir."
River nodded, hoisting her electric guitar case onto her back. She also played electric violin but the band instructor had refused to let her play it in his band classroom. Angel pulled sheet music out of her pocket.
"You know, River... you could always join me in choir. Instructor Dunlap would like your alto."
River eyed her sister, sniffing, "And YOU could come to band. I've told people you play cello."
Angel shook her head, "Not happening. They would give me a solo, like they do you. Then I'd probably faint or something. "
River shook her head, hugging her sister before they split off in opposite directions.
Both sisters clambered onto the dusty yellow school bus, already sweating in the Texas heat. It was only May and the temperature was almost 100°. River grinned at Angel when the pale girl propped up her book bag to hide behind and slid out of her hoodie revealing a black tank top. Angel was slightly thicker waisted, but still curvy in all the right places. Sadly, she hid under all her clothes... unlike River, who proudly showed off her thin waist with slacks, pencil skirts and heels every chance she got. She dressed a lot older than she was because she wanted people to take her seriously. Where River was outgoing, and unafraid to voice her opinion, often with a sharp tongue, Angel shrank from crowds and hated having the spotlight on her. The bus ride to Cat Springs was spent with comfortable silence between the sisters even as the rest of the buses passengers shrieked and yelled at each other. River shook her hair, long enough to reach her middle back, and muttered under her breath.
"Damn howler monkeys."
Next to her, her nose buried in a manga, Angel snorted with suppressed laughter her eyes almost the shade of new grass.
"It's the boys, they want your attention." River laughed under her breath at Angels comment.
"They WISH."
Both girls faces went blank as they turned into their driveway. A crumbling mobile home stood desolately in a poorly cared for yard. There was an old run down truck parked haphazardly in front of the steps, it's dark blue paint almost gone-more rust than anything.
Angel and River shared a look.
HE was home.