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A/N: I apologize if this is really bad or rushed. I got the idea and decided to say "screw it". I'm finishing Belladonna… if I get around to it… and maybe doing something else. I don't really know. I'm working on my "summer book" or the one I'm finishing this summer so that's time consuming. I'll shut up now. Jesus.

Prologue

Look, I don't need a genius to tell me my family's screwed up. In fact, I don't need anyone to tell me anything about my siblings and home life because I know what goes on there. I didn't know the extent of how screwed up we were until a little bit ago. So here's the story about that.

My name is Gabe Stay. I'm sixteen years old and I'm average in almost every respect except for my English abilities, so I've been told. I live with my older sister Rachel, my older brother Elias, my twin sister Kylie, and my kid sister Sasha. Our mom usually took care of us – and I use that term loosely – and we always lived in a cramped apartment or really shitty house.

My story starts on the weekend before school started. We'd left our old town in a hurry with our big sister, Rachel. She's twenty-three and saved up money for an event like that with the thought that it would never be necessary. Who would have known we would have to leave like that?

Okay, it's not like I'm not used to leaving in the middle of the night. More times than I can count we had to leave our apartment in the middle of the night to cheat a landlord out of money or to avoid someone who was after my mom's latest boyfriend. Hell, we'd grown up on the verge of bankruptcy and hunger and homelessness. I was used to it. Our family knows how to survive. We're scrappers by heart. It's in our blood.

Anyway, we arrived at the house early Sunday morning after a nightlong bus ride. House is another term I employ loosely. It really looked like some walls and a roof held together with tacky glue or something. Rachel had a pile of bags on her back, both hers and Sasha's, and Elias was carrying Sasha on his back since she'd fallen asleep on the bus.

"Well, kids," she said, trying to sound as chipper as a sleep deprived person could, "this is our new house."

Kylie chewed her gum. "Let me guess. One bedroom this time?"

"No," Elias said gruffly, "it definitely looks like two. Looks like you and I will be bunking, Gabe." I managed a weak smile, brushing my brown hair off of my forehead. Elias and I looked similar. He had a darker shade of hair than I and was taller and I had freckles, but we were definitely siblings. Elias was also quite a bit more muscled than I was.

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "It looks nice, doesn't it? It's only a little bit away from a pool. And the pool is free!" I tried to smile but I was sure it looked fake.

"Oh, a pool," Kylie said sarcastically. "I hope that fends off the heat here in this desert. I thought towns were supposed to be built on places that were actually habitable."

"Shut up, Kylie," Elias said darkly, settling Sasha further onto his back. "You awake, Sasha?" The girl groaned and nodded. "You want to explore the new house?"

She shook her head but slipped off his back anyway.

"It isn't that bad," Rachel implored. She looked at me. I shrugged. "Do you want to go inside?" I nodded.

Rachel tried really hard. I liked that about her. Her red ponytail bobbed as she approached the front door.

Inside was a tiny corner with kitchen appliances, a ratty red and white couch, a card table, and a hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. The floor was wooden and the walls were an ugly robin egg blue. There was a ceiling fan hanging precariously from the ceiling that could drop at any moment. It wasn't any worse or any better than any other house, though.

"Where are the beds?" Elias asked, sweeping his dark hair off of his forehead and tying it back. "Gabe and I can haul them in." Rachel gestured to the floor.

"Um, there's a basement?" Kylie guessed.

"No," Rachel said sadly, "they're already here. The house came furnished."

"Sparsely, I see," Kylie said, plopping her bags down and flopping onto the couch. "I already hate it here." She blew a bubble, glaring at Rachel.

"Lay off, Kylie," I said softly. She flipped me off. I ignored her. "Well, Rachel, should we start unpacking and get settled?" She smiled gratefully and nodded.

She pointed to the hallway. "The one on the left is Gabe and Elias' room. The one on the right is the girls' room. Do you guys want to start settling in?" Sasha obediently nodded and she and Elias scurried off to the rooms. Kylie sat on the couch dejectedly.

I glanced at Rachel. "What should I do?"

She sank down at the kitchen counter with her eyes closed. Massaging her head, she pulled a list out of her pocket. "On the bus I made a grocery list. Can you go out and find the store so I can make breakfast?"

"Can I go with?" Kylie asked. Rachel shook her head.

"Go help Sasha with the clothes, okay?" she directed. Kylie rolled her eyes but she followed her anyway. "Here's the list. We only have fifty bucks for food, though. Do you think you can make it stretch?"

I nodded and she handed me the list. "Thanks, Rachel." She ruffled my hair and shoved me toward the door.

It was unusually hot even for August in the town. I took off my jacket and threw it over my shoulder, putting the list and the money into the pockets of my shorts.

Rachel was right. The pool was just down the street. In the near distance there were a few houses. The only roads there were was a highway running through the town. Everything was built around it.

I walked down the road, looking around for a building that resembled a supermarket. In our old town there had been two and both were giant and made of glass and stainless steel. I doubted there would be one around here.

In the distance I spied a pinkish building. Doubting there would be another bet, I decided to check it out. The town didn't seem very big. In fact, I had only seen two houses and glimpsed the swimming pool.

Outside of the pink building a couple of ids were lounging around. They stood up when they saw me. One had green skin, much to my surprise. They must have noticed my expression because the girl got up to talk to me.

"Hey, grumpy. I haven't seen you around here before," she said. "What's your name?"

"Gabe," I replied automatically, my eyes still trained on the green kid. He had blonde hair and blue eyes but he looked like nothing I'd seen before. "I, uh, do you know where the grocery store is? I kind of have to buy some stuff for my family." The girl smiled and gestured to the building. "Oh… uh… okay."

"What grade are you going into, Gabe?" she asked sweetly. "You're in high school, right?" I nodded as confidently as I could.

"Um, yeah, I'm going to be a junior," I said.

"Cool. Johnny and I are going to be juniors. Ripp here's going to be a sophomore, though," she explained. "I'm Ophelia Nigmos. This is Johnny Smith. He's an alien." The boy stood up and extended his hand politely.

I accepted it uncertainly. "And the shy kid over there's Ripp Grunt. His older brother's a senior," Johnny said. I nodded, trying to keep up with what they were saying.

"Alien?" I managed, asking him directly. He shrugged.

"Hybrid, actually. My mom's a human but my dad's an alien. I just got lucky enough to inherit the skin." Ophelia laced her fingers with his. "Anyway, where are you from?" I shrugged, trying to avoid the question.

"Nowhere special." The boy who had been sitting against the wall stood up and joined his friends. Awkward third wheel, I thought to myself. He didn't seem upset about it, though. "I have a brother who's a senior as well," I offered. Ripp smiled.

"Is he a military brat who thinks he's the best thing earth has been graced with since the beginning of time?" he questioned wryly. I shook my head. "Then they probably won't get along very well."

Ophelia smiled at me. "Do you want help with your shopping?" I was suspicious since I'd only just met the people. But they seemed nice enough and the girl was really pretty. "You won't know your way around. Give me your list." I reluctantly handed over the piece of paper. "You definitely aren't from around here, are you?" I shook my head. Johnny glanced me over.

"Look at him. He's wearing city clothes," he explained. I raised an eyebrow. "Come on, you want to meet your classmates before school starts, right?"

I shrugged. It could be an all right idea.

"He does," Johnny said, smiling. "Let's go shopping."

XX

They did help me shop. More than that, they actually talked to me like friends would. I'd always had trouble making friends because we moved so much and because I was generally apprehensive of kids in general. But Ophelia, Ripp, and Johnny seemed genuinely nice.

Ophelia talked a lot. She was also really easy to talk to. Johnny, her boyfriend, had almost the same personality as her but with a more prevalent sense of humor.

And Ripp… he was supposed to be shy but he talked a lot. He also had a wicked sense of sarcasm and humor as well as being really nice. For a younger kid, they seemed to be nice enough to him.

It wasn't like that in my old town. Everyone made sure that underclassmen knew their place. Older kids bullied younger kids for the heck of it or because they wanted to gain something. I managed to stay out of it by keeping my head down but sometimes it wasn't enough.

"So, where do you live?" Ophelia asked. "Maybe we can walk to the bus stop together." I snorted. "What?"

"Isn't the school in town?" They all gave me a look as if I was crazy. "…that's a no, then."

"No, we bus to the Central School," Johnny explained. "It's pretty weird since kids from the entire Simcity area go there unless they go to private school."

Ripp nodded in agreement. "It's pretty intense there considering the rivalry between Pleasantview and Strangetown."

"Is that fair? I mean, there are only a handful of kids who live here, right?" I questioned. Ripp shrugged.

"That doesn't mean anything to them, now, does it?"

Ophelia smiled brightly. "Let's not think about that. You should probably get home, shouldn't you?" she asked me. I nodded, glancing down the street.

"Yeah. Thanks for… talking to me, I guess," I said. They smiled as I turned around to walk away.

"Oh! And Gabe?" Johnny called. I turned for a second. "Stick with us tomorrow. You'll need it."

I nodded and reflected it on the way home. It seemed like an okay idea, but I didn't really want to be a third wheel. Of course, what other choice did I have? I could hang around with my sister but she probably wouldn't let that happen. I could try to tag along with my brother, but he wouldn't want to hang out with me either. Seniors don't just hang out with juniors, especially their little brothers.

So I was stuck with them. Well, I wasn't really stuck with them. It was more like they were stuck with me. Hopefully they didn't mind.

"What took you so long?" Rachel asked as I burst in the door. "Oh, you got the groceries. How much were you able to buy?" She had pulled her hair back again so it wasn't hanging in her face.

I shrugged. "I had to skip out on the applesauce and a few other pricier items but other than that I managed all of it." I set the bag down on the counter. "If we need to, I can get a job…"

"I'm not hearing it, Gabe. Your job is your schoolwork," Rachel said, piecing through the groceries and separating the refrigerated items from the other ones. "You want to help me put these away?"

I nodded obediently and joined her at the tiny kitchen. "Where'd Kylie go?" Rachel shrugged. "She just left?"

"Doesn't she always?" Rachel opened the refrigerator door. And made a face. "Yuck. What's in here?" She took out a brown bag of something. "…I'm not even going to guess." She flung it in the trashcan. "This house is disgusting."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't mention anything, silently unpacking the rest of the food. I noticed Rachel glancing over the inventory, probably deciding what to make for lunch out of what we had. Feeding five people with minimum wage was going to be ridiculously hard, not to mention everything else we would need.

"Um, Rachel, I can work. Even a part time job would help – "

"Shut up, Gabe," Rachel said to me. "None of you are going to work, and that's final. Alright?" She glanced at me expectantly. I nodded dejectedly. "It'll be fine. Just focus on your school work and we'll all be happy. How about you settle into your room now?" she recommended. I shrugged. "Go ask Elias since you two are sharing a room."

I turned to the direction of the bedrooms. "Which one's mine, again?"

"The left one, Gabe. Get that into your head," Rachel said. I smiled and pushed the door open.

However, Elias was not in the room and nothing was unpacked. The two beds placed on the walls only had sheets on them and a suitcase.

I turned to the girls' room. There weren't any sounds coming from it like the thin walls would betray if they were talking. I pushed the door open.

"Eli?" I said softly. He raised a hand from the bed right next to the door. He was sitting on the pillow with Sasha sleeping at his side.

"I can't move or she'll wake up," he whispered. "Which sucks because my leg fell asleep like five minutes ago." He sighed with a smirk on his face. "Why'd you come in here, Gabe?"

"Rachel told me to unpack," I said. "Apparently we'll have some work to do after lunch."

He smiled. "Awesome. I'm starving." Sasha stirred. "Shoot." I smiled and she rose.

"I heard lunch," she declared, rolling off of the bed. "When?"

"Soon," I promised. "How about you unpack some more while you wait?" She shrugged and went to her backpack. I motioned for Elias to follow me and we left her alone to settle in.

He eyed me. "You're unusually talkative. What happened?"

"Talked to some people," I said shortly. "Figured out some stuff about the school." He nodded thoughtfully, flopping down on the bed he'd claimed.

"Talk to me, little brother," he said, opening his duffel bag. "There aren't even closets in this stupid house."

I sat on the bed and started stacking some clothes under my bed. There weren't closets or trunks to put things in like we were accustomed to.

"Apparently, they have a school for everyone in Simcity," I said. "Isn't that weird? Everyone going to one school from cities everywhere." Elias snorted. "What now, Eli?"

"You're way too impressed by everything. But go on," he said.

"Well, the different cities have cliques. I met with three kids at the supermarket. They seemed nice enough." Elias followed my lead and took his clothes out. "They say the only senior's a hard ass."

Elias chuckled. "Seniors aren't hard asses. It's just not in our genes. Senioritis runs rampant at every bend, you know?"

I shrugged. "That's what they told me." He laughed some more. "I'm seriously hungry. Do you think lunch will be ready?"

Elias had hair that hung in his eyes and he wore black clothing. He played the guitar. A lot of people considered him goth or emo. If you asked him he would say that black simply suited him.

His guitar was hung at the end of his bed. He didn't sing; he only played, claiming he had the voice of a toad. I thought he was incredible for never having lessons.

"I'm seriously not looking forward to school tomorrow," he said. "We aren't even settled in yet, you know?" I nodded quietly. "So what are your new friends' names?"

"Ophelia, Johnny, and Ripp," I said. Elias snickered through his teeth. "It was weird. Ripp's only a sophomore and they're still hanging out with him."

Rachel called from the kitchen and we both stood up.

"Yeah, that's definitely different." He opened the door. "Where'd Kylie go?"

"Who knows?" I answered. He smirked and softly punched my shoulder.

Sasha sauntered out of her room and dove toward the tiny card table. "Awesome! What type of sandwiches?"

I smiled and joined them for a late lunch.

XX

The next day we woke up early in order to find the bus stop.

It wasn't difficult to find. Rachel sent us off with the promise of finding a job and some money for lunch, hoping we could manage to buy it. I was given directions to watch out for both Kylie and Sasha.

The bus stop had one wooden bench and a yellow sign that was set off by the dusty reddish brown landscape. Our family made our way to the bench, but no one sat down.

"Is it going to be fun?" Sasha asked, kicking the dirt around. I shrugged.

"Probably not," both Kylie and Elias said at the same time. Sasha glanced at me.

"I don't know, Sasha. Hopefully you'll make some new friends. At least we aren't transferring in the middle of the year like we always do."

"Amen to that," Elias muttered.

A few minutes later I spotted Ophelia. She had similar clothing to Elias, a stark contrast from the day before when she only had shorts and a T-shirt. That day she wore a tank top and some ripped up jeans with a tie. I raised an eyebrow but she already beat me to talking.

"Whoa, this is your family?" she asked, glancing over us. "I can't even live with Olive, and that's literally one person."

Elias looked at her in disbelief.

"Well, yeah…" I trailed off as the bus drove over. Inside the chorus of raucous laughing reached us.

"Dead girl! Dead girl!" someone shouted.

"Where's your alien boyfriend? Or is it a girlfriend?"

Ophelia's face fell. Kylie tapped my shoulder.

"Nice job on making friends with the losers of the school, freak," she said, walking away. Elias shook his head and passed by me. Sasha followed him.

Of course it was happening again. They did this at our old school, too. Even if we weren't separated by grade we'd be separated by something else.

"Wait!" Ophelia yelled. "You're missing three people!"

I sighed. This year was going to suck just as much as it always did. The bus pulled away anyway, much to my surprise.

"Shit!" she said, kicking it as it left. "You have got to be kidding me. I don't want to bum a ride off of Tank."

She snapped her finger and turned. "Come on, Gabe. We've got to go if we want to get there on time."

I silently picked up my things and followed her.

"Oh, and Gabe?"

"Yeah."

"Welcome to Strangetown."

The title will be relevant. Hope you liked it.