Thank you for the reviews, they made me smile :)
Cheesecake-and-Pengins: Yeah I tried to make it so that their personalities match but at the same time contrast. It makes it perfect for bouncing insults and sarcastic comments which both of them are full of :)
Siren's Call
Chapter Two, Siren's Story
Siren's pov:
"Up," commands a bossy voice as my bedroom door is flung open. I open one eye to see Aunty Kay marching towards my window and yanking the curtains open.
"You still here?" I mumble sleepily, burying my face in my pillow.
"Siren it's 7:30, you're going to be late for school," Kay snaps, pulling the covers off me, "You got off lightly yesterday for skipping school and that's only because I don't want your parents to find out that you skipped school to get arrested. I've had to fetch you seven times in the past 3 months from the station and I'm sick of it. You're parents are coming home this weekend and whatever you do, you will not be telling them what you did!"
"Are you asking me to lie to my own parents?" I gasp in mock horror, "Katherine you should be ashamed of yourself!"
"Just get ready Siren, if you're not in the kitchen in 15 minutes I'm dragging you to school, dressed or not!" With that she storms out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
"And she says I'm hormonal."
I smile as I eye my rainbow of hair extensions; the hardest part of my day is definitely deciding which colour to wear. Yesterday I wore indigo and the day before I wore red so I can't wear either of those. I give up and go with the aqua, since my school has a uniform I don't have to worry about co-ordinating them with my outfit; half my teachers make me remove them anyway. Grimacing as I pull on my navy blazer, I head down stairs to meet Kay in the kitchen. Kay's not my real aunt, I think she's my dad's step-sister's cousin or something, it's not like I see her often anyway, whenever she's in charge I spend as much time away from the house as possible.
"You're early?" Kay asks suspiciously.
"God, there's just no pleasing you!" I exclaim, nabbing a piece of toast from her plate.
"I'm not complaining," she adds, "You should practice being punctual, it will help you in later life."
"I'm 14," I point out, "No offence but I don't give a damn."
"We all have to grow up some time Siren," Kay sighs, "Even you."
I scowl as I look away, how can you grow up if you never had a childhood?
"Urgh!" I groan as I sit down in the canteen with my friends at our usual table. I hate that snobby school, there's nothing fun to do!
"What's wrong with you?" Clara asks me. Clara is a loud talkative girl with straight blonde hair that she always wears up, never down. She has been my best friend since I was 4.
"My aunt is driving me insane!" I growl, reaching into my bag to grab the extensions I'd had to take out earlier so that I could put them back in.
"Look on the Brightside, your parents will be home soon," Dana smiles. Dana lives across the street from me; her hair is a coppery colour that falls to her shoulders.
"Why does everyone keep acting like that's a good thing?" I mumble.
"So anyway, onto important things," Clara clears her throat, "Apparently Ted arrested you again yesterday." I scowl; I should have known that Ted would tell his niece about my trip downtown, he never could keep a secret.
"What's it to you?" I raise an eyebrow.
"He arrested you, and you were with a boy."
"Shocking!" I nod sarcastically, "Your point being?"
"Well, you go to an all-girls private school and suddenly you're skipping school with some boy. What are we supposed to think?" Dana asks mischievously.
"Still not sure where you're going with this."
"Did you go on a date or not?" Clara asks bluntly.
"No," I shake my head, "I don't really know him. We were being chased by the same cop and we ended up at the station for a few hours is all."
"That's a date," Clara shrugs, "An unusual and un romantic one but a date all the same."
"Yes because you've had so much experience," I mutter, "How many dates have you been on? 2...1...0?"
"That's not the point!" Dana exclaims, "You went on a date with a boy who likes getting in trouble as much as you!"
"Look it wasn't a date!" I repeat, "We talked at the station for a few hours and then his care worker arrived and-"
"CARE WORKER?" the girls yell in unison, earning us glares from the staff at the other end of the canteen.
"Yeah his care worker," I shrug, "Then Kay showed up and we left."
"This is bad this is very very bad," Clara mutters.
"You're blowing this out of proportion," I roll my eyes.
"Siren, KAY. WILL. KILL. YOU!" she pronounces slowly and loudly.
"And then your parents will bury you under the patio," Dana adds quietly.
"What on earth are you idiots talking about?" I groan.
"He's a care kid Siren, your parents won't let you be friends with him, let alone date him!" Clara whispers.
"We're not dating!" I hiss, "And maybe I'm tired of my parents controlling my life from halfway across the world. If they gave a damn about me then they'd be here right now, but they're not, so I'm not going to lose sleep worrying over what they think."
Dana and Clara exchange nervous glances, I know what they're thinking, 'She's screwed.'
My day gets fifty times worse after school when I'm walking home, I have seven sheets of homework to do and my hair extensions have been confiscated until the end of the week. But that's not the worst part. As I reach the bottom of my street I spy two boys carrying around what looks like pizza, one of the boys is too familiar for my liking. They just happen to be blocking my driveway, leaving me no choice but to confront them.
"Hey trouble," Liam grins, "What brings you up this neck of the woods? Fancy helping us scam some snobs?" Snobs, so that's what he thinks of us, can't say I blame him really.
"Uh, just taking a walk," I lie, "What you up to?"
"Like I said, scamming," he shrugs before putting on a sad voice, "Oh do please help us poor orphans to save our home, we truly have nowhere else to go."
"Very convincing," I say sarcastically.
"It is!" the boy with him agrees.
"Oh yeah, Frank this is Siren," Liam nods in my direction, "Siren this is Frank."
"Hiya," I smile.
"Hey," he nods.
I take a flyer from the top of the box Liam's carrying, "It won't work," I say, dropping it back, "At least not up here."
"It has to," Liam shrugs, "We're not exactly known as trustworthy round our place. People up here don't know us."
"People up here have private chefs cooking them lobster and crème brûlée, they don't want homemade pizza," I deadpan.
"Good point," Frank nods.
"Whose side are you on?" Liam scowls.
"I'd go with mine, I have an idea that will earn you money and a good reputation round here," I grin.
"When you said it'd get us business, I didn't have this in mind!" Liam groans as he rakes the leaves in my garden, I'm helping of course, to a degree.
"Trust me, expensive trees means lots of leaves which means lots of dosh for you two," I explain as Frank comes over to join us after finishing his side of the garden. Liam is only half done since he's spent all his time complaining.
"How'd you persuade the owner to let us do this?" Frank asks.
"Err..."
********FLASHBACK********
"Hey Wilson," I grin as he opens the front door. Wilson is our butler, not sure why we have a butler, but he doesn't ask questions. Wilson's cool. Note to self, find out Wilson's real name.
"Miss Siren I do believe you have a key," he raises an eyebrow.
"Ah... yes...well... I kind of, maybe, possibly lost it," I lie, "As part of my citizenship class we have to help the locals in our neighbourhood for a while so me and some friends are going to tidy the lawn ok?"
"I suppose," he shrugs.
"Oh and uh, don't tell Kay?" I grin pleadingly.
"I don't even want to know," he shakes his head as I call Liam and Frank over from where they'd been waiting at the end of the drive. I notice Wilson raise an eyebrow at the fact that Liam and Frank aren't wearing my school uniform but I don't say anything.
"Oh and uh, you don't know me," I add quickly before showing the boys to the garden.
********FLASHBACK END********
"Powers of persuasion," I shrug, taking my tie off and shoving it in my bag, it's way too warm to be September. "I'm going to find a bathroom so I can change," I tell them, picking up my bag and heading in doors. I was half telling the truth, I did have a change of clothes in my bag; they just weren't the ones I was going to wear. As I enter the house I quickly hide all the photos of me before dashing upstairs to change.
When I return to the garden I'm wearing denim shorts with a yellow tank top that matches the streaks in my hair, I have to stop letting teachers confiscate my extensions, I'm running out of colours.
"Did you get in trouble yesterday?" Liam asks as I approach the boys.
"Not much, my aunt's in charge at the moment though, you?"
"Mike went livid," he admits, "Frank you were lucky you weren't there yesterday."
Frank nods silently, apparently he knew about yesterday's events.
"Come on, let's finish this so that we can go get something to eat," I sigh, grabbing a rake.
"Where are you from anyway?" Liam asks as the three of us sit by the lake at the park, sharing a bag of chips and curry sauce.
"Places," I shrug.
"But where?" Frank asks.
"My mum's Japanese," I explain, "And my dad's from Brighton. I've lived in London my whole life."
"No brothers or sisters?" Liam prompts.
I sigh, staring out to the water, "Not anymore."
"Sorry," the boys shrug in unison.
"Forget about it, I have."
"So what's it like at Upper Trinity?" Liam asks.
"What?" I never told him the name of my school.
He holds up the tie that's hanging out of my bag. I grin sheepishly as I think of an excuse for lying.
"You live there don't you?"
"How'd you know?" I ask, "I hid the pictures."
"You scratched your name in the willow tree."
"Oh yeah, I remember that." That was the first time I ever went against my parents, I climbed the forbidden Willow tree at the back of the garden after they told me not to. I went back that night and scratched my name into it.
"You have a house, a family, a decent education, why are you hiding it all?"
"Because guys," I sigh, "The one thing I don't have, is a life."
Basically a view into Siren's life. In the next chapter she should meet the Elm Tree house lot.
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