A/N: Hey again, guys. The reason I chose to update so soon was that I want to get the REALLY angsty chapters out of the way. There still might be a little angst in the chapters, but there will be less of it. I mean, after this chapter, most of it will be humor anyway. I'm just trying to be as realistic as I can here. Thanks, DarextoxDream for reviewing las time. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own KH. I also don't own any references--they belong to pop culture. XD

Chapter 2: Family

It's not the first day of high school yet, but we're all settled in now. The satellite TV guys installed it in our house the day after we moved. That's where Mom and Sora found me all day, eating the skinny Cheetos (they have to be the skinny kind, not the puffy kind). TV has always been there for me too, but not as long as the ocean. Plus, the ocean doesn't have commercials. They knew not to talk to me, because I was so absorbed in my own little world. I've been stuck there for almost five years, and I doubt I'll ever escape it. It's a very nice thought, though. When Dad left, I depended on my artsy projects and the indoors to keep me sane. I rarely went out, not even for a bite to eat at McDonald's. I was a pathetic, miserable person.

Though I've recovered slightly since then, I just like being lazy and lounging around the house all day. It's what I do best. Anyway, at one point, my favorite show House came on. It was a rerun, of course, but that show is interesting no matter what. I always look forward to that doctor's epic quotes. Sora interrupted me after he came in, munching on a bag of Funyuns to fill his large appetite after shooting some hoops. We live in a very suburban neighborhood now, lawn mowing and shrub trimming and all. I hate it. It's so conformist, enough to suffocate an artist like me. Once we moved in here, my creative well has just dried up. I don't know why either.

So, there was Sora, eating his onion flavored snacks like he was used to living here in this stupid place. Personally, I hadn't quite adjusted yet.

"Hey, Nam," he drawled in greeting. "Are you watching that doctor show again?"

I didn't turn away from the TV. "What's it look like, Captain Obvious?"

"Look, you didn't have to get all smarta—!" He was about to yell at me before suddenly stopping. I guess he didn't want to put that much effort into actually paying attention to me. Fair enough. At this point, we're used to living separate lives.

He stuffed his hands into his expensive American Eagle jeans pockets. "Mom says she's gonna take us to the mall this afternoon, shop for school clothes, you know."

Cue my eye rolling. "Screw that. The supplies matter to me more."

We had gone shopping for binders and pencils and stuff two days earlier. It had gone a little something like this. Mom wasted too much time in the make-up section, Sora was too busy chatting up two teenage girls, and I gazed longingly at some colored pencils. The supply list didn't mention these, but would be nice to have them nonetheless. My old ones had pretty much bitten the dust. To hold these shiny new pencils, smell the woody scent off them as they touched paper, and look at all those colors would be very rewarding. Maybe if I sneaked them into the cart I pulled for everybody...

"Namine, don't buy those colored pencils," Mom sighed irritably. "They're a waste of money. Besides, you have some at home, right?"

Yeah, but they're all crappy. I need to buy new ones. Do you understand, Mother? But, I shrugged the disappointment off, got a Kit-Kat bar instead. When Mom found out, she got pissed, and we yelled at each other again. She made a big deal over a candy bar that cost a whole freaking dollar fifty—any excuse to yell at me will do. Whatever, I'm just saying that shopping with my mom is never a pleasant experience. Sora at least knows when to stay out of the way.

He rolled his eyes right back at me now. "Well, aren't you a nerd?"

"Go to hell."

He stalked off. In case you haven't noticed yet, I rarely get along with my family any more.

Surprisingly, Dad is the only close family member I like. He never picked fights with me or judged me based on my status in school. I texted him after I told Sora to get lost. He said that he missed me, and he couldn't wait until this weekend, when he had visitation rights. I couldn't wait either. Meanwhile, Mom came home with some groceries, mostly healthy stuff. She says tomato, I say potato chips. Yeah, I do like my junk food, but it's not like I eat it all the time. Still, it's yet another flaw Mom never fails to point out. After reluctantly helping her put away those nasty asparagus sticks among other things, I got told to tell Sora we were heading to the mall. The mall is awesome, because I can at least get away from her and Sora.

We own a Kia, which is a rather nice car to have, I suppose. We're a well-to-do family, since both of my parents graduated college. It's just another reason for Mom to yell at me. Miraculously, she drove us to the mall without any problems or verbal fights involved. Thank God for that. Being occupied with texting Dad, though, made a difference. Sora messed around with his iPod, and I almost snapped when he blasted a Green Day song at an impossible volume. I like that band, but for his iPod to be up to a jillion decibels...By that time, Mom had parked. The mall awaited, its doors shining like the gates to a palace. I'm being kinda sarcastic there, but oh well. I headed straight to Claire's, since that store was OK.

These fingerless gloves that had a skeletal design looked cool, so I bought them. Oh, and they fit so perfectly! Other than that, I thought it was just OK. I mean, little girls shopped there with their moms, which was a bit of a turn-off. I remember when I used to shop with my mom. She picked out these pink shirts all the time, and she kept convincing me to get this sparkly T-shirt or that. Even back then, she thought her voice was the voice of reason. She figured she could convince me to do anything. I then headed over to Hot Topic to pick out some awesome hoodies. Mom was probably watching Sora wander around Abercrombie, looking for girls to talk to. I could just be alone here in my favorite store.

I got all the hoodies and random T-shirts I wanted before I took the escalator down to our planned meeting place, the food court. In that way, we could gather at one spot but still keep our distance from each other. I decided I wanted to buy sushi, but while I later ate, Sora dropped by to make fun of my food choice.

"Raw fish? That's not even meat!" he pointed out, chowing down on a hamburger.

"Oh, sorry I won't be buff enough for the football team then," I shot back, wearing a condescending smirk. He ate too much red meat, not enough leaner meats.

He just snorted and left to hit on a girl. He's always doing that; it must have had something to do with the fact he went through an ugly break-up with his girlfriend he had been serious with.

I have no idea why we don't get along any more. Maybe I should shed a little light on my family history to understand this rift better. Well, we were the perfect family back then in that small quiet town five miles from the ocean. My parents often gave each other public displays of affection when we toddlers were around to witness them. And, as little kids often do, we would wrinkle our cute noses and say, "Ewww!" But, maybe it should have been, "Yay!" Yay for us the idyllic family. Yay for happiness. Yay for no fights except the normal brother vs. sister ones. Does every teenager go through this misery, looking back on memories like pictures in a photo album? Memories of what once was but no longer wasn't? Thinking about heavy stuff makes you grow up too fast, to be honest. It's hard for me to believe I was some peaceful little girl who doodled and scribbled.

I used to show off my masterpieces to Mom and Dad, who loved them like I thought they loved me. They might still do, but Mom just sucks at showing it more than she used to. Well, I was considered the Picasso of my family, the Monet, the Da Vinci. I began painting as soon as I got tired of drawing. Sora ran around outdoors all the time, playing catch with Dad and pulling my hair. Aside from the hair pulling, though, my brother and I were regular best friends. We had each other's backs. When one sibling was being picked on, the other would make sure those bullies regretted it. There're pictures of us wearing ball caps and stuffing corn dogs in our mouths. Hm, I still laugh thinking about it. Despite Mom trying to get me to wear girly clothes, she was like my other best friend, too.

And then, different types of fights happened. These weren't sibling ones, but parent ones. Dad would stay at work longer, almost caught up in it. His boss started to make him work longer and longer hours. Mom didn't like that, considering she thought it wasn't the best for us kids. She resorted to yelling, which she still does, and tossing pans around when cooking. I'm guessing it was the case of a marriage wearing thin. But, nine-year-old me didn't see it that way. Actually, she saw it as her whole world falling apart. Sora did too, though he pretended everything was fine, which riled up my resentment toward him. Families shatter sometimes if they break apart at all. They don't just crack and get fixed like windshields.

Since Dad got worn out by the constant bad mood Mom stewed in, he realized that maybe the marriage wasn't working out. Too bad they couldn't figure that out sooner. I mean, divorce court sucks. You get to watch your parents battle it out for custody rights through their highly paid, sweet talking lawyers with the briefcases and the long-winded speeches. Ha, I'd rather watch the WWE than that! I think anybody would. Mom managed to win custody of us, and she's been a bitch ever since. Sorry, no sugar coating that one! And Sora turned all asshole on me, so that wasn't fun either. He keeps insisting the divorce was my fault, when neither of us had done anything to cause it. It was their own fault for getting married to each other.

Then again, Sora has a 3.2 GPA, so he's one to talk. All right, as you may well imagine by now, I'm the sarcastic type, the casual cynic. My friends back at my real home say I'm an angel. I personally don't think so, but I can see why...I guess I am a friend for life to those who want me around. And I admit I never really got into telling sex jokes. After a while, the whole hearing the slang terms of certain—ahem—body parts gets old. For some reason, though, when someone gets hit in the groin, it's still hilarious. And maybe me being an artist is taken into consideration. I see the world differently. I'm sensitive. Because, believe it or not, I still cry over the divorce.

It's not just the divorce either. Basic things like losing some of your shallow friends and finding out your crush at the moment is going with the school snob are what get to me. I don't know why. It's an artist's sensitivity, I guess. Usually this stuff has happened years ago. There's no beating around the bush, though. I can still tear up every now and then. Just as long as no one can see me, I can cry all I want. Today, however, I chose not to, simply because I cared less about my current situation. Four days until school started, yay. I'm already prepared to be the outcast again, armed with artillery of insults. After going through five years of sadness and broken family and middle school crap, I find it hard to be nice now. And it used to be so easy back then. Angst possesses me like that demon off The Exorcist. I think it's that way for everybody my age. Even Sora probably has some problems.

After I ate, we all left. Sora still had his iPod turned up loud, blasting some mindless hip-hop crap I hate. Mom, as usual, ignored it all and talked real estate with her client. Not on a cellphone, no, she's too good for one—headsets are in now, you know. I took out my sketchbook to draw something interesting. At first, I thought Inuyasha and Kagome. Then, it was aliens. But, I settled on drawing a caricature of Sora instead. I made his hair like Goku's off Dragonball Z, with the insane spikes that went every which way. As for his clothes, I went with variations of jock uniforms—football helmet, basketball tank top, those stupid wrestling shorts, and soccer cleats. And, of course, the piece de resistance: girls after girls surrounding him.

Every good artist like Raphael had a title for his paintings. So, up at the top, I penned the title "Living Stereotype." It's satire, get it? Once I stuffed my pencil back in my hoodie pocket, I looked over at my dearly beloved brother. Still jamming to bad commercial hip-hop. I smirked. Idiot.

"OK, Barbara, we'll get the deal set up on Tuesday," Mom jabbered away, barely stopping at a red light. "If you have any questions before then, call me."

I almost wish Mom hadn't taken that real estate job two years ago. Then again, any idiot can become an agent, so I'm not spilling too many tears over it. At least it's four days out of the week I don't hear her yelling at me. Thank you, God.

We got home without any car accidents caused by our irresponsible parent. See, miracles can happen. Time to show Sora my surprise, I thought, he turned off his rotten music by then. Odd, how he can like a rad band like Green Day yet listen to that garbage.

I showed him the picture (portrait, I should say), and he predictably got mad.

"What the hell's this crap?!?" he asked, pointing to his flattering portrayal. "There's no way my hair is like that...and why would I wear uniforms every day? And I don't hit on that many girls a day!!! Not even a whole month!"

"It's art." I shrugged. "It's supposed to capture the truth."

And I left him to his ranting. Like I would listen to that noise.

A/N: Don't worry, guys, Sora won't be an idiot forever. It's just that he hates being moved to this place just as much as his sis Namine does. It's natural for him to be...well, not the nicest dude in the world. As for the mother...well, things will be a bit of a roller coaster with her and Namine's relationship. It's a teenage thing, I guess. Anyway, one more chapter after this one, and they finally get to go to school.

So, the excitment factor will gradually go up. Don't worry about that.

Please review if it was OK.