"I kissed him." I told Miranda that night on the phone.
"What? I thought you said you didn't like him!" Miranda said surprisingly.
"I don't! I mean, he kissed me! But I went along with it so I guess it's kinda my fault too."
"Lizzie, this is the second time you've done this! Do you like him, or not?"
"NO! It's just...I dunno."
"Anyway, doesn't matter about that. So you're definitely going to Rome?"
"I guess. I'm so sorry Miranda! I wish I could just go back time and-," Before I could finish what I was saying, my mom called me down to dinner. After saying a quick goodbye to Miranda, I went downstairs; ready to tell my family that I was going to New York. I sat at the dinner table where everyone had begun eating.
"Um, if you guys have a minute, there's something I need to tell you." I watched everyone as they stared at me for a moment and put down their forks and knives.
"This better not take too long Lizzie. Our dinner will get cold!" Matt joked.
"Don't worry it won't. Uh, I just wanted to say that I've thought long and hard about this, and I've decided to go to New York." I blurted out.
"Really?" My dad asked looking a little amazed. I sighed and nodded, knowing that I was already beginning to regret this.
"That's great honey! Don't you worry, I'm sure your father will find you a great school where you can make lots of new friends! It shouldn't be too bad." My mom said enthusiastically. I forced a smile and looked at Isabella who smiled and winked at me. I was starting to feel sick again.
"Well in that case I'm coming too." Matt said. "I promised that I'll go wherever Lizzie goes, to keep her company of course."
"Oh, well it's your choice Matt. So that means I'm having Isabella?" Jo asked.
"Looks like it!" Isabella said with a big smile on her face. At least one person was happy, I thought.
"So when we'll we be moving?" I asked as I put a spoonful of peas into my mouth.
"In two weeks." Sam answered.
"Two weeks? Is that all? But dad, that's no way near enough time for me to pack all my stuff, collect all my things at school, take a last look around the neighbourhood and worse of all, say goodbye to Miranda and Gordo." I said desperately. "Please, give me some more time dad."
"I'm sorry Lizzie but that's when I'm required to start work and unfortunately I can't negotiate it."
I nodded in disappointment and went straight upstairs after dinner. I went into my room and jumped in fright when I saw Isabella right behind me.
"It's for the best you know." She said to me out of the blue.
"What?" I asked.
"Going to New York."
"Oh yeah, of course you think so. It's for the best cos I have to fly to the other side of the world to live with dad while you get to stay here, without me being in your face. That's why it's for the best for you!" I said sarcastically as I dumped a pile of clothes into a suitcase. I had a lot of things and had to start packing early since I only had two weeks.
"You've got a choice you know. You can either,-"
"Yeah I know!" I interrupted. Her telling Gordo was the last thing I wanted. "Why do you have to do this to me?"
"Excuse me?" Isabella asked, acting surprised.
"You heard me! What have I done to be treated they way you treat me? You know, you actually owe us because we adopted you and without us, you would have gone to some stinky old orphanage that you begged us to not let you go to and you got your wish! I thought having a good friend like you as a sister would be so much fun, but it's been a living hell for me! Have you ever stopped, and thought what it would be like if you were in my shoes? Or have you even once, in the whole time you've lived here, even loved me a little bit?" I asked as I stared into her eyes. She said nothing.
"You know what? I wish we never adopted you in the first place, then none of this would ever have happened and my parents would still be together. I've completely regretted having you as a sister, one hundred percent!" I said.
"Well, we're not going to be living together anymore so it doesn't matter." Isabella said. Then she quickly walked out before I could say anything more. But I followed her; she wasn't going to get away with it this time because she had gone too far.
"Stop!" I said angrily. Isabella was right outside her bedroom door and stopped straight away. It amazed me that she even listened to me for once in her life.
"You're not getting away with it this time! You've gone too far and you've made my life miserable ever since you've lived here! Now you have to apologise to me and mean it!" I said strictly.
"I wouldn't say sorry to you if my life depended on it!" Isabella said back to me. I sighed heavily as Isabella turned to shut her room door in my face. But I stopped her again.
"Wait! I'm done with you yet! At least answer this question for me, please. Why are you so mean to me? I mean, why do you find it so amusing?" I asked. I looked at her for a while and she didn't seem to know the answer.
"I-I dunno." She said nervously. I was the first time ever that she had actually looked scared of me.
"Well we are not going to move unless you tell me and I get a decent answer!"
"You can't tell me what to do!" She spat.
"Well that's funny because that's what you've been doing to me ever since you lived here!" I said angrily. I must've been talking really loudly because my mom and Matt where standing right beside us and asking what was wrong.
"She started it!" Isabella began. There she was, trying to blame me again and as usual, my mom would take her side.
"Well it's your job to end it by just answering the question! There must be a reason." I said.
"What are you girls on about?" Jo asked.
"I'm trying to get Isabella to tell me why she's been treating me this way." I said impatiently.
"Treating you what way?"
"Of course you wouldn't know mom, you don't take notice of anything to do with me and Matt these days.
"Lizzie! That's not true and you have no right to speak to me like that!"
"It is mom." Matt said. "You like Isabella better than us, you don't have to hide it, we know already." He said honestly. My mom looked as though she was about to explode but I didn't care, nor did Matt. It was about time she knew the truth about the way she treated us, even though she denied it.
"What is going to up here?" asked Sam as he arrived at the top of the stairs. Now the whole family was together.
"Mom doesn't treat you guys any different! You're probably just imagining it since you're both so stupid! Maybe if you stopped, and opened your eyes for a moment you'd realise!" Isabella said harshly.
"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about!" I yelled back. "And don't call us stupid, you're just talking about yourself!"
"EVERYBODY!" Sam yelled and everyone stopped and stared at him. "I can see that there's a very big argument forming here, but can we please just go downstairs in the living room and we can sit and talk there. And this time, we will do it calmly without anyone screaming or yelling at each other, got it?" Everyone hesitated for a moment and then we all agreed and went downstairs without saying a word. Great, I thought, I hated these types of things but at least I would let the whole family know how they've been treating Matt and me. Even though I was one hundred percent sure that they weren't going to believe me, and take Isabella's side.
We all gathered in our living room where the TV was on. Dad switched it off and we all sat around the coffee table.
"Ok. Now what is this about?" Sam said calmly.
"Lizzie is accusing me of treating her and Matt badly and that I like Isabella more." Jo answered. My dad gave me a surprise look and I told him it was true.
"Ok Lizzie, you tell us how your mother has been treating you and we'll all listen." My dad said. It seemed like he had everything under control.
I told everyone everything straightaway and it took about fifteen minutes to tell my whole story. Of course Isabella and mom denied it all and Matt and I tried to convince dad that it was true. In came to the conclusion that my dad found it hard to believe me and I just felt like screaming, or running away. I didn't want to be with this family anymore, I hated everyone and Isabella the most. I wish I would just runaway to any country and live on my own and I wouldn't care if I didn't see any of them ever again. I just wanted to be anywhere but here. To be honest I felt like killing Isabella. She had started this mess and made my life a misery and I wanted to get her back. Desperately.
I shot up from the couch and was shaking with fury.
"Fine! I don't care if you believe me or not, it just proves that you don't really love me anymore! But it doesn't matter now cos I'm getting out of here and I'm not coming back! I don't care if I don't see any of you ever again!" I shouted with tears pouring down my face. My dad jumped up from the couch too and grabbed my arm.
"Get off me, I hate you!" I said as struggled to get free.
"Lizzie! You are not going anywhere! You are coming to New York with me and Matt and that's final! If you leave you'll have no where to go and you'll have no money and you'll starve to death!"
"I don't care!" I yelled back.
"If you take one step out of that door young lady, I promise you that you'll regret it!" My dad shouted angrily. It was the angriest had ever seen him in my life and all of sudden I felt scared of him. I stopped where I was and turned around and looked at him. His face was red with anger and I could see that my mom and Matt where looking terrified too.
"We are leaving this house in a week because you can't get along with your own sister! Now go upstairs now and finish off your packing!" He continued to shout. "Matt, you go too!"
Matt and I did as he said. I'd never gotten into that much trouble before and I didn't want to make it worse. I felt like dirt and desperately wished I wasn't with this family. This whole thing sort of felt like a dream to me, but we were moving in a week and I wasn't even ready to say goodbye to Gordo and Miranda yet.
A/N: Sorry I've been writing on for ages about nothing, but I promise that my next chapter will be Lizzie leaving for New York. I hope it'll be more interesting! Thanks for all you guys that reviewed, it means a lot! :-)