I have no idea where this came from either, but I promise it'll pick up in a chapter or two. I'm just going with the flow. I just needed to get a couple of things established.

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I woke up to the sound of raised voices on boxing day.

The night before, my Aunt Amy had gone home, but Aunt Alicia had stayed over. She and my uncle had stayed in the spare bedroom in the basement with Megan and Laurie had slept in my bed, but was long gone. She had tried to wake me up sometime around seven. I had stumbled out of bed, led her into the living room, and put on the Grinch. The poor kid couldn't go without the Grinch. Then I had collapsed back onto my bed and fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep. It was the only thing that I really enjoyed. Sleeping.

From down the hall, I could hear a movie coming from Dylan's room. I pulled myself out of bed and padded down the hall. Plopped up on a stack of pillows, eating Cheerios right out of the box (and missing her mouth more than actually getting in), Laurie sat watching- gasp- a movie other than The Grinch.

"Hi Paige!" she exclaimed gleefully when she saw me, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Paige want Cheerios?" She gripped a handful and held it out for me.

"Thank you, Laurie," I said, taking them again kissing the top of her head. "Whatcha watching?"

"Mulan."

"Cool. Is it good?"

"Yeah! You watch?"

"No sweetie, I'm gonna go see Dylan."

"He's talking to Mommy. I'm not allowed to listen."

I thought it was strange, then it occurred that the voices I heard when I woke up weren't just in my head, or from Laurie's movie. They could have been from Dylan and my aunt. I crept up to the top of the stairs. None of them saw me, so I sat at the top of the stairs and watched. On the larger couch, my aunt and uncle were talking to Dylan, who was sitting stiffly on the love seat across from them. He didn't look happy.

"No," he said firmly.

Aunt Alicia leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Even from the top of the stairs, could see they were long and perfectly manicured, matching her sweater perfectly. I was sure that was no accident. That was the kind of person she was. Always had to have everything perfect, everything coordinated. It was like it was the only control she had. What kind of life was my uncle stuck living if she was like that? Poor Laurie. She was such a sweet kid and her mother was a control freak.

"We're not saying you have to go through with anything," she explained calmly. "But I think you should at least call him."

Dylan's face seemed to get redder, but I couldn't be sure. He didn't move. "No."

"I know things haven't been good between you two in the past, but he is your father-"

"No, he's not." I'd seen Dylan mad before, I'd seen him get into fistfights before (occasionally because of me), but he was angrier than I'd ever seen him before.

"Dylan- "

"No. You don't get a say in this. He and I share a Y-chromosome. The relation ends there."

"He's still your father!"

"No, you don't get a say in this. You've got your perfect two-point-two kids, perfect marriage and white-picket fence family. You don't know shit about what's going on, and you don't get a say in how I deal with this."

"What about Paige? You can live on your own, fine. But Paige still has a couple of months to go. She has to be under somebody's care."

"I'm twenty. I've already checked into this. I am going to become Paige's primary caregiver until she turns eighteen."

"Dylan!"

"No. I've thought about this long and hard. I know my sister, and I know what's best for her. And I know that sending her to live with that bastard isn't going to do anything to help anyone except assuage your guilt her death!"

"So what do you plan on doing? Dropping out of university?"

"I'll move out of residence. It's only a half hour on the go-train."

"And when Paige gets sick? When you get sick?"

"Paige and I have been sick before."

"What about money?"

"Money's not an issue and you know it. We're going to see the lawyer next week, but I know pretty well how much we get."

Part of me what happy that Dylan knew all this, had thought about all of this, but another part of me felt anxious. Did he care at all that our mom was dead? How had he been able to plan all this and still deal with her death?

"We'll talk about this later," my aunt finally said. "Amy's on her way over, and we'll discuss this with her and Paige."

"There is no discussion," Dylan said, carefully emphasizing his words.

I looked down and saw that the handful of Cheerios that Laurie had handed me were dust in my hand. Before I could hear what they said next, I decided to go for a shower. I wanted to look good someone- or some group of people- decided what was best for me.

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"Paige?" Someone called from down the hall. "Pai-ige?!"

I opened my door and stuck my head out into the hall. Laurie was headed towards me, her mop of loose curls bouncing. I let her in.

"Auntie Amy's here."

"When did she get here?"

"I don't tell time."

I pulled my wet hair back into a ponytail. "Do you know why she's here?"

"Mommy told me to say hi and go away. Mommy and Daddy wants to talk to her and the boy."

"That's her boyfriend, sweetie."

She ignored me. "Mommy told Dylan to go away too. Mommy's mad."

"Who's she mad at?"

"I don't know. I be good today. And I'm bored-ed."

"You're bored-ed? Why don't we go find you a movie."

"But I watch-ed two movies today." She put up three fingers to reinforce her point. I almost smiled.

"Can you watch another one? I know it's boring, but they have to do some grown-up stuff."

"You play with me!"

"I have to be a grown-up today."

"No," she cried, lunging towards my leg. "You can't be a growed-up."

"Why not?"

"Growed-ups can't be friends with kids."

I wanted to tell her that she was right, that adults and kids- adults and teenagers even- never saw eye to eye.

"How 'bout this? I'll be a grown-up this afternoon, but I'll be a kid again later."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She let go of my leg, and I coaxed her into going into Dylan's room to watch another movie. I was about to sit down and watch it with her, when Dylan materialized in the doorway.

"Can I talk to you Paige?"

"Sure." I got up, despite protests from Laurie, and joined him in the hall.

"Dylan wanna watch?" she shouted from inside the room.

"Maybe later, Laurie."

"Why's Aunt Amy here?" I asked.

"They're trying to decide what to do with you."

"I know. I heard you earlier."

Under other circumstances, he probably would have been annoyed, but he just nodded. "What do you want to do?"

I want my mom back, idiot! "I don't want to move. But I don't want you to drop out."

"I'm not dropping out. I can move back home."

I didn't want to have to decide. I was sick of having to deal with everything. First she died, which was more than I thought I'd have to handle for a long time, and then they expected me to be over it, and think calmly and rationally about where I wanted to live and who I wanted to live with? "I don't know, Dylan."

"Paige, I need to you tell them that you don't want to contact dad."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me. Promise me, Paige."

"I DON'T KNOW!" Immediately I regretted it. Dylan pulled back, and my voice echoed through the hall. I looked at him helplessly. "I'm sorry." Feeling about three years old, I broke down into tears. I slid down against the wall, and I started sobbing. I don't know exactly why, but all I could do was cry.

"I'm sorry."

Dylan sat down beside me and put his arm around me. "It's okay," he said soothingly.

But it wasn't.

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"I think we've found a solution," Aunt Alicia said to Dylan as we gathered in the living room once I had calmed down. I took the seat on the love seat beside Dylan, and mt two aunts sat next to their respective husband and boyfriend. Aunt Amy had her arm linked through her boyfriend's, and looked like she was about to burst.

"First of all," Aunt Alicia began, "I still want you to give your dad a call."

"No," said Dylan immediately.

"This isn't up for discussion."

"No."

She just ignored him this time. Aunt Amy started talking. "We've come up with something that may work." She was grinning. "Nate and I are getting married. And we've bought a house around the corner from here."

No one congratulated her, but she didn't stop. "And I think that you two are probably old enough to live on your own. So, if you two promise to check in with me on a daily basis, and to call me if anything happens, we'll just keep it at that. We'll let you two stay here."

I stared blankly ahead. My mom was gone. My aunt was getting married. Dylan and I were really, truly alone.