A/N: I wanna thank the two lovely beta readers who helped me out by giving me feedback on all my ideas. Thank you Thinking-Of-A-Dream and PurpleYin
When my dad was still around, I felt that my life was perfect. My little sister and I got along, but when my mom and dad started fighting more than usual….I did everything I could to prevent Max from seeing that. I would go skateboarding with her, (I was never good with a skateboard so I usually walked with her), go with her to the beach with some friends. Anything to distract her.
"They're not gonna stay together, are they?" Max asked. I stopped and watched her skate away from me,
"Who?" I asked her, playing dumb. Max turned around and looked to me,
"Mom and Dad." She started skating towards me, "I've heard them fight." She added. I took a deep breath in as I wanted to protect her from it,
"I don't know." I shrugged, "Maybe." I looked at her. I watched her nod as she turned around. "I have your back, no matter what." I told her as I started walking towards her.
"Thanks Tyler." Max softly said. I frowned as I knew how much Max loved spending time with Dad but unfortunately there was nothing that we could do to stop them from fighting.
Then one day Mom and Dad filed for divorce and Dad moved to LA. Max enjoyed staying with Dad more than mom as he was more relaxed with what we got to watch. Though he started to get careless with us and started showing up late to come get us at the train station.
Mom had picked Max and I up from the train station and she seemed happier than she usually was. That meant that she had something up her sleeve. When she pulled into the driveway there was an unfamiliar car. I looked to her and then to Max as she was just as confused as I was.
"I have someone very special who has been wanting to meet you guys for a while." She smiled as she got out of the car. I was curious to what it was, my first guess was that she was seeing someone and she was going to introduce us. Max grabbed my hand as we went up to the house.
There was a strange man standing in the hallway with a boy beside him. "Tyler, Maxine, meet your new step-dad and step-brother." She smiled as she walked over to greet him. My eyes went wide as she had gotten married so quick after the divorce. She didn't even bother to tell us about him.
"So you guys just got married without telling us?" I asked mom. She looked to me flustered that I had even asked that question.
"Sweetheart, we haven't gotten married yet but we will be soon." She walked over to me and Max, "I wanted you guys to meet Neil and Billy before we had the ceremony." She smiled. I looked down to Max who was just stoic. I knew she was feeling the same reaction as I was.
"Does this mean we can't see Dad anymore?" Max asked,
"No." My mom shook her head.
But I knew that eventually we would stop seeing him if there was a new guy in the picture.
Then we moved to Hawkins, Indiana for a fresh start. My mother did it to get away from our dad and because I was being bullied at school. You see, I got my father's genes and Max got our mom's. I was stocky, had dark brown hair and green eyes while Max got red hair, freckles and blue eyes. With a quick glance over you couldn't tell that we were sisters but with a closer look, it was obvious.
The first day of school went by a lot better than I was expecting. I had met my best friend, Dawn, and was convinced to go to my first high school party. As Dawn always put it "Freeze booze and entertainment.". I never knew how she got invited as she wasn't one of the popular kids but she always managed to crash them.
I looked to all the high schoolers as they were staring as Billy and I. I was used to being stared at but this sort of attention I knew was different. Billy really did know how to make an entrance and all the girls were already fawning over him. I rolled my eyes as I just wanted to make it through today with no one bullying me.
"Hey." I heard someone say to me as I was opening my locker. I turned to see a girl with raven black hair and icy blue eyes,
"Hi." I half smiled as I was weary of the people here.
"I'm Dawn. You like Motley Crew?" She asked as she pointed to my shirt.
"Tyler and I do." I smiled at her as I maybe found at least one decent person in this school.
"What's with the name?" Dawn asked as she leaned against the lockers,
"My dad was hoping to have a boy and well as you can see I'm not a boy." I rolled my eyes
"I like it. Your more original than most of the girls at school. What class do you have first?" She asked,
"English." I answered her,
"Awesome, I'm in that class too. Mrs. Waterford is a stickler for attendance so we have to get a move on it." She gestured for me to follow, "So the guy that you were walking in with, that your brother?" She asked
"Step-brother." I corrected her quickly, "Word travels fast." I commented,
"We never get new kids so as soon as someone new comes and especially with an entrance like that. People are bound to talk." Dawn rolled her eyes,
"Oh joy." I sighed, "That's how it was at my old school but it was all bad and about anyone who didn't fit in." I made a face, "I wasn't exactly miss popular and the butt of many jokes." I added
"If anyone gives you shit for the way you look, I will personally beat them up." Dawn looked at me. I could tell she was being sincere and it was great that I actually found someone who would be a genuine friend.
Then I saw probably one of the cutest guys at Hawkins, Steve "The Hair" Harrington.
"Who's that?" I asked Dawn as I pointed to him,
"Steve 'The Hair' Harrington. He's the king of the school and dating Nancy Wheeler." Dawn told me and then pointed to the girl sitting next to him, "You got good taste but there are a lot of rumors about him, so be careful." She warned.
Dawn and Robin had both told me about Steve and all of the rumors from freshman year. They had lived here all their life so they had known Steve since middle school. My sister made some friends and I got to meet them briefly when I went to go find her in the school. It made my happy that Max had made friends so quickly.
Though, if I had known what was going on with her friends...I may have not been so happy. As the shitstorm that was about to happen was something I wasn't prepared for.