Chapter 15

Robin

Being the youngest in a big family isn't all that bad. Most of the time, you can get away with a lot. In this family, with so many talented people, it makes it that much easier. Sure, that sounds like I'm grasping at straws here, but if you think about it, and I have, a lot, talented people don't pay much attention to the world around them. Sure, you have the big movie and music stars. Do-gooders that pour money into their favorite charities, only not to know thing one about what they are giving their money too. They have some person telling them that they should be a spokesperson for this charity or another, and they really don't know what they are being a spokesperson for. They are too busy with their craft to really care that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. I see it every day with my family, they're all worried about what part they're going to get, or their lines, or what their future will bring. They don't care if the spotted owl has a hole in a tree to live in unless it will bring them facetime, somehow.

So I live with these overly talented people that can't seem to see past their own reflections to see that their baby sister is getting away with murder. Well, that would be true in any other family filled with talented people, but not all families have their very own cop, and not just any beat cop, but a very talented detective with the LAPD. I should have thought about that before I got so cocky and skipped school too many times. Now I'm grounded, Sam and Cat are in trouble, and Mom and Dad are making me move in with them until the end of the school year. I can only go to school and home. No friends, no internet. Only for school and I have to use it where one of them can watch me. No parties and no dances. I thought I was doing just fine with skipping, but little did I know today was a pop quiz which turns out was 25% of my grade. I was only skipping a few days so I wouldn't get a note home or a call, well, today I wasn't there and they called Sam at home. She said I was at school, and then called Mom. Who called Tori, and she found me at Mom and Dad's. So now I'm in my room packing my things while Sam stands at my bedroom door, watching me. She hasn't said one word to me since Jade brought me home. In fact, Jade didn't say anything to me on the way over here. Man, they are both pissed. And to make matters worse, Cat is in her room crying because I have to leave. I really made a mess of things. I wish Robbie was here, but he is still in London until the end of the week. I was sitting on the couch when Jade called Robbie to tell him everything that had happened. He didn't want to talk to me. He said he will deal with me when he gets home. I am so scared that I have messed up in the worst way. I really pissed off a lot of people, and now I have to live with whatever happens next.

"Are you about done?" Sam asks me. It's the first thing she has said to me since Jade brought me back here.

"Yes," I tell her, not looking up from my work of shoving clothes into a bag. I've already got a second bag full of my other things; books, pictures, a couple of stuffed animals Cat had given me, some other odds and ends.

"Well, hurry up. I have to get to work, and now I have to drive you all the way over to Mom and Dad's before going to work. Man, you really messed up, kid," she said before walking out to the living room to wait. I scowled at the now empty dresser drawer before forcing it closed. That's one thing I won't miss living here. All the drawers in my dresser stuck. So no more of that. A positive point.

I looked up at a noise in my doorway, thinking Sam was back to yell at me again. "She hates me now," I said, looking up at Cat.

"No, she loves you very much, but what you did is very disappointing. Don't get me wrong, we have all skipped out on classes and played hooky, but you took it way too far. Robin, you didn't just take a day off of school, you have been lying to us and making us think everything was going great, but it wasn't. Hell, you have been out doing God knows what when you should have been in school.

Something could have happened to you and none of us would have ever known, because we all thought you were at school, not running around Hollywood." She moved over to my bed and sat down. "Why would you do something like this?" she asked, taking my hands. Before I could answer, a long fingered hand slapped against my door frame, which quickly hauled an angry blonde into the opening.

"Cat, I have to get to work, so we have to go," Sam snapped from her post by the door.

"Then go. I'll take here over. I want to talk to her some more, okay?" Cat told her, getting up and kissing Sam on the cheek. One thing I do know is Sam can never say no to Cat when she is being all cute and loving. She tried, turning her scowl on Cat. But when Cat bounced on her heels, she sighed and shook her head with a rueful smile.

"Okay, but don't wait too long, and if it gets dark, just stay there and come home after school, okay?" Sam kissed Cat and then came in and gave me a hug before leaving for work.

"She still worries about you driving at night?" I asked when she sat back down. She nodded and I continued, "Cat, I'm sorry. I didn't think about anyone else. I thought you all were too busy to pay attention to me, so I was hanging out with people that weren't. They're my friends, and I like to be around them," I told her, and she didn't look a bit happy with what I had said.

"Oh. Well, your so called friends were the ones that stayed in school today and ratted you out for skipping. They even told Dad where you have been, and everything you have been doing. They told him that it was your idea to start skipping, and talked them into it, and that it was you who tried to talk them into skipping today, knowing there was a quiz. Robin, people like that are only friends until trouble comes, and then they hang you out to dry. I wish you would have just talked to us about this before making such a bad move here," Cat said, walking to the door and pointing to the living room, where we moved with all of my things.

"I guess. I just had all this freedom I never had before and I lost my mind a bit."

"I get that. I remember how it felt to move in here and away from my birth parents and I went a little wild myself, but I never went as far as you did. Not to say I didn't have my time of getting into problems with my friends. But something you have to understand, my friends and I are tight and now are a family. Not one of us can say we didn't do things that could have got us into trouble. Hell all of us have. In fact, we could have been on a television show with all the crap we did. With that said, it still doesn't get you out of trouble here, because dear you got caught and that is the big difference between what we did and what you did. We never got caught. So now you have to go do your time." Cat helped me get my things out to the car and we drove over to Mom and Dad's. She told me of some of the things they have done, like driving all the way to some movie star's house that Cat thought had died only to find out she hadn't died and ended up burning her house down. And she told me about the big cupcake car break down. I was really surprised to hear that Jade treated Tori so badly. Cat even told me about all the things Jade did to Tori before they started dating.

"You know, I always thought Tori was smart. So, if she is so smart, why couldn't she see that Jade was in love with her, and that is why she picked on her so bad?"

"I guess it had more to do with Jade was still dating Beck, and Tori wasn't showing any signs of liking her like that," Cat said as we sat in Mom and Dad's driveway talking.

"Then what changed?" I asked, not really knowing the history behind anyone in this family.

"Well, some of the others would say it was after Sikowitz's play and the fake date they had to go on, but I started to see a change right after Christmas. They started spending more time together, and were fighting less, but it wasn't until Tori was on the Platinum Music Awards that I really saw the change. Jade did, of course, try and take her spot, but it wasn't because she was being a bitch. She just really hated seeing how they treated Tori, and thought she could get them to change their minds, which she did," Cat told me. We got my stuff out of the car, but then sat on Cat's car and talked more.

"So when did Beck and Trina get together, that led to them getting married and having a baby?" I asked.

"Well, that actually goes way back, to two years ago. Trina had a script she was working on and need help with it. She had asked all of us at lunch one day, and Beck said he had time to help out. She had him come over one night, and he really didn't want to be there alone with her, but came anyway. They spent the whole day after school and into the night working on that script, earning Trina a very high score on it. It turns out they had so much in common that they would spend more time together. After Jade and him broke up, Trina started spending a lot of time at his RV. Then when Jade and Tori came out to all of us, Trina and Beck never stopped seeing each other, and then somewhere along the line they became what they are today," she told me. We went into the house with all of my stuff. I didn't want her to leave, even though it was getting dark. I wanted to know more about the family.

"Hello Cat, how are you doing?" Mom asked as she took my bag that had my dirty clothes. "Cat, are you in a hurry to get back before it gets dark, or do you want to stay the night?" she asked.

"If it is alright with you, I would like to stay. I really don't want to be alone tonight," Cat told Mom as we sat on the couch.

"Of course you can, dear. This is your home too," Mom said, leaving with the dirty clothes, no doubt to go wash them.

After Mom left the living room, Cat and I were alone to continue our conversation. "So is there anyone else you want to know about?" Cat asked me, and I sat quiet for a few seconds before I spoke up.

"Yes. What about Andre? He just doesn't seem like he would fit in to this family of misfits and throwaways," I said, looking at her like I was going to find out the Holy Grail of all information on people.

"Where Andre fits in is because of Jade. Of course Jade. She is the one that brought all of us together as friends, and she was the one who pointed all of us to Mom and Dad. And Andre is no different. We met him in the sixth grade, his parents had just died and he moved in with his grandmother. He was pretty quiet and sad most of the time, but we brought him out of that. Then we all decided to try out for Hollywood Arts, and well, you know the rest," Cat told me. I started to look around and saw both Jade and Tori sitting on the stairs listening to us. I wonder if Cat knew they were there. When they saw me see them, Jade rose from where they were sitting and came down toward the couches.

"Why are you asking about everyone? Didn't Robbie tell you about us before?" Jade asked, sitting down next to Cat.

"No, I thought Rex was his only friend. He wasn't allowed to talk to me. I guess they thought he would try and run away with me. Turns out they were right, and I'm so glad he did," I told them and looked back to the stairs, where Tori was still sitting. She looked like she had been crying.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Jade asked. I looked back to Tori and she smiled at me.

"First, before you go asking any more questions, I want to know why you got into trouble. I mean Robin, we all messed around, but you got caught in a big way here, and a lot of people got in trouble, including Sam and Cat," Tori said, coming down into the living room.

"I didn't mean to get anyone into trouble, I was just looking for some fun and got cocky. Thought I wouldn't get caught," I told her and she started to laugh.

"Just when you think you won't get caught you end up in the most trouble. I have been in so much shit that I didn't think I would ever see the light of day again. And you think that Mom and Dad were mad at you? Hell no, the year before I left my old school I got into so much trouble, I was suspended from school for two weeks. Dad didn't talk to me for the first week. Then I was put on school probation for the rest of the year. Which wouldn't have been too bad, if I didn't get into trouble the third week of school," Tori told me, and all of us looked at her like she had two heads. I just couldn't see Tori getting into trouble, let alone that much trouble.

"No way babe. I can't believe it. You in that much trouble, I call bullshit," Jade said, laughing in disbelief.

"Well, believe it, she was not always the good little girl you know and love. This one has gotten into so much trouble, at one point David and I thought about sending her to one of those boot camps for troubled teens. But then she got into Hollywood Arts and everything changed. Oh, by the way, I think you're still grounded, Tori," Mom told us from the kitchen, scaring us, since not one of us knew she was in there.

"I'm married. All grounding is null and void now," Tori smiled at Mom who smirked back at her.

"What did you do to get into so much trouble?" I asked Tori, but did not expect to get the reaction I did.

"That, young lady, is none of your business. And Tori, you are not to tell her, do you understand me?" Mom yelled at both of us.

"Yes, I understand, and Robin you are pretty young to know the things I got into before meeting these guys," Tori told me with a wink. I'm hoping that meant she would tell me when Mom wasn't around.

"You are going to tell us later, so Cat you have to stay the night," Jade said, looking back to Mom with a smirk. "As her wife, I have the right to know what my wife has done in her past," Jade said.

"And as her sister, I have the right to know so I can use it against her at a later date," Cat said, laughing at Tori's reaction of opening and closing her mouth over and over. "But whatever it is that Tori did, does not mean it is right for you to be doing what you did, Robin. Like I said before, you not only just skipped school, but you lied to us about where you were all day, and you also put yourself into danger without looking for it. There are people out there that wait for kids to step out of line so they can hurt them. You could have been kidnapped and we would never known it because we thought you were in school. They could have taken you anywhere, or killed you, before we even knew you were gone," Cat told me in her mother voice that I love hearing most of the time, but right now she was scaring me.

"I get that, and I know I messed up big, but what I don't get is, why I'm in this much trouble? I don't understand why I had to move in here until the end of the year? I get being grounded, but don't you think this is way over the top?" I asked looking around to everyone.

"It's Robbie. He wanted you to move over here and give Sam and Cat a break. They have been being both your sisters and your parents for so long now that they need a break, and with Tori and Jade moving out, David and I thought it would be good for you to be with us, and with Sam and Cat getting married they need to have time to their selves. I hope you understand," Mom told me like I was two or something and not eleven.

"Yeah, I understand. Robbie wants me to know what it feels like to have real parents, and Sam and Cat wants to have loud sex without me there to hear it. I do believe that is the point in a nutshell," I said, making everyone in the room turn every shade of red there is.

"Yes. Well, dinner will be at six," Mom said, turning her back on us.

I had been here for a week. Jade and Tori had moved out and I am in their old room. I am sitting on my bed, listening to music with my earbuds in, when my door opened and Robbie walked in. "Hey there, kiddo," he said, sitting down on the bed.

"Hey, you're back early. I didn't think you would be back until tonight," I said, giving him a hug.

"Yeah, well, England is eight hours ahead, so when I said I was going to be back was London time," he told me. "So, I got the job and will be moving back after school is out. And I was thinking you might like to come spend the summer with me in London. What do you think? Instead of staying in Hollywood, you come to London and play." Robbie smiled at me and he had a hopeful look in his eyes. I have to say, I could use some time away, and London is one of the places I have always wanted to go.

"Will I come back, or do I have to move there with you?" I asked him.

"Well Robin, that is totally up to you. If you like it that much that you want to live there, then I will be more than happy to have you, but I won't make you stay. I have it set up with Jade that a week before school starts, she and Tori will come to London and fly back with you," he told me, and I really do think I'm going to like going for the summer, but something tells me that I'm not coming back. Not that I don't love my family, but because I love my brother, and this could be the new beginning we both need.