Don't own anything except OC's.

Chapter 8: Fight

Kim's POV.

"Hey, Kim."

Jared stood at my door with a plastic bag in his hand dressed in cream cut-offs and a black t-shirt. My mouth fell open and I stared at him like an idiot for at least three minutes.

"Are you okay, Kim?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah," I croaked through a dry throat. I sounded like I'd been smoking for fifty years. Flushing from how utterly un-cool I was, I stood aside to let him in. Even though he had been stood in the freezing cold he was still unbelievably hot… in both senses of the word. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought since you can't come on a date, I'd come to you," he smiled goofily and I giggled. "You're parent's didn't say anything about someone not coming here, did they?"

"No, I suppose they didn't," I grinned at him, then I remembered I was in my polka dot bear pyjama's and almost screamed. "What's in the bag?" I distracted him shamelessly.

"My mom asked me where I was going and, well, I can't lie to my mom," he admitted, the apple of his cheeks reddening slightly. I smiled at his cuteness and at the fact that it wasn't me who was blushing for once. "So she gave me a cake to give you from the bakery."

"Oh, that's really sweet," I said truthfully.

Jared smiled and handed the plastic bag to me. Biting my lip, I motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen. The cake was in a plastic container when I picked it from the bag and set it on the counter. I lifted the lid and drooled. It was an ultimate chocolate cake, round, three layers and smothered in thick, smooth chocolate for icing. On top were edible chocolate twigs that I had always loved to pick off cakes since I was a child.

"Oh, wow," I chuckled in surprise. I had expected a simple sponge cake or something. "Tell your mom thanks when you get home."

"I will."

"Mike, Anna, do you want some cake?" I shouted into the living room. They stood up straight away and ran into the kitchen.

"Jared, what are you doing here?" Anna-Marie asked, glancing at me in confusion.

"I came to hang out with Kim," Jared didn't miss a beat.

Anna-Marie giggled, "Awwwww!"

"Gross," Mike scoffed. "Where's the cake?"

"Here," I got a knife and cut a slice. "You can't have too much or you'll be sick."

"Can I have whipped cream?"

"If there's some in the fridge."

Mike happily took the whipped cream into the living room closely followed by Anna-Marie, who winked at me as she turned around the corner. I turned back to Jared who was gazing at me with an unexplainable expression.

"You're close to them." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Well, yeah, they're my brother and sister," I answered quietly. Shakily, I picked up the lid and covered the cake with it. "We're family."

"I meant on a deeper level than siblings," he replied.

"Oh."

I moved the cake container to the other counter and put the plastic bag into cupboard. I knew what he meant, I looked after Mike like a guardian rather than a sister to a brother. I had too. The last time he ate too much junk food he had thrown up all night and I had to sit with him. My parents had a business meeting the next day and refused to help him, insisting it was his own fault and he had to learn to deal with it on his own. He was only six, I couldn't have left him with his head in the toilet on his own.

"Mmmm," Mike wondered into the room and dumped his bowl in the sink. "That was yummy."

"Jared's mom made it for us," I said.

"Thank you Jared's mom!" he laughed, licking the chocolate off his fingers. Jared chuckled and winked at him. "Kimmy, where are mom and dad?"

I froze, horribly aware that Jared was hanging on every word we said. "They've gone away to Seattle for work."

"Again?" he huffed, rolling his eyes. "They're always away. Why don't they just move to Seattle and leave us here by ourselves? We'd be happier, anyway."

"You don't mean that, Mike," I whispered.

"Yeah I do. All they do is make you and Anna sad. Anna cried the other day because of mom."

"She did?"

"Uh-uh. Mom called her stupid."

I swore under my breath for not noticing that Anna was upset. I hadn't even known mom had been home this week before we went to bed. I had been hauled in my room with homework most nights. Why Anna-Marie hadn't told me was a wonder. She usually liked me to hug her when she was upset and we'd watch shitty chick-flicks and eat popcorn drowned in butter.

Mike sighed and walked out the room, leaving Jared and I alone. A tense, awkward silence rang out in the room as I shuffled on my feet and avoided his eyes. I didn't want him to find out like this, in fact I hadn't wanted him to find out at all. I wanted to be perfect like him and his family. I didn't want him to think I had baggage if we were together.

"How often do your parents go away?" Jared questioned, his eyebrows scrunched together. I looked towards the wall and hugged my arms around my waist.

"I don't know. About four-five times a month, maybe more."

Another pause. "Why would you're mom call Anna stupid?"

"Because she's a bitch," I muttered under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter," I pushed myself off the counter and stomped over to the sink. I busied myself washing Mike's bowl while Jared stood behind me in silence that seemed to deafen me. I felt sick.

"It does if they're making you sad, Kim," he said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, because it's none of your business," I spat, whipping around. He flinched and I almost fell to my knees grovelling. "You've only started talking to me in the past month and you expect me to tell you every detail of my life?"

I turned back to the dishes and scrubbed with extra vigour. I could feel Jared staring at me, his eyes like lasers in my back, but I was determined to ignore him. He was judging me, I knew he was. He was wondering if I was worth it, if my family and I were too messed up for him to get involved with. I probably wasn't.

"I could have helped you, that's all."

"How could you have helped me?" I mumbled, drying the bowl Mike had been eating from. "There's nothing to help me with. My parents are just distant."

"It sounds it bit more than distant, Kim."

"It's normal for me," I replied, my voice stronger. "I'm sorry that I don't have the perfect family like you, Jared, but there the only one I've got."

"That's not what I meant—"

"Then what do you mean? My parents are just… independent. They're really into their jobs and sometimes it comes before family stuff, if that's all they do its something I can deal with."

"So, what, they just leave you to look after Anna and Mike? Don't you see something wrong with that?"

"I—I don't know," I stumbled through a dry throat. "I don't mind as much as I used to. I mean, I'd rather look after them than not have anyone here at all."

"But they can't just leave you all—"

"Yes they can and they do," I responded forcefully. He opened his mouth to argue but I'd had enough. "Jared, I think it's time you go."

"Wait, Kim, come on—"

"No, I… need you to go. I'm sorry."

My eyes were stinging as he watched me with sad, sympathetic eyes. I hated it. I didn't want him to pity me. I had waited since I was ten for him to even notice me and now we were finally getting somewhere he was pitying me. I wanted him to be with me for me, not because he felt sorry for me and my siblings. Even if it hadn't worked out in the end it would have been enough that he liked me in the first place just because I was Kim and I loved him.

After what seemed like hours Jared finally pushed himself off the counter and walked out the door. I didn't look up until I heard the door slam. He was really gone. I'd sent him away. I felt like I'd been stabbed in the heart… but it was better than prolonging the inventible. We were going to break up one day, because of my family or because of the multiple stupid things I'd be likely to do, it was going to happen.

"Kim?" Anna-Marie walked into the kitchen. "Where'd Jared go?"

"He left," I sniffed. "I think—I think it's over."

"What, why?!"

"Because it was going to happen eventually," I sighed. "We weren't going to last forever."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's too perfect and I'm too… not perfect."

"Kimberly," Anna-Marie snapped, slamming her bowl onto the counter. "Why the hell would you even think that? One, Jared Cameron is not perfect, I can tell you that for free. And yeah, maybe you're not perfect, no one is, but you're awesome, Kim. You deserve to be happy and Jared makes you happy."

"Our parents—"

"Are idiots," she huffed. She hadn't forgiven mom for her comment about her Math work and I'm guessing the stupid thing wouldn't have went down well either. "Don't think about them just think about you. You've been looking after Mike and I since you were ten, Kim, it's time to think about yourself. We're grown up enough now, we don't need you to hover in the background in case we fall over and scrap our knee."

"Mike—"

"Is eleven and old enough to make his own mistakes. Plus, he has me to look after him as well."

"But Jared and his family are perfect—"

"Oh, how I wish you'd stop using that silly word."

"—and if he's with me he's going to have to deal with not only me, but the whole family. I can't do that to him."

Anna-Marie smiled sneakily. "Well, he seemed pretty up for it before. He couldn't take his eyes off you when I was in here." I blushed and my heart fluttered at the thought of him looking at me like that. Anne Marie giggled, "You need to stop thinking you're not worth it, Kim, because you so are. And I think Jared thinks so, too. You just need to stop over-thinking everything… like you always do."

She grabbed the cake from the counter, the cream from the fridge and three spoons. "Come and eat this cake with us and you can talk to Jared on Monday."

"You can't have the cake in the living room, Anna."

She span around, the cake balanced in one hand and the carton of milk in the other. "You're not my mom, Kim," she winked.

I stood in the middle of the kitchen for a few minutes and thought about what she said. She was right, I wasn't her mom, I was her sister. I wasn't the on that should be looking after her all the time. I was the person that should be sneaking her alcohol and giving her makeup (not that I was going to do that) like Erin's older sister did for her. Of course I was still going to look out for them, I loved them more than anyone else in the world… but maybe it was time to be more of a sister than a guardian.

"Give me a spoon," I demanded Mike. He grinned at me with chocolate covered teeth as he handed me what I asked for. I took a seat next to Anna-Marie and laughed at the shitty sitcoms and took a bite of the cake until it was all gone.

It was nice not to worry about them eating too much chocolate, or getting to bed on time… well, not outwardly anyway.

Thoughts?

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-Laylax