Don't own anything except OC's.

Chapter 13: Truths

Kim's POV.

"Kimberly Francesca Connweller," mom growled. "What were you thinking bringing a boy into this house without us here? And your siblings are upstairs—"

"Oh, so now you care about us!" I snapped. Mom recoiled in shock. "It's not that when you leave us for days and weeks on end without even a phone call to check in!"

"Kimberly, don't speak to you mom like that."

"That's rich. You always talk to her like that. In fact, it's the only way you talk to her."

"That's not true—"

"Isn't it? Could have fooled me, dad."

Mom was frowning, her usually cold and collected face showing the most emotion I had ever seen her use. "Kim, why are you saying this now? Is it that boy? Is he making you rebel?"

"No mom," I almost whined. She never took blame, she always found someone else that she could put her guilt onto so she could feel better. Whether it be dad, me, Anna-Marie, my grandma…it didn't matter as long as she didn't feel fault. "You were never here!" I stopped, taking a deep breath to stop the tears. I thought I didn't care, that their absence was normal and just apart of like, but talking about it was bringing up old emotions. The pain from the missed Christmas plays at my school or how they were 'too tired' to go to my parent-teacher meetings. "Not just in the house, but with us. You never cared enough about us. We're your children—I'm your daughter and I feel like you love your job more than you love me!"

My mom shuffled uncomfortably. "We could have been worse," she defended.

I snorted, how typical. "Sure, you could have. You could have been a lot worse, but you could have been a hell of a lot better." I paused, watching as my dad glanced around the room avoiding my eyes and my mom looked longingly at the front door as if she wanted to escape. "And you still haven't denied that you love work more than me—more than us."

Dad coughed and put his briefcase on the floor. "Kim, of course we love you, we love all of you…it's just our job means a lot to us. I mean it's what pays for all this," he motioned around the house, the expensive pictures and the flat screen telly.

"That would mean more if that wasn't the only time I remember you telling me you love me," I said bitterly, my heart thumping from anger, hurt and nervousness. "You can't buy our love dad, materialistic things mean nothing when you want your parents to comfort you over a bad grade or help you with homework, instead of calling you stupid and to figure it out ourselves."

"Okay, I'm sorry for saying that but—"

"Why?" I interrupted my mom before she defended herself or tried to make herself blameless. "Why have you not cared? What did we do? Why did you have us if you wanted to work?"

Everything was silent for a long time. Occasional movements were heard upstairs from my siblings and three cars passed the house. My dad dropped onto the sofa and ran his hands through his hair. My mom watched him for a while and then shook her head.

"Mom?" my voice cracked and I hated it.

"I never wanted kids," my mom finally spit out. My dad groaned. "I wanted to be a lawyer, it was my dream. I worked so hard in school and college to become one and it was all I ever wanted," she paused, a tear ran down my right cheek and I wiped it away. My heart felt like it was going to explode and not in the same way it did for Jared. I felt like someone was dropping bricks onto my chest, slowly crushing me and blocking my breathing. "It was our deal," she motioned to my dad who was sitting with his head in his hands. "We would put work first, us second. It was the main reason we married. It worked perfectly until about three years after the wedding. Your grandparents…well, they weren't getting any younger and they were begging for grandchildren. My mom mentioned it every time I saw her, she wanted a grandchild."

"So you had me?" I questioned quietly after she stopped talking.

She nodded. "My mom promised she would look after you once I had you. She did, and when I got pregnant with Anna-Marie she looked after her, too," she bit her lip and sighed. "And then when you went to middle school my parents suddenly decided to move to San Francisco. I had no one to look after you and I quit work for a while and decided to become a full-time mom, I even had Mike…but I missed work. It was the only thing I had ever truly wanted to do and I didn't want to give up my dreams. Your grandma agreed to watch over you while I worked and by then by the time she got too old you were fourteen, I just figured you'd all be okay as long as neighbours watched over you and your grandma popped in once in a while."

"I was fourteen," I cried. "I wanted to hang out with friends and complain about school. I didn't want to look after my siblings every night!"

"I just—I never thought it would matter—"

"Of course it mattered! I wanted to be a normal teenager and you made me stay inside and do homework and cook and clean and look after Anna-Marie and Mike. I didn't want that! Did you ever think about us?"

"Of course I did but—"

"Stop making excuses!" I squealed and she clenched her jaw. "You never wanted us and then we just became a burden so you left us to fend for ourselves. How motherly of you."

"Hey, I tried, okay? But I felt like I was drowning when I was here. I never wanted to be a mom or a housewife, I wanted to be a lawyer! It what I was born to do and I wasn't about to give that up for—" she stopped suddenly, slamming her hand over her mouth.

"For us," I finished for her with a cold laugh. "We were second priority in your eyes. I get it now. You resented us for being born, we never had a chance," my eyes swerved to my dad when he sniffled. "And what about you dad?"

"I—I never really thought about it from your point," he admitted sadly. "Being a lawyer was all I ever wanted too…I never meant to put you second," he whispered.

"Oh, so it was a subconscious priority list?" I snorted. "I don't know if that's better or worse."

"Kim—"

"No, I'm sick of listening to you." I stated emotionlessly, spinning on my heels.

"Where are you going?" dad shouted after me but I ignored him, flinging myself into my car and speeding off.

I pulled outside of his house just as the tears began to fall. As I stumbled out the car Jared's front door ripped open and he ran down to grab me. I was sobbing, my whole body wracking with strange noises I had never made before. It was embarrassing that I was basically having a breakdown in front of Jared, but he was also the only person that I wanted to be around. His comfort and warmth outweighed my girly emotions and I fell into his arms, clinging to him as he carried me into the house.

"Kim," Jared said concernedly. "Kim, what's wrong? What happened?"

"T-t-they," I stuttered hysterically. He wiped my tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and told me to take a deep breath. "W-we had a f-fight," I whispered shakily.

He nodded, taking my hand and squeezing.

"M-my mom admitted she didn't r-really want m-me. She s-said I was b-born because of my g-grandparents," I said.

"What?"

"I asked her why she cared more about work than us," I continued after a minute of calming down. "And she said my siblings and I were pressure from my grandparents and that she never really wanted us…that all she really wanted to do was be a lawyer. Basically, we come second to their stupid job," I snapped. "I knew, really. I shouldn't even be crying…but it—it just really hurt."

"It's bound to, Kim. They're you parents."

I shrugged. "It's always been that way. Job before family. I understand that now but when I was younger I always felt so alone, you know? My parents were always at work and I had to look after my siblings. I always felt like I never had anyone to talk to or to help me…that no one cared."

"Kim—"

"I feel stupid," I admitted, wiping my eyes with my sleeves. "We have a nice house and I have my siblings as my family."

"It's not stupid if it's the way you feel, Kim," he soothed. "It would kill me if my parents said something like that."

"I should expect it from them now. I've had sixteen years of it."

"You've got me now," he mumbled after several seconds. "If you ever want to talk to someone, I'll always be here."

I smiled softly and kissed him. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around my waist as best he could in our position. The second his tongue slipped past my lips, my cell phone rang. Cursing lowly, I reached into my back pocket.

"Hello?"

"Kim, Kim?" Anna-Marie said quickly. "Kim, where are you? Mom and dad are having a really bad argument and they won't stop shouting—"

"I'll come home now."

"Okay."

I flipped the phone shut and turned to Jared apologetically. He smirked knowingly and pecking my lips as we stood. I kissed him again at the door, purely for being so cute and sweet, and then raced home. Anna-Marie opened the door as I pulled up and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, guiding her into the house where I could hear my parents screaming at each other in the kitchen.

"Kim." Dad breathed as I stood at the doorway. Mom whipped around to stare at me, her face bright red and lips curled like they always did when she was angry. "Where have you been?"

"Jared's," I replied truthfully.

He scowled but didn't say anything.

"We're sorry we upset you," mom said with a slight twitch. "That wasn't our intention, I swear…but we can't change, Kim. I never meant for you to feel the way you do…but my job—"

"I get it," I nodded, blinking back another onslaught of tears. "I didn't assume different…I've learnt only disappoint comes with you two."

Sighing, I turned and shoved Anna-Marie up the stairs. She walked into my bedroom and sat on my bed as I closed the door.

"What happened?" she whispered, watching me as I went over to my wardrobe and changed into my sweat pants.

"A big fight," I answered, slipping of my baggy sleeping top and throwing it into the laundry basket. She was still watching me when I had pulled on my clean top.

"Tell me."

Nodding, I sat on the end of the bed and told her everything. From how I felt when I was younger to what my parents had said hours before. Anna-Marie broke down in the end, sadly confessing she felt the same way. It only made me feel worse, I had been so caught up in self-pity that I had forgotten my sister and brother could, and did, feel the same way I did.

I hugged her, it was the only thing I could think to do. I comforted her in the way I should have been all along.

My siblings and Jared were my family and we would get through it, together.

Thoughts?

Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter! Sorry for the late update I was so busy writing that I didn't realize it was late!

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-Laylax