deviANT

Chapter 2: Not All That It's Cracked up To Be

Chyna woke up to an empty stomach and an even emptier house. She pushed herself out of bed and headed straight towards the shower.

Hair still dripping, Chyna walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and some cereal. "Generic Fruit Loops," she muttered to herself. "My favorite."

She glanced over to the clock. 7:46. Grabbing her bag, she exited the house. "I'm leaving!"

She knew that no happy mother or father would wish her well, and that Cameron was busy at his morning job. She looked at the tiny house that she and her brother called their home for the past year. She never thought Cameron would have to take care of her, she had always pictured it would be the other way around. None the less, she was really grateful for his help. It was hard, with their father passing away and their mother… well; no one knows what happened to her.

Cameron used his college funds to get them a house of their own, the old one having too many memories to be called a 'happy home.' So, they packed up their essentials and sold the rest. Chyna didn't want to, she argued that the sentimental feeling behind the possessions made them important, where as Cameron said food that we can digest was more so, and either way they were going to be sold.

"You have the memories, cherish those." That's what he said the first night after the move, when he comforted his young sister whose heart was breaking all over again.

She had Fletcher and Cameron, and wished she still had Olive. But Olive said some things that Chyna couldn't forgive or forget. Sitting on the city bus, Chyna mulled about these things, and couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if her father was still alive.

~C~O~F~

"Olive? Olive, baby, go get Mommy a wet cloth for her eyes. This headache is killing me."

Olive went into the kitchen, snatched a rag and turned on the water.

"Quietly! Gat dammit Olive, I told you this headache was murderous, don't make me yell!"

Tip toeing into the living room, Olive placed the damp cloth over her mother's face, lying down on a couch. "Sorry."

Amanda sighed. "It's not your fault baby. If that God damned man didn't make me drink every night, we wouldn't be in this position."

"I don't make you do anything, you do it to yourself." Olive's father walked in, fixing his tie.

"You look nice," Amanda said. "Where are you going? You're going to meet one of your whores, aren't you!"

"No," he said. "I'm going to work. My boss is coming tonight for dinner. We are going to show him we're a happy family. Do you understand, Amanda?"

"What!" Amanda sat up, hangover forgotten. "I have nothing to make! What do you expect me to do?"

Reaching into his wallet, he took out a couple of hundreds. "Point is taken. Stock up on food, we're running low on the stuff."

Olive watched this go on in awe. It amazed her how they could forget about her sitting in the corner.

"And Olive," he said carefully. "You may not want to eat dinner. You're getting a little pudgy." He exited the room. "Oh," he said carelessly. "Try to look pretty, not like sluts. That goes for the both of you." And the door shut quietly.

His voice lingered in the living room, and Olive ran to the bathroom.

"Olive, baby! It's not true!" Amanda called after her daughter. Hearing the door slam and her daughter retch, she sat down with a heavy heart. "Happy family my ass."

~C~O~F~

Chyna sat on the bus, being use to this routine by now. She'd catch her bus, do whatever homework she didn't finish the night before on the bus, ignore the pervert who sat next to her. Same old same old. So when a blonde girl came onto the bus, she paid her no attention. When the blonde girl had a troubled look on her face, Chyna paid her no heed. When the blonde girl fell into her lap because she wasn't seated when the bus moved, she did look up. And what she saw were blue-grey eyes, holding so much fear and knowledge in them.

"O-Olive?"

A/N: Thanks for reading, this gives you a deeper look into Olive and Chyna's daily life, where as the first chapter you were only given a quick look through a window. Hope you enjoyed it, and tell your friends about this story!