New In Town

"What- um, wh-what are you doing here?" I stuttered when Andrea pulled away. I tried to cover my discomfort and loathing with a smile but it was so fake it just looked like a grimace.

"Nothing. She was just leaving." Dan said curtly before roughly grabbing his mother's upper arm. She merely glared at him before pulling herself free.

"Daniel, stop it. Can't you see you're scaring the poor girl. And with guests too!" She approached Oliver and stuck her hand out for him to shake. "Hello honey, I'm Andrea, Vivienne's step-mother."

"Uh, I'm Oliver." He said as he awkwardly shook her hand.

"Why, aren't you handsome! I tell you, if I was a twenty years younger-"

"Thank you, mum!" Dan interrupted, moving inbetween the two of them "Thanks for bringing Viv back safely, maybe you should go now. We have a couple of family issues to sort out. Bye!" He finished, pushing Oli out of the flat and slamming the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked after watching Oli leave. Andrea opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by her son.

"Nothing, she was just leaving."

"Leaving? To go where? I was just telling you Daniel, I don't have anywhere to go." She turned towards me before continuing "Before you arrived, I was in the middle of asking Daniel if I could possibly stay in your lovely apartment for a couple of days. You wouldn't want your mother sleeping on the streets now, would you Daniel?"

"I wouldn't care, less if you became a hobo and starved to death in your own fucking self-loathing and despair." I turned to look at Dan with a completely shocked expression. Andrea looked like she was on the verge of tears... or on the verge of strangling her son, the tears were probably just for show, for pity.

"Dan-"

"Daniel, honey! You don't mean that!" Ok, that was definitely fake.

"Cut the crap, mum." She simply huffed in response, keeping a glare firmly on my step-brother.

"Maybe you should both calm down." I suggested earning a couple of disbelieving stares. "Ok, I'm shutting up now." I mumbled, looking away from the pair .

"You can't stay." He said turning back to look at Andrea.

"Why not?!"

"Payback." Dan replied calmly, in contrast to his mother who was completely enraged.

"Pay- what? What the hell are you on about?!"

"Payback is when a person takes karma into their own hands." He said in a very patronising tone.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me! Payback for what?" Danny inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times, obviously trying to calm himself and hold back the tears threatening to fall.

"You don't know? You really don't know?! You stupid, selfish, forgetful, narcissistic old hag! Get the fuck out of my house!" The respiration exercises didn't work.

"You call this a house? It's more like a hovel! I bet you can't even afford to pay the rent. You're not fit to look after her!" She screamed pointing at me causing me to flinch.

"Yeah? Well I'm doing a better fucking job than you or that, that-"

"Danny," I warned in a shaky voice.

"How can you defend-" He stopped himself before he went too far and started to breathe deeply again before violently grabbing his mother's arm and pushing her into the hallway.

"Is that what you've been so secretive about?" I asked as soon a Danny had slammed the door after his mother.

"... Yes..." He hesitated with his answer.

"Why do you keep lying to me? You're not very good at it." I asked, frustration evident in my voice. He sighed, rubbing his face roughly.

"It's for your own good and safety, Viv. Please trust me on this." Dan pleaded removing his hands and looking me in the eye. Even though what he had just said made me curious and slightly scared to some extent, I gave in.

I sighed in defeat before answering with an unenthusiastic 'fine'. Before I knew it, my step-brother had rapped his arms around me, engulfing me in a tight hug.

"Thank you," He whispered in my ear before freeing me and going to the kitchen. " What do you want for dinner? Pasta sound alright?"

"Sure, sounds great." I replied monotonously while rubbing the tiredness from my eyes.

[XxX]

Getting out of bed the next morning wasn't the easiest thing in the world, in fact, I'm not sure how I did it but I did. "Morning," Dan said taking a sip from his mug of coffee.

"Yeah..."

"Wow, someone didn't get any sleep last night." He said smirking. I sneered at him before finishing his coffee.

"Hey!" He exclaimed causing me to smirk before leaving. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I screamed in surprise at the person sitting on the floor in the hallway.

"Hey baby. Sorry, did I scare you?" Andrea asked slowly standing.

"Yes! What are you still doing here?"

"I told you and Daniel yesterday, I don't have anywhere else to go." I sighed before opening the door again and sticking my head through the gap.

"Dan! Your mu-Andrea's outside." I corrected myself after remembering what he had said last night... he no longer considered her as his mother. I heard a growl but didn't bother to stay for the fight. Sitting on the bus, I couldn't help but think about everything that had happened since moving, it was making my head hurt.

I was awoken from my day-dreaming by a sudden presence beside me. I looked away from the window to a girl in a rather revealing outfit, make-up smudged and mascara running down her face from crying.

"What the hell are you looking at?!" She screamed, earning a few glares, when she caught me staring. I raised an eyebrow emotionlessly causing her sobbing to worsen.

"What's wrong?"

"None of your fucking business!" More glares.

"It can't be that bad." She stared at me incredulously.

"What the hell do you know?" She asked her voice raising an octave.

"I know that if a person had it that bad, they wouldn't show it to the whole world, they'd know how to cover it up."

She stopped sobbing but the tears kept falling. "You don't know the half of it." She stated viciously "People who don't show their pain are people who have given up, who are insecure and think sharing their problems will show weakness that the world will use against them."

I just stared at her in shock. 'What the fuck?!' "Shock. That's the first thing I've seen on that blank canvas you call a face."

"Who don't know anything about it." I said trying to remain composed.

She started laughing but there was nothing funny about it. It so bitter. "Well, it seems the tables have turned."

"I guess so. If you'll excuse, this is my stop." I said before getting up. I was about to leave when the girl who was sitting next to me grabbed me making me yelp in surprise.

"What are you do-" I stopped when I saw her worried expression.

"W-where are y- Where are you going?" She stuttered, panic seeping into her voice.

"School." I replied obviously.

"C-c-can I come with y-you?" I sighed contemplating what would happen if I brought a barely dressed, sobbing girl into class. I think I would very much enjoy the look on Mr. Keller, the history teacher's face.

"I don't kn- Why are you shivering?"

"I-I'm cold." She said rubbing her arms. I sighed before shrugging off my coat and passing it to her. She smiled and thanked me as she put the coat on.

"I don't think taking you into school would be the best idea, most people don't like me as it is already." I told her biting my lip nervously.

"Fine! Alright! You win, I'll take you to the nurse's but then I can't help you." I gave up seeing her puppy dog expression. She started squealing in happiness and hugged me before taking my hand and dragging me off the bus just as it was about to leave.

"Thank you so much! Nobody has ever been this nice to me!" She yelled running, and still dragging me, into the building.

"I'm not surprised if you act like this ever time someone is nice to you." I grumbled, narrowly avoiding an open locker door.

"Haha," She said sarcastically, coming to a halt suddenly causing me to crash into her.

"Uh, hi. Viv? Who's this?" Oli asked looking Zhora up and down. 'Shit, I still don't even know her name.' Well anyway I don't like the way he was looking at her, like she was some sort of crap on the bottom his shoe. Mind you, half the people in this place were looking at her like that.

"Oh, I'm Zhora! Pleased to meet you!" She stuck her hand out to shake, oblivious to Oliver's attitude towards her... or just not caring about it.

"Viv, can I talk to you for a minute?" Zhora frowned when he didn't shake her outstretched hand.

"Yeah, in a minute." I said grabbing hold of Zhora's wrist. I started to walk towards the nurse's office but an arm stretched in front of me, pushing against the locker next me making it hard to get away.

"No, now." He said in a firm voice. I pushed his arm away.

"In. A. Minute." I hissed before leaving. "Zhora? What kind of name is that?" I asked joking.

She smirked slightly "Don't ask." I smiled back and took her to the nurse.