house of the rising sun

[Deleted]

A scream echoed through the blond's lips as soon as she stepped inside. Today had been the worst day of her life! And that night, she was going to be getting some payback. She was going to dump the bastard! She couldn't believe that all this time, he was hiding out from her--the head cheerleader! And if that wasn't bad enough, he cheated on her! He didn't give a damn, either! "I hate men!" she yelled to anyone who was home. True, she lived with enough of them, but that didn't change how she felt about them.

"I hate them!" she yelled once more as she went into the room she was sharing with the other girls. Jenny, Tracy, Alexis, that other girl she barely talked to--none of them were even there. Which was just fine with her. She grabbed the trash can from the bathroom and pulled out all of her pictures she had of herself and Ali. She wasn't going to cry. She was firm about that. No, instead she was going to keep busy. She piled all of the pictures on the floor--why the hell had she taken so many? One by one, she ripped them and tossed them in the trash can. On her bed, she set down the box of matches. She was going to burn the asshole out of her life! She was so focused on this she didn't even notice anyone else was in the apartment with her

[Dalton Stone]

Because there was nothing better to do, he let Titanic lull him to sleep. It was playing on TV—all day, because the movie was too long not to run for hours and hours. Dalton didn't know when he dozed off, but he had, and comfortably nestled against the pillow under his head. The apartment was always quiet that time of day. And Dalton didn't feel compelled to leave or go anywhere (where he was he going to go?). He was comfortable there. He'd dozed off pretty deep by the time Augusta came in screaming and when she did, it stirred him, caused him to sit up, but being too close to the edge, Dalton wound up falling right off the couch with a loud thud, knocking his shoulder into the coffee table and preceding to cause a glass to fall, dumping over his shirt. "Noo," he groaned and tilted his head back against the floor, closing his eyes. It was more of a pout than anything, and if someone had been in the room, it would've been downright humiliation. Quickly, he gathered up the glass and himself and found a towel to wipe the floor before racing to his room to change his shirt from the sticky soda on it. He could hear Augusta yelling and blinked a little. When he was dry and clean, he finally rubbed his shoulder. It still hurt.

Finally, he quietly made his way to Augusta's room, not too sure if he should go in there or not. She was really yelling out her hatred towards men and he didn't want to get in the way of that or have her yell at him. But, instead, he peeked in through the door and watched her for a moment. It was when he saw her take out the matches that he lifted his eyebrows. Instead of voicing that he thought that wasn't the best of ideas, he decided to take a different approach. "You all right?" He asked gently and it was obvious that she wasn't. He thought it was a stupid question, but it was an important question, right? Maybe he should have asked what was the matter. But, then there was a chance she wouldn't want to tell him anyway and he wouldn't blame her if that was the case. Dalton still wasn't sure where exactly he fit in with the family anymore. Things were still fuzzy and he was adjusting. He knew he couldn't just walk right back into his old life and expect it to be the exact same. He couldn't change that the last few years had happened and that he hadn't been with his family in that long. But, they were still the same family and he still loved them and felt close, regardless of what happened.

[Deleted]

"Stupid, inconsiderate jackass!" she yelled in return, ripping a picture in not two, but six or seven pieces as she let it fall. "He cheated on me! And not just cheated! Cause I can deal with cheating! I can just remind him what kind of girl he got! But he-he dropped me! He forgot that we were dating I guess! Because he just ignored me and then he had to sleep with that piece of worthless trash Summer Santos! Summer! God, the bitch has no heart! And you know what? He asked her to the dance! And he flirted with her and walked her to class right in front of me!" Her voice never faltered; she yelled it out and finally took off the bracelet he had given her and threw it with a scream.

It was then that the blond noticed who she was venting to. Dalton. It would have been fine if he hadn't been through so much. But he had been missing for five years. Five years. That was a long time. The teenager looked at her brother and sighed, forcing herself to calm down. "Sorry" she muttered. "You probably think this is stupid, huh?" She swallowed and looked down, arms folding across her stomach. Then, instead of waiting for an answer, she bit her lip, muttered a second apology, and went in the kitchen to dive into the ice cream. They better have ice cream, anyways. She needed comfort food now

[Dalton Stone]

Dalton didn't think that it was his limited social contact that made it difficult to know what to say in that situation. Actually, it was easier blamed on being a teenage boy that had never been heartbroken or even had a relationship. He was quiet as he watched, wondering if he should open up and say something. But, he didn't at first. Instead, he folded his arms and watched. He got a good idea on what had happened just through her rant to herself. It was when he was addressed that he shook his head. It didn't look stupid. He didn't know quite what to say, but it wasn't stupid. "Not really," he said in a way that he hoped was reassuring. Before he could say anything else, she had started to walk away and he followed her out into the kitchen.

He didn't know if she wanted him to follow. Maybe she just wanted him to go away. But, Dalton followed anyway. "You know, you deserve better than him anyway. He sounds like worse trash than the girl." He didn't even think she wanted his opinion, but there it was. He loved his sister. Dalton always had. Even when he was away, he never forgot that he cared about his siblings. He loved his entire family and he remembered the times when they were all together. He remembered having fun, he remembered fighting, and he remembered everything that went into the sibling relationship. But, that had all changed when he was taken from Toronto. But, he tried to find that dynamic again. He wanted things to be normal, without the preoccupation on where he had been the last five years. So why shouldn't he comment on crazy relationship drama? It felt appropriate, and that's what brothers should do. At least, that is what Dalton felt like a Dalton should do.

[Deleted]

Augusta scoffed at the frozen yogurt and tofu crap that they had. She slammed the freezer door closed and looked at him. "But Dalton, he was my chance to be normal. You know I'm not. Dustin turned me into a freak. I was never supposed to like pain that much" she swallowed and looked down. "Ali was supposed to be the normal boy who loved me. But I was just kidding myself. I'm not even worth being broken up with before he just moves on." Her voice broke as she spoke, looking at her brother. She sighed and bit her lip.

"Wanna go to the Dot? I need ice cream. Ice cream and-and pizza" she said, folding her arms. "Unless you want to stay here. But--I really want you to go with me." Her eyes brimmed with tears. The blond flipped her hair and forced them back. She wasn't gonna cry over him. She focused on her brother instead. They hadn't really had a chance to hang out since he was brought back. It had been awkward. But now she had a chance at being a good sister, even if she wasn't worth doing anything else.

[Dalton Stone]

Dalton looked at her sympathetically. He wasn't sure what to say, honestly. What did someone say to that? He didn't think his sister was a freak, not for any choices that she made. He didn't know much about her past relationships and so he didn't quite understand, but from the pain they caused, he didn't want to dwell on it or latch on and ask her for all the details. If she wanted to tell him, he would listen. He was always there for that. But, when she mentioned how he was her one shot, he shook his head. A boy that treated her like that couldn't be normal. He was no expert on normal, but he understood that. "Then make his... not normal. Ruin it." It sounded vengeful and Dalton didn't really address that he had that in him. Sometimes, he felt that way, but rarely when the wrong was against him. He tended to think he deserved things that came his way. But, hearing that someone hurt his sister, the only right thing to do was to get him back.

He didn't leave often. But, when she mentioned it, he looked back to the door and back to her before nodding. "Ice cream and pizza? That sounds fun." He smiled a little. Things had been awkward lately, since he got back. But he didn't want it to be like that. He wanted to hang out with his sister and she was upset and he hoped maybe he could change that a little. He didn't want her to feel that way. And he really missed being a part of a family. He never stopped caring. Never.

[Deleted]

Ruin it. Well, that was the plan. At least, ruining Summer was the plan. Augusta already had quite a bit in mind for the girl. She went quiet as she grabbed her jacket and keys. She opened the front door and left the apartment, looking at her brother. "Well, I already have one thing planned. But it's nothing big. Just a break-up cheer in front of the entire student body tonight" She fumbled with the keys before looking back at him. "But....you wanna help me? I'm not too sure the break-up will be enough, especially since Summer will be there to make him feel better."

Revenge sounded really nice. And sure, if their parents found out, they would probably be in trouble. But Augusta really didn't care. Dalton was the only one besides her father that really listened to her. Nobody else seemed to even care what she felt. And Ali was one of them. And damn it, he should have cared! He was her boyfriend! What he did was just unforgivable. And she would be more than happy to make him play the martyr. Especially with her brother at her side.

[Dalton Stone]

"Then you probably have to do something to her too, so they'll both be in bad shape." Dalton really wasn't sure what. But, if they hurt his sister, then they deserved it, right? It wasn't as if they had any compassion about how she felt. And if it came to family, he would have done anything for them. It didn't change just because he hadn't been there for so long. He still cared about all of them, honestly. And although he hadn't been quite the same since he got back, he was still trying to be a part of the family again. He wanted to slip back in like nothing had ever happened. Sure, that was a jump from what was really possible, but he could still try.

"I'll help though." He assured as he climbed into the car. He would do whatever he could to help. Honestly, he wasn't sure how far it would get. But, really she didn't deserve to be treated like that. He guessed it was an example of how cruel high school could be, but that didn't make it fair in the least bit.

[Deleted]

Augusta smiled a little, listening to him. God, who knew that he had a vindictive streak to him? She didn't. But, she wasn't going to say anything bad about it. She liked it. She didn't know how or when he got it. It could have been his kidnappers; he could have spent time thinking about how to exact revenge on them for taking him. After all, it was something she had done plenty of times after he was taken. Augusta had been young when she lost her brother; she was only eleven at the time. But, she remembered it quite well. She had been part of the search party. She would even sneak out of the house and went to all of the places he loved going to, yelling out his name. Even when the search party ended, she never stopped. She had sent in Dalton's picture once a month to those companies that posted the "HAVE YOU SEEN ME" posters. Even as she got older, she still did it. She had never given up on it, right up until the month that he came home.

And of course, the young girl thought about the people that might have had her brother. And every time she thought of them, she planned out a hypothetical act of vengeance. When she was eleven, she wanted to egg and t-p their house. As she got older, of course, it got more serious. Even now, she thought that crashing a car into their house seemed appropriate. After all, they had taken her brother from her. She had always known that was what happened. She knew he would never run away. And even though he was back home, she still thought about hunting them down and doing...something. But, she couldn't. So instead, she focused on what she could control.

"Come on, you," she reached over, ruffling his hair. And for the first time, she didn't feel that awkwardness between them. And she was relieved. Because, it meant that they could be normal brother and sister again. She grabbed the keys to the car that Max had told them that they could use whenever they wanted. Though, as she left the house, she wasn't so sure she wanted to go to the Dot anymore. Oh, they were going somewhere. Augusta intended to spend some quality time with her brother, and talk. Because, it felt good to be able to just talk. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, wearing her cheer uniform. Scoffing, she said "I'm done after tonight. I don't care if I'm the head of the Spirit Squad. Marissa can take over." And she meant it. It was no empty threat. She really was quitting.