In A Perfect World

Chapter Two

My aunt hated me. It was an easy fact to accept - I'd known it for a very long time - but what wasn't easy to accept was how it affected the time I'd get to spend with my little sister. And it's not that my aunt just hated me, but she hated everything about me and anything I'd associate with. According to her, I was a bad influence. A druggo, a drunkie, a slut. All of those words she'd used around my eleven-year-old sister and all of them were very much untrue.

She'd adopted my little sister as soon as I turned eighteen. Apparently adoption agencies tended to keep siblings together, which was exactly what Cassie and I had always wanted. But unfortunately that rule didn't apply when I turned eighteen and become a legal adult. Legally, I could live by myself. I could get a job, pay my own bills, put food on my own table, and find ways to get myself around. Which was exactly what happened. On my eighteenth birthday my mother's sister adopted Cassie and sent me off to an apartment she'd bought for cheap. I'd have to pay her back, obviously. And I did.

Over three years later, my aunt's words still resinated in my mind. I could still hear them as clear as day. "I was never designed to be a mom, let alone a mother of two. One's good enough for me."

I rung the same doorbell I'd been ringing nearly every day for the past three years, feeling ridiculous. I shouldn't have to act like a guest in a house full of my own family, but they were the rules; if I wanted to see Cassie, I had to let them know I was there. I let out a warm breath of air as I felt a drop of sweat drip down my bare neck. God, she was stupid. Just let me in-fucking-side al-

The door flung open, revealing my Aunt Marie. Her thin, short fingers were wrapped around a beer bottle dripping from condensation and for a moment, a very brief moment, I almost asked for one. But then I remembered Cassie was in the house and shouldn't be watching both her older sister and her aunt drink. I met my aunt's hazel-brown eyes firmly, the way I'd always looked at her, and forced a smile. "Hey, Aunt Marie. How's it going?"

Marie's face remained unchanging as she took a step back, allowing a space for me to walk through. I grinned, feeling my heart flutter at the thought of seeing Cassie, and walked straight inside. "Viviana," my aunt called out to me, her voice razor sharp. I paused, turning away from the already set-up dinner table and faced her. Her thick, dark brows that matched her chocolate brown waves of hair were pushed together in annoyance. "Boots off at the door, remember?"

Oh yeah I remembered, I just didn't care. But since I didn't want to cause an argument in the house, I decided to obey her rules. Marie gave a short sigh as I began unlacing my boots, slowly and methodically, and disappeared into the kitchen.

Rolling my eyes, I dumped my boots by the door and began trudging up the staircase to my sister's bedroom. I hated this house. It was absolutely massive compared to my loft of an apartment; three bedroom house, two stories, and all complete with two living rooms and an entertainment room. My aunt had been unmarried without children and worked full time for most of her life until she had Cassie, so I guess she'd saved up quite a bit of money. But I knew her too well to know that most of it didn't go to Cassie. It went to necessities, sure, but it also went towards things like expensive wines and jewellery.

"Hey, Cass," I called out from the hallway, knowing better than to sneak up on her by barging through her bedroom. She hated that. She liked to predict things, to know when people were and weren't around her. My aunt called it being scared easily, but I called it trust issues.

From the end of the hall I saw her pink door be yanked open and her little blonde head pop around the corner. "Viv!" she shouted gleefully, so loud and so joyful that I felt my heart soar into the skies and through the clouds. God, I loved this kid. I couldn't help but sprint down the hallway and meet her halfway, bringing her into my arms and spinning her around. Cass giggled into my shoulder as I did so and continued giggling even when I settled her back down.