"can you see right through me?"
rain perez, a social media star tired of creating a false reality online for her followers and wanting to branch out. when rebecca welton offers her the job as afc richmond's head of social media, she takes the opport...
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rain tried to keep her lives separate but when her little sister told her that she needed out of her parents home, she had to open her own to her.
skye perez never had the same parents as rain. sure, they were biologically full sisters, but their parents were not the same. with skye, they were patient and kind and they praised and loved her no matter what. but they hated rain and they made it clear that the woman was their biggest disappointment. she would never be skye, and she was the reason autumn perez had died.
autumn. their older sister. her parents really stuck to a theme when they named their three daughters. rain hated how the themed names humanised her mum and dad, it softened what they really were. it was funny and strange to name them that way, so they must be funny and strange too. they could never treat a child the way they treated rain.
but they did. they always favoured autumn and skye and rain hated that she knew why.
autumn was smart and kind and had her whole future ahead of her. she was brilliant. she was going to be a doctor or a lawyer or some other difficult job that rain would never have been able to do.
according to arizona and miguel, she was the reason they had lost their eldest daughter, after all, why couldn't rain see that autumn was struggling. why didn't she stop her? why didn't she help her? or tell someone?
rain was to blame and anything she said would never convince them otherwise. it was why she ran and it was why she ended up where she did. it had been bad before, but autumn's death pushed them over the edge.
and although they were nice enough to skye, she had had enough. she couldn't stay in that house where they did everything they could to immortalise autumn and make it known that to them, rain didn't exist.
so, she turned seventeen and she left. and when she moved in with rain it started a whole process of trying to get custody. skye was still a minor in the eyes of the law and thus needed to be with her parents.
so, the football off-season was really just court dates for rain. she kept it out of the press as much as she could, only occasional images of her with her sister surfacing. other than that, rain was pretty mia to the team and friends.
it was exhausting. and skye was staying with rain while the court trials went on. the preliminary trial ruled in rain's favour. so, she had temporary custody. skye had never been more grateful for her sister than when the judge said she could stay with her. she was willing to look after her after everything.
---
skye and rain quickly fell into routine. rain would work from home because there was no reason to be in the office when no one else was there and skye would catch up on school work she had missed before she joined a new school that rain had sorted out.
and then when they were both home they would watch lust conquers all and would laugh about the fact that jamie tartt was one of the contestants.
"i can't believe you know him," skye would say every time he did something stupid.
rain would always come back with something about how he wasn't as bad when she knew him.
except he definitely was. she couldn't deny that.
but seeing him on some off-brand love island really helped give her the ick and it helped her to forget when she got butterflies every time he messaged her. or when she couldn't help but smile at a stupid picture he sent.
---
rebecca and keeley had barely seen rain all off-season. she'd met them for coffee or lunch but nothing really past that and when they did she just let them talk about their lives and she avoided saying much about her own.
she didn't want to tell them about the court trials but she knew it would take at least six months to get full custody. so she had to let them know before. and there was no time like the present, when they invited her out for brunch and skye was not doing anything either.
(plus she begged her to let her go with them).
rain took a deep breath, seeing keeley and rebecca already seated. she walked over, greeting them quickly, skye stood behind her.
"this is skye, my sister."
both women seemed shocked. rain had never mentioned her sister or that her sister was in richmond.
"i didn't know you had a sister," keeley exclaimed. "it's so good to meet you, i'm keeley."
"skye," she greeted, letting the woman hug her.
"how old are you?" she asked.
"seventeen."
rebecca introduced herself next, shaking skye's hand, "where are you- i mean-where is she..."
"where is she living?" rain finished as she took a seat. skye sat next to her. "with me. that's why i haven't been around."
"what do you mean?" keeley asked.
rain said nothing as a waiter approached them, asking what they wanted to drink. she waited until they were out of earshot before she continued.
"we had a preliminary trial and i have temporary custody and we'll be going to court over the next few months, probably longer to get permanent custody or until she turns eighteen. whichever comes first."
"why the fuck did you not tell us?" rebecca exclaimed. "for fuck sake rain. you tell us about your shitty parents and your shitty ex but you won't let us support you through fucking court?"
"i didn't want to drag you guys into it-"
"but rain's a fucking awesome sister and isn't giving up," skye interrupted.
rain smiled. she was glad her sister thought so highly of her but it did nothing to help calm her nerves when it came to whether she could live up to all those expectations of her or not.
"so, she's living with you now?" keeley questioned after rebecca's outburst, wanting to calm the situation.
"yeah."
keeley nodded, "that's really nice of you, rain. also makes me feel better. i thought you hated us or something after everything."
rain shook her head, "no. how could i ever hate my hot as fuck best friends?"
"should you really be talking like this in front of your little sister?" keeyley asked, suddenly remembering the girl wasn't even an adult yet.
skye shrugged, "i'm seventeen, not seven. i've heard worse. i've said worse."
