Until We Meet Again // H.S. AU

II. The Smiths

(song: kidnap me by cruisr)

I continue cleaning the small dresser in my small bedroom, getting rid of any spec of dust I find. The Smiths demand each room in this house to be clean and always presentable in case guests showed up, which was unlikely since they didn't have friends, nor family living in the same country as them. But they wanted the house to be nice anyway.

"Florence! Come here!" My 'father', Alec Smith, called.

"I told you to stop calling me that! Call me Ren!" I shout back as I make my way to the kitchen. I hate my name. Florence Theresa Smith. My first name is so strange, it doesn't fit my personality. Florence is meant to be the name of a pretty, posh, rich person, not the name of an average, poor, strange girl. Theresa is just another name that doesn't work for me. And Smith, I hate that last name. It's so lame and boring, and I hate associating myself with this family. So I tell people to call me Ren as it's the only decent nickname I can come up with for Florence. It's simple. I like it.

"Don't you dare use that tone with me you ungrateful child, we gave up everything just to adopt you and you return the favor by yelling at your parents?!" He grabbed the ends of my hair and yanked it above my head, making me wince in pain.

"What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"Sorry," I mutter.

"What was that?" He pulled harder.

"I'm sorry for using that tone toward you and I won't do it again," I say with a little more confidence and he releases his grip on my hair.

"Good. Have you finished cleaning your room?"

"Almost."

"Go finish. And clean the living room when you're done, the TV's starting to collect dust." He shoves me toward the hall and I continue cleaning my room as I was previously. I already cleaned the living room yesterday, I refrain myself from adding because I don't want to get hit again. He would just get mad because I did a terrible job cleaning and I talked back to him for it. I just obeyed his orders and cleaned the house.

Mr. Smith wasn't always like this. The first day when he and his wife--Marie Smith--adopted me, they were both really nice. Friendly and welcoming like parents should be. The first couple years that I was with them were decent too. They were kind, never yelled, but sometimes they got frustrated with me when I would do things like go outside and climb trees with strangers, or go to my neighbor's house to sing karaoke without their permission. Then when I was around seven they actually yelled at me for the first time. I was outside with my neighbor, Chelsea, and we were running back and forth across the street in opposite directions. We never looked to see if cars were there, that was the whole point in the game. Run and try not to get killed. I came up with the idea since I thought it would be pretty interesting and cool. But my parents, on the other hand, thought it was a horrific idea and got really mad at me for making it up. Things started to change after that.

They started yelling more and punishing me, but when Alec lost his job is when things got really bad. He came home and started hitting, not his wife, but me. I was only twelve when he came home one night, looking tired and angry. I didn't notice that at first so as I did everyday, I ran up and gave him a hug. Let's just say he wasn't as happy to see me. He pushed me off of him and I fell on the floor on my butt, tears already welling up in my eyes.

"Oh stop crying you big baby! We don't always get what we want in life now do we?" He grabbed my arm and lifted me off the floor and pushed me out of the kitchen, warning me that he better not see me again for the rest of the night or he would do worse than just push me. I sat in my room the whole night crying; I never expected him of all people to look at and talk to me with such disgust and anger.

Ever since then nothing has ever been the same, even though he got a new job. But it didn't pay as good so Mrs. Smith had to work overtime at the office. She resented me for that even though it wasn't my fault, and she always took Mr. Smith's side for everything he did that was against me. So for the past six years, it's been me against them. Which is why when I was sixteen, I got my first job so I wouldn't have to rely on the Smiths for everything anymore.

I work at the local music store, Good Tunes, and it's everything I ever wanted in a job. All I do everyday is sit behind a counter and listen to music, or I help customers find what they're looking for, and sometimes I rearrange all the CDs and records if people disorganized them. It's a great job honestly. It's perfect for me. And my boss--who's also come to be my best friend over the last couple years--Steve, knows that my parents aren't that wealthy and that I'm not very fond of staying at home, and always pays me a little more than he's supposed to on payday since I stay past the time my shift requires me to anyway. To me, he's almost like a great older brother I've never had.

*****

+ hellooo. sorry this chapter was kinda boring, I just wanted to introduce the smiths and give you a little more info and everything about ren

what do you think of the smiths?

next chapter will have stuff actually happening, so keep reading!

keep voting and don't forget to comment, I would love to hear your opinions! xxx