It's a long story

"Just shut the hell up will you!"

"Well excuse me 'Miss Thang'but if you don't explain where you've been I'm gonna have to take all them boxes or stations or whatever the hell they are away from you untill you learn to behave yourself!"

"You're not my mummy! I can take care of myself so why don't you stay of my back and get yourself laid or something." Max screamed at me with tears starting to build in her pale eyes.

I slumped down onto the tiny, worn out sofa bed with my face pressed against my sweaty palms. I rubbed my eyes and brushed back my hair before looking Max straight in the eyes "You know that's not fair, Molly." I silently cried in hope that she will feel sorry for me and play nice. I thought it worked due to the pause filled with silence but she was used to this, it didn't work on her anymore.

"You're not the only one with problems you know." she said coldly ignoring the amount of pain and hard work I had put into trying to keep us alive. "And stop calling me that."

I got up with anger bursting through me and I aimed it all at Max. "I wouldn't have problems if it wasn't for you!" I shouted at the top of my lungs; tears full of mascara smearing all over my face; the stench of sweat and garbage made me scrunch my face in disgust while I watched Max grab her school bag and shove her clothes into it messily.

After a long silence of her grabbing stuff at random to pack she finally spoke.

"You know, I never even asked for your help." she said quietly avoiding my stare. She zipped up the bag and started heading for the door. She can't go, she had no where to go.

"Max,  you have nowhere to go." I whispered walking towards her. "We're gonna work things out, everything's gonna be ok." she tried to push me away but I grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down into a hug. "I'm sorry Max. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Everything's gonna be fine. I swear." she was still fighting me off but I kept her pressed against me. "Everything's gonna be fine" I chanted and sobbed over and over until she gave in, she relaxed in my arms and hugged me back. All that was going through my head was that I cannot lose her. She was my little sister and I've prooven that I'll do anything for her to be happy.

I'm not sure how long we just stood there in eachothers arms but it seemed like a while, a long comforting while.

"I'm gonna go now" she said finally,  pushing me away from her and causing me to fall onto the floor.

I couldn't believe what she was saying, she can't leave. Why would she leave? I was about to start protesting in panick before I realised that we weren't alone in our excuse of an apartment.

"You know the drill. Don't pay in cash, then pay in other ways." said the 40 year old landlord. He looked good for his age, and if you didn't know him you wouldhave thought he's a nice man. Really just the scum on the earth if you ask me.

"Max go ask Zoe if you can stay for a while." I said looking at the heartless creature in front of me. He had shoulder length dark blonde hair with gray streaks here and there, an old Hawaiian shirt that fit tightly in order to show off his muscles and sweatpants that did nothing for him but they weren't going to stay on him for much longer anyway.

"I'm afraid Ms. tucker has guests."

"Well, what about-"

"Ms. Dean is also busy. As will you be considering you haven't paid your rent and my friend here is looking for a good time."

Words cannot describe the shock on Max's face when our dad stepped through the door, drunk off his face and the smell of cannabis reaking from meters away.

I know our father is known for sleeping around with whores but I could not resist feeling like the world has gone mad at the fact that this guy expects me to have sexual intercourse with my biological father.

"I'll pay you twice next month."I said suddenly feeling the urge to be busy. I started cleaning up the mess, Max was silently watching from the corner of the room looking lost and scared. Just like the day that she was kicked out of our home

"Jacklyn? Honey-" said the scumbag like he missed me.

"I'll pay you three times as much if you get him out. Now."

"Molly?" his voice turned from a soft to a harsh one making me hate him even more.

"You." our landlord said pointing at my father. "If you know them, get the hell out."

"But-"

"Now or you're gonna regret this."

It all seemed to go buy in a blur, one minute father was all worried about my affairs in such ungodly place and now the landlord is dragging his unconcious body out of the block. For once I felt humanely grateful towards the landlord. He didn't allow for his whores to sleep with people they know. Too risky.

I watched from the top of the stairway as the landlord struggled to get my father out but at the corner of my eye I could see Max; leaning against the door of our neighbour Zoe. The shadows of the basement along with the bright light of the corridor upstairs made Max look incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing. Her now very long dreads spread on her shoulders, chest and back, some of them were clipped back but some escaped and fell around her face perfectly to enhance her best features. She had a wide jaw, lovely cheekbones, lips not too thin not too thick, dark olive skin and gorgeous set of pale gray eyes.

I wasn't gifted with mums eyes, mine were dark brown like dads, my hair was black with loose curls, I had a long face and overall my looks were mediocre compared to Max. Which is one of the reasons why our parents were so dissapointed when they found out she's a lesbian. Their best looking daughter wouldn't have children so they would be stuck with ugly grandkids because of me. Or at least they would if I was fertile.

I skipped down the stairs with a brilliant idea to cheer Max up a little.

"Hey." I said enthusiastically.

"Hey." Max replied, she seemed far from herself. At least more than usual.

"Let's go have some fun." I smiled at her mischievously.

"But Jackie, we're short on cash and you know it." It's true. But Max's joy is much more important to me.

"Enjoy today. We can worry tommorow." Max couldn't hold back a smile from my comment. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to our apartment for a change of clothes and some money.