Welcome to Law School 101

1. Hi, hello. Mental hospital?

" A good friend knows all of your stories. A best friend helped you write them. "

Song ~ Tik Tok by Ke$ha

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83, Miller Avenue

Blue.

Blue, I finally decide. But pink? And yellow? I couldn't call a war on the other colours!

Oh for the sake of all things funny!

Green. I fish through the bowl in front of me, trying to find a green coloured Froot Loop.

That's when I spot a woman a few feet ahead of me wearing a maroon sweater and jeans. Unconsciously, I find myself studying her. Dark, almost black hair and hazel green eyes -she would've been pretty if not for the infernal frown that was stuck to her goddamn face.

"Hello mother," I chirp happily at the figure retreating down the stairs. I lift my fingers in a mock salute. My mom looks at me with an expression that clearly means how much she loves me.

A glare and a deeper frown.

Aah, family love!

I currently sit in her kitchen, contentedly finishing my colourful pieces of happiness called Froot Loops. My mom arches a grudgingly perfect eyebrow as she stops in front of me, her arms crossed. "When is she coming?" She inquires, indirectly asking when I get the hell out of her house.

"She has a name, mother. It's Scarlett. And in ten minutes." I retort and move to place my empty bowl in the sink. I glance at the fluffy bags near the sofa and mentally sigh. I forgot to bring one down.

Yay! More stairs-climbing for me! Sarcasm. That was sarcasm.

"Thea, I-" She starts in a convincingly low voice, but I did live with her for seventeen years. Funny how much you suddenly start to pick up once you come to face the truth. Even funnier was how things could change in just a year.

Deep down, I couldn't give my mom the chance that she silently seemed to ask me for. I had given her many-too many- chances in the past and she'd turn them all down. Léana probably kept me around in case she needed a kidney or something.

Anger lurches in me and I clench my fists. "Save it," I snap. "Just because I'm leaving, doesn't mean that you have to put up a show. We both know you can live just fine with another member leaving. So, do me a favour, and cut the crap."

I whirl around and begin up the stairs but not without glancing at my mother for barely a moment. She was looking at me, but not really. Her mind was miles away. And for some reason that made my gut squirm, she had a ghost of a triumphant smile on her lips.

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I look around my room, trying to memorize it before leaving it forever. I stride over to near my bed on which a box sits. As ordinary as this box might've seemed, it gave my life a purpose.

I gently open it, as if it were a fragile piece of glass. And it was. The final and only thing tethering me to my sanity.

Spotting a frame, I pull it out. It was a picture having two goofy children in their swimsuits grinning up to the camera; all wet and covered in sand from head to toe.

Even when they stood together, you wouldn't have been able to tell that they were twins. A brunette with green eyes and another with black hair and grey eyes.

They looked so carefree, I could almost laugh at the irony.

I still remember that day.

I had refused to go into the ocean, claiming that the creatures underneath would eat me. When James questioned the existence of said 'creatures', I had scoffed at him. And stuck out my tongue. I was quite mature, I tell you.