George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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Nick sat on the hood of her car, rhythmically tapping her foot along to a Queen song that had been stuck in her head all day long. She'd plucked the note from under her windscreen wiper and sat reading it, humming to herself. She shrugged and nodded once she'd read the note.
George was going to Mike's. At least this time she knew where he was. She hopped off the hood of her car just in time to see Nancy and Barb walking up the path towards her. Nick knew who Nancy was, she'd seen her a couple times with Mike and a few times around school but they hadn't talked. Nick didn't talk to people. Nancy puzzled her. She didn't seem like the kind of person Steve, Tommy and Carol where. She seemed...nice.
"Come on, Barb." Nancy chided, "I don't want to go on my own. Besides, a party at Steve's sounds kind of fun."
"I don't know, Nance..." Barb whined. She folded her arms around herself, hugging her textbooks to her chest and swaying side to side slightly. Barb's face was twisted in a nervous grimace and hooded eyes, the very definition of conflicted.
"I don't want to go without you. You're my best friend, Barb. I want to go and I want to go with you." Nancy stressed, looking at her intently, imploring her for an answer.
"I don't- What do I tell my parents? It's a Tuesday. They'll never let me out on a school night. No, they never let me out, period." Barb argued but Nancy was having none of it. She kept staring at Barb firmly until she hung her head and whined: "Fine. Fine but I'm blaming you if everything goes south."
Nick shoved George's note in her school bag, averting her eyes so they didn't catch her listening in on their conversation. Other people fascinated Nick. She had no intention of being friends with anyone, she didn't like the majority of people and it was too much to pretend that she did. But the fact that they had lives that she'd never understand, that were complex each in their unique way made Nick's mind race. Anything could be happening to these people and she'd never, ever know.
Melvad's General Store looked emptier than usual as Nick arrived. It was never bustling at this time but she'd been late out of school so had expected some moms coming in to buy bits and bobs on the way back from picking their kids up. But there was nothing. She couldn't even see any movement.
"Hey, Nick." Nick heard, seemingly from nowhere and she jumped out of her skin.
"Jesus christ." She breathes almost doubling over and putting a hand over her thumping heart. "Frankie, where'd you even come from."
"Electronics aisle." She shrugged as if it were obvious.
"What are you doing in?" Nick asked as she headed for the break room so she could change and clock in. Frankie followed, a delivery box in her hands that she apparently didn't think was important as she was picking off the labels. "I thought you only worked weekends?"
