One of us is lonely

Chapter 1

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2 years later.

"I DON'T GET WHY WE NEED TO GO," Red complained. She laid on Finn's bed, her feet pressed up against the headboard, her auburn locks spread out across the comforter. She watched as Finn changed from his casual attire to a three-piece suit. He buttoned up his white shirt, checking himself out in the mirror. 

"Because mom wants us to," Finn replied. 

"Yeah and she's about the only one that wants us there," Red muttered under her breath, flipping over so she laid flat on her stomach. Finn adjusted the collar on his shirt and then turned around to his sister. 

"It's just a party, Red." He breathed out. "Get dressed." Red shook her head as a heavy sigh escaped her throat, letting Finn know that she was not in favor of this idea. It was not just a party. It was a party filled with the rich assholes of the Southside and even though they had lived in Oliver's mansion for almost two years, the Southsiders all still looked at them like they didn't belong. And they were right. They didn't. Red had never felt more like an outcast. They were already low-lives when they lived in the North but at least they owned up to it. They didn't have to hide who they were in favor of others. They didn't give a fuck and everyone knew that. Now they had to keep their mouth shut, sit still and be decent. 

She changed into the black dress her mother had let her pick out. It was decent and she looked pretty in it but it felt wrong on her body, like it was made for someone else. She had agreed to wear a dress, to keep her mother happy, but only if she was allowed to wear sneakers underneath it. She refused to wear high heels. Eventually, Penelope had given in, knowing very well she would not win this argument with her daughter. So, Red tied her black converse and as she got up the skirt of the dress fell to the ground, covering up the indecent shoes on her feet. She had pulled her hair together in a messy ponytail, a few locks framing her face. It made the entire look a little less Southside. Finn waited for her downstairs, together with their mother and Oliver. Penelope was quick to brush the wild hairs out of her face and adjusted her dress. 

"Mom," Red warned, stepping away before she could rearrange anything else. Penelope softly smiled. 

"You look gorgeous, baby." She said, taking her daughter's hand. "You both do." She smiled at Finn and he kissed his mother on the forehead. 

"You ready to go?" Oliver placed his hand on the small of Penelope's back and guided her to the door, her kids closely behind them. 

About halfway through the evening, Red had put enough alcohol in her body to make the Southsiders at least half as annoying as they usually were. There were a few people she could handle there. Mira, her boyfriend Gabriel and Jake. They were more friends of Finn's really but seeing as Red spent most of her time with her brother, they quickly became her friends too. They were tolerable. Not as much of a snob as most people from the South were. They didn't mind getting their hands a bit dirty and Red liked that about them. They didn't prance around with their expensive cars and fancy clothes but stayed a bit down to earth. Mira and Jake were both two years older than her, the same age as Finn and Gabriel was one year older than them. She liked him best, he once was from the Northside too. 

It was Mira's father who had thrown the party. The occasion? The beginning of Summer. She used to go to a party to celebrate Summer when she still lived on the Northside. They called it the Day of Freedom. The first day of a two month period in which they could do whatever the hell they wanted, whenever they wanted. Red had no idea back then how free she was. Here, on the South, she was trapped in a marble cage. Summer or not, she hadn't felt truly free since they moved here. As she looked through the enormous glass windows, she could see the lights on the other side of the city, on the beach she used to spend all her days at. It was the Northsiders, celebrating the beginning of Summer with cheap beer and cold pizza. Now she was drinking champagne and eating food she couldn't even pronounce.