This chapter's quote

This chapter's song

Blame
by Calvin Harris feat. John Newman

"Blame it on the night
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me
Blame it on the night
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me..."

***

Lucine is smiling at her daughter, happy to see that she's finally trying to open up to her. In spite of her appearance as an outgoing girl, Alyzza is not exactly the most talkative type. She has secrets, and is willing even to tell the biggest lie ever in order not to reveal them. Moreover, trust is the biggest issue for her. This is why, apart from Alanis, she has no true friends.

"Well, Mom..." Alyzza reprises talking, fear and angst filling her voice, "the point is, there's something strange about some people." She doesn't mention anyone in particular, but that's mostly because she doesn't feel comfortable with revealing their names straight away.

"Who are you talking about?" asks Lucine, making her daughter gasp as she can't find proper words to reassure her. Even her smile isn't enough to avoid Alyzza's confidence hitting a plunge. She lowers her head, thinking of every time she failed to protect her daughter, and covers her eyes with her hands, trying hard to repress tears.

"I'm talking about two people in particular. Annaleigha and Ainsley." Alyzza pronounces those two names in a grave tone, failing to conceal her growing hatred of them as she shivers and gives her mother a hard stare. Lucine's worried glance isn't enough to soften her, anyway; therefore, tension is bound to rise to dramatic levels.

Before her mother can even open her mouth to mutter an answer, Alyzza raises a hand to stop her, clearly intending that she needs to continue her discourse. "Since she came to this town, Annaleigha has been acting weird," comments Alyzza, displaying a spiteful attitude. "She's always been following me and Alanis, acting cheesy and trying to make friends with all of us when we're clearly uninterested in her."

"Perhaps she just wants to make friends, Alyzza," replies her mother, probably attempting to advise her daughter to be nicer. However, this doesn't work as Alyzza frowns, unconvinced by this suggestion, and justified herself, "She said that Alanis and I are nuts!"

Lucine furrows her eyebrows, tired of her daughter's rambling; as she stands up, she glances one last time at Alyzza before disappearing back inside and heading towards her bedroom. On the other hand, Alyzza stands still at the balcony, watching the stars and letting tears run down her pale face.

***

As she wakes up, Aubrea remembers that she has to head to work, once again. Even though on her first days she was excited about working with Allene, now this feeling has slowly toned down. Not only she can't mention Alyzza, even indirectly, but she also can't show any other sign of hesitance, or else it might be costly for her job.

She stares in disbelief at the display of her alarm clock, realizing that she's minutes away from being late. Therefore, she just changes into her uniform, takes her bag and rushes out of her house without saying goodbye to anyone or paying attention to where she's going.

As she finally manages to reach her workplace, she places herself at the counter, checking that everything is on point, when she's met with a deadly glare striking her face. She also hear someone clear her throat next to her; this prompts her to stop tidying the area around the corner and turn to Allene, whose arms are crossed and whose eyebrows are raised.

"You were two minutes and thirty-seven seconds late, you know?" points out Allene in a serious tone. Aubrea tries to ease the tension and chuckles, giggling nervously. "What matters is that I'm here, right?" she asks, looking around but then focusing again on Allene's small almond eyes that are staring her in a forced way.

"I won't take that as an excuse, Aubrea. You were late, and I can't accept that," is Allene's stern reply, which leaves Aubrea dejected and, for some reason, even unwilling to keep working with the Asian girl. For the first time in her life, Aubrea feels like she can even relate to Alyzza. Yeah, the person she replaced at this dead-end job.

Before she can even protest, Aubrea is left open-mouthed as Allene declares, "One more mistake, Aubrea, and you're fired. Consider yourself on probation. Don't make me regret promoting you, do you understand?" Aubrea just nods, barely retaining tears, and moves from the counter to head to the storage room, where dozens of boxes are waiting for her to be opened.

***

Alanis is sitting in the dining room, having lunch with who are supposed to be her family. Actually, she treats them as if they were complete strangers; in her opinion, they don't deserve her consideration, especially her mother, who keeps favoring Ainsley over her even though the latter isn't her biological daughter.

She rolls her eyes as Delaynee eyes her, curling her lips and groaning out of annoyance. Ainsley notices that and glares at her, snapping, "If you really have to act like a diva, then get out of here. We don't need your negativity!" Her arrogance and lack of tact make Alanis stand up and leave the room in a huff, slamming the door behind her.

Delaynee frowns at her boyfriend's daughter, realizing that she should've stood out for Alanis. "That was really uncalled for, Ainsley," she states, earning the redhead's wrath as the latter stands up and glares at her. Still, this isn't enough to make the woman relent; instead, it makes her even more determined to stop this shit.

Delaynee continues, "You need to stop arguing with Alanis for every little thing. I know that you don't like each other, but that's not an excuse for you to pick on my daughter or her friends." Stunned but also angry at her stepmother's latest statement, Ainsley turns her back at her, flips her off and leaves the dining room, yelling, "I'm done!"

Shocked at the redhead's words, Delaynee throws her hands up and groans. "What have I done to deserve this treatment? Why the hell do they snub me all the time?" She covers her eyes with her hands, trying hard to repress all negative thoughts but indeed failing.

If she wants Alanis and Ainsley to finally get on well, she has to make a huge step back and leave them be. That's the only way for them to sort out issues properly - and to grow up as mature and independent young women. If she acts otherwise, disaster will still be at the corner, waiting to strike and cause more disarray.

For the first time in many years, Delaynee is realizing that she can do a lot better than this to be a good mother and a reliable confidant.