¨So, Nina, are you going to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the summer?" I ask, as I sip my coffee. I raise my voice a little bit, because although the cafe is small, the talk amongst others is very prevalent, with almost all of them raising their voices to talk with their peers. Nina nods, as she puts her coffee cup down.

"Yeah, I'm leaving in a few weeks. But, Ramadan is finally over. You have no clue how much I've been stuffing my face with food all day," Nina says, as she nibbles at her muffin. I look down at the many other things on her plate that she's been staring at hungrily. Chocolate pastries that are flaky with butter and cooking, muffins that are soft and pillowy, and gooey chocolate chip cookies that crumble delicately in your mouth. It looks like she went to a hotel which had free breakfast and she stocked up on everything that was available to eat. I chuckle a little bit, as I tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.

"So, how have your grandparents been doing? Did they complain to your mom that your Bosnian is too broken?" 

Nina snickers behind her coffee cup. She shakes her head."Surprisingly, they complimented my Bosnian. They said that it's getting a lot better nowadays. I've been practicing a lot on my parents lately, and so far, it's going great. What about you? Does your German sound like you've been spending too much time in a Hamburg bar?" 

I roll my eyes. Out of all the places in Germany, why Hamburg though? "Nina, German is one of my mother tongues. You know that my dad is half German, and was born in Germany. He's been speaking German to Dom, Elena, and I ever since I learned how to speak. Thank gosh my mother tongue isn't Finnish." Nina snorts.

"I'm never learning Finnish. It's number of language cases is more than the amount of times that Elena and Dom have insulted each other. And you say your dad spoke German to you three growing up, and your sister still decided to learn Dutch." I shrug.

"Beats me. My sister also wanted to learn Thai, because Lara's half Thai. She kept on butchering the tones, so she gave up." Nina chuckles.

¨Well enough of that. How about you and your mom?" she asks, and it's like everything stops. Her words are like the mechanism that seems to stop all the clocks around the world. It was like someone slapped me in the heart with a slab of sandpaper. I stop drinking my coffee, and the cup still remains at my lips. I slowly lower the cup down and set it on the table, while biting my lower lip. I sigh, as Nina looks like she already regrets asking me.

"I shouldn't have asked, Nicole, I know. But I can't stand to see you being chewed up by your mom. You have to do something." I drum my fingers against the table, as I pick my cup of coffee again. I could feel my heart go sore inside, with all the excruciating memories of what she had done to my family throughout the years slowly coming back to me and chilling me throughout the bones. 

"Nina, I promise you, the minute I get out of college, with my shiny degree, I will get my dad and my siblings out of my mom's wrath. I want to help them, because they've struggled so much. I want to help them. I really do. But it's far from my power at this point." Nina sighs. I can see the sadness in her eyes when she reflects on the cruel punishments that I have suffered at the hands of my mother.

"Nicole, when you graduate, promise me something." She opens up a bag of potato chips. I nod.

"Well, it depends on the promise. If it's to go into the closet, and come out saying, "I'M BACK FROM NARNIA!" then I'll do it, but if it's to go murder your bully with a chainsaw you bought, then I will not do it." Nina rolls her eyes.

"You're so weird. No, the promise is that when you graduate and get a job, get yourself out of the whole thing. Cut all contact with your mom, and take your dad far away from that monstrosity you consider a mother. You promise?" I set my cup down, and I nod.

"I promise. I pinky promise." I hold out my right pinkie. Nina scoffs.

"Good. I'm glad." She locks our pinkies together. As I go back to finishing my coffee, Nina adds something more.

"You know if you break a pinky promise, you're supposed to cut off your pinky, right?" I nearly choke on my coffee. I shudder thinking about what that must feel like. I take a napkin and wipe off all of the choked up coffee that's splattered on my mouth.

"Why did you have to tell me that?" Nina snickers.

"I had to get a reaction." I throw my napkin at her in annoyance.

*************

"Dominic, get out of my way! If you don't, then I shall Crucio you and throw you in an army of newborns!" Elena hollers, while holding up a stick used as a wand. Dom holds up a longer stick, and points it at Elena. His eyes have a defensive look in them, as he looks at Elena like he's ready to kill her at any moment. 

"You are no match against me, Dumbledore! I have the Elder Wand, and I am the Dark Lord! You cannot protect Harry for so long! He won't be "the boy who lived," for much longer! Especially when I have Edward on my side!" Dom screams, as he points to a small tree nearby. I can't help but laugh to myself, as they use random objects to substitute imaginary characters from random areas of pop culture. Elena scoffs.

"Harry! Watch out!" Elena screams, as Dom throws a small pebble at me. I swing my arm to get the pebble out of the way, and leap out of the way so that the pebble has no way of hitting me.

"Come, Harry!" Elena screams, and with that, I run towards her, in which she hangs on to me. She hugs me close, like she's trying to protect me from someone attempting to grab me. She waves her wand, and we run out of there, while screaming, "WE APPARATED!"

Dom throws his "wand" to the ground, and yells, with all the pain and frustration he can muster, "NO!" as we "apparate" out of the scene. After that, Elena and I come back, and we all just start to crack up. My chest feels like someone's pushing an anvil on it because of how hard I'm laughing. Dom's kind brown eyes glitter with fresh tears as a result of his laughing. 

"You up for a game of Quidditch?" Dom asks, as he heads towards the shed in the front of the house.

"Quidditch. Or as Dad calls it, homicidal broom fencing," I state, as Dom snickers. I turn to Elena, and I raise my eyebrows at her in the "You wanna do it?" look. She nods.

"Of course! Nicole, do you want to be the Golden Snitch?" she asks, while wiggling her eyebrows at me. I nod, while smirking back at her. I've always loved being the Golden Snitch growing up, because it's like playing a new kind of tag that's got a fun twist to it. 

"Oh yeah. Good luck trying to get me," I say, and wink after that. Elena smirks at me.

"We'll see about that, Phoenix," she says, cockily, and Dom throws a broom at her. Elena catches it, and then heads to the other side of the lawn. I step out onto the side, while Dom heads to the side opposite of Elena. I pick up a ball from the shed, and watch as Elena and Dom might as well start to kill each other with brooms.

"Ready? Go!" I shout. Immediately, Dom and Elena charge at each other with brooms, and I throw the ball in the middle of the whole game. I watch as they jab the broomstick in each other, as they try to get the "quaffle."

As they compete for the ball, I pick up some pebbles here and there to throw, as I play the dual role of the golden snitch and bludger. However, the difference is I'm not being hit with a large bat by the invisible Beaters. I'm the non-abused bludger. When I feel the time is right, I run into the game, while throwing pebbles at my siblings.

"You're not getting away this time!" Dom yells, as I run around. I continue to throw pebbles at Elena and Dom, as they try to capture the "golden snitch." As Elena and Dom continue to fence each other with brooms, I hear one of them yell, "10 points for me!" I turn around, and Elena has a triumphant look on her face, while Dom looks disappointed. The quaffle is on Dom's side of the lawn, which he was supposed to defend.

"This isn't over," he says, in an almost threatening voice, as they get back onto the lawn. I run to the other end of the lawn, and grab the ball.

"Okay, starting in 3, 2, 1!" I call, and throw the ball into the middle of the playing field. Once Elena and Dom start to fence each other for it, I run into the middle of the field. I pick up more pebbles, and continue throwing pebbles at them. After running around for some time, I feel two strong arms wrap around me from behind. I struggle against the strong grasp they have around me in order to fly free and run around.

Before I can consider escaping, someone lifts me up in the air, like I'm made of cotton, while I start to laugh uncontrollably. "I've got the Golden Snitch!" he yells out, while Elena groans in frustration.She looks at me with a falsely angry look, and then looks at Dom like she is going to rip his throat out at that instance.

"I WANTED TO GET THE GOLDEN SNITCH! THIS IS NOT OVER, DOMINIC!" she screeches, and we all start to laugh uncontrollably. The anvil of laughter continues to press down on my chest, as we screech with laughter on the lawn. Dom has to set me down and let go of me, because he knows he will probably drop me if he doesn't set me down. Elena comes over with her broom and we all laugh together in the middle of the lawn. It's little bonding moments like these that I just adore, and I'll definitely miss them when I go off to college.

"Who's up for some dinner? I'm cooking tonight," Dom announces, as we pick up our broomsticks and balls. I nod my head vigorously, as we head back inside.

"Please. I love your cooking. What are you making tonight?" I ask, as Dom opens the door for me.

"Pabellon criollo. Grandma's recipe. Sound good?" he asks. I nod, while I continue to salivate. Even though my mom never cooked much for us growing up, whenever my dad would take us to Venezuela to meet my mom's side of the family, my grandma would always make the best Venezuelan food in existence.

She gave Dominic books filled with her authentic Venezuelan recipes, because Dom is the best cook ever. There's nothing like authentic home cooked food to comfort you. "Alright. I'll get to cooking then," Dom announces, and he gallops up the steps to get to making our food.

****

"You did a great job, Dominic," my dad says, as he eats the food that Dom made. I don't say a word, because I'm enjoying the delicious food that's steaming on my plate. All the flavors seem to melt on my tongue, and make me feel like I'm receiving a warm, delicious hug. Dom smiles at him.

"Thanks, Dad. At least I didn't set anything on fire this time," he comments, while gritting his teeth on the last sentence and looking straight at Elena. Elena frowns as she continues to devour Dom's cooking. She looks at Dom, with her mouth filled with food, and with a look on her face that strongly resembles a deer caught in the headlights.

"Okay, that was ONE time," she grumbles, as she continues to chew her food. Dom raises an eyebrow at her.

"Really? How about the beef? The tortillas? The rice? The past-," he starts, but Elena cuts him off.

"Ah, zip it, Dom," Elena says, while she continues to inhale the food. While we're eating, the front door swings open. My mom saunters in, like everything in the world is rainbows and daisies. She's humming a sweet song under her breath, and she makes her way up to the kitchen, where the peace that our family had briefly achieved is about to crumble like a sand castle.

When she gets to the dining room, her eyes travel across the pabellon criollo that Dom made. Dom, who stopped eating his food briefly, just stares at my mom with a blank look on his face. She scoffs a little bit, and rolls her eyes when she sees Dom's food. Her signature haughtiness flows out of her mouth and forms onto her face, as annoyance starts to sizzle inside of me. 

"Pfft. How pathetic, Dominic. When I walked in, it smelled like the fish bones that they used to throw out at the market in Venezuela. I'm sure I can make better pabellon criollo than you've ever attempted," she spits, with a bucket of arrogance mixed in with her words.

Elena sets her fork down, and looks her in the eye. "How the hell would you know? You've never had the decency to cook for us, show us how to cook, or be there for any sort of positive reason in our lives," Elena snarls. I resist the urge to laugh as my dad whistles at Elena's snappiness. My mom scoffs at Elena.

"Please. I'm the one who's Venezuelan here," she says. Elena laughs, with sarcasm stitched throughout it.

"And Dom's the one who's worked hard in his life to help us as a family. Unlike you. I don't even know if I can consider you a part of our family," Elena spits, with a face as serious as a murder conviction.

My mom gasps, out of offense, and she does nothing except storm upstairs, to probably yell at a wall or punch a pillow. I look at Elena and flash a, "Damn, you queen," smile. She flashes back a, "Well, thank you. Now bow down to me!" smile in return.

******

The next day, I get up nice and early. The post-high school serenity still hasn't left me, and all I can hope is that it never will. But, the serenity doesn't last long. The second I get up, the sound of my parents arguing downstairs stings my ears. The volume of it makes me scared that the neighbors are going to hear everything and think we're weirdos. Sadly, this isn't an unusual thing at all.

The sound of them arguing is like tying your shoes every morning. You just get used to it. I stride downstairs to the living room, and the heat being produced from the argument is enough to cook several strips of bacon perfectly. 

My mom's flailing her arms around like she's signaling for help. My dad can't do that much, obviously, but he's definitely trying to make his point. Then, they notice me come downstairs.

"Good morning?" I ask, unsure if this is a good morning in the first place. I'm unsure whether to call this a good morning or to just leave the conversation.

"Tanya, she has such a bright future! You can't do this to her!" my dad yells, obviously flustered. My mom shoots a furious look at him.

"We're in such a hole with our money, Robert! This is the only way to solve our problems!" my mom screams assertively. I raise my hands up in defense, like I'm surrendering in war.

"I can't do this!" my mom exclaims, exasperated, and her hand tightly grips my wrist. She yanks my arm and drags me out of the room. I try to dig my feet into the ground to slow the walk, but her surprising strength is enough to keep me moving. She drags me to her bedroom and shoves me hard, causing me to collapse onto the bed. I look up at her, while I steady myself.

"Mom? What were you talking about?" I inquire. My mom crosses her arms, while her eyes seem to dilate a little bit. Call it an instinct, but I already know the news isn't going to be what I want to hear.

"You're getting married tonight, Nicole," she says as blunt as a hammer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I wanted to give you guys a chance to really immerse yourselves in the main characters before the plot got to kick off. I feel like you guys would be able to understand their mindset a little bit. So, looks like Nicole doesn't have a boyfriend. What do you guys think Tanya means by Nicole's marriage? Let me know in the comments.

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? Also, I've only published around 4 chapters, and we're already getting close to 100 reads! That's pretty insane for me, considering INI took a month to reach 100 reads, and we achieved it in less than half that time. It's amazing. Thank you all!

That's pretty much it. Hope you guys liked this chapter!

Please vote/comment/share/follow/message if you like my work! See you all next Saturday with a new chapter of Phoenix! Have a great week!

Love you guys,

Shree