" im not sure what she is underneath though. "

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8 : turn arounds pt 1
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The moment Venus pulled up in her driveway she noticed that her mother was home since her car was here. It's been about two weeks since she has last seen her mother face to face. She wondered what she was going through and wondered if her dad was in the house too because she hasn't seen him around either. Venus turned off her car and got out of it. With a deep breath she walked towards her front door. Unlocking it with her keys she proceeded to enter her home.

The place was dark since they had black curtains covering the large window that was in their living room. One of her middle school pictures were hanging sideways with a hole right next to it. The couch that was once standing upright was now on it's side with the cushions on the ground. She noticed that there was even glass on the floor and some droplets of stained blood on the white carpet that was already dirty anyways. If a random stranger had walked in this house then they would probably call it a dump. But this was her home.

Venus looked around to see if any of her parents were here. She closed the front door behind herself before she proceeded to walk further in. With small steps she headed towards the kitchen where she smelt the aroma of nicotine in the air. She poked her head into the kitchen, finally coming across her mother who was sitting at the dinning table with a cigarette in her hand. Her mother had bags underneath her eyes and her hair was messy as usual, probably greasy and not cleaned.

"Hey you," rasped Ms. Wratherbee who realized that her daughter was home. "How have you been?"

"Good," Venus had spoke, not bothering to ask how she was doing because she knew that this woman was not in good shape.

"When's the last time you seen you dad?" Her mother asks curiously.

"Last Thursday," Venus had slowly sat down at the table across from the woman who's skin was becoming very pale and looking lifeless. And that saddened her.

"Then why is the house so trashed?" Mrs. Wratherbee had questioned.

"I cleaned it up last Friday the best way I could. But he must have came back today while I was gone," Venus sighs. Her dad at the worst anger problem and he always lashed out by destroying things.

"That explains," the mother took a long drag of her cigarette before exhaling it out. "How have you been in school?"

"I've been doing good," Venus says.

"And your friend?" Mrs. Wratherbee hasn't seen April in a few months, but she was glad that she was friends with her daughter because April was such a big distraction to what was going on with her messed up family.

"She's doing good," Venus tells her with a bland expression in her tone.

The mother nodded, "That's good. I'm glad that you two are close."

"I didn't know you were going to come back,"Venus was confused because her mother swore up and down that she was going to leave, but here she is.

"Well I'm here. And I'm just waiting for your father to return," the woman explained briefly, then getting serious. "I think you should go back to April's house for the weekend or even the week for that matter. I need to deal with your father because we need to sort some things out. And I don't want you here while we're doing that because..well you know why."

"I was actually going to get my things to spend the night over April's house anyways," Venus got up from the table and brushed the dust from the back of her jeans.

"You go do that. I think it will be better if you're out the house for a while anyway, so you should pack a lot just in case, ya know?" Mrs. Wratherbee just needed her daughter out of the house in general because when her father comes home it would be nothing nice.

For the past three years Venus's parents has been having so many issues with their relationship that it has destroyed their family. It wasn't always like this, but after tragic events this is how they were living. The closest thing she remembers when the chaos started is seeing her father slap her mother the night he found out that she was cheating on him with one of his bestfriend's.

Ever since that night their lives were turned upside down. Her parents' relationship was so problematic that they had neglected Venus as the days, weeks, months, and now years passed. It's a shame to say that her parents didn't care about her anymore, but it's the sad truth.

"Bye Venus. Mommy loves you," the mothers coos, smiling softly.

"See ya," Venus told her before she left the house.

Venus tried her hardest not to bust out crying during the walk to April's house. She was going through so much that she was bound to break down in the middle of this sidewalk and cry her heart out, but she didn't. Venus walked to the Dean's house and pretended like everything was fine.

"Hey Venus, you came in at the perfect time," smiled Mr. Dean.

"Oh really? Well, I'm glad that I came," Venus chuckles softly before she proceeded to walk further in the house. But once she saw two unknown adults and a familiar boy in the living room she nearly wanted to scream.

"Venus, these are Kellen's parents. Mrs. And Mr. Olsson," Mr. Dean says introducing them to each other.

Venus faked a smile, "Hello," she greeted.

"Here, let me get that for you sweetie," Mr. Dean spoke before he took Venus's things upstairs to April's room.

"You must be Venus," says the woman who stood up to her feet just to shake hands with the young girl.

"Yes ma'am," Venus smiles.

"We have heard so much about you over the last ten minutes. Your bestfriend couldn't stop talking about you," the woman says nodding her head to April.

Venus smirked, looking at her, "Oh really?"

"I was just telling them about the time we almost had heat strokes when we joined the cross country team freshman year," April beamed, raising both of her eyebrows in signal of saying 'just play along' in their nonverbal code.

"Ah, I remember that," Venus beamed with a nod of her head, going along with the conversation. "That's why I'm not athletic."

"Guys, the food is ready!" Sheema had told everybody excitedly, making everybody laugh at the cute girl. Everybody then proceeded to head to the kitchen—except for the two teenage girls who stayed behind for a second.

"What is going on?" Venus's smile had dropped and her tone was a bit pitchy from the fact that she wasn't expecting this.

"I have no idea," April sighs slumping forward.

"Why are Kellen and his parents here?" Venus whispered.

"I told you, I have no idea. I woke up from a nap and bam, these people are here. My parents must have invited them over," April explained.

"I really wasn't expecting this," Venus complains.

"Me neither, but let's suck it up," April says to her.

"Fine," Venus had no choice but to agree.

Both of the girls joined with everybody else as they walked into the kitchen. Since the table was already big enough all they had to do was add some more chairs so the Olsson family could have a seat.

"You are a wonderful cook Mrs. Dean," Kellen had complimented.

"Thank you Kellen," Mrs. Dean smiles.

"I see that Kellen is doing some sucking up already," Venus had whispered to April.

"Behave child," April whispered back, nudging her foot with hers.

"I heard that you and Kellen got a good grace on the project that you two did together," Mr. Olsson spoke, directing the conversation to April and Kellen.

"Yes sir we did," April nods.

"Yeah, she's really smart and such a resourceful person. I hope that we get assigned partners again," Kellen beams looking over at April.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead chuckling softly, "I don't know about all that Kellen."

"Can't blame a guy for trying, can you?" Kellen says teasingly.

"Wow, he's sucking up a lot," Venus snorted low enough for only April to hear.

"Stop it," April chuckled, soon putting a hand on her knee underneath the table. Having no sense as her hand moved up her thigh, and she didn't care to stop herself. She heard Venus's breath hitch and felt her body becoming frozen, so she took her hand away, snickering childishly at the effect she had on Venus.

"Are you thinking about any colleges yet April?" Mr. Olsson had proceeded to ask.

"I have my eyes set on a few," April tells him, taking a bite of her food. Slowly wondering why he was asking questions about her.

"Amazing. I bet you are a straight A student, correct?" Mrs. Olsson wonders.

"Yes ma'am," April nods her head.

Mr. Dean smiled, "She's a very bright girl, and we love her so much. Such an amazing example and—,"

"No getting sappy at the table dad," April reminded him with a knowing look.

"Right, sorry," he chuckles nervously.

"It's okay. I know how proud your parents are of you, and you should take pride in that," Mr. Olsson says to Mr. Dean.

"Just not when we have guests because they can go on and on about me," April tells him, trying her best to shut this topic down because she was getting a bit uncomfortable.

"You're absolutely right," Kellen agreed, his eyes flickering to the girl who hasn't talked all during through conversation. "What about you Venus? Are your parents proud of you?"

Venus stopped chewing for a moment once he heard that question come out of his mouth. She slowly looked up at him, finally swallowing her food to speak, "They are," she had lied.

"Interesting," Kellen nods. "I've never heard you talk about them or—,"

"Kellen sweetie, I think you should stop," Ms. Dean says to the boy with a light tone.

But Kellen went on, "Are you going through something at home?"

"That's enough Kellen," April said to him in a much firmer tone.

"I'm just asking ladies. Because one who represents themselves also represents their household as well as parents and..I don't see a lot of good representation here," Kellen says bitterly as he looked at Venus.

"Okay, you need to shut the hell up right now," April demanded.

"It's okay April," Venus whispered sadly.

"It's not," April took a look at her then back to Kellen. "This idiot has no right saying that to you."

"You're only defending her because you feel bad that at she doesn't have a life," Kellen hissed.

"Kellen, you need to stop or I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," Mrs. Dean tells him sternly.

"You don't know anything about her for you to be talkin' so much shit. She's amazing," April tells him defensively.

"On the surface she is," Kellen had mocked Venus's words that she had said to him. And his voice dripped of pure evilness which matched the look in his eyes when he stared at Venus. "I'm not sure what she is underneath though. Who knows? She could be a broken girl behind the mask she wears everyday. Pretending like everything is fine when deep down it isn't. Knowing that she has issues that she can't solve herself because she's just a scared little bitch that nobody cares about."

"Fuck you!" April took ahold of a spare glass plate and chunked it at Kellen's direction with so much force behind it that glass had shattered after it came in contact with his head.

"April!" Her father jumped out of his seat and taking ahold of his angry daughter, dragging her out of the kitchen so she wouldn't be in reach of any glass to throw. She still struggled to get lose but her father held her tight.

"What is wrong with you?!" Shouted Mrs. Olsson who held her unconscious son in her arms, crying hysterically.

"Tell that motherfucker not to disrespect my bestfriend again!" Yelled April who took a case from the side of her and threw it at their direction.

"April, you need to calm down," Mr. Dean demanded turning his daughter around to look at her in her eyes. "I mean it. You have to cool it."

"No! He can't just say that!" April was enraged, and all she wanted to do was get her hands on Kellen right now.

"I need you guys to get the hell out of my house and leave. Right now," Mrs. Dean tells the family of three with a crossed look.

"I'm so sorry," Mr. Olsson apologizes.

Mrs. Dean wasn't having it, "Sorry my ass. How dare you let your son come in here with that type of attitude? Venus did nothing wrong, and you just let him talk so badly about that girl like that."

"April," whispered Sheema who tapped on her big sister's shoulder.

"Not now," April says lowly with her back still turned.

"April," Sheema whined.

"Sheema wait," April growled.

"It's important!" Sheema then shouted, tugging on her big sister's arm until she finally turned around.

"What is it?" April snapped with her fists clenched.

Sheema started to cry, overwhelmed with everything that had happened, "I-I think Venus ran away, look," and she pointed her tiny finger at the front door that was wide open.

-

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- BookOfBandz