Madison rushed downstairs and made a futile attempt to get the living room in order. Aunt Brooklyn was coming over, but it wasn't like she had never seen their batty old apartment before. She was the one that paid their rent, so Madison kept the cleaning to a minimum. She fluffed the pillows and swept the floor.

The doorbell rang as she finished sweeping and Madison rushed to open it. She didn't know when her mom was going to be back from her AA meeting, or when her brothers would come back from the mall. She needed this meeting with her aunt to be quick, effective, and kept under wraps. She didn't want the rest of her family to find out about it and start asking unwanted, and unnecessary, questions. She had enough going on as it was.

She opened the door and embraced her aunt in a tight hug. She led her in and offered her a half eaten cookie she had found in the fridge.

Aunt Brooklyn politely declined it, plopped down on a sofa near the door, and kicked a dirty sock out of her way. She wiped her hands on her jeans and took a good look at Madison. "How's it going, sweetie? How are the twins doing?"

Madison sat down on the couch to her aunt's right and let out a little chuckle, "Well, Jullian is trying to become a rapper on SoundCloud and Jake has like 3 middle school girlfriends." She and her aunt smiled at that. "But as usual they have mom wrapped around their mischievous little fingers. It's like she worships them."

Her aunt rubbed Madison's shoulder, "Enough about the twins. How are you doing? How's school?"

"School is going great, as expected. I can't say the same for when I come home though." said Madison. "Mom's been extra moody the past couple of days and she's been taking it out on me."

"How so?" said her aunt, leaning in.

Madison paused for a second and then pulled up her shirt hesitantly. Her aunt let out a faint gasp. A long red mark was wrapped around her waist.

"Did she do this to you?" she asked in disbelief.

Madison bit her lip and looked around the house even though she knew there was no one else around. "Well, technically it was an accident." Madison began. "She was really drunk last night and she told me to make dinner. I was finishing up some homework, so I didn't get to it as fast as she wanted me to. I came downstairs when I was done and she was struggling to plug in the toaster. I was trying to get her to stop and then- and then," Madison choked a little and pulled on her sleeves.

"And then next thing you know she's hitting me with the wire instead of plugging it in." Madison took a couple of deep breaths before continuing on.

"She apologized later, and by the next morning she didn't even remember what had happened." She finished her story and looked up at her aunt.

Her aunt went to the kitchen and brought back a box of tissues, "Take a deep breath sweetie. You're safe now. We're going to figure this out. One step at a time ok? First off, you're going to sleep at my house this weekend and I'll have another sit down with your mom. Ok? Breathe for me."

Madison took the tissues and kept taking short breaths. She was glad her aunt was here, it was getting hard dealing with this all by herself. It was nice having someone to talk to about all this.

Her aunt took a knee beside her and rubbed her arm. "Oh honey, has she ever done this before?"

Madison hesitated and then quickly shook her head, "no."

Her aunt nodded and sat back on the sofa, "Anything else you wanted to tell me?"

Madison blew her nose and nodded. She needed to pull herself together. This was the perfect time to execute her plan. "Yes actually, give me a second."

Madison bolted up to her room and came down in record speed. She waved the papers she brought down in the air and handed them over to her aunt.

Her aunt took them from her and glanced over them.

Madison butted in before her aunt had a chance to say anything, "Before you say no, this can work. Mom divorced dad when he was forced to leave and you can get her to sign the papers! She listens to you. You guys have some sort of weird twin telepathy or whatever.

Her aunt motioned for Madison to sit down. She took a seat and looked at her aunt eagerly. She needed this transfer of custody more than anything else.

"I will talk to your mom about this," said her aunt.

Madison jumped up and tackled her in a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"If..." said her aunt, pulling herself out of the hug. Madison let go and looked at her.

"What? I'll literally do anything!" said Madison, throwing her hands into the air and doing a little victory dance.

Her aunt looked at her skeptically, "If you go and talk to your dad about it."

Madison stopped dancing and threw her hands up in the air in confusion. "Dad? Why? He has nothing to do with this and he decided he didn't want us in his life a long time ago."

Her aunt rubbed her temples and signaled for Madison to keep her voice down. "Your dad has a right to know about this if it's happening. I also want you to participate in some therapy sessions."

Madison rolled her eyes, "Why? There's nothing wrong with me."

"Just because you go to therapy doesn't mean something is wrong with you."

"Well, I don't want to go."

"Don't give me an attitude, this is on my terms, not yours. We don't have to do this," said her aunt. She waved the papers and cocked her head as if daring Madison to turn down the deal.

Madison crossed her arms and sighed. She knew she was acting like a brat, but she didn't care. Therapy and seeing her dad? That was too much for her. "Fine, but only one therapy session."

"Three," said her aunt.

"Two."

"Three."

"Fine," said Madison. She threw up her hands in defeat. "I'll go see my deadbeat dad and rant to a stupid therapist about it if that's what makes you happy."

Her aunt smiled, "Yes, actually, it would make me very happy. Now go get your stuff, we're leaving. I'll leave your mom a voicemail."

Madison gave her aunt another hug and went to her room to get a couple of stuff. She looked around her room. Her room was small and at the end of the hall next to the bathroom. The pink wallpaper it was covered in was faded and chipped. She didn't have that much furniture. She had a little mattress and a small table to do her homework on, and that was basically it. Based off a quick look in her room one could assume that she was the neglected child. And the one small table she had in her room was missing a leg. She had put a bunch of textbooks as a replacement. She laughed to herself. She couldn't wait to get out of this dump.

"Do you have any homework, Maddy?" said her aunt, getting into her car. Her aunt drove a red jeep that was cleaner on the inside than it was on the outside. Madison got in carefully. She didn't want to get any dust on her outfit.

"Yah, just some stupid letter to my future self. I'll do it later," said Madison.

"Hey, language," said her aunt.

Madison apologized half heartedly. She didn't have time to think about her homework or watching her language right now, she needed to figure out what she was going to do about her dad, and the stupid therapist she was yet to meet.

***
The next day Madison walked into the cafeteria in a sour mood. She had been up all night thinking about how she was going to face her dad. She hadn't seen him in years. It was bound to be awkward. And the other half of the night she was writing her letter. She had narrowly made the deadline, but it was well written. That made up for it.

Madison looked around the room for Betty and Kristen. She needed them to cheer her up as soon as possible. She walked over to them and told them all about the all nighter she pulled to make the deadline.

"Wow, you're so brave." said Kristen. Betty nodded along.

"So brave."

Madison laughed. They were so sweet. She knew they were kissing up to her for clout and that they would probably turn their backs on her if she wasn't popular, but she didn't care. She loved the way they worshipped everything she said and did everything she told them to. This is why she enjoyed school so much, if only her mom was like them.

"Guess what?" said Kristen. They all leaned in to hear the gossip. Asher told Anwar, who told Jace, who told me that Asher has a crush on Betty!"

Madison looked over to Betty with a raised eyebrow. "Ok, I see you girl."

Betty giggled and brushed Madison off, "He's cute, but have you seen his older brother Alex?"

Kristen squealed, "Betty no, he's a junior! BETTY!"

Madison covered her mouth with her hands in fake surprise. Betty had always been into older guys. When they were in 6th grade she was caught dating an 8th grader, it was the scandal of the year, "Betty you little rascal."

Betty blushed. She was positively beaming with all the attention she was getting, "but don't tell anyone else ok. This is a secret. I don't want Alex to know I like him," she paused for a second, "yet. And I don't want to hurt Asher's feelings. He's so sweet and I've known him since we were in diapers."

Madison and Kristen nodded and mimed locking their lips. "Your secret's safe with us," said Kristen.

Madison nodded, it was so nice hanging out with them, they gossiped about other things for a while and then Madison noticed Nayla talking to Anwar on the other side of the cafeteria.

She rolled her eyes, what a slut. Hadn't she told her that he was out of her league? Did she need a reminder? Honestly, why couldn't Nayla just keep it in her pants? Madison zoned Kristen and Betty out and stretched her leg to get a closer look.

They were sitting at a distant table in the far corner with the rest of the basketball team, who were all crowded around Jace's phone. Madison snorted, they were probably watching NBA highlights from 1990. Boys were so stupid. She jumped back a little as Asher stood up and started shouting something about a Koby Brier or Bryant, suspicions confirmed.

Madison couldn't help that she was a genius. Things just came to her. She had been the top of her class since Pre-K. She watched closely as Anwar leaned into their conversation. Nayla was laughing. Argh, why was she always so happy all the time and why was Anwar flirting with her? He was such a sellout. He clearly had been smitten with Madison on the first day of school. She remembered smiling at him and him almost falling out of his chair. And now here he was flirting with another girl? Flaunting his perfectly straight teeth and amazing fashion style? Something wasn't right. He either had commitment issues, or Nayla was over there seducing him.

What was up with Nayla? Why did everyone always have a crush on her? She was so quiet and had a horrible stutter since like 5th grade, or that's when Madison had noticed it. Just last year Madison had to tell Asher, and several other boys, off for flirting with Nayla. What did they like about her? She literally had zero interesting qualities? What were they even talking about? How to be boring? Argh. It was so irritating. And watching them flirt was pissing Madison off. Everything about Nayla pissed her off. Her very presence triggered Madison from head to toe. And the thought of the two of them together made her want to barf. She needed to do something, and she needed to do it now.

***
AN: Nayla and Anwar, or Madison and Anwar? Ship names?