Gen slung her bag over her shoulder as she got out of her dad's car. Her dad gave her a warning glare and she instantly lost the smirk on her face. She couldn't help it, she was happy she'd gotten over the feud with Kate. Now that she and Kate were cool, the rest of the school year would go much more smoothly. Especially with Juli and Eva.

"You know, Gen, you're lucky." Gen nodded toward him.

"Yeah, I know." He nodded and looked over the hood of the car at her. She nodded and turned toward the sidewalk and started for the door.

"Gen." She turned and looked at him. "I gotta tell you something. Before you go in." He started around the car and up to her, following the same path. He gently put a hand on her shoulder and turned her toward the car. "I've got company. They should've been gone by the time it was ready for you to be home, but since your home early... I had them wait." Gen straightened her back. "Now, I want you to be nice."

"When am I not nice?" She thought for a minute. "Okay. So who is it?"

"Your aunt Mia. You remember her?" She nodded a little. "Alright, come on." He led her toward the door again and unlocked it, pushing it open. Gen followed him in and looked around. "Mia?"

"Dom, your back. We're in the kitchen." Gen dropped her bag at the bottom of the steps and followed him into the kitchen. There was a boy, about Gen's age, and a younger girl at the table, who looked to be about 5 or 6. A tall woman turned from the stove and smiled at Gen's dad. Gen assumed it was his sister, Mia, but couldn't recognize her no matter how hard she tried. "Melissa was hungry, so I raided your fridge. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no. That's ok." He looked over his shoulder at Gen and motioned to her. "Mia, I think you remember Genevieve." Mia set the spatula on the stove and turned completely, facing Gen.

"Oh, wow." Mia started toward Gen, but Gen didn't know what to do, so she stood, patiently. "You've really grown up." Gen nodded. "Your daughter looks just like you." Gen smiled.

"Thanks." Mia nodded.

"That's my daughter Melissa, she's 7. And that's my step-son, Michael." Gen smiled and waved at them a little. "You and Michael are the same age, I think you two might have a few things in common." Gen waved at him and smiled a little more. "Are you hungry? I can make you something to eat."

"Thanks, I'm fine." She nodded. Mia turned back toward the stove and flipped something, then turned back around.

"How's school?"

"Good." She nodded.

"She just got in trouble. Fighting. She made out lucky, one week suspension." Gen nodded and looked down at the kitchen floor.

"I got some homework I gotta work on. I'll be upstairs." They all nodded and Melissa gave her a toothy grin, making Gen chuckle a little as she turned toward the other room.

"Dom!" Mia whispered harshly to her brother. "That was rude." He walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer. He twisted the top off then sat at the table, taking a long drink. Mia sighed and flipped the grilled cheese sandwich she made for her daughter onto a plate. She grabbed a knife out of the drawer, cut it in four pieces, then dropped the plate in the sink. She slid the plate in front of Melissa and smiled at Michael. "Hungry?" He shook his head. Mia reached over, smacked Dom upside the head and snatched the bottle from his hand. "It's one in the afternoon, Dom, it's a little early for a beer."

"I'm gonna go say hi to Genevieve." They both nodded and Dom looked back to his sister. Dom and Mia both watched Michael disappear into the other room then turned back to each other.

"You haven't drank like that since Letty left you."

"Mia, shut up."

"I'm serious. Why do you feel the constant need to drink?"

"Mia, shut up."

"You deserved what she did to you. After all, you did sleep with her sister. But then you let her keep your kids away from you, and you're still her friend."

"She lives down the street. She's always lived down the street."

"Yeah, well, now that Gen's here, you need to think about Gen." He pounded his fist on the table and Melissa looked up at him.

"Uncle Dom!" She yelled at him. "Get your greasy hands off the clean table." Surprised by her comment, he moved his hand off the table and watched her eat a triangle of cheesiness off the plate.

-- -- -- -- --

Michael knocked on the open door of Gen's room. She looked up from her bed and smiled a little at him.

"Hey. Come on in." She moved off her bed and walked to her chair. She pulled it out and offered it to him. He smiled and approached the chair. "So, you're my aunt's stepson?"

"Yeah. She married my dad a few years ago." He sat down and she walked back over to her bed and sat down. "They're on the verge of a divorce now, Dom doesn't know yet." Gen frowned a little and nodded.

"Oh, that sucks." Michael nodded.

"So, do you live in Los Angeles?" He nodded. "Yeah, I've lived here all my life. Well, not here, in this house. I've lived with my aunt the past seven years."

"I heard." Gen gave a confused look. "Mia and your dad were talking about it. I overheard, well, eavesdropped."

"Oh. I'm not on good terms with my mom."

"Me either."

"What she do to you?"

"Pretty much just abandoned me when I was five. Just left me on my dads porch." Gen watched him carefully. "I cried for about an hour before her heard me. I haven't seen her since."

"My mom pretty much did the same. Took me from my dad, she warned me that I shouldn't go, but I insisted. She took me to my aunt Chris's house, where she said I'd stay for a week or so. I ended up staying seven years. I see my mom, from time to time, but I don't ever really want to have a conversation with her. So I'm sort of hoping that my dad doesn't make me sit down and talk to her. But he probably will. Because Sara is her granddaughter."

"You're daughter is cute." She nodded.

Gen ignored the phone when it rang, and just kept talking to Michael. She was nice. He wasn't like the average jock, though he played football in high school, he was nice, and honest. Gen liked those kinds of people. People who weren't afraid to wear their emotions on their sleeves. He even told her about his last ex, whom he dated for nearly 2 years and she just up and broke up with him.

"Gen!" Dom shouted from downstairs. "Telephone!" Gen stood up from her bed and walked to the door. She started down the stairs but her dad met her half way. "Keep it short." She nodded and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?" She walked back into her room. "Hey baby." Michael chuckled and stood up. "Yeah. I got suspended for a week. Yeah, I might be going to jail if it weren't for me making up with Kate. Then if it weren't for my dad hooking up with Kate's aunt, I'd be suspended for two weeks." She laughed into the phone and glanced up at Michael. "Yeah, if it's okay with my dad, I'd love to." She nodded. "Well, I gotta get off here. I'll talk to you later. Call me after dinner or something. Bye." She hit the end button and smiled at Michael. "My boyfriend." He nodded and smiled.

"Cool."

"Yep. If my dad says I can go, do you want to go to the movies with my boyfriend and I? My two younger cousins are going too."

"Sure. Just let me know the time." She nodded and he stood up. "I should get back downstairs. I'd hate for Mia to think I'm putting a move on you." Gen chuckled and nodded.

Gen watched as Michael exited the room. She looked back down at her notebook and yawned a little. She jumped when she looked up and he was standing there again. He chuckled.

"Sorry. I just realized you have no way of reaching me." She nodded and he walked over to her. He flipped to a blank page in her notebook and scribbled. "My email address, my house phone and my cell phone."

"Thanks. I'll call you." He nodded and disappeared out of the room again. She opened her math book and sighed heavily. "I hate this shit."

-- -- -- -- --

"Gen, dinner time." Mia said, knocking on the door. She smiled a little when she found her niece curled up on her bed with a stuffed bear. She walked over and pulled a blanket off the back of the desk chair, and draped it over Gen. Gen curled into the blanket and Mia smiled. She exited the room quietly and Gen groaned. Mia stopped and turned around to find that Gen was awake.

"Mia?"

"You're awake. Dinner's done." Gen nodded and sat up.

"I'm not really hungry." Mia nodded and leaned against the door. "Can we talk?" Mia nodded and Gen patted beside her. Mia made her way over and sat beside Gen.

"What's on your mind?"

"Oh, man, lots. Do you talk to my mom anymore?"

"No. Not since she left my brother. She left him about a year after she took you to your aunts. Officially. She'd caught him cheating many, many times before. She'd leave, come back, and they'd make up again and again. They did that for years. Then they had you, and things were good for a little while. Then you're dad started cheating again. She actually took it for five years. Then she took you away, to get you away from their constant arguing and bickering. She didn't want you around that, and to think it was right. She took you away, but she came back. The fighting got worse. Then your mom caught your dad sleeping with her sister, Jordan."

"Jordan? Really? They're still together..."

"Yeah, they are, but just on a sexual level." Gen nodded. "When you're mom found out, she was so upset, and so hurt. She vowed never to tell your dad where you were. Well, even after a year, she still hadn't told him where you were. He was worried, you know?"

"I bet. I feel sorry for her. You know, for my mom."

"Really? Why?"

"My dad cheated on her. And I bet she loved him, more than anything. Which is probably why she didn't want to leave, because her love for him." Mia arched an eyebrow and nodded a little.

"I see where you're going with this. You know, your mom was a nice woman. Sure, she had some bitchy moments, but she was nice. She loved your dad with everything, she still does, she's still stuck on him, she's still hurt."

"I see where this is going."

"She's hurt that you won't talk to her now. She doesn't know how to approach you, especially after so long."

"So I should talk to her, right?" Mia nodded a little and Gen shook her head. "No, she blew it. It's her fault I hate her, hers alone. Not mine, not my aunt Jordan's, not my aunt Chris's, and not yours. So this is her problem. I can be her friend, but she needs to approach me on that level, not anybody else. And I'm sorry, I can't look up to her as a mom, because moms are there for their kids. She was never there."

"I understand that completely."

-- -- -- -- --

I'm back at least for now. I am so sorry for leaving this story off where I did and how I did. I'll try and make it up to you, and I'll do a double post soon. Instead of going to sleep and getting my rest for tomorrow, I'll start on the next chapter. Sorry if the transition is terrible, it's hard to take a yearlong break then get back into a story. I don't have school all next week, because the underclassmen are taking graduation tests (to prove they know what they need to know), which I passed the first time around. I'll write a bit then, if I can. And this weekend too. But if anybody is still reading this, let me know what you think of this chapter. If it's as bad as I think, or if I'm wrong. I'll get back to my usual self soon, I hope. Thanks for the patience and sorry for any inconvenience.