Typical Teenagers

"My mum and my dad split up a few years ago. I wanted to go with my dad but my mum hated him so much that she would die before she let me go with him. And she's not the best mum."

"Nobody's perfect," Max offered.

"My mom isn't on the decent scale, and she hates me anyways. She says I'm just like my dad, except for a number of things."

"What things?"

"Dad collects swords, not daggers." Finally she took out the dagger and flipped it. They came to a fence, and before they could look for a gate, Ninen was climbing it, dagger still in hand. As she heaved herself over her sleeve caught on the fence, she didn't notice until she dropped down it ripped off, revealing her scars.

Max saw Ninen's scars when he made it to the other side. She covered them with her hand to try and hide them. Max didn't say anything.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" she asked. The tone of her voice indicated she was a little annoyed by his silence.

"What would you like me to say?"

"I don't know. But just don't look at me like that."

Max walked past her. "I doubt you'll listen anyway, but I think you're causing yourself unnecessary harm."

"What, you think I did this to myself!?" she shouted.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Maybe you got those in a fight, which makes the thought all the more frightening."

"There's more to me than you think, you know."

"I don't doubt that fact. And I think there's more to your mother's actions than you think."

They continued walking toward the train station. Ninen asked, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Has it ever occurred to you that your mother may be yelling at you because she's worried about you?"

"I already told you, she hates me!"

"You also told me she hates your father, yet she refused to let you go with him." They arrived at the train station. Before leaving Max told Ninen, "Some people value their friends more than their family, some don't value either of them. But the issue still stands, blood is thicker than water." With that he left her at the station to ponder what he had just said.

Ninen bought her ticket and sat on a bench, waiting for her train to come. It was too dark to read so she sat thinking about what Max had said.

In an attempt to distract herself she put her arm out in front of her to see how bad the rip was. It was bad.

What was worse was that she could see her scars. Cigerette burns, long slashes and cuts weaved an interesting pattern on her arms. As she looked she couldn't help but remembering the horrible history of them.

Her parents were drunk again, big surprise. But instead of their usual laughing hand-down-your-pants drunk, they were angry drunk.

Ninen didn't want them to find her. She snuck out of her room and hid in the corner behind the couch where all the blankets were kept, through the gap between the wall and the couch she watched them.

Her dad hit her mom, not hard, but hard enough to make her mad. She picked up the ash tray and threw it at him, missing by a mile, which led to her. The cigeretts burned her arms, and she had to bite a blanket to keep from screaming.

When her father retaliated he pinned her mother to the couch, and while he did so he caught a glimpse of his daughter, staring at him wide eyed with fear.

She couldn't remember anything else, her therapist said that she had blocked them out. All she remembered was waking up in the hospital with the doctors pulling shards of glass out of her arm.

Suddenly she couldn't go, she had to get what happened from her mom. But she couldn't go back yet, at least not tonight. She only hoped that she could still find Max.

Riley

I walked quickly to the lake and sat down on the bank, dipping my toes in the cool water. It was nice. I liked the lake, it was calm and peaceful.

"Riley?"

I turned around in shock. No one knew I went to the lake, it was my secret place. A figure stood in the shadows.

"Y-Yeah? Who is it?" I stuttered.

"Ninen," the voice replied. I was confused. Why would Ninen want to talk to me, after what I'd done?

"What do you want?" I asked slowly.

Ninen stepped out of the shadows and stood next to me. There were tears coming out of her eyes and she was shaking. I could very easily see the scars on her arms. I remembered the scars.

"I'm looking for Max," Ninen said. "Have you seen him?"

I shook my head. "No, I haven't. Why are you out here?"

Ninen shrugged. "Reasons. What about you?"

I sighed. "It's a long story."

Ninen sat down next to me. "I've got time. Tell me."

I bit my lip. I hadn't spoken to this girl in years, but suddenly I wanted to spill my every secret to her. But instead I changed the subject.

"Do you remember when we used to go down to the abandoned train station and play on the old train?"

Ninen sighed, but I saw a smile flicker across her face at the memory.

"I wonder if its still there," she thought out loud, it could prove to be handy, if she couldn't find Max she'd have a safe-ish place to sleep.

"They tore it down a few months ago."

Ninen swore, her options were running out. "Hey," she asked hesitantly, "could I crash at your place tonight?"

Riely turned sharply and looked at her, "why? did-"

"No, he didn't come back, I just don't want to go home yet."

"Is that why you were looking for Max?"

"Yeah, I figured he could help me."

"You probably could, my mom still loves you, but I don't think I'm going home tonight."

"Why? He -"

"Yup."

"Well," Ninen said, "wanna get something to eat? I think I've got my wallet somewhere in here... I think." She dug around in her bag, careful of her sheathed dagger, until she found it. "Aha, at least my mom can't say I didn't at least think about what I was doing."

Riley

Ninen and I had a dinner/dessert type thing at McDonalds. It was fun, being with Ninen again.

"Hey Nin," I started. She looked up from her burger. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you. Forgive me?"

Ninen paused, and then nodded. "I guess so."

We ate in silence. We didn't lave maccas until nine pm.

"Want to go back?" I asked as we walked along the road. "I don't know if Jasmine and dad will be there."

Ninen nodded and shivered. "Wish I had brought a coat."

"Let's walk faster."

Ninen and I arrived back at myy house ten minutes later. I quietly opened the door and we snuck across the landing and into my bedroom, where dad was standing with his back to us, looking at some of the photos on the wall.

Kevin

After about an hour of listening to my music, I turned it off and crossed the room to my computer. I flicked through a few sites, checked my mail and then moved onto the TV where I switched from channel to channel for a few minutes. It may seem strange but I don't really have that many hobbies. Lately my friends are my life and this room, this house, it feels so empty.

I think about this too often and that night I'd already had enough so I thought I'd call a few friends over. I tried Jake first but he didn't answer his phone and Olivia declared that she couldn't possibly make it, without actually giving a reason. I decided to give Riley a ring next and I thought I was in luck but then she hung up without a word. What was going on? Would Roxy be in?

Riley

Dad turned around as soon as he heard the door open.

"Riley!" he exclaimed. "Thank god you're alright! We've been so worried."

I glared at him. "Get out of my room," I demanded.

Dad was shocked. I guess he had forgotten about how much I hate him.

"Riley, we've been searching all night for you, I'm not just going to leave now. Neither is Jasmine."

I hated that name, Jasmine. It was such a horrible name. It was the name of my ex-sister.

"Get out of my room, get out of my house and get out of my life!" I screamed, pointing to the door.

Dad hadn't noticed Ninen, standing beside me and watching everything we said and did.

"Um, Riley," Ninen said quietly. "I'm just going to have a drink of water."

Dad rasied his eyesbrows at me letting one of my enemies into my house, but I shook my head

"Get out before I call the police for tresspassing and harrassment."

I wasn't joking, and dad knew it. He left the room and minutes later Ninen came back in. My mobile rang. It was Kevin.

"Sorry, can't talk right now," I said, and hung up.

"I'm sorry about all that," I said to Ninen apologetically.

Ninen shrugged. "It's ok."

Ninen dug through her bag looking for her book, she was sure Riley would love it. She felt the cold metal of her dagger against her hand and grabbed it. It hurt pulling it out, and she anticipated cuts on her hands, but she pulled it out anyways. She didn't want to slash the back of her hand with it.

She pulled it out and put it carefully on the bed, if there was blood on it she didn't want to get it on her comforter. To none of her surprise there was. She closed her hand and kept digging. Wincing as she put more pressure on it.

After taking a shower and slipping on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, Max hopped onto his bed with a pencil and his school binder. He was always tops in his classes back in Canada. Why's that? Because he finished all the work the teachers gave him.

He spun his pencil in his hand as he stared out the window. He thought about Ninen and everything she said about her parents. "Are dysfunctional families really this common in the U.S.?" He didn't know why anyone in their right minds would think the people who gave them life would hate them. It just didn't make any sense to him because he had a great relationship with his parents, respected their wishes, and listened to their advice. After all, they've lived much longer than him so they know a little more about most things.

When she found what she was looking for she pulled it out urgently, after she had sliced her hand opened in two places she was now looking for her gauze. She wrapped it around her hand quickly, and sheathed her dagger.

"What happened?" Riely asked when she noticed the gauze.

"The scabard is too big, the dagger tends to fall out."

"Oh, you were prepaired."

"YEah, it happens a lot."

Riely sat down on her bed, and Ninen did too. "Ok what happened between you and your mom?"

"She was just being her usual self, drunk. She went into my room and found something she didn't want me to have."

"The daggers?"

"Yup, she screamed at me, saying that it wasn't something I should be collecting. And when I said I like collecting them, she smacked me and said i was jsut like my dad. I love my dad, but my mom... yeah, so it wasn't exactly a complement. I'm still not sure I want to go back yet, but Max just got to me. You wouldn't happen to have his phone number would you?"

Riley

I shook my head. "No, sorry. Do you still want to stay the night here? It'll be a bit hectic because mum and Jasmine will be home soon, and I'll probably get yelled at a whole lot."

Ninen seemed to think it over. "I don't know. Do you want me to go?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'd like you to stay. Maybe you should call your mum, though."

Ninen laughed. "You've definetely changed Ri. You're loads more cautious."

I shrugged. "Something happened. It was bad, really bad."

"You mean the thing with that new guy?"

I bit my lip and nodded. "I'm taking it you heard at lunch?"

Ninen nodded. "Everybody heard. I'm sorry about that."

I sighed. "I'd rather not think about it, if you don't mind."

Ninen nodded. "That's fine."

We sat in complete silence until the front door opened. I heard dad talking to mum and then footsteps on the stairs. I watched as Jasmine twisted the door handle. I groaned, and with quick thinking, Ninen sat down on the floor with her back against the door, denying my family entrance.

"Thanks" Riley said.

"No problem, you really don't want to see them do you?"

"If they died I wouldn't even go to their funeral."

"Whoa, isn't that a little bit harsh?"

"You should know its not."

"Yeah, but I'd still go to my moms funeral."

"You're starting to sound a little bit like Max."

Apparently her dad took over trying to open the door because with quick force Ninen slid a little bit across the carpet.

Riley

Ninen wasn't able to hold the door closed any longer. She stood up just before dad managed to smash it to pieces.

"What do you want?" I growled.

Mum, Dad and Jasmine all entered the room. Mum tried to hug me, but I pushed her away.

"Oh, come on Riley," Jasmine said. "We've been so worried about you. Why are you treating us like this?"

I looked at each member of my family. I knew they expected to me to fall to my kness, sobbing, and apologize for everything. Well, I wasn't going to do that.

"Do you remember five years ago?" I asked Jasmine.

Jasmine gulped and nodded. "Yes, I remember."

"That's why I'm treating you like this," I turned to dad. "Do you remember seven years ago?"

Dad glanced at mum and nodded, ashamed.

"That's why I treat you like this. Mum, do you remember three years ago?"

Mum glared at me and nodded.

"That's why I'm treating you like this. You have all done something to ruin my life. Now stay the hell away from me. I'm leaving and I'm never talking to you again!"

I grabbed my bag, which held my purse, phone, keys and iPod, and a jacket, and me and Ninen pushed past my family and out the door. As soon as we were out of sight from the house, I sat on the curd and started crying.

Ninen put an arm around her, letting her cry. She knew that soon they would be following them.

"Riley," she said softly, "unless you want to be found again I suggest we leave."

"And go where?"

"I don't know, one of your friends houses? I'd offer to take you back to my house but... I'm still a little unsure if i want to go back myself."