Chapter 2

Three days later, Lilly was sitting in a rental car with the same woman from child services. They had landed in Cleveland from the 4.5-hour flight and by now had been driving towards Sweetside for 3 hours already. She didn't have the guts to ask how much more it was going to last, knowing she had pissed the woman off a few days ago by not listening to anything she was saying to her.

She herself had become annoyed with the lady when she had told Lilly to hurry up while she was saying goodbyes to her dog and hugging him, trying to make sure Barrel knew that he was also going to go with her and stop the weeping. Daxton was going to come to Sweetside in a few days, with his car full of Lilly's boxes and her dog. It was going to be a 32-hour drive for him and the girl was feeling kind of guilty in front of her brother that he had to do this. He kept saying it was fine though.

"I think this is the town..." the woman told Lilly. The blonde girl looked out of the window, seeing a sign notifying them that they were now indeed in Sweetside. She didn't sit up better, she wasn't excited anymore. Now every emotion she had previously owned had been changed to fear and jitters. What if her mom and sister didn't like her? What if she didn't like them? What if she wasn't going to be able to make any friends? What if they didn't want her here? What if they weren't going to keep her dog? This was her biggest fear. That her best friend was going to be taken away from her.

She kept looking out of the window; passing a diner, a high school, crossed a bridge, a preschool, some stores and cafes, a trailer park, and then drove past some big mansions. Soon enough, there were smaller houses. They passed another high school which looked so much worse than the first one, but after that started the bigger houses once again. Lilly was left confused, not understanding the way the neighborhoods worked in this small town. Where she came from, everyone either lived in a big apartment building, a big private house, or a small one. There were trailers, mansions, four-floored family homes, one floored, and apartments all mixed up. After about five more minutes, Mrs. Orange pulled up in front of a two-story private house.

It looked nice. It was white, not too big, and had a garden, at least in the front. It had a front porch with a small table and a few chairs on it, and everything looked clean enough, no junk in the garden like most of the houses had.

Lilly slowly pulled her earbud out of the right ear and took a deep breath, the woman already out of the car, wanting to have this done already. Lilly slowly opened the door and got out, going to the trunk of the car. She threw the duffel bag over her left shoulder, letting Mrs. Orange take her huge suitcase.

The girl bit her lip while looking down at herself and her clothes. She had no idea what people dressed like in this town, but she wearing shorts and an oversized T-shirt probably wasn't it. It was colder in here, she could feel the fresh smell of the forest surrounding them, not the salty ocean anymore. But as the social worker already locked the empty car, Lilly sighed and followed her through the gate and into the garden.

The door opened the moment she closed the gate behind them. The social worker smiled, seeing the woman she had talked on the phone with standing on the door now, looking at them, her blue eyes a bit widened. Lilly stopped. She had only seen her mom once; she owned an old picture of her that her dad had given her when she had asked about her mommy all those years ago. To her surprise, she still looked the same. Older, but the same. She wasn't expecting this.

The girl felt like she was out of breath when she dropped the duffel bag and ran the last few steps to get to touch her mom for the first time in her life. Once she was settled in her arms, face buried into her shoulder, a sob escaped her throat. She was real, she was here and she was hugging her back so tightly. Lilly had not ever imagined that. All her nightmares ended with Chloe hating her and disowning her, not with a hug like this. At this point, they were both crying.

Chloe had no idea what she was supposed to do or say, but it didn't matter for either of them just yet. She moved her head a bit to press her lips against her youngest daughter's cheek. She kissed her cheek and forehead and the blonde hair in a messy bun, while still holding her, not ever wanting to let go anymore.

"Hey baby," she whispered, trying to get the girl to look at her. She kept her head in her shoulder, not planning on letting go of her mom any time soon.

After less than five minutes though, Lilly let her grip loosen, understanding that she's real and she will never leave anymore so she might as well go and find her sister now too. "Hi," she sniffled, letting go fully, and looked down, wiping her eyes. Once she looked back up though, she found her mom looking guilty and sad while also crying from happiness. Lilly smiled a little and Chloe kissed her forehead again before going to pick up the bag her daughter had left a few feet away.

Once she stepped away though, she revealed Dior, standing up next to the stairs in front of them that led upstairs. Lilly had had no idea what her sister looked like, but she thought that since they were twins, she should've been a lot like her. She wasn't wrong, but she was also waiting for light eyes, hair, and skin. The girl in front of her had brown eyes, light brown hair with pink colored inside, and darker skin. She was extremely pretty.

Her sister looked so broken, much like her. Lilly wasn't sure if the girl wanted to hug her or not, but she didn't look mean, so the blonde made her arms rise a little, inviting her into a hug. Dior got there with less than a second and wrapped her sister up in a tight hug, both of them crying while ginning in happiness.

"What's your name?" Lilly heard herself ask.

"Dior," her sister whispered, still not letting go.

"I'm Lilly."

"I know."

The blonde frowned and pulled away in confusion, not bothering to wipe her tears away. "You knew about me?"

"No, my mom told me three days ago."

"Oh," Lilly breathed out and managed to bring herself to wipe her tears away and then smile at her sister, checking out her style of clothing and her face. They looked so similar. She smiled, seeing that Dior was wearing black tights under some jean shorts, a black crop top, and a leather jacket. She was so not going to fit in with the style of clothing this town had. "You're beautiful," Lilly said quietly.

Dior chuckled in tears, still wiping them away. "So are you."

Lilly chuckled quietly and hugged her again, not able to keep away from her anymore. From one ear she could hear the social worker trying to talk to her mom and her mom inviting her in since it's going to take hours to get these papers and everything filled probably.

"Girls?" their mom asked. Lilly smiled at the thought of having someone she could think of as a mom. It was her favorite word now.

"Yeah?" the two teenagers asked in unison, pulling away from their second hug and looking at the two women.

"Let's try to get this done, it can take a while," Chloe said and the two nodded, following them into the living room.

Lilly took every chance she got to look around. The house looked nice, it was kind of girly but not really, it had different smooth colors inside, small things she had never seen. And she smiled at the pictures they had up. But there were more kids on them than just Dior, everyone in similar jackets. She had a strange feeling about that.

"Lilliana, you told me you'd fill those," the social worker sighs, looking at like 10 empty papers she was apparently supposed to fill.

"Uhm, no I didn't?" Lilly said, making it a question.

"Come on," she sighed and handed them to the girl.

Lilly frowned at the questions and looked at the woman in confusion. "Why is this important? It's my personal info, it's not anyone's business."

"Everyone in this system needs to fill those. Your situation isn't quite like someone could harass you sexually, but you still need to fill those," Mrs. Orange explained.

"So when someone is abusing the kids in the foster system you need to know the kids' sexuality, not the parents' who would be doing it?" Lilly asked, eyes a bit narrowed, feeling annoyed.

"Lills just fill the papers," Dior said with a small smile, liking that her sister seems to be fierce like she was.

Lilly sighed and sat down on the couch in there, pushing her shoes off and crossing her legs on the couch. She started to fill all those blanks with stupid questions like does she support homosexuality. Of course, she supported it, she didn't get how anyone could not.

"You have a dog?" Chlo asked her daughter in surprise.

Lilly gulped and looked up at her mom who was more smiling than frowning. "Um, yeah... Is that a problem or can I still keep him?" she asked carefully.

"Of course you can keep him," Chloe said softly, making the blonde girl smile and look back at her own papers.

So while the social worker tried to explain everything to Chloe and the fact that they were going to come in every few months to see if Lilly was okay with them, Dior took out her phone and smirked at the messages in her group chat, everyone harassing her with questions about her twin.

DD: hey guys

TIGER PRINCE 3RD: so?

BOMBSHELL: how is she?

CAMI: ANSWER MY QUESTIONS!

ANTS IN YOUR PLANTS: dd, i saw her coming from my window but i didn't see your reaction. why did you stay inside?!

CAMI: DON'T KEEP IGNORING US!

TOOTHLESS MOLARS: U CAN'T LEAVE US ON READ

GAY PRINCE AYDEN: I FEEL PERSUADED TO WRITE IN CAPS

DD: she seems nice... i mean, she and mom are both filling some papers, but she told me i was pretty and she looked happy to be here and we all cried

CAMI: aww, best reunion ever. wish i could've seen it

TIGER PRINCE 3RD: happy for u

DD: i'll skip brunch at popeye's tomorrow guys

BOMBSHELL: no why? bring her with you...

GAY PRINCE AYDEN: OMG YES!

DD: i want to get her know before u guys steal her

DD: bye gotta go

Her phone kept buzzing, but she placed it on the table, away from herself, and saw Lilly look up at her for a moment with a small frown. "My friends want to meet you." The blonde girl seemed to tense up at that, so DD quickly continued. "I told them not yet."

Lilly smiled a little and having filled all the little boxes with some X-s, she handed the papers back to the woman she had known for half a month already. "So... What do you like to do?" she asked Dior quietly, moving closer to her sister, legs still crossed.

"I don't know," Dior chuckled. "I just hang with my friends and ride my bike..."

"Your bike?" Lilly frowned, not imagining a girl like Dior sitting on a bicycle.

"Motorcycle," she corrected with a smirk, not used to talking to people not knowing what she's talking about when referring to a bike.

"Oh my god," Lilly breathed out with a smile. "You have one?"

"Yeah, I could teach you if you want..." she offered with a smile.

"Yes," she said immediately, smiling big and nodding. "Wait, you're allowed to ride one? Aren't we the same age?"

Dior chuckled at the twin joke. "You get 15, you make the license. Most of my friends have one."

"Right, it's Ohio," Lilly murmured to herself. "Your friends? The people on the picture there?" she asked, pointing at one across the room.

"Yep," Dior smiled. "I have like 6 best friends." Lilly smiled at that. "It's a small town so everyone knows everybody though."

"Right," Lilly sighed. "Are the people nice in here?"

"I mean... It depends," Dior looked doubtful. "I need to explain to you how this town works and then we can talk."

"How does it work?" Lilly asked in confusion.

"Uh... Let's go upstairs to your room and we can talk?"

Lilly looked back at the social worker. "Do you need me for anything at the moment?"

"I'll call you back if we need anything," Mrs. Orange said.

"Alright," Lilly smiled, happy to finally get away from her. "Let's go."