Chapter 3

Dior took Lilly's duffel bag while Lilly grabbed the suitcase and they carried them upstairs. There were four doors and Dior made sure Lilly saw what was behind them. "Our mom's room," she explained, opening the door and allowing Lilly to peek in. "A guest room. My room. And this is your room now," she introduced, getting her stuff inside a big sized guest room. "We need to go shopping and mom said you can decorate it whichever way you want and she'll buy all the stuff in here you want."

Lilly giggled quietly. "You think she'd let me paint it?" she asked Dior, looking around in the white room with a big bed, closet, and two bedside tables.

"Yeah, of course. What color do you want?"

"It's like light blue, but a bit greener... It's ocean spray. I love that color and if you don't have an ocean here I'm gonna need some in my room," she smiled sadly to herself, walking into her small but private bathroom which had a shower, a toilet, sink, and some drawers under it.

"You like the ocean?" Dior asked with a smile, sitting on the bed when Lilly came back there. She nodded, sitting on the bed as well, facing her sister. "Mom said you do sports..." DD said slowly. "Which kinds? Are you a cheerleader?"

"No," Lilly chuckled. "I do everything, but dad made me choose not more than two to focus on, so I run cross country and I surf. But like I also box and play beach volley and ski and play tennis and some more."

"You surf?" Dior sighed, feeling bad for the girl, now understanding that surfing was probably very close to her heart alongside the ocean and she had to move away from there.

Lilly nodded. "Do you cheer?"

"Yeah," Dior said, nodding. "My um... girlfriend," she started carefully, hoping Lilly would be okay with that, but continued when the blonde smiled with support. "She's the head of the cheerleaders so when we changed schools me and my other friend, Camila, we joined."

"Changed schools? Why?"

"Okay, here's what I need to tell you about," Dior sighed. "We live on the Southside of the town. The northsiders don't like us. Since most of the families on the Northside are like lawyers and architects and people who earn a lot of money, they think that we are thugs."

"What?" Lilly chuckled. "You're not, right?"

Dior nodded with a small frown. "So..." she sighed. "We're in a gang."

Lilly's eyebrows rose in shock. "A... a gang? Like what kind of gang? The only gangs I've ever seen are the stupid girls in California who do drugs and alcohol and go to the police, proud of it."

Dior laughed at that. "A biker gang. There are two gangs in Sweetside: the Toads and the Tigers... We're the Tigers," the pink-haired girl turned her back to Lilly for a moment so that she could see the snake symbol on her back and then looked back at the shocked blonde in front of her. "We don't do drugs. We're basically just a family, and since many families on the Southside are fucked up we protect our own... We have a few women whose men abused them and then we have some guys who are now the age of our mom who were young and kicked out of the house for bad grades and stuff."

"Oh," Lilly said in relief and breathed out. "So you're not dangerous?"

Dior laughed again quietly. "No, Lilly, we're not dangerous. I know a few guys who have dealt drugs to teenagers and stuff, but that's basically the worse we've done."

"So you've not... killed anybody?" Lilly asked carefully.

"No," Dior sighed. "We've been close to it. We've beat up some abusive shitheads, that's it."

"Alright... And the other gang? Toads?"

"They're different," Dior said carefully. "They trade drugs and guns to people outside of the town, they know many mafia bosses... That's the real reason the Tigers were founded actually. So that they wouldn't harm us or anyone else. That's what we do. We're protectors."

Lilly smiled at that, but still looked worried. "So is it like dangerous here, or?"

"It can be... Toads already know not to mess with us, they only really interact with us when they need the money and either kidnap someone or try to steal it from the bar our leader owns."

Lilly sighed loudly, brain trying to process all of it. "Kidnap? Have you been kidnapped?"

"Once," Dior nods. "My- our mom has been best friends with the current leader since they were little. So I'm like really... precious?" she said with a frown. "But the Toads aren't strong. They're just a bunch of assholes, liking the crime, so Tigers always win the fights and the kidnapped person is all good. The worse they can do is break your nose. They don't have the guts for anything else."

"So... I could be kidnapped?" Lilly asked with a gulp.

Dior sighed. "If you joined. But even if you won't, it's all good, we'll still get your back. You have nothing to worry about."

"Crap, I was sad to come here because here's no ocean and now it's dangerous?" Lilly murmured to herself and then met Dior's relaxed eyes again.

"Don't worry, Lilly. Our mom owns the local newspaper and that's why people prefer not to hurt us, knowing our mom is a really good writer and could get them to jail with it if she wanted to."

"So what's with the school?" Lilly asked quickly, changing the topic.

"Right. Basil and I, we found out that the Toads have a drug lab in the basement. So Southside high got shut down. We all transferred to Sweetside Highschool, but some others went to Seaside which is like 20 minutes with car, out of the district."

"And me? Do you know where I'll go?"

"You're in the new Sweetside Highschool district. We live ten feet away from each other, remember?"

Lilly smiled at that, her brain buzzing in confusion. "This is kind of hard to process," she sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Take your time. I can't imagine how hard this all is for you..."

"I mean... I've always dreamed of meeting my mom, but even the fact that I have a sister is confusing," she smiled.

"Yeah," Dior smiled. "Alright, let's go back to other things. So you're a sports girl. Can you play soccer?"

"Yeah, can you?" Lilly asked excitedly. Dior nodded with a grin and the blonde twin seemed to get happier, knowing there was at least something to do now. "Do you like animals?"

"I love animals. Also... we have a cat, but she just runs around in the Tiger district so she stays with whoever she wants. And there's a dog like that too. Kat. Don’t ask about the name. He's a sheepdog. Usually stays with H."

"I've been meaning to ask... Who's Camila and Basil and H? And what's your girlfriend like?"

Dior smiled at that brightly. She pulled out her phone and showed Lilly her wallpaper. Lilly smiled and waited for the instructions. "That's Basil," she starts from the left. "He's our neighbor, my best friend because of that. We call him Basil. All the Tigers by blood have weird names, my mom refused to name me something weird, so my name is Dior Diamond Taylor. My friends call me DD."

"Okay," Lilly giggled, ready to get to know more.

"That's me. That's Molars."

"Molars?" Lilly asked with a smirk. "Their parents really want to humiliate them or something?"

Dior chuckled. "Molars is still decent, just wait until you meet everybody... So he's gay and he's with Ayden," she explained, pointing on the other guy next to him. "Ayden's dad is the Sheriff of the town. His name isn't weird, because people don't know Sheriff Brown is a Tiger or all hell would break loose..."

"These guys are all Tigers?" Lilly asked in surprise, looking at the picture.

Dior nodded and continued. "This is Camila. Have you ever heard about Juan Rodriguez?"

"The mafia dude trying to hide after getting out of prison," Lilly nodded.

Dior giggled. "Right. He's Cami's dad."

Lilly's eyes grew wide, looking at the sweet girl on the picture. "Also..." Dior continued. "Basil kind of has his eyes on her and she knows it and plays hard to get just for fun, so if you see that, feel free to make fun of it." Lilly giggled at her and kept listening.

"This is Harold. He's the future leader, a prince like we like to tease him. He's a really good friend of mine, a really smart guy. He likes to write."

"Harold? Why?" Lilly chuckled.

"Because his dad is HJ. Harold Jeopardy McQuoid Junior. And he is Harold Jeopardy McQuoid the third. That's why. We call him Harry, though."

Lilly laughed out loud again and Dior giggled, pointing at Mia. "That's my girlfriend," she said proudly. "She has a twin brother, both redheads, but they don't have the best relationship. Her parents are kind of abusive, so she stays over a lot... Did you drive past the mansions?"

"Yeah."

"Right. Mia's is the huge grey one with their own graveyard. It's a creepy place, she hates living there. Oh and her parents don't know she's a Tigers, but they do know she hangs with us. So she's practically the only one who doesn't wear her jacket outside of our hangouts.

"This is Ethan," Dior continued.

"Mia's brother?"

"No," she smirked. "Just a fellow redhead. He lives on the Northside as well, but his dad is also a Tiger, so he's one by blood."

"Okay," Lilly sighed, trying to remember all of it. Her eyes moved over the picture again. There was a guy who stood out clearly. While everyone else was wearing their leather jackets and sexy or dark clothes, Harry had a flannel around his hips, a t-shirt on, and a Sherpa jacket on. "Isn't the leader supposed to be the one who looks most like a leader? I mean Ethan looks the most like it..." she found herself asking.

"Uh, well... He should, yeah, but he doesn't want to. He's a writer and he's really smart, but he's not a nerd. I don't know, H is hard to explain. He doesn't like to brag and he doesn't like to boss us around, but when he needs to, he's the best one ever... The northsiders are afraid of him. He can be a badass if he wants and is in the mood."

"And... Does everyone wear clothes like that?" Lilly asked carefully, looking at everyone in dark sexy clothes.

"The Tigers. It's my usual style, but Cher usually wears a lot of red and black, Cami usually has like purple and deep-toned rich girl stuff, which is really pretty. The boys just wear black jeans and a t-shirt, even though you might want to look at them when they're not wearing them," she smirks.

Lilly giggles. "You're a lesbian or bi or...?"

"Yeah, I'm bisexual so I enjoy the boys too. You?"

"Straight. Just... Boys are the last thing on my mind right now."

Dior nodded, understanding. They had this awkward silence between them for a while, Lilly zooming off to think about her dad and Dior afraid to ask. She ended up not talking about it. "What's your dog like?"

Lilly smiled sadly, looking back up at her twin sister. "You know what Australian Shepherds are like?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Okay," Lilly smiled and took out her iPhone, the exact same kind that Dior had, which made them both grin. "Here." She showed her sister some pictures of her dog.

"Oh my god. The eyes are different. That's so cool!" Dior smiled, keeping looking at the dog on the screen.

"His name is Barrel," Lilly started.

"Barrel?" Dior asked with a smile, handing her the phone back.

Lilly dropped it on the bed and nodded. "I named him after... well, a barrel. Like in the ocean. It's called tube riding when you ride inside the wave."

"Right, I've seen some movies," Dior agreed.

Lilly giggled quietly at that. "He got 4 a few weeks ago. I got him for my 12th birthday when dad finally decided I'm old enough to take care of a dog... He was in a shelter and all of his siblings were already taken away, but nobody wanted him because of the different eyes, thinking he would scare children or some stupid shit... So I got him."

"Is he friendly?"

"He's the best dog I could ever imagine," Lilly said honestly. "I mean he's clingy and likes cuddles like most of Aussies do, but he's really protective and follows me around everywhere."

"And how will he get here exactly?" Dior asked in confusion.

"We have a brother," Lilly said straight forward. "Half-brother, but still a brother. He's 18 and he's going to college now, but he'll bring me all the boxes of my stuff and my dog."

"With a car?" Dior asked in shock. "Where did you live?"

"It's called Laguna Beach. It's a small city between LA and San Diego. He'll have to drive for like 32 hours, but he's already on his way and will be here in a few days."

"Do you get along well?"

"Yeah. He also has two more half-sisters. His mom got together with a new guy. Tiffany is 17 and Megan just got 15..."

"Oh," Dior said sadly, feeling kind of excluded and sad now.

"They're bitches. We hate them."

Dior frowned, looking back at Lilly. "What?"

"They're spoiled and bratty and they whine fucking lot and get new devices and clothes and whenever they want and they wear hella lot of makeup."

Dior chuckled now and Lilly smiled a bit. "Really? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

"Ask our brother," Lilly smiled.

"What's his name?"

"Daxton. I call him Dax, I have ever since we were little."

Dior sighed and both of them got quiet and sad, knowing now's the time for that topic. "Did he live with you and dad?"

"Half of the time," Lilly agreed. "Also, Dior..." Tears were already starting to swell up in Lilly's eyes. "I took some pictures of dad and I took some of his stuff, so if you want something from it, it's in a box that will be here soon."

"Really?" Dior asked with her voice breaking, tears in her eyes as well, knowing she will never be able to meet him.

Lilly chuckled sadly. "I know what it's like to think about the parent you've never met and dream about meeting them. Just you will never be able to and I was..." she added in a whisper.

Dior moved closer to her and so they hugged for minutes, crying. "I'm sorry about dad," Dior whispered. "I'm sorry you had to move here and leave your home and friends."

"It's alright, at least I have you now."

The rest of the evening went by with the girls sharing their favorite movies and music and everything else. Right before bed, they talked about what Lilly wants her room to be alike and Dior agreed to help her shop for it.