Disclaimer: Hinton owns all.

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Tabitha didn't know whether to be surprised her sister had finally turned up, or the fact that she was now married and moving out. She tried not to jump for joy when Angela started clearing her stuff out of their bedroom. After almost thirteen years, Tabitha would finally have her own room and hopefully more privacy. No more would she come home to find Angela reading her diary. Or wake up in the middle of the night because her sister had rolled in late, drunk as a skunk.

"Be careful with those!" Angela screeched at Jack, as he nearly dropped her box of shoes and magazines.

Tabitha gave Jack a sympathetic glance. "You could help, you know," Jack said.

"I'm pregnant."

"You don't look pregnant," Tabitha said, lying flat on her stomach and glancing up from her book.

Angela preened. "Good! I hope I don't get too fat."

"It's going to happen sometime," Tabitha said, as Will came in behind Jack. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

Angela zipped up one of the suitcases and thrust it at Will. He almost toppled over from the sudden shift of weight but he managed to catch himself from falling over.

"Hey, Tabitha," he greeted.

She blushed." Hi."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Instead of sitting there like a lump, why don't you give me back that skirt you stole from me?"

"Your clothes don't fit me." Tabitha said. "Brenda probably stole it."

"Brenda's a stick," Angela said, waspishly. "My clothes don't fit her."

Tabitha sighed; remembering when she and Susan were playing with Angela's skirt … she never got the skirt back. "Susan has it ..." she said, as Will and Jack went back downstairs.

Angela glared at her. "Tell your friend if she touches my stuff again, I'll scratch her eyes out."

"You could go right ahead," Tabitha said, remembering the standoffish attitude Susan had been giving her. "Maybe you'll knock some sense into her," Tabitha told her sister.

Her sister gave her a funny look before taking the last of her things. Her mother came into the room dabbing her eyes with a napkin. Angela glanced at her mother and rolled her eyes.

"Did you sign the marriage license?"

"Yes," she said. "I can't believe I'm losing my baby."

"Ma, I'm getting married, not going off to war."

"So soon ..." her mother said, stroking Angela's hair. "And soon enough you'll be a mother."

"Poor kid," Tabitha said, from her space on the bed. The kid didn't have a chance with Angela for a mother and Jack for a father.

Angela snatched the paper from her mother's hand and made her way downstairs. "I'll visit."

Tabitha scowled at how insensitive she was being towards their mother. "Don't do us any favours."

Getting off the bed, Tabitha wrapped her arms around her mother. Her mother smiled and patted her arm.

"Can we talk about getting that kitten?" She asked.

Two Weeks Later …

Tabitha huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. She didn't see why she was in trouble. Angela had been missing for a week, and turned up married and apparently pregnant. Curly was always rolling in early hours of the morning, with suspicious looking packages.

"Don't give me that look," her mother said, as they sat at an empty table by the vending machines in the visiting room of the prison.

"It was all Tim's fault," Tabitha told her mother.

"Oh? Did he put the knife in your hand?"

"No..."

"No, he didn't."

"I didn't even use it." Tabitha said, shutting her mouth when a door on the other side of the room opened and men walked out in a line - her brother being one of them. Tabitha cringed when Tim glanced in their direction with an angry look in his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Tim asked, without any greeting as he took a seat the table.

"Tabitha baked you cookies," her mother said, nudging her.

"Only because you made me," Tabitha muttered, pulling the plastic film off the paper plate of cookies.

"They're ginger snaps," her mother said, ignoring her. "You used to love them when you were a boy."

Tim snatched the bag off the table and stuffed a cookie in his mouth to make their mother happy.

"What are you really doing here, Ma?" he asked, after he swallowed." Why'd you bring Tabitha?"

Tabitha shifted nervously in her chair. Her mother pursed her lips. "Tabitha got suspended ... for bringing a knife to school."

"I wouldn't have gotten into trouble if it wasn't for Heather," Tabitha said, scowling.

There had been rumours going about that her brother had killed someone. Tabitha wanted to prove them wrong by bringing in his switchblade to school. If he had killed someone it would have had blood on it, right? She wanted everybody to see the clean blade. Of course, it wasn't until she was already in school she realized it was stupid reasoning. She had kept it in her bag and never meant for anybody to see it. Sadly, when one thing goes wrong in her life everything else falls apart too. The switchblade fell out of her bag when she had pulled out her English book, and the one person to notice had to be her worst enemy.

"That skinny blonde in the bra shop?"

"Yeah," Tabitha said. "Susan told her and she ratted me out."

Tim groaned and rubbed his temples. "I don't fuckin' have time for this preteen drama."

"I wish I would've used it on her," Tabitha muttered under her breath. Her mother gasped upon hearing her, and then began to sob.

Tim glared at her and sunk in her seat. "Ma, calm down," he told her. "Why don't you go to the bathroom while I talk to her?"

Tabitha watched her mother leave. From the corner of her eye she could see Tim staring at her with cold dark eyes. Slowly she turned her to face him. He carried on staring. It made her heartbeat faster with fear and her palms sweat.

"Um, hi?" She croaked.

"Don't be a smart ass," he said, running his hands through his hair. Tabitha frowned; it was longer when he went in.

"I don't have to listen to you, you know?" Tabitha said, indignantly. "You're not my Daddy."

"Don't pull that shit with me," he growled. "Ma don't need you actin' up."

Tabitha rolled her eyes. "I'm not the one in jail or pregnant."

"What did you say?" He said, leaning forward.

"Nothing!" she squealed, losing her nerve. Angela was going to kill her for spilling the beans before she had a chance to butter him up. Not that it would have worked.

"Who's pregnant?" Tabitha didn't reply. She stared at her hands. "Tabitha. Who's pregnant?"

"Well, It's not Curly," she said, looking up at him. Tabitha sighed when she noticed the stress lines staring to form around his eyes. Tabitha wished she could take back what she said. Tim cursed and rubbed his forehead with one hand. He cursed again, until he ran out of cuss words.

"She moved in with Jack and his family," Tabitha informed him. "At least he's helping her out."

Tim's nostrils flared and his jaw clenched. "Jack... I'm gonna fuckin' kill him."

Tabitha bit her lip, willing her mother to hurry back from the bathroom. "Now that Angela's gone, I can get a kitten, right?"

Tim snarled in response. Tabitha cringed and shrunk back in her chair, as their mother came back to the table.

"What did I miss?" their mother asked, her eye make-up was refreshed and she seemed to have pulled herself together.

"Nothing," Tim answered. "Tabitha's gonna behave from now on, ain't you kid?"

"Sure," Tabitha replied, crossing her arms across her chest.

She couldn't wait till Tim got out of jail now, because when he did she was going to be the textbook bratty sister, and bug him until he stopped caring what she did, like he slowly had with her older siblings.

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