After I got to my seat on the plane, I went to the bathroom to check my appearence. "I look awful." I thought to myself as I saw the dark circles under my eyes. My outfit consisted of a pair of black skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a long sleeve coral pink v-neck shirt that matched my brown hair nicely. I brushed through my waist length hair and went and sat down. I decided that while I was waiting for my flight to take off, I would finally write in my journal. I never wrote in this because I was afraid that Tom would read it.
"Dear Journal,
Hi! My name is Gracilynn, or Grace for short. It's currently February 11th. I've never written in this before because I was so afraid my bastard of a step-dad would read it. I'm 17 years old and from Sydney, Australia. I spent most of my life in Orlando, Florida though. I've never met my dad, but today I'm going to live with him and his family in Australia.
My step-dad hit me for most of my life. And when he wasn't beating me he was verbally abusing me. Once he came at me with a knife and cut me.. I have a scar from breast to navel from that incident. I can't believe I'm putting this down on paper. But. Yeah. I can't stand it when people yell. It's terrifying. --- "
"Flight 3601 Orlando to Sydney is about to take off, please store loose articles and buckle your seat belts!" The lady at the front of the plane said.
I sighed and put my journal back into my bag when I felt my phone buzz. I had a text message from Tom.
Tom: I don't know where you are bitch but I'll find you. You can run, but you can't hide forever.
After reading that message, I took apart my phone, disabling the sim card, and tossed it in the bottom of my back pack.
*Landing in Australia*
"Ma'am, we're landing." The flight attendant said as she shook me awake.
As I got up to exit the plane, I tossed my old cell phone into the garbage can. Walking into the lobby, the first thing I saw was a boy about my age with fire engine red hair. He definitely stood out in a crowd. He and a man were standing there, waiting for someone. When the man saw me, he waved me over to him.
"Gracilynn?" He asked.
"Yes? Are you Daryl?"
"I am. Come here baby." He said, pulling me into a hug.
"Dad.. Can't.. Breathe...'' I gasped, slightly panicking.
"Gracie this is my son Michael, your half brother." Dad said, gesturing to Michael.
"Hello, nice to meet you." I smiled, slightly. I wasn't sure how he felt knowing I was his sister.
"You as well." He said, pulling me into a big hug.
"So Gracie, how's your mom?" Our dad asked me.
"She's.. Well. I dunno. I haven't talked to her." I said sadly.
"So call her! Lets go find your suitcase, shall we." He said, noticing I only had a back pack.
"I actually can't call her. I don't have a phone. And I'm not allowed to contact her. Long story. And I also don't have another bag. This is all I've got." I said, gesturing to the bag on my shoulder. In reality I was absolutely horrified to tell him the truth.
"Really? Why don't you have a phone? And you just moved continents and only brought one bag?" He asked.
" I wasn't aware I was coming here until I was being shoved out of the car at the airport." I answered, getting frustrated, why couldn't he just let it be.
"Your mom said you've known about this for ages and were really excited. I talked to her about a week ago." He said, confused.
"Mom lied to you, Dad. I actually didn't know I was coming until yesterday. And I don't have anything extra. Just whats in my backpack. We didn't have a lot of money back home." I said, I didn't want to tell them about my shitty life back home, I wanted them to think I was normal.
Michael took my back pack from me and put his arm around my shoulders.
"I know we just met Grace, but I want you to know that I am actually happy about having a sister. It's kinda cool" He said, and I nodded.
Finally we got into the car and drove to my new home. Once we got inside, I heard a woman yell from the kitchen.
"Thank goodness you guys are home! Hi Gracilynn, nice to meet you, I'm Karen! I.. Whats wrong?" She asked, clearly noticing the shock on my face.
"Uh Hello. You can call me Grace. I'm just.. really.. surprised.. That everyone is so happy to meet me. I thought you would hate me."
"Why on earth would you think that?" She asked, shocked.
"Because I was the accident child.."I mumbled.
"No sweetie. I mean, you weren't planned, but you're certainly not an accident." She said, hugging me.
"Thank you. You're the first person to have ever told me that." I smiled.
"Well I'm glad you're here to hear it. Go upstairs and unpack, and when you're done, we're going shopping. Daryl told me you only had one bag that didn't look like it had much stuff. So I'm taking you shopping, Clifford style."
"Oh you don't need to do that Karen. I don't like it when people spend money on me." I said quickly. The last thing I wanted was them to spend money on me when I had no way to make it up to them.
"Grace you're basically my daughter now. I want to take you shopping. Please? Besides! You'll need new school clothes!" She begged.
"Fine." I said, giving in. I really did need new clothes. I still had to finish senior year of school.
"Want me to show you to your bedroom?" Michael asked.
"Yes, please." I smiled. I had an actual bedroom. Not just a closet. Yes, I slept in a closet back in the states. My step-father found amusement in treating me like the Dursley's treated Harry Potter.
We walked up the stairs and down the hallway.
"Here we are." He said, opening the door to the last room on the left.
The room was huge. Well it felt huge compared to the tiny room I had back in Orlando. The walls were painted purple. There was a queen sized bed, a dresser, a book case filled with books, and a computer desk with a lap top on it. There was also a nice flat screen tv on the dresser at the end of my bed.
"Mum wasn't sure what colors you liked so she just went with purple." Michael said, waiting for a reaction.
"I... I love it.. You guys didn't have to go through all this trouble though. Oh my God, so many books. Harry Potter. Hunger Games. Divergent. Nicholas Sparks. Twilights. You don't know me at all but it's like you knew my taste in books."
"Well we all want you to feel at home here. We want you to feel like you belong. Because you do. I've known I had a sister for awhile, but I didn't think I'd ever get to actually meet you. Mum can't have more kids, and she really wanted a daughter. I mean she loves me to the moon and back but obviously I don't like to do girly things like shop and go to the salon. So this will be nice for her! And of course. I figured if you were anything like me, you'd like those books. I love them." He replied.
"Well thank you guys, very much. You lot honestly have no idea how much it means to me. The childhood I had.. If you can even call it a childhood.. Was awful."
"Wanna tell me about it?"
"Not right now.. I've never told anyone." I told him honestly. I'd never told anyone what happened to me. Only part of it had got written in my journal. There was much more.
"That's fine. I'll always be around if you need to talk." He said as I dumped my bag onto the bed and began sorting through it.
"You like penguins?" He asked, picking up Nala (my stuffed penguin.)
"Yes I do! Give her back!" I laughed as I took her from him.
"I swear maybe you're related to Luke instead of me."
"Whose Luke?" I asked, curiously.
"My best friend! Well, one of them"
"Oh. He sounds nice!"
"He is! We actually hated each other for while. We dated the same girl. But we're best friends now. You'll be getting to meet him and my other two best friends soon, they're coming over later."
"Oh okay." I said, folding the little clothes I did own.
"A One Direction fan?" He asked, motioning to my hoodie that said ''Horan 93'' on the back and "One Direction" on the front.
"Yes, huge fan. I know all of their songs. I love them like family, though I've never met them. Niall is obviously my favorite." I grinned. Today was going well so far. Although I had no idea how long that would last. Probably just until they realized all the baggage I came with. Or as soon as I turned 18 I'd be on my own.
'Why do you think we'd throw you out when you turn 18?" He asked. Shit I said that out loud.
"It's not that. I just feel like... Like once I'm 18, you guys won't want to deal with me anymore.."
"Grace that's far from the truth. Please don't think like that. If we didn't want you here, dad would have told your mother that you couldn't come. Please believe that." He begged.
"Fine you win." I mumbled, smiling a little.
"I always win!" He laughed with an evil laugh.
I finished putting my stuff away, continuing to chat with Micheal about random things like music, and how I was very excited but soooo nervous to meet his best friends. After I finished, we went to find Karen. She was still in the kitchen making sandwiches.
"Hungry?" She asked, holding a plate out to me. It contained two roast beef sandwiches, crisps, and a pickle. "There's condiments on the counter." She added.
"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, getting up to get mayonnaise, lettuce, and cheddar cheese from the plates. I hadn't eaten in days, but I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that moment.
"Grace slow down before you choke!" Karen exclaimed as I started eating, a little too fast apparently.
"Whens the last time you actually ate?" She asked.
"Uhm.. 3 days ago." I mumbled, looking down at my plate embarrassed.
"What? You didn't eat for three entire days?" She asked, shocked.
"No... I was grounded and that also includes not being allowed to have food. My step-dad is a jerk." I answered.
"I am so sorry Gracie." She answered, the look of shock on her face had subsided into worry.
"Don't be. I'm fine. I'm just really really glad that I have food in front of me right now." I said, eating a little slower.
"Well good. Don't feel like you've got to ask to get food either. Anything in the kitchen is fair game. Daryl and I usually put our goodies in our room so Michael and the boys don't eat them! When you're done we're going to the mall and go shopping." She said.
'Awesome." I smiled.
"So what kind of stuff do you like? Clothes, music, etc." She asked me.
"Well. I really love One Direction, they actually really saved my life. I honestly wouldn't be here without those 5 idiots. I listen to a little Three Days Grace. Green Day. Nickleback. Maroon 5. Um. I really like country music to. Artists like Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Chase Rice, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton. I used to listen to Miley Cyrus until she kind of lost her marbles. And I used to be a HUGE Taylor Swift fan.. At least until 1989 came out and she had like 4 songs in a row about Harry Styles. Don't get me wrong, they're great songs, but I don't like that in 'Style', she's trashing him hardcore and basically calling him a cheater. And how obvious can you get that the songs are about Harry? Styles is his last name. She sings 'Take Me Home' multiple times. "Out Of The Woods" is about when they wrecked the snow mobile and he had to have stitches. And I refuse to listen to the other ones. BUT I'm not being biased when I say that because I love Harry. I love Taylor too. I just think she needs to get over it. It's been like 2 years. I'd say that about any artist though, not just her. Though I do have major respect for him for being so okay with it. Even though I'm pretty sure that in his head, he's not. Who would be? Great artist or not if she was bashing me, I wouldn't be okay with it. So major props to him. Sorry I'm being to much of a Directioner. I just love those boys." I said, noticing the amused look on Karens face.
"No it's fine,go on." I heard from behind me. I turned to see Michael recording my rant on his phone.
"What are you doing?!" I gasped.
"Nothing. Just face-timing with Ashton. Say hi Grace!" He said, turning the phone to me to reveal Ashton's face.
"Oh my God you ass! Hi Ashton but damn you Michael." I said.
"Hi Grace! So I hear you're the new addition to the Clifford family!" Ashton asked as I snatched Micheal's phone from him.
"Yes, I'm his sister." I mumbled, embarrassed.
"Awesome! We needed more friends our age." He laughed.
"I'm 17, probably the youngest!" I laughed.
"We're all 17!" He giggled. His giggle was so funny.
"Geeze we're old!" I teased.
"Are not! But, Mali, Calum's sister is a few years older but she's been off doing her music thing in London. So we don't see her much! And my siblings are much younger. And Luke's siblings are way older!" Ashton said with a big grin on his face.
"My brother told me about Luke, and I have no idea who Calum is, but okay!" I said, sarcastically.
"Calum is the other best friend in our group! You'll be meeting them both later." He retorted with just as much sass.
"RIIIGHHHTTTT!" I giggled.
"Yeah! Well I'm sorry to cut you short but I've got to get going, my mum wants me to take my brother and sister shopping before I come over there! I'll see you and Michael later tonight!" He said.
"I can't wait to meet you guys!" I said, waving to the camera.
"Me too!" He said and then he hung up.
"Michael Clifford get your ass get in here!" I shouted as he entered the room.
"Stop shouting, I'm right here."
"First of all, your friend is really nice! Second of all, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU LET ME CONTINUE TO RANT ABOUT THAT WITH HIM WATCHING! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"Well I wasn't aware that you were ranting about anything. I just walked into the kitchen to get you and heard you going on about it.. And yes, Ashton is very nice. Mostly. Okay so you and mum are going shopping, when you get back be prepared, because my friends will be here. And I haven't told Calum or Luke about you yet." He smiled.
"Why not?" I asked, suddenly feeling a little hurt. Was he embarrassed of me?
"Because I wanted to be sure you were even going to be here before I told them. I promise it had nothing to do with you." He added, sensing my change in mood.
"Okay. Karen are you ready?" I asked as I finished off my last bite of sandwhich.
"Yup, lets go!" She said before dragging me off to the car.
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A/N Double update. Kind of. You got chapters 1 and 2 within 24 hours. haha. Hope you guys are enjoying this so far! I would of had this chapter posted ages ago but Wattpad decided to delete everything I had typed out earlier! Love you guys! Don't forget to vote and stuffs!