Chapter Two- Meet Jeremiah

TRIGGER WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SCENES OF VIOLENCE, THE FIRST HALF CAN BE SKIPPED AND THE STORY LINE WILL STILL MAKE SENSE, OR YOU COULD READ THE SHORT SUMMARY I'LL LEAVE IN THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. IF YOU PROCEED TO READ IT HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS IN THIRD PERSON.

On the other side of town Jeremiah lays awake. His father is at it again, tripping and falling over stuff like the drunk mess he is. It's the third time this week he has gotten this drunk and it's only Tuesday. He cannot wait for the day he turns 18, then he'll be allowed to legally adopt his siblings and move out of this hell house. Hopefully he has better luck than his mother, she's been trying for years now to get her children's custody but for whatever reason the judge postpones her cases and prolongs the paper work.

If this experience of living with his abusive father has taught him anything it's that he should never rely on anyone. His mother was lucky enough to get out but now there wasn't much she could do for her kids, he doesn't blame her though. Jeremiah was on his own in this hell they once called home and he could not let his emotions get the best of him, he does have two younger siblings to care for after all. They're the only thing keeping him going, if it weren't for them he wouldn't know where and who he would even be, he would have ran away from home and lived a type of life he doesn't want to even imagine. But he is a high schooler after all, and his jobs at the theater and restaurant won't get him nearly enough money to raise 10 year old twins on his own, so now he goes to school and gives it his best so that he can work towards a better and secure future for all of them.

Jeremiah's thoughts are interrupted by a ear piercing scream. He quickly rushes to the living room where it can be heard from and when he gets there the scene he finds is one that he will never forget and most probably take to his grave. The glass table is broken and a small body with brown wavy hair, that is covered in blood and glass, appears to have been thrown through it. His father is seated on the couch, eyes wide and his bloody hand covering his mouth, "I- It-... It was an accident I swear. She came running towards me and I pushed her away with a little too much force." he broke out sobbing, but Jeremiah didn't care. His main concern right now was to make sure his little sister Yasmin makes it through the night and that no harm comes to his brother Sumesh."Jay, is Yas going to be okay?", Sumesh asks as his honey brown eyes identical to Yasmin fills with tears. For the first time Jeremiah realizes that the poor child witnessed everything, and he too will be scarred for life, although he won't have the physical scars like his twin sister, he will have the emotional ones. Without even thinking twice he dials emergency services and moves towards Sumesh in hopes of consoling him.

Everything after that just happens so fast. Emergency services reach their house and manage to get Yasmin to hospital just in time. Not long after they arrive, his mother and their social worker make an appearance. "My babies! Are you guys okay?" she asks sobbing as she tries to embrace her children. Jeremiah pulls out of her hug not long after and walks in the other direction. Hurt is evident on her face but he doesn't care, sometimes he can't help but think what their life would have been like if she had just stayed.

He knows that once his father got demoted at work and his parents relationship became rocky that things would never be the same. He never really understood why his mother earning more was such a big deal and that for some reason it didn't sit well with his father so much so that he turned to consuming alcohol to drown out his shame. Why does society set such high standards for men? Can't gender equality just be normalized? If a man can be a stay at home dad then what's wrong with a woman being the sole provider of their household? It angered him that society had such double standards and what saddened him most was that he had lost his father to this. He's father may not be dead like the countless men who felt helpless and was made to believe that having a job and providing for your family was all that made them 'real men' and in turn lost their fight with depression, but his relationship with his father would never be the same. In Jeremiah's eyes being a real man meant showing up for your family, even when it got hard, it meant loving and being faithful to your wife; never doing anything to hurt your loved ones physically or emotionally. According to his standard of 'real men' his father had stopped being one months ago.

Right now he was just happy that Yasmin was okay and that now the judge had no choice but to hand their custody over to his mother. He hoped the judge would find this reason enough to remove them from their fathers care, he couldn't go on living like this. "Jeremiah, do you mind if I talk to you for a bit?" was the first thing he heard his social worker say the whole night. She had been lurking in the corner, observing the chaos that unfolded. He was reluctant to leave Yasmin's side, he stood holding her hand and stroking her hair for a couple of minutes now. He was not sure about the type of news he was about to receive, and from the looks of it things didn't look to be in their favor especially considering the fact that his mother was just talking to their social worker and was now silent. "Sure." he said hesitantly as he followed Ms Kim out of the ICU ward. "Look I'm going to be straight foward with you, with the possibility of your father facing a good 20 years in jail for child abuse and your mother not having a stable home to raise you kids in due to her history of abandonment, there is a very slim chance that either of your parents will get custody over you and your siblings. I've spoken to the judge and he feels that it's best you guys get put into foster care until we can find a stable home for you all. Before you come at my throat I told the judge that it's best that they do not separate you guys, especially since you all have been through something this traumatic and he has agreed. While we look for a suitable foster home for you guys I've convinced the judge to let you guys stay at your mother's house so that things can go back to normal and the twins feel that they're in a safe and familiar environment for a while.", Jeremiah had remained silent throughout it all. He didn't know what to say, he had hoped that it wouldn't come to this. He knew that he was angry with his mother but he didn't want to be separated from her forever. He just stared at Ms Kim, lost for words. There wasn't anything he could do.

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~Jasmine's point of view~

The next day we went about our normal routine. I wake up late, Niki pounds on my door and strings random words together in an attempt to stop herself from swearing me - because we live in a brown household and would not like to die anytime soon thank you very much - I get to school just in time and reach class a good minute before Mr Egghead does, all is in order and everything seems fine with the universe.

It isn't until the bell rings and signals break that it occurs to me that I haven't been tripped once, no one has called me names yet and my dog sweater and messy bun is spaghetti free, although it's spaghetti Wednesday. Peppy notices too because not long after I think it she's pointing it out, "Jaz, doesn't something seem sus about today. " Wow great minds do think alike. "I was just thinking the exact same thing. We don't have a single scratch on us. You think God finally answered our prayers?" "Well don't go around jinxing it. We can never be to sure. Although we've been avoided on multiple occasions, you'd honestly think we have the zombie fever or something.", she says. "Well our classmates have nothing to worry about, none of them have brains anyways. ", we burst out laughing as we make our to the back of the school.

I immediately stop laughing when I hear footsteps. Peppy is still laughing like an asthmatic seal, clapping hands and struggling to breathe, she doesn't stop until she collides head first with my back, "Ouch! What the-..."she begins to curse but I cut her off. " Shhhh. Did you hear that?" I ask her. "Hear what? I heard nothing. And it's probably nothing too. You've got one wild imagination, remember that time you convinced yourself you were getting married to Soekjin in biology and ended up screaming 'I do' while Ms Petaluma was telling us about the different kinds of reproduction." I cringe and smack her arm, "Hey! We agreed to never discuss that again. And you'd do the same if Mr Worldwide Handsome was asking for your hand in marriage." I try to defend myself but the look she gives me tells me she's not convinced. "Yeah right buddy. Anyways the point is that you get carried away sometimes. Just relax for once, we've never had a stress free day before. I say we enjoy it while it lasts and stop stressing ourselves out for no reason. You're just paranoid, chill." I take a deep breath, "Yeah, maybe your right."

But oh how wrong we both were. Never in our lives were we ever ready for what awaited us the minute we decided to turn the corner. Standing there was a 6.7 feet tall walking, breathing, biggest tornado of all time, we didn't know him but the fact that he is a male speaks volumes. "Uhm buddy, h- hi there, I think you must be lost. You look like you're new here. The cafeteria is on the other side of the school if you're wondering." I try to speak but if we're being honest it's hard communicating with other human beings I've never met before so everything comes out as a jumbled mess. He turns around and I can literally feel the wind get knocked out of Peppy, "I know where I am thanks. I was in fact looking for you guys. You're Jasmine and Penelope right?" he says and flashes us a toothy grin. He's good looking I'd give him that, but someone looking for both of us, that too at the same time raises a lot of red flags. Penelope is still blown away by his wavy long brown hair, green eyes and tan skin that her mouth opens and shuts, sort of like a dying fish, in an attempt to string words together. "It depends on who wants to know." I say as it seems Peppy has still lost the ability to speak, and I thought that I was bad.

"I was wondering if I could hangout with you guys?" he says shyly rubbing the back of his head looking sheepish. It's not until I take a closer look at him that I realize that I've never seen him around and he is actually new. "You're new aren't you?", he nods his head. "Well I assume you already know about our reputation. What I don't understand though is why you'd want to hang out with us despite knowing about what the people in this school do to us and think of us?" I question him further. "Well first off my name is Jeremiah, nice to meet you. I've been transferred here from St Mary High. I came to this school and got bad vibes from majority of the students here, and well you guys haven't bothered me or asked me out yet so you guys seemed chilled and I don't know, maybe I'm rambling at this point but I was wondering if we could be friends and if not then that's totally okay. I'd understand, I'm kind of socially awkward.", he rambles and then looks to the ground.

I kind of feel bad for him. Here he is at a new school socially awkward, with no friends, and a desire to make friends with two of the most hated people at the school. He must be really desperate for friends. As I'm deep in thought I feel a pair of eyes on me, turning to my side I see Peppy staring at me intensely. When she notices that it's obvious that I haven't picked up on her signals yet and that I unfortunately am not a witch doctor and therfore cannot read minds she drags me to the side, "Give us a moment will you?" she says to Jeremiah giving him her most toothy smile. "What are you doing?" she snaps at me, wow talk about duality. "What do you mean? We barely know the guy, we don't even know if he was sent by one of the popular kids. Who knows maybe it's a ritual here to befriend the weirdos before you can get in with the popular crowd.", I say. "Well I think he's genuinely looking for friends. And it really won't hurt to let your guard down once in a while Jaz.", when hurt is evident on my face she continues, "Look I know a lot of things have happened in the past and you've had your fair share of horrible friendships but it won't hurt to give him a chance. We'd never know his true intentions if we don't and what's there to loose anyways? That and he's super cute and wants to be friends with us! Who would have ever thought?" she finishes off excitedly. I consider her words and then look over at him. She's got a point, what's the worst that can happen?

A/N...

I give you chapter 2!!! And Happy new year!!!~she says in March~I wish you all the best this year and may you and your loved ones be kept safe:)

I hope you're enjoying it so far.

For those that didn't read the first half here is a short summary:

We have a new character named Jeremiah. He grew up in an abusive home and stays with his abusive father as his mother cannot get custody of her kids. He's father manages to seriously hurt his younger sister Yasmin by pushing her into a glass table and manages to successfully emotionally traumatize all three of his children for life. You would honestly think that their custody would be immediately handed over to their mother, but no this author loves drama. Their mother has a history of abandonment and they're put into foster homes instead and it is then that Jeremiah is transferred to Jasmine's school and he approaches Jasmine and Penelope with a friendship proposal.

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