Chapter 1 Good riddance

"Are you stupid?" Jemima's voice roared with the thunder. It was raining heavily outside.

"Can you calm down? I simply asked a question," Amelia answered her. "Fine, I'm sorry. It's enough already."

"Are you talking to me like that?" Jemima shouted again and pushed Amelia very hard, that she fell on the ground. Amelia was still on the ground when their mother came in.

Mrs Carrie Woods was an average height woman who took sides with Jemima no matter what Jemima did. She did this because Amelia was not her child. She had adopted Amelia when she was only a baby.

"What have you done again today?" she asked Amelia who was trying to stand up from the ground.

"Nothing," Amelia said and finally stood up. "I was only asking if she had anything going on with Derek."

Mrs Woods scoffed. She slowly walked to Amelia who was now dusting her clothes, and slapped her. Wham! The slap made Amelia stagger backwards as if she wanted to fall again. Amelia did not expect to be hit by her mother, so it shocked her.

"Next time, don't accuse my daughter of doing something so stupid," Carrie said.

"Like, mom do you get? Why would I want to have anything to do with Amelia's boyfriend?" Jemima laughed. Then she continued, "even though you obviously don't deserve a good man like Derek in your life, why would I stoop so low to sleep with a man that has already touched your filthy body?"

Amelia's eyes were itchy and red from the tears that were now gathering. She bit her lips to hold herself from crying. Jemima was fond of insulting her, and it hurt Amelia a lot.

"If I had known you would give me so much trouble when you grew up, I would have-" Mrs Woods stopped herself mid sentence. She did not want to let Amelia know that she was adopted, even though she sometimes forgot and almost talked about it. Just as they were still busy talking, Mr Woods came in from work.

He rolled his eyes. Mr Woods, just like his wife was average height. But he was aging too.

"What is the fuss about today?" he asked as he looked at Amelia. Just like everyone, he blamed Amelia for anything that went wrong in the house. He was never in support of Amelia being adopted, so he did not like her too.

"Nothing, sir," Amelia said, bowing her head.

"Nothing? Would we keep you here for nothing?" Mrs Woods asked Amelia with a scornful look on her face.

"Dad," Jemima called her father, "this good for nothing riffraff accused me of sleeping with her boyfriend. Can you believe that?"

Mr Woods looked at Amelia again. "Did you say that?"

Amelia started to stutter. "I didn't accuse her... I only asked if she had anything going on because I saw–"

"Oh shut up, you dumb fool. You already accused her if you asked her such a stupid question." Mr Woods shouted.

Jemima shook her head as if she was in disbelief. "What did you see? Say it now."

Jemima was shrieking with anger because of Amelia's question, but the truth was that she was actually sleeping with Amelia's boyfriend, and her parents knew. Derek was quite the rich young man compared to them, and Jemima thought that Amelia did not deserve him, so she seduced him and started sleeping with him.

Amelia had confronted Derek when she saw Jemima's pictures on his phone, but he only told her that she was being paranoid. She decided to confront Jemima too, but it landed her in bigger trouble.

"I saw your pictures on his phone," Amelia said simply. "Provocative pictures."

Jemima laughed. "What will you know about provocativeness? You are just an ugly prude!"

Amelia had had enough of it. "You are not much different from an ugly person either, with that personality of yours –" she was still talking when Jemima landed another hot slap on her face. Amelia looked up in surprise and held her face. Now she was crying.

"That serves you right," Jemima laughed. "What can you do about it?"

"I think you have overstayed your welcome in this house. You better leave my house before you kill my daughter for me!" Mrs Woods started shouting and running into Amelia's bedroom. She brought out Amelia's small luggage bag that contained her very small collection of clothes. Those were the only properties that Amelia had to her name.

Amelia immediately knelt down when Mrs Woods came out with her bag.

"Mom please! I'm your daughter too!" she pleaded. Mrs Woods did not listen to her. She dragged Amelia on the ground despite Amelia crying and begging. Jemima laughed in pleasure as she watched her mother throw Amelia out. Mr Woods just walked into his room as if he did not see Amelia being thrown out.

Mrs Woods dragged Amelia and her bag until they got to the door. Then she opened the door and pushed Amelia into the rain.

"Good riddance," Jemima said with a satisfied smile. "Now I can finally marry Derek."