i was over on halsted selling some prescription pills to one of my clients before heading over to fiona's to meet emma.

"now remember, i'm not responsible for whatever happens after you take these." i said grabbing the cash i was being handed.

"don't worry mel, you don't gotta keep reminding me." stuart said.

stuart was a client of mine who usually gave good money.

"alright, well i've gotta run. you know how to find me if you want anything." i said as stuart nodded and i went over to the gallagher house.

once i walked in, i saw that everyone was having breakfast and i saw my brother mike sitting at the table.

"well, i was gonna call and ask where you were but i should've guessed you were here." i said to mike while taking a seat at the table with the rest of the family.

"morning mel." fiona greeted with a warm smile as she got breakfast ready for everyone.

"hey, i hope having emma here wasn't too much trouble fi." mike said as fiona turned to him.

"no, oh my gosh you guys know you're allowed to stay here whenever you want especially since you help pay the bills, i owe you guys." fiona replied.

fiona walked over to the counter and picked up a box putting it on the table.

"electric." fiona said.

"yeah." lip said as he poured a bowl of cereal and passed it over to me.

"thanks, lip." i said with a smile as he nodded.

"coming through." ian said walking into the kitchen carrying carl on his back.

"electric." lip said putting some money in the box.

"electric." ian said putting his money in.

"electric." carl said passing the box down.

"carl did you even put any money in it?" emma asked him as carl rolled his eyes.

"no, you got a happy meal on the front of that shirt." fiona said to carl, she lifted his shirt up and put it inside out.

"oh, field trip need dad's signature." ian said passing his page to debbie.

"okay." debbie said faking her father's signature like a pro.

"debbie, that's great." emma told her as she put money in the box for the electric bill.

"thanks emma." debbie said.

"wow deb, that's getting really good." lip told her.

i reached into my pocket and pulled out five dollars and put it into the box and fiona gave me a smile.

"stuart?" ian asked me when he saw i had cash.

"yeah, i don't know where he gets his money, though. i assume it's from his foster parents." i asked with a shrug.

"money is money." mike said.

"who's got the phone?" fiona asked.

"i got it." lip replied.

"any minutes left?" fiona asked him.

"uh, fourteen." lip said tossing it over to his sister.

"hey, i need something for show and tell." debbie said.

"here, use this." i said, pulling out a guitar pick from my jacket pocket.

"but this is just a guitar pick." debbie said.

"oh contraire, it's mel's lucky guitar pick. she believes it helps her write better songs." mike said putting some money in the box for their electronic bill.

"laugh away but it actually works." i replied eating my cereal.

"thanks mel." debbie said.

"you're welcome debs, but remember i'm gonna need it back, okay?" i told her as she nodded.

"how much are we short?" fiona asked.

"it looks like 18$ and thirty cents." emma said.

"oh, i'm tutoring after school. should be able to kick in like 10 more. wait, did uh, carl put in any?" lip asked.

lip was extremely intelligent, he always got straight As and he made some of his money by tutoring or doing other kids homework, today he was tutoring karen jackson.

i hated her since the dawn of time, mainly because she'd do anything for a guys attention. but also because when we were kids she just picked on me for being the only redhead in the class.

"you're almost 9, you're gonna have to start pulling your weight." debbie told him.

"that's right. and get a real job, not dipping into the collection plate at st. tims." lip said.

"i'm filling in for cadi. i can cover the rest." fiona said, feeding liam.

"somebody's gotta take liam." fiona said.

"uh, mel and i have a calculus test." lip said as he went to put his bowl away.

"sorry, fiona." i said as i put my bowl in the sink.

"i'm working after school." ian said getting up from the table.

"i can watch liam." mike said as fiona's face lit up.

"thank you so much mike, you're a life saver." fiona said.

-

after school mike, fiona and their friend veronica went to the club.

veronica was the gallaghers neighbors, she lived with her boyfriend kevin. they're the type of people that are into freaky stuff but i still love them.

i decided to go over by the train tracks, there was a ledge over there where i just sat down and looked at the view while writing songs, it was my happy place, my escape from the world.

it was peaceful until i saw stuart walk up and he sat next to me.

"hey, stranger." stuart said as he started smoking a joint.

"hey, bad day?" i asked seeing the stressed look on his face.

"yeah, foster parent drama." stuart said as i nodded.

stuart's parents left him when he was a kid so he went into the system and he resorted to drugs as his escape, that's how he found me.

stuart and i had a special bond since we've known each other since stuart move here after moving in with his current foster parents.

"i heard lip and karen jackson are fucking a lot lately." stuart told me as i let out a laugh.

"does that not shock you?" i asked him.

"it shocks me that lip is that desperate considering you're always at his house." stuart said as i pushed his shoulder playfully.

"i'll try not to take that the wrong way." i said with a smirk.

"i'm just teasing you, melanie." stuart said.

"you're lucky i like you enough to call me that. hey, i should get going though." i said.

"hey, you want a ride over to the gallaghers?" stuart asked me.

"how did you know i was going-" i began but he cut me off.

"just get in the car loser." stuart said as i chuckled and i did as he said and got into the car.

i got out of the car and i kissed stuart's cheek. i saw lip smoking a joint on the front steps, i went over and joined him.

"how was the tutoring." i asked as he put the joint to his mouth and blew out smoke.

"you know, the usual." lip replied as he passed me the joint.

"is she giving you a run for your money like every other guy?" i asked him taking a hit and blowing out the smoke.

"fuck you." lip said with a laugh.

"that wasn't an answer." i said looking over at him as i passed him the joint.

"she might've done a little something extra, but it doesn't matter." lip said taking his drag.

"you know, you deserve better than her." i told him.

it was true, lip didn't deserve to get hurt by a slut like karen jackson.

"oh, yeah. what do you know about what i deserve?" lip asked passing the joint back to me.

"nothing i guess, i just know karen jackson isn't it." i replied.

"and you don't think that you deserve better than a junkie like stuart murray?" lip said as i glared at him.

"there's nothing happening between stuart and i." i told him as he scoffed.

after the joint was gone we went inside and saw that veronica was nursing some random guy on the couch.

"hey." veronica said.

"hi." me and lip greeted.

"wait, how many of you guys live here?" the guy asked.

"not me, i'm one down. but the old guy next door died in march which i guess technically makes us next door neighbors." veronica said as fiona smiled.

the whole family was downstairs sitting around the living room. emma was back home with our grandma.

our grandma was our only legal guardian right now, i'm not sure what i'd do if she died.

"oh and me and mike don't live here either." i spoke up as the guy nodded.

"this is steve by the way." mike told them.

"so you're a nurse, veronica?" steve asked her.

"used to be." vee replied.

"lying bitch." fiona said with a laugh.

"she worked housekeeping at cook county. bedpans and shit sheets." lip told steve as he grinned.

"fine. but i was offered a place in nursing school." veronica argued.

"fine. but it never happened." fiona said.

"yeah, cause they fired you for selling medical supplies on ebay." mike said.

"will you two shut up. we don't even know him." veronica said.

"steve." he said shaking hands with carl.

"carl." he replied.

"lip." he said holding up his beer as he passed one to me.

"mel." i said with a smile.

"debbie." fiona said introducing her since she was distracted.

"how you doing, debbie?" steve asked her.

"nice watch." debbie said.

"thanks. panerai." steve replied.

"what'd that set you back about, six bills?" debbie asked as he laughed.

"plus ian." fiona said pointing at him as he came down the stairs.

"hey." steve said waving to him as ian waved back and sat on the stairs.

i could tell something was bothering him, i got up from my spot beside lip and went and sat by ian.

"hey, what's on your mind?" i asked shoving his shoulder.

"lip found out." ian said quietly.

i knew what he was talking about. lip found out that ian was gay. i grabbed his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"why are you trying to make him so jealous?" ian asked quietly making me look at him strangely.

"who are you talking about?" i asked him.

"lip, you two are clearly trying to make each other jealous by using stuart and karen." ian said as i chuckled.

"i have no idea what you're talking about." i said making ian roll his eyes.

"hey, debbie why do they call him lip?" steve asked.

"his real names phillip." fiona told him.

everyone looked over when they heard the door open and they saw kev walk in.

"yo, veronica. you got my keys?" kevin asked her.

"what's going on here?" he asked seeing steve.

"this is steve. decked the bouncer at purgatory to defend my honor." veronica said as fiona laughed.

"my honor." she corrected looking at kev.

"yeah? which bouncer?" kevin asked.

"jimmy clifton." fiona replied.

jimmy clifton was probably the biggest bouncer at that place.

"jimmy cl-? well, jesus, man, put it there. respect." kevin said shaking steves hand.

"guy just stands there. doesn't really do any-" he began but kevin cut him off.

"yeah, you'll be his third conviction. third or fourth. fourth, yeah." kevin said sitting next to lip.

fiona saw carl snuck a beer so she went over and took it from him.

"i mean, after that much practice you would think the man would have manslaughter down by now. no more fuck ups like leaving his dad breathing." kevin said.

"his dad?" steve asked.

"yeah. five years over an 87 monte carlo with 200,000 miles on the odometer. a fucking monte carlo." kevin said.

"okay, come on, time for bed. up the wooden hill." fiona said.

"yeah, i think kevs scared steve enough for one night." mike joked.

"it's not even midnight yet." carl complained.

"oh, man." debbie said.

"come on, go." fiona said.

"already?" debbie asked.

"shut up." lip said.

"move, move, move, move, come on." fiona said.

"hey, fi i don't mean to be a pain but can i crash here it's late and my grandma will freak if i wake her up." i said.

"oh sure, you can sleep on the couch." fiona told her.

"thanks." i replied as she went upstairs.

so this is the first chapter of my new book series:) i hope it was enjoyable!