Cat woke up to Teagen and Sammi curling up against her. They came into bed with her when their parents were fighting, which was almost a nightly thing now. Cat knew she wouldn't be able to go to bed, because she was worried about waking either of them up. Their sleep was more important anyways.

"You're an idiot, why did you tell Cat she could go out? You know the rules and I look like the bad guy again." Janet screamed at William.

"Please stop screaming at me, I can hear you when you talk normally. Do you really want to wake the kids up?" He countered.

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want, you bastard. You undermined me again. Do you know how hard it is to keep her following instructions? I will ask you again, do you want to be in this relationship, because if you do, you need to let me handle her."

Cat could hear them plain as day on the other side of the house. 

Great, just great. Her Dad was going to let Janet do whatever the fuck she wanted to her, at least for a little while.

Janet had been drinking again. Cat couldn't understand why Janet was so unhappy, her dad let her do whatever she wanted, her buy whatever she wanted, and she didn't even have to work. She only really took care of Sammi. 

Cat took care of Teagen, and was a better at it than Janet had ever been. To be fair to Janet, Teagen had clothes that fit, food to eat, and a nice bedroom to sleep in. She even was getting a private school education.  However, every comfort and praise that Teagen got was from Cat. She quickly looked on either side of her and saw that her sisters were asleep. Cat once again closed her eyes and blocked out the noise.

The alarm went off at 6:30am and Cat got herself into her uniform and the girls into theirs. Cat quickly realized her Dad had already left for work when she saw all the downstairs lights off and only one car in the driveway. She also realized that Janet was most likely hungover. Looks like they were going to be walking to school. The last time Cat had woken up Janet this early in the morning, they had all paid the price. Cat went through the checklist of things that needed to get done before they could go to school.

Amelia had been fired once again after she had told Janet to take better care of Teagen, so now there was no one to help Cat, whatsoever.

"What are we gonna eat Cat?" Teagen asked quite loudly. Cat went over to her sister and said calmly 

"We need to be quiet remember, we can't wake mommy up. And we're gonna have eggs and bagels because that is all I can find."

Sammi just groaned. "This means we're walking doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does love bug, but it's only a mile." Cat said as she put on her happy face, the girls did not need anymore negativity this week.

At the same time Cat was trying to cheer them up, she had turned on the stove and started the eggs. She also but three bagels in the toaster oven.Their parents had been arguing every night this week and she had been cooking all the meals. 

"I will come pick you guys up at your classrooms after school just in case mommy forgets to pick us up." 

Cat placed the scrambled eggs and bagels in front of the girls. "Eat up, guys we have 20 minutes."

 Cat sat down with them and started to eat. "You guys know I can't braid super well, but I can put your hair in a bun or something." The girls both shook their heads. "Okay then go grab your backpacks, we're gonna eat school food today."

She was motivating them to get out the door, and to keep a decent pace so they could get there on time.

Cat did exactly what she promised picking the girls up from their classes, Teagen ran into her arms, "Cat I had such a good day, my card stayed green all day."

This was a big deal, most of her days were yellow.

"I'm so proud of you, teapot. Go grab your backpack and say goodbye to your teacher, we have to go get Sammi."

Teagen ran over to the wall where her backpack was hung on a hook. Cat quickly said hello to Mrs. Evans who was her Pre- Kindergarten teacher. She had all 3 Montgomery girls in her class over the years.

"Hi Mrs. Evans, I heard that Teagen had a good day today."

" Cat, you look so grown up, and yes her card stayed green all day. She was more relaxed today, if something at your house changed, keep it up."

"Will do, Mrs. Evans. Teacup, lets go get Sammi." Cat cheered.

They walked the short distance to where the two third grade classes were. Sammi had Cat's second grade teacher, Mrs. Nugget. Sammi was sitting outside the classroom door on the bench.

"Monkey, time to go. Do either of you have to pee before we head home?" Even though Teapot was potty trained, she wasn't the best at telling people that she had to go until it was an emergency. So, Cat always asked just in case. 

Both girls shook their heads. "Alright then, let's roll." They waited until the parking lot was empty, just to make sure that Janet hadn't come to pick them up.

The walk home wasn't too bad, the weather was partly cloudy, so it wasn't overly hot. The girls both shared how their day was, Cat didn't mind. Their parents wouldn't really care. They did have to stop a few times for Teagen to fix her shoe. When they finally reached home, there were no cars in the driveway. This meant that they would all have some peace and quiet while they did their homework. Cat unlocked the door and called out to see if anybody was home, there was no answer.

"Ok I'm gonna make a snack and we are all gonna sit at the table until our homework is done. Go hang up your backpacks, but get your homework out."

 Fifteen minutes later, all three girls could hear Janet's car in the driveway. She was bound to come home at some point. The girls instantly went quiet, because none of them wanted to get in trouble.

 Janet walked into the living room on her way to do something. She saw Teagen's pink butterfly backpack on the floor.

"Why can't you do anything right for once?" Janet screamed at her youngest daughter.

She had been in the house for 30 seconds and she was already yelling. Teagen started crying which only made Janet louder.

"Why can't you be more like Samantha? Do you see how neatly her backpack and jacket are hung up? Come fix yours now. I can't deal with you right now. I'm taking your sister out. You two better not mess anything up while we are gone." Janet grabbed her purse and Sammi's hand and headed out the door.

Teagen just stood there in the corner next to her backpack crying, not knowing what else to do. As soon as the door closed, Cat rushed up to her baby sister and took her in her arms. She then walked them over to the couch and sat down with Teagen on her lap. Janet needed to stop yelling at Teagen, because she didn't know better.

"I didn't mean to, Cat, I...I I'm sorry." Teagen sobbed

"Teapot breathe for me, in and out," Cat paused to help her sister breathe deeply, "It's alright, she's gone, you're safe. I'm right here." Cat murmured into her sister's ear trying to get her to stop crying and take deep breaths.

She stroked Teagen's curly blonde hair the way their dad used to. Teagen had thrown her arms around Cat's neck and was hanging on so tightly that Cat could have stood up and she wouldn't have fallen. The way Janet spoke to Teagen broke Cat's heart. Cat promised herself that next time she would step in. For goodness sake, Teagen was only three years old, she didn't know better.

Cat sat with her for 15 minutes until she finally stopped crying, "What was your favorite part of school today?"

"We colored and learned the months today, I played with my friends and Ms. Evans let us play outside today.

"That sounds like so much fun, princess." Cat kept her tone positive.

Cat was conflicted because she had a History project that was due, but someone needed to be there for Teapot. Cat silently decided that her homework could wait.

It was 5pm and there was no sign of their parents. Cat checked her phone to see if there were any messages, but there weren't any. Cat knew better than to call Janet, so she got out a box of mac and cheese and started to boil water. Cat was lucky that Teagen would eat mac and cheese, because it was basically the only food Cat could cook, other than scrambled eggs.

Dinner was pleasant, mainly  because there was no one there. Janet would always pick a fight with someone. So, everyone usually ate in silence. But tonight, it was just Teagen and Cat. When Janet was there, everyone was forced to finish their plate, and they only ate what Janet wanted. Mostly it was stew, or pot roast that none of the kids liked. Steven had taught Cat a trick when they were younger, push around the food on your plate and then excuse yourself and shove it in the garbage disposal with your fork. All the kids now knew how to do this. They all went to bed kind of hungry unless someone made dessert or Dad brought home take out.

"Hey T, it's bath time, you are covered in dirt. I'll turn the tub on while you pick out your bubble bath and toys."Cat said putting their dinner dishes in the dish washer.

Teagen nodded at her smiling. As soon as the water was warm enough, Teagen got in and immediately covered herself in bubbles and declared herself the bubble princess, it was her favorite thing to do in the tub. Cat helped her wash her hair and her body before holding out a warm pink towel for her to cuddle up in as she got out of the tub.

Cat took Teagen to her room and helped her put on her nightgown. As soon as her nightgown was on, Cat could hear both cars pull in. She could hear their parents yelling from outside.

" You worthless piece of shit" Janet called out " You never do anything correctly."

Cat quickly looked over at Teagen who was shaking with fear,  Cat waited until Sammi had come into their room and closed the door before she did anything.

Luckily, their parents hadn't noticed them. If they could stay out of the way, they would be fine. Eventually, their parents went upstairs. They were still cursing at each other. The girls could hear loud thuds, but didn't know what was going on.

Cat then whispered, "You two can sleep with me again tonight, but we have to be very quiet."

Cat wished Steven was there, he was so good at staying out of sight. All three girls quietly climbed into Cat's bed after she locked her door.

 Teagen was crying, she hated loud noises.  Cat pulled back the covers and got in. She lay in the middle of her bed and both girls snuggled into her. She sang a lullaby to them until she could feel their bodies become dead weight. 

Cat untangled herself from the girls and snuck downstairs to find her dad sitting at the kitchen table.

I'm gonna tell him. I need to tell him. Please, someone make him listen. Ok, here I go...

"Dad, you need to leave her." Cat told William as she sits down at the table with him "We can't do this anymore. She's punched me, pushed me down a flight of stairs and completely destroyed my self esteem. And in case you don't care about me, she's hurt Teagen a few times, too. Nothing as bad as what happened to me, but she has bruises sometimes and is treated like shit."

" Cat, none of this is true. Your stepmother is a wonderful person who loves you."

"Bullshit. She's got you wrapped around her finger and that means you tune out anything bad about her, even though she hurts you too, not that you would ever tell us." Cat cried.

She could feel the anger and sadness welling up inside her, there wasn't an exact name for it, or at least none she could think of at the time. She refused to let William see her cry, it hadn't worked in the past, so it most likely wouldn't work now. She just wanted him to see what Janet was doing to their family, but he had gone blind and deaf to anything other than whatever made Janet happy.

" You say that you don't realize what is going on, so I am telling you. I don't know how you missed the giant black eye I had. I'm not lying. Please help us."

" Catherine Elizabeth, stop this nonsense. She is a good woman who took care of you when you had no one."

" I had you."

" Well, I was miserable. Do you want me to be miserable?"

" Aren't you miserable now anyway?" Cat questioned.

" Just go back to bed."