Chapter 4.01 A Fresh Start

A place to call her own… Almost.

It was crazy to think. Very few people who are nearly eighteen could say that they owned their own place. Roisin felt that she was lucky in that regard. For once, calling herself lucky. That was weird. An anomaly. Her beliefs were that in this world, there was a certain amount of luck, and she just so happened to be left with the shorter end of the straw.

Perhaps there was some millionaire out there who had all her luck.

 

Maybe a millionaire who’s mom wasn’t arrested. Roisin would love to know what that feels like. The Incident happened when she was little, so she wasn’t fully sure what actually happened. All she could remember was that her mom and Nick said they were going out somewhere early in the morning and bringing back two surprises (which later turned out to be her younger half siblings Jack and Neala), and then somebody from her mom’s past realised who she was, and what she had done.

 

She could remember the trial for her mom going on for a long, long time. It was hard for them to find a jury who hadn’t heard of her mom’s case. Roisin wasn’t sure how true it was, but her mom was accused of killing three people: her mom’s best friend, her aunt Melody, and her dad.

Nick was always adamant that her mom never killed her best friend or her sister. The issue of Roisin’s dad was never brought up, really. Mostly because all that needed to be said about him was said in court. According to her mom, her dad wasn’t a good man. For a lot of the court hearing, Roisin, Lainey, and their brother and sisters, and another other young people had to wait outside, or they weren’t allowed to go into the courtroom.

 

Her mom was put in jail, for life, with no chance of probation. She was found guilty for all three murders, and they had strong evidence of her definitely killing her dad. Another reason why the topic of her dad never came up. It wasn’t necessary. All it caused was hurt and pain.

 

Roisin anxiously played with the ring on her left hand, looking around the new apartment. It belonged to both her, and her step sister Lainey. Well, technically it was Lainey’s because she was already over eighteen, but the two of them are sharing the place. Not that Lainey would be around all too much. She’s always off somewhere around the world competing.

 

What started off as just ice skating lessons turned into a more persistent hobby for Lainey. That persistent hobby soon turned into Lainey doing competitions and competing for titles in ice skating, and now she was even at the level of competing in nationals and maybe even the Olympics.

Roisin had to admit, part of her was jealous of Lainey’s ice skating skill. The two of them had lessons together when they were younger, but where Lainey had the skills of a young Olympian, Roisin had the skills of a young Bambi.

 

“What’s up? You look like you’re thinkin’ pretty deep about something.” Lainey pointed out, frowning as she watched Roisin. “You’re kinda starting to freak me out.”

“I’m just thinking about things, that’s all.” Smiling somewhat, Roisin responded.

“Thinking about what you and Joe are going to do together when he gets back?” Grinning mischievously, Lainey raised an eyebrow. “Just let me know in advance, okay? I’ll make myself sparse.”

 

Hitting her sister on the shoulder, Roisin tried to hide how red her face was. “I-It’s nothing like that! You know it’s nothing like that!” Joe’s Roisin’s boyfriend; the boy who (apparently) lived next door in the old flat. Roisin can’t really remember that, all she could really remember Joe being is that twat who sat next to her in English class at school for three long, long years. One of those trashy, cliche stories where the two started out hating each other, then got along, and then really got along with each other. Joe’s dad was in the military, and he knew from a young age that he too wanted to join the military as soon as he could.

“I’m just saying. If I hadn’t seen my boyfriend in nearly a year…” Trailing off, she just grinned as an explanation. Looking her up and down briefly, she then asked. “You think you’re ready to… You know?”

 

Pressing her lips into a line, Roisin took a moment and then sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I want to be ready but I don’t know. I mean, I just don’t know.” Shaking her head, she then grumbled. “Makes me sound pretty lame, huh?”

“No, I think it’s kinda cute.” Teasing, Lainey added. “Little Ro just wants to hold hands with her boyfriend and maybe even kiss if she’s feeling brave enough! Is that what the promise ring is for? Showing that you both only want to cuddle and do nothing with each other?”

 

Rolling her eyes, Roisin grumbled. “Whatever. You’re just bitter because you’re alone.”

“No, I just think it’s stupid.” Lainey pointed out, smirking slightly. Despite growing up together and being so close, the two girls had polar opposite views when it came to relationships and dating.

“Stupid like that celebrity ice skating show you’re going on?” Roisin asked, teasing in response.

 

Groaning, Lainey glared at Roisin. “I’m not going on that fucking show. I’ve told them so many times. I’m not doing it. Only sellouts and people past their prime go on lame shows like that.”

“It’s not that bad if you’re the professional one though, I guess. You’d probably enjoy ice dancing with some forty year old ex-soap star from twenty years ago.” Faking being earnest, Roisin grinned at her. “You might like it, you might decide that wrinkly guys are the guys for you.”

 

Taking a moment to just stare at her dumbfounded, Lainey simple said. “Shut up. He’d probably have more talent than you, not that it matters because I’m not doing it!”

“The guy or the show?” Roisin asked, giggling.

“Shut up!” Lainey hit her playfully, laughing too at her joke.

 

Lainey then grinned at Roisin. “See? This is just what I wanted. Us sisters, taking on the world together. Me in an exciting job, and you… Well I guess teaching can have it’s perks. The two of us living together without Aisling or the twins or dad to bug us. We can have people over, keep the booze in the open, sleep in until three! We can gossip about things and just have a drama free life.”

“Drama free life, huh?” Roisin echoed, smiling bitter sweetly. “Sounds nice.”

 

“The only drama is going to be on the TV, or us disagreeing on things like what to wear or I dunno! Shit like that, you know?” Lainey’s enthusiasm was soon dulled by the phone ringing. Sighing heavily, she asked. “Can you get that? If it’s that stupid show again tell them to shove it.”

“I like the receptionist girl though, it’s not her fault you don’t want to be a sellout.” Grinning, Roisin moved to answer the landline phone. Very few people called from this number, it was usually either spam callers or people calling about business deals for Lainey (which soon gets redirected). “Hello? Who’s calling?”

 

“Hello, am I speaking to Roisin Buckingham?” The person on the other side of the phone seemed nonchalant about asking the question, unaware of the implications of that name.

The question, despite being so incredibly simple, caught Roisin off guard. Staying silent for a little too long, the person asked again. “Is this Roisin Buckingham?”

 

“Y-Yes, I-I don’t really go by that name but…” Trailing off, she could see Lainey out of the corner of her eye mouthing ‘who’s calling?’ but Roisin simply pointing to the phone, signalling that it was important . The only time she’s ever been referred to using her dad’s last name was in court, and obviously when she was very little. She was Roisin Matthews, using her mother’s maiden name.

“We’re aware you may not go by that name anymore, but it’s the name the account is under. We’re calling to schedule an appointment with our team of financial partners and accountants before you get your inheritance.”

 

All the words being said made sense on their own, but not in this context. It took Roisin some time to wrap her head around whatever the fuck was going on here. It sounded far too official to be some kind of complicated prank. She knew her mom got a lot of hate because of what she did, but a lot of the pranks regarding her were just directed at her. “I’m sorry, what?” Roisin asked, getting back to what the person on the phone was on about.

 

“The inheritance you’ll receive from your father’s side of the family.” The person explained. “The account has been locked and gaining interest, and wasn’t accessible to anyone until you were an adult. We’re aware that’s rather soon, and we believe it’s wise to talk about the responsibilities of that much money.”

“That sounds smart, yeah. Good idea.” Roisin mumbled, not sure how to get her head around what was happening. She had inheritance? She knew about the things her mom owned (the restaurant, for example, and some of her money) but she never thought about what her dad owned. Whatever her dad did own, was it all hers? She knew that she was his only child, so, would it all be hers?

 

“We’re happy you’re on board with this plan. We understand that you’re young and money can be an intimidating thing, especially at this large of a value. Another member of staff will be in contact shortly. Is this the number we should call you on or would you prefer another?”

“I-I’d prefer it if you called me on my mobile.” With that, she gave the person on the other side of the phone call her number.

 

“One of the financial partners will be in touch with you soon, Miss Buckingham. In the meantime, we hope you have a pleasant day. Goodbye.”

“Bye bye.” Roisin responded meekly, and then hung up the phone using both of her hands. Pausing with the phone in it’s holder, she thought over the conversation. It was real, without a doubt.

 

Lainey watched Roisin for a moment, not sure what to do. Whatever it was, it was pretty serious. “H-Hey, Roisin? What was that all about?” Noticing how pale she’s become, Lainey added. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Not seen a ghost, but I think I’ve inherited all his money.”

 

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AN: Soooooooooooooooooooooo

Yeah.

I know it’s weird because I kinda cut halfway through gen 3 to start on gen 4 and honestly I would have loved to give Juniper’s story more attention, but I just didn’t have the willpower to make that happen. I would have love to have done it justice, but everything was getting kinda heavy and I wanted a story that was still dramatic but less…. Challenging xD

So yeah! Start of Gen 4! Roisin’s career is education, which was kinda mentioned above. I dunno when I’ll announce the other rolls, probably at some point during the course of this generation (if I don’t disappear for about a year again, heh, whoops!).

I’m aware that there may (or may not be I dunno) newcommers who don’t know about… Any of the crazy shit that happened in my legacy xD. So, basic run down (of what’s relevant): Juniper (Roisin’s mother) married a guy called Sam Buckingham. He was very rich, very important, but he also had psychopathic and violent tendencies, often being abusive towards Juniper, and even went so far to kill those he felt like were threats to their relationship (Melody and Mia, Juniper’s sister and best friend respectively). Juniper and Sam had Roisin together, but shortly after she learned about this plan where he was mostly using her for an heir. She, being paranoid and also hormonal from having a newborn, aimed a gun at him. THey got into a fight and she shot him by accident. She kinda went on the run, thinking she had gotten rid of all evidence of it. That’s when she met Nick (Lainey’s dad, Lainey’s mom was never really in the picture) and they had a dramatic will-they-won’t-they relationship involving ex-wives coming back into the picture (Lainey’s mom), accidental pregnancies with random sugar daddies (and giving said child up for adoption) and I dunno other dramatic things. They get together eventually and got married and had three kids together (Aisling, Neala and Jack), (the latter two were kinda teased about from last chapter’s time skip which has been followed by this time skip heh xD). The rest, well, it’s all briefly explained up there. Oh! Also! Juniper was a psychic, mostly because of her career roll xD

Juniper’s rolls, for anyone who is curious, were:

Second Chance
5 Kids (Roisin, Lainey, Aisling, Neala and Jack)
Fortune Teller (Genuine Psychic)
Politics (Sam)/ Freelance Photographer (Nick)
Change of Scenery
Gourmet