Snowflake

By Patricia Pickett

Camille always wished that something would change her lonely, sad existance.
Until one day that something was the death of her only sibling. Now Camille is forced to meet the father she never even knew about and start a new life in another state. Camille isn't sure if she'll ever be happy but she has no other choice but to try.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patricia Pickett
• Release date: Feb 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466142992

Patricia Pickett

Patricia Pickett is the author of two other books. Hearts Never Lie and Green Eyes Open. She is the mother of three teens and lives in Colorado. She hopes to one day see one of her novels on the big screen.

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Chapter 1

Patricia Pickett

Copyright 2012 by Patricia Pickett

Smashwords Edition

I was sure it was probably the most selfish and horrible thing a girl could say, especially about her sister, but the day that my sister died was both the worst day and the best day of my life. I know you are reading this and you probably feel sickened. You are probably looking at these words with disgust in your heart, but the truth is, the day my sister died was the beginning of a new life for me.

I loved my sister, Carmen, more than any words could ever express, but my life has been pure hell for so many years. You see, she was everything to my family ... but me, I was nothing. I was just a big mistake that my mother begged her husband to forgive her for. So, basically, I have spent most of my life paying the price for my mother's affair.

My real name is Camille, but everyone in my family calls me Snow, short for Snowflake because I look different than them. I have light hair, light eyes, and skin white as the snow, unlike the rest of my family who all have dark skin, darker hair, and brown eyes. Our family is Spanish, full blooded, except the probability of me.

My mom, her husband, my sister, me, and a pit bull named Rowdy all lived in a small apartment in Fremont, California.

The day Carmen died, it poured down rain as if the angels were crying. That was crazy because earlier in the day it was hot outside, hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. I remember every minute about that day too. I remember the sound of my mom's husband, Tommy, car as he drove us to the swimming pool. I hated his car, too, it was loud and always smelled like cigarettes and gasoline. He'd always let my sister sit in the passenger seat. He said it was because she was the oldest, but I knew the real reason why. She was his princess.

I can still picture her smiling at me through the side mirror as she sang the lyrics of Mariah Carey's We Belong Together.

I giggled because I knew she was singing about a guy named Diego.

She had met him at the mall a few weeks earlier and it was ‘love at first sight’. My sister was that girl, the one who fell head over heels in love, at least for the first couple of weeks after meeting a guy. But, Diego is different, I remember her saying while making her bed as she cleaned her side of the bedroom we shared.

How do you know? I ask her.

How do you know that chocolate taste good? That was my sister, always saying things that didn't make sense at all.

I had to admit, he was really cute. He had long, black, curly hair and dimples, and according to Carmen, he kissed really well, too. He was a year older than she and I could tell by the way he looked at her that he liked her a lot. Diego and his friends were who we were meeting with at the pool that day.

When Tommy dropped us off, there was a line outside to get into the pool. The sun was high in the sky and baking my scalp. I kept putting my hand on top of my head to keep the sun from cooking me into a little red lobster, but no matter what I did it found the pale flesh of my skin.

God, it’s hot out here, I complained

Geezus, I wonder what's taking these putas so long, Carmen said

I know they better hurry up, I'm burning up, I complained.

I heard Diego call out to my sister, he was already inside the pool area.

He smiled when she looked his way. Jump over the fence, he begged my sister, his dimples looked like the white icing on chocolate cupcakes.

She looked my way, I guess awaiting my approval. No, I said

Come on! she begged. You said you were burning up, right?

No, because if we get caught they'll call Dad and you know who will get in the worst trouble.

Well, I'm not standing out here, she said, leaning on one hip with an attitude.

Fine, I said, but if you get caught, you better not put me in it. She smiled and gave me the money for me to get in and get a soda.

Take my bag and put it in the locker for me, too.

Anything else, your majesty?

Don't be a bitch. Snowflake, you know I'd do it for you.

Yeah, whatever, I said, a little bit jealous that I was too afraid to do it myself.

She got over the fence without getting caught, and I watched as her and Diego disappeared from my sight. I remembered how happy she looked, how pretty she was.

The line dragged along slowly. Every time someone left they let someone in. Time slid by and when the skin on the back of my neck started feeling like fire, which was when I finally got inside. The locker room always smelled like they poured way too much chlorine into the pool and it was seeping into the structure of the walls, making my eyes burn. I was almost outside when the stupid, older, fat lady that watched the door yelled at me to get in the shower before I could go outside to the pool. I walked back inside and stood under the shower, and the freezing water hit my skin like icicles piercing my flesh. I hated that rule.

As I wandered out to the pool area and I searched for Carmen, I couldn't see her anywhere. I took a seat by the shallow end of the pool, laying down my towel and hoping she'd at least find me. It was bad enough that I had to wait in the line, but to get out there and be all by myself made me even madder. I looked around for Diego, but I couldn't find him, either. .

The pool was filled with the heads, arms, and legs of kids bobbing in and out of the water, making it impossible to find anyone. I watched as some kids slid down the slide, splashing into the pool while some laughed and joked, throwing their friends in the pool, girls screaming and boys laughing. That was when I noticed Diego. He was at the deep end holding on to the edge of the pool. I got up and walked over to him. Before I could ask, Diego said, Where's your sister?

I don't know! Isn't she with you? I asked.

He looked up at me, the sun or chlorine burning his eyes. No, she said she was going to look for you.

Well, I haven't seen her, I said, clearly annoyed.

He looked around intently before saying, Maybe she went to the bathroom.

I shrugged my shoulders and sat on the ledge of the pool, dipping my feet into the cool water. I closed my eyes, enjoying how cool I felt, when a small breeze blew past me, sending a chill up my back.

The sound of kids screaming and water splashing filled my ears. Diego looked around a little more before one of his friends came up.

Dude, you should get on the slide.

I was going to, but I'm waiting on Carmen.

"It starts out slow, then it whips you all the way down. I'm about to go again.

You wanna go?" he asked him.

You should ask Carmen's sister, Snow. She looks bored.

Where is she at? he asked, overlooking me.

Diego looked at me, then his friend, and then pointed my way. Her.

He looked me over before saying, Wanna go?

Sure, I said and got up. Diego's friend was tall and skinny, too skinny, and he had bad skin, but I wasn't going to complain. There wasn't anything else to do, so I went with him. There was a line going up the steps to get on the slide.

He looked at me, and said, "Wow!

You don't look anything like Carmen."

I couldn't tell if he meant it in a good way or a bad way, so I asked him, What's that supposed to mean?'

No offense, but you look white. So what, are you adopted or something?

Something like that, I said without hesitation

Don't get me wrong, you're pretty an' shit, you just look different than your sister.

Thanks, I said.

So, what grade are you in?

Eleventh. You?

I would be graduating this year, but I got kicked out for selling weed.

Oh, dang. I didn't know what else to say about his situation except it would suck to get kicked out before graduation.

So, I bet your family is real mad, huh? I asked him.

Not really. He shrugged.

Really? My family would probably throw me out.

Yeah, I would've been the first in my family to graduate. Truth is, it was kind of their fault, but they're cool as long as I'm making money to help out.

I didn't ask, but I knew exactly what he meant by that and I felt bad for him. The similarities between our families weren’t surprising at all to me. I mean, a lot of families in our part of town would much rather have their kids helping with the bills than getting an education. The difference was that my family didn't know I was alive. Half of the time, I was a ghost who lived and breathed in the Castillo house.

I thought back to a time when I had been doing my best in school. I had made the honor roll and was so excited to come home with the perfect report card. My mother and Tommy were sitting in the dining room at the table discussing bills when I came in. I handed the report card to my mom, waiting for her to hug me and tell me how proud she was, but instead, she just glanced over it and said good job before she asked my sister to see hers. I looked over at Carmen, and she squinted her eyes at me as if to say, Thanks a lot. I knew she was worried. It read on her face because she hadn't been doing her work like she used to. I was saddened that no one cared for longer than a second about my grades. Tommy reached out for my sister’s report card as she started stumbling over her words about why her grades weren't as good as mine.

As she made up excuses, Tommy said, Of course, your grades aren't going to be as good as Snowflakes because she looks white. You know how racist these white teachers are, you are going to have to work ten times harder.

I couldn't believe what I heard. My heart felt like an anchor that just sunk to the bottom of my stomach. It wasn’t bad enough that they didn't care about how hard I'd worked, but they made excuses for my sister that weren't true. Nothing will ever be good enough, I thought to myself. The line up the steps of the slide began moving and Jeremy put his hand on my back to guide me to step in front of him as the stairs narrowed.

You go first.

What if I don't wanna go first? I said, joking with him

Then, I'll go first if you are too scared. He laughed

This is kiddie stuff. I'm not scared, just wanted to laugh at you when you started screaming, I teased

Won't happen, I'm not afraid of anything, he said with confidence. Somehow, I believed that.

We reached the top and as I sat down on the slide, I looked back at Jeremy. He had a

sweet smile. See you at the bottom.

The big, blue slide whipped and turned, and flipped my body around before I plunged into the cool water. It was fun and I wanted to do it again. I couldn't wait to tell Carmen. I jumped out and watched as Jeremy plunged into the pool.

Let's see if Carmen and Diego want to come, I said

As we began our walk to find them, we watched as the lifeguards began whistling and screaming for people to get out of the pool while a young blond dove in. That very minute was the most terrifying, most painful moment of my life. If having heartbreak was truly fatal, I would've died on the hot cement in my blue bikini that very moment. I watched as the lifeguards flipped the floating body over. I recognized the peace necklace the girl wore as the sun glinted off the piece of gold on the girl’s neck. I then realized it wasn't just some random girl, it was my sister. Chapter 2

No one knew how it happened. Diego said they were diving for a quarter at the bottom of the pool and Carmen never came back up. The police said sometimes it happened when the pool reached capacity. When my parents arrived, I felt my mother's heart breaking into little tiny pieces. I watched her as she dropped to her knees, overcome by the pain. Tommy stood looking into the pool as if that would or could bring my sister back.

I couldn't get the images of my sister's lifeless body out of my mind. I replayed them over and over again. Her beautiful face was expressionless to the sky above. Her hair floating at the top of the water as they carried her out. The gold necklace with the peace sign my mother bought her on her sixteenth birthday that she never took off. Suddenly, I felt like throwing up.

Rain poured down and I went to the locker room to get my clothes and my sister's bag, the one with neon peace signs all over it. She loved peace signs. We teased her, called her a hippie. As I opened the locker door, the smell of her favorite perfume tickled my nose. I broke down. I didn't know what else to do but cry. The only person in the world who actually loved me was dead. I got up off of the floor and went outside to meet my parents. I ran in the rain to the parking lot looking for our car. It was pouring, thunder boomed in the sky. I searched and searched, but my parents and their car was gone.

I waited for what seemed like forever. How could they have left me behind? I got up and walked in the pouring rain with no jacket or pants. The only thing in my mind was the sound of rain and my heart beating. My life had hit an all time low. I couldn't believe Carmen was dead. It felt like a bad dream and in a minute I'd wake up to the sounds of my mom in the kitchen frying chorizo and the smell of coffee brewing. I'd wake up and Carmen would be talking on the phone, giggling with Diego. Everything