Chapter Text
It had been his junior year of high school when he had moved to Greenville. It had been sudden, really. His mom had just barged into his room, telling him to pack his stuff, and he was then sent on a plane from big city Awāwa Mālamalama to inland small-town Greenville. It must have been sad to see him, a confused seventeen-year-old on a plane to god knows where.
“Ollie!”
Ollie turned to where his name had been called, his black hair whipping around with him. Two people stood a couple of yards away from him, an elderly man and a girl that looked to be several years younger than him. Ollie quickly made his way across the crowded room, dodging in and out of people as he went.
“Hey Old Man! It’s been forever!” Ollie hugged him, his embrace being eagerly returned. Ollie knew the man well, naturally so with the man being his mom’s dad. His mom had taken him to visit him and his wife, Hilda as much as she could. He remembers many nights spent at their home, watching as his grandparents made music together, seeing his mother truly smile for once, and going as far as to learn the bass from his grandpa. There had always been the not-so-happy parts too, such as him breaking his leg falling down a tree or accidentally setting the neighbor’s rose bushes on fire. Though no matter what he has always tried to ignore it, especially when he gets up late at night, only to find his mom arguing with his grandparents about his dad, it hurts, so he tries not to think about it.
The man chuckled, “I may be old but I can still shred like I’m twenty!”
“I wouldn’t bet on that, Grandpa.”
Both Ollie and the elderly man turned to who had said it. The girl had bright strawberry blonde hair, looking more so like ginger from a distance. She had sharp blue eyes that gave her a cool, collected look.
“Ollie, meet Mina, your sister. Mina, Ollie, your brother.” The elderly man sighed. “You two will stay with Hilda and I for a while.”
“That’s cool, gramps.” Ollie smiled, he turned to the girl who was quite a bit smaller than him, he held his hand out. Unsure of what to say, he blurts out the first thing that came to his mind. “Nice to see you again, Mina.”
Mina watched his hand, contemplating whether or not to take it. She turned away, “Yea, sure. I’ll be waiting in the car, go get your stuff.” She then promptly walked away after that.
The raven-haired boy watched her disappearing form in shock, his hand still hanging from where he had held it out to her, his grandfather chuckled nervously. “Don’t mind her, as you can imagine this situation is stressing everyone out, it must be especially hard for a 15-year-old like her.”
“Yeah… I guess..”
-
The car ride had been silent and awkward, what was he supposed to say to a sister that he barely knew, let alone remembered?
He gently pets Marlene through the silver bars of her cage. Marlene had been a gift from his father when he was about 8. He had barely seen the glare his mom had sent the beautiful blue bird when he had opened the box, at the time he had merely thought it was because she didn’t want a bird.
“So Mathew got that beauty for you?” Ollie turned up to face his grandfather through the rearview mirror.
“Yeah! He sent her to me for my eighth birthday!” Ollie excitedly exclaimed, happy to talk about Marlene.
“It’s good that he sent her to you young, those birds live long.” His grandfather chuckled warmly, “What about you Mina, you haven’t said much.”
Ollie turned to look at the younger girl, not saying much was an understatement, she hadn’t said anything at all since getting into the car. Mina currently sat turned away from him, her chin resting on her hand, her blue gaze watching the trees zip past outside the window. She merely shrugged, “I don’t know, dad never really got me much.”
“Oh…” His grandfather sounded disappointed, “Well he surely must have gotten you something .”
“Nope.” Mina let the ‘p’ pop, “At least nothing like that.” The last bit had been muttered underneath her breath, and while his grandfather may be capable of doing other things most people his age couldn’t, he certainly couldn’t hear that well.
“I’m sorry hun, could you repeat that? I didn’t exactly catch it.”
“It was nothing.” But by the way, she glanced at Ollie, he could tell that those words had been meant for him.
“Well… I’m sorry that Mathew didn’t get much for you hun, I’m sure Hilda would love to take you on a shopping spree.”
“Yea…” Mina's gaze was still cast on him, slowly sharpening. Ollie snapped away from her, focusing on the scenery passing them out the window. There may not have been much that Ollie knew about the younger girl but he could tell one thing:
Mina hated him.