Defeated

Hi guys, welcome to the sequel to Shy—Defeated!

I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for being patient while waiting for this to come out!

It probably won't make much sense at first, but bear with me and everything will be explained in the upcoming chapters.

Please don't complain about the events that happen in this book. I've had these planned for a long time, and I'm not changing them or writing them just to please readers. What happens in this book has been part of my plan since I started writing the first book. Please respect that, because the amount of hate I received over the ending of Shy was disgusting and put me off writing for a while.

Hopefully, those people who hated the ending aren't here, and it's only the people who enjoyed it and want to find out what happens next!

Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy it!

Tai looked up at the mess of a house in front of her before turning to her twin, Raiden. She raised her dark eyebrows at him.

"Out of all the places, you chose this dump?" she asked, clearly unimpressed with their new home.

The paint was peeling, a window shutter was hanging off and the grass had grown so long that they were surrounded by weeds.

"I didn't see the point in spending all our money on a fancy house. This has everything we need," Raiden defended himself.

He didn't view the house as pessimistically as his sister. He was always the more positive one of the two.

"I'm sure it has lots more than we need, such as rats," Tai frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "We've got loads of money. You could have bought somewhere a bit nicer!"

"We're here now," Raiden said with a hopeful smile. "Let's make this work."

Tai pursed her lips and held out her hand.

"Keys," she sighed.

Raiden placed the keys to their new home in her palm.

"Let's hope the inside is better than the outside," she murmured.

She walked up the path and shoved the key into the lock. The door creaked as she pushed it open, and she stepped into the sparsely furnished, one-storey house.

"Home sweet home," she said unenthusiastically, looking back at her brother with distaste. "Next time, leave it to me."

"There won't be a next time," Raiden said and kicked the door shut. "This is our home, our new town. This is where we're going to stay, Tai."

Tai glanced at her brother as she walked through the house. She made her way into the kitchen and looked out of the window, nodding when she saw that the house backed onto the woods.

"At least you got one thing right," she muttered.

She scrunched up her face when she saw the dust-covered counter.

"Are you sure this place hasn't got mould?"

"Stop being so miserable!" Raiden scolded and wrapped his arm around Tai's shoulders, smiling down at her. "This is what we've always wanted. We're out. It's just us two. We're out of the system. No one can tell us what to do anymore. We're free."

Tai pursed her lips and looked down at her boot-clad feet.

"The way we got here wasn't exactly... pleasant."

"Forget about that, Tai," Raiden frowned. "It was an accident. It wasn't your fault. You know you didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"It was my fault," she argued. "If only I could learn to control it, then maybe we wouldn't be here in this tiny little town, in this god-awful house—"

"Hey, stop it," Raiden said softly, cutting his sister off. "None of this is your fault. You couldn't help what happened."

"Exactly!" Tai said, groaning in frustration as she ran her fingers through her long, dark hair. "I couldn't help it. It was my fault!"

"Oi, shut up," Raiden said suddenly.

"Hey! Don't tell me to shut up!" Tai exclaimed, glaring up at him.

"This is a fresh start!" Raiden said sternly. "We're going to forget about what happened and move on with our lives. I'm not going to let you bring yourself down with your negative thoughts."

"What about when I lose control?" Tai asked quietly.

She looked at Raiden with a vulnerability in her eyes that only he had ever seen. He sighed and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

The next morning, Tai's mood had not improved. She crawled out of bed and scowled.

"This bed feels like rocks!" she called. "Literal rocks! I had the worst night's sleep ever!"

She groaned and rubbed her back.

"That's exactly what I want to hear first thing in the morning—your moaning!" Raiden said cheerfully as he walked past Tai's room.

He grinned at his sister as he stopped by her door.

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically and stuck her middle finger up at him.

"Rude!" Raiden tutted.

"F*ck off," Tai smiled. "So, brother, what's on the agenda today?"

"You're going shopping," Raiden told her.

"Sexist pig. Why does the girl have to do that?" Tai wondered as she searched through the cardboard boxes in her room for clean clothes.

Tai was the unorganised twin. She had dumped all the boxes containing her belongings in her room, while Raiden had already unpacked his and put everything away neatly. Tai's belongings would remain in their boxes for many weeks until she eventually got around to sorting them out.

"Because if I do, you'll moan at me that I bought the wrong freaking cheese," Raiden chuckled.

Tai raised an eyebrow at him.

"There is a difference," she said seriously.

"And that's why you're shopping, not me," Raiden shrugged.

"What are you doing, then?" Tai wondered.

She smiled when she located a pair of skinny jeans.

"I'm going to the high school."

Tai frowned and slowly turned to look at her brother.

"And why the hell is that?"

"Because after all the crap that has happened to us, we're going to do one normal thing," Raiden explained.

"And that is?"

"Graduate high school," Raiden grinned.

Tai stared at her brother blankly.

"I hate you," she said. "And if you were closer, I would punch you."

"I love you too," Raiden smiled. "Tai, please don't fight me on this. We both need to graduate."

"Me? Fight with you?" Tai gasped and held a hand to her heart, feigning shock. "Raiden, you've hurt me. Really hurt me."

Raiden rolled his eyes.

"You're the most argumentative person ever, Tai. I think I only put up with you because we're related."

"Raiden," Tai said as she grabbed a black shirt, "words hurt, you know."

"You should remember that next time you're a b*tch to me," Raiden pointed out.

Tai smirked.

"I'll try. Now shoo, let me get changed."

Raiden nodded and reached for the door handle, but stopped and looked back at his sister.

"Tai, are you okay?" he asked seriously.

"Nope," Tai said instantly.

She glanced over her shoulder at Raiden.

"I'll let you know when I am."

Raiden gave his sister a look but nodded and exited her room.

Tai sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"If I ever am," she murmured.

After what she had done, she didn't know how she could ever forgive herself.

Tai spat toothpaste into the sink and looked up at her reflection. She splashed water onto her face and tied her long hair into a ponytail.

Her eyes went to the locket around her neck, and she sighed.

"Morning, Ma. Morning, Papa," she whispered, taking the locket into her hand.

Tai and Raiden had spent most of their lives in the foster system. Until they were six, they had lived in Japan with their parents. Then their mother died, and their father dragged them to America to start a new life.

That ended in a bad car crash that killed him and left Tai and Raiden in foster care.

The locket was the only thing she had left of her parents. Inside was the only picture of them.

"Tai, are you ready?"

Raiden's yell made Tai jump. She sighed, dropped the locket and walked out of the bathroom into the hallway, where she met Raiden.

"Ready," she said.

She grabbed her purse and phone from the side.

"I'll drop you off at the supermarket and then pick you up once I'm done at the school," Raiden said.

Tai nodded, eager to get out of their new house.

She climbed into the passenger seat of their truck and waited for Raiden to start the engine. They drove off into their new town.

Tai stared out of the window, observing the new place where they were now living. For a small town, the streets were busy, and she noticed a diner packed with teenagers.

"What do you think?" Raiden asked.

"I guess it's not too bad."

Raiden smiled.

"It's a nice town. A safe town. It's good for us."

Tai sighed and nodded.

"I trust you, Rai. I know you wouldn't have moved us somewhere dangerous."

"It might be dangerous now that you're here with your winning personality," Raiden teased.

Tai rolled her eyes and shoved her brother.

"Watch it! I don't want to drive into a tree!"

"Then learn to be more polite," she said and smiled sweetly at Raiden.

He stopped the truck outside a large supermarket.

"Go and buy the correct cheese," he said with a laugh.

Tai rolled her eyes, climbed out of the car and waved to Raiden over her shoulder before making her way into the supermarket.

She collected a trolley and started down the aisle. She filled it to the brim with her and Raiden's favourite food before struggling to push it to the till.

A ginger-haired staff member was scowling at an item of food in her hand and waving it frantically in front of the scanner.

"Blasted till," the girl scolded. "Get a job at the supermarket, they said. You'll enjoy it, they said!"

The girl narrowed her eyes, snatched the money from the customer in front of Tai and handed them their receipt.

The customer gave the girl a strange look and hurried away, but Alice simply rolled her eyes.

Tai raised her eyebrows and walked up to the girl, reading her name tag.

Alice.

"You're new," Alice said as Tai began placing her shopping onto the conveyor belt.

"Excuse me?"

"You're new to this town," Alice said. "Sorry, I'm not being creepy. It's just that this town is quite small, so a new face is recognised from a mile away."

Tai nodded.

"Right."

"When did you get here?" Alice wondered as she started scanning Tai's food.

"That's a bit of a personal question, don't you think?" Tai asked, an edge to her voice.

Tai didn't exactly come across as friendly when she first met people. She wasn't a mean person; she simply didn't trust easily and was quite cold at first. She didn't like people knowing much about her. She was very much a closed book.

"Chill, I'm just curious," Alice shrugged.

"Learn to be a little less..." Tai muttered.

She was grateful when her phone rang. She reached into her pocket and answered it, knowing it would be Raiden.

"Good news!" he called.

Tai rolled her eyes at his