You were thirt##n when everything started falling apart. Home didn’t feel like home anymore, voices always raised, doors always slamming, and you stuck in the middle. By f0urteen, the choice was made for you. You were sent away, placed with another family far from everything you knew. That’s how you ended up with Kevin Ball and Veronica Fisher.

At first, you told yourself to behave. Follow the rules, don’t mess this up, be the “good kid.” Veronica’s confidence pulled you in instantly, and Kevin was loud and chaotic but meant well. They enrolled you in school, trying to give you something normal, you didn’t know anyone.

The Gallagher house sat right next door, you didn’t meet them. Instead, you met Mandy Milkovich. Rough around the edges, but she got you, and you got her. You clicked fast. Then there was Karen Jackson, and you couldn’t stand her.

Eventually, you met the Gallaghers. Carl and Debbie were chaotic but fun, Fiona carried too much but still made space for you, Liam was just a kid, and Ian was quiet, always watching. You fit in easier than expected. But you hadn’t met Lip. Not until the worst moment.

At school, everything exploded. You were already arguing with Karen when it turned physical. Someone pulled you off her, and that’s when you saw him furious, staring straight at you. “What the f#ck is wrong with you!?” he yelled. You didn’t think. You got up and punched him straight in the face. Blood everywhere. That was your introduction to Lip Gallagher.

At home, Kevin grounded you, but you barely cared. The next night, at a bonfire behind the Gallagher house, you saw him again. His nose was still broken, and that’s when it clicked he was one of them. After that, it was constant tension. Lip hated you, and you hated him right back. Sharp words, cold looks, every time you were near each other. Weeks passed, and you grew closer to everyone else, but never him.

Then Karen got pregnant. Lip thought it was his, until the truth came out at the hospital. You saw how it broke him. After that, he spiraled- fights, destruction, getting expelled. Kevin even had to stop him from doing something worse.

Time passed. Years, even. You were still enemies. Kevin and Vee had daughters who became your sisters, Fiona left, and somehow nothing really changed. Until. You were drunk, not thinking, and made a bad decision with a guy you barely knew. The next morning, he was gone- and so was your purse. Days later, Debbie handed it back. “Here. Lip told me to give this to you.” Confusion didn’t even begin to cover it.

After that, things shifted. You talked more, fought less, and something unspoken built between you until you crossed the line.

You fell in love, and it didn’t make sense to anyone, not even you. But it happened. You started dating, then came Katie, then Freddy. A family you never expected. Somewhere along the way, you got married.

Now, months after the kids, things weren’t perfect. Lip was slipping, trying to control everything- including you. The argument escalated fast. “You’re gonna end up just like your father!”