I took my notebook and pencils out of my backpack and set them on the kitchen table in front of me. I did not have homework that needed to be done yet, so I was able to focus all of my attention on the election and what I was going to do differently this year.
"Well, you have an unfair advantage. Javier gave out gift cards to everyone this morning while you're giving out one piece of candy per person," Ricky explained.
I let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Must be nice to have enough money to give everyone individual gift cards for a high school class election."
Ricky sighed as well. "You have to figure out some way to wow everyone. Last year you came really close to beating him, so this year you just need to put in a little more effort."
"I guess," I said, a bit discouraged. "Let's just focus on putting up the posters tomorrow. You have a few made?"
I could hear shuffling through the phone, most likely Ricky shifting positions. After a few seconds, it stopped. "Yeah, and Kailey and Bella have made some too."
I smiled even though he couldn't see it.
Then Ricky gasped, he realized something. "Oh my goodness, I have the best idea. You—"
Abruptly, my aunt swung open the front door. I jumped and accidentally knocked my phone off the table. After picking it up swiftly and ending the call with Ricky, I then put it back on the table and faced my aunt. She did not have a smile on her face.
"You’re home?" she asked dryly.
Clearly I was fucking home, what a ridiculous question to ask as she stood directly in front of me. As much as I wanted to, I did not respond. I learned that simply ignoring her rude remarks was the best way to get out of the situation. If I did not provoke or engage with her, she would leave me alone.
Aunt Macy walked past me and went into the kitchen, and I tried to keep to myself and think more about the campaign in hopes of her leaving me alone. I did not want to go into my room because my brother was in there, so the only other place I could be was the kitchen.
"Do you ever go out?" she asked, her tone ugly.
I merely nodded, and then she shook her head with an unimpressed look before going into her bedroom with a bag of chips and a water bottle in hand. I found it funny how she was complaining about me being around but would sometimes get upset when I was out for what she considered too long. My aunt would pick and choose which days she cared where I was at.
My aunt had been taking care of my siblings and I since I was a year old. Both of my parents passed so she was the family member that was chosen to take us in. She had always kinda hated us, more so me. She felt that she was forced to take care of us even though she didn't even want kids of her own. She alsodid not want to raise the boy that was responsible for her sister's death.
But she did not raise me, all she did was give me food and shelter. She has always been a shitty caretaker, even when I was little. There was no care or nurture from my aunt to me, not even toward my siblings whom she hated a lot less.
Once my brother and sister turned sixteen, they went out and got jobs. That was when she stopped cooking for us. She would either get takeout or cook a small meal for herself. My aunt felt like if they were old enough to enter the workforce, they were old enough to feed themselves. Since I was only a year younger than my siblings, she extended that belief onto me as well.
She refused to buy us cell phones. My brother had paid for my phone and phone bill ever since he got a job because otherwise, I would not have one. He would also give me a little bit of money each week for me to buy the things that I wanted. The amount of money he would give me varied, but it was never a lot. My sister was the one who would occasionally buy me new clothes and shoes when needed.
My friends would often ask me why I don't get a job myself and the answer to that was that I have no transportation. My siblings were able to get jobs within walking distance from the house. I tried that but got no call backs. Plus, my siblings were against me having a job, even though they complained each time they had to do something for me.
While they did give me many things that I otherwise would not have, they weren't very kind to me. They only talked to me when absolutely necessary, they never showed any sort of love or affection toward me and sometimes insulted me just for the hell of it. It was understandable as they blamed me for our parents' death, but I still wished that we were close. I wished I could come to them with my problems. I wished that I wasn'tsuch a burden to them. They only did the things they did for me because I was their little brother, and they felt obligated. Not because they loved me and wanted to.
Feeling overwhelmed because of my aunt, I looked at the time. It was almost eight thirty. I had already taken a shower and brushed my teeth, and my homework was not due for a few days so I could put that off until later. I made my way to my bedroom and wasted no time climbing into bed. My siblings and I shared a room. Easton and I had bunk beds while Emerson had her own bed on the opposite side of the room. Easton was already fast asleep.
I then reached under my bed and pulled out a chest. I dug into the bottom of it and pulled out a bottle of vodka. It was half full. No one ever went through my chest because at first glance it was a bucket full of random unorganized items. That was exactly what it was, but it was also where I stored alcohol.
Drinking gave me a sense of peace; it let me be carefree and stop worrying about the way people treated me. I usually drank at night because night was when my mind was free to wander to places I did not want it to go to.
Despite sharing a room with my siblings, they were too uninterested in my life to notice what I would do before bed. The only one who knew about it was Ricky, and he only knew to an extent. I knew others would respond negatively, they would think that it was not healthy. I could not lie and say they would be wrong, they would definitely be correct. However, I knew when to stop. I knew my limit and I was not a day drinker. It was temporary, I told myself I would stop when it began to hurt more than it helped.
I finished off the bottle before lying my head down and shutting my eyes. I fell asleep in no time.
***
Alright, I had gotten a little carried away.
I had no clue what possessed me to finish the bottle off. It did not seem like that much to me in the moment, but I was proven wrong. I woke up with a headache and a lot of nausea. I had worse hangovers in the past but never on a school day. Waking up early with your head pounding and grimacing at the thought of food was never a good combination.
Alas, I pulled myself together and showed up to school. I was not going to skip school when the election is only a couple of days away. I had to make a great impression on my fellow classmates if I wanted to finally beat my rival. He already had multiple advantages over me, so every moment counted.
I was currently in the school hallway putting up my campaign posters. My friends were putting some up in the other hallways.
