Yet, compared to the last few places we’ve lived since Dad’s disappearance, this house is a dream. The boys share a bedroom but Mom, Jamie, and I have our own.
It’s a far step up from the two-bedroom apartment we lived in before, where we’d pray the heat would work, and that we wouldn’t be mugged on our way home to our dilapidated building.
Still, don’t get me started on the khaki shorts, boat shoes, and Ray-Ban wearing spoiled brats that come into the diner expecting you to drop everything and kiss the ground they walk on. Let’s just say I don’t have high hopes of making friends while I finish my senior year.
Remembering we’re in a time crunch, I refocus. It’s time we get our asses in gear. I can ponder the hell I'm sure my senior year will bring once I get these knuckleheads ready.
Squinting at my brothers, my face stern, I go full drill sergeant. “Okay, boys, get your butts in that bathroom and shower for school. You have fifteen minutes to be showered and dressed,” I say tersely, leaving no room for an argument. Clapping my hands to emphasize the need for haste, I continue, "Your clothes are in the closet. I picked them out last night before I left for work. Get a move on! I have no more than an hour before I need to be at school. Chop, chop, and all that jazz!” Two sets of gray eyes widen into round saucers, then they turn and race each other up the stairs.Ha, Dad would be so proud. Jamie follows behind them, probably to lay their clothes out on their beds. She’s truly a great sister.
A few seconds later, I climb our carpeted cream-colored stairs to my room. The door creaks open, and the bare blue-gray walls stare back at me. Decorating this place is on my to-do list once I get done the other fifty million things I have to do.
Heading toward my closet, I wonder what I should wear on my first day at a new school.Considering this is school number five in the last two years, one can wear whatever the hell she wants.At that thought, I decide on a pair of black leggings and my dad’s gray Red Hot Chili Peppers band tee, finishing off my look with black Doc Martens.
Once I’m showered, dressed, and my midnight blue tresses are tamed, I go downstairs and pack everyone’s lunch. I dyed my strawberry-blonde hair blue over the summer. I figured a new town, a new look. Besides, I think it makes my gray eyes more haunting.
Those eyes look up at the sound of one set of footsteps coming down the stairs just in time to see only Jamie is ready. These boys will make me gray before I can even earn the title of ‘old cat lady.’
Shouting upstairs, I boom, “Let’s go. We have t-minus ten before you make me late!”
They come flying down the stairs while I finish packing lunches.
“Are you nervous about starting a new school?” I ask as they sit at the oak table in the corner of our kitchen, and Jamie pours their cereal.
I love my siblings and would give up everything to ensure they're okay. I’ll be here for them no matter the cost, and I won’t dwell on our mom disappearing to fuck knows where or that it’s been radio silence from the military on our dad’s whereabouts. If I do, I’ll definitely have a panic attack.
Instead, I focus on the fact that we have each other. More importantly, they have me.
Jamie’s voice interrupts me from my spiraling thoughts.
“No, I just hope we're here longer than the last two schools we were in, and I hope we hear news about Dad soon.” Her verdant-green eyes begin to brim with tears. “I miss him, Riah, and I miss how our family was before he went missing.”
My face falls flat.Me too, Jamie, me too.I'm about to respond, but she changes the subject. A mask of strength lining her young face.
“Today’s going to be great. Right, boys?” she announces, turning to look at the boys. A smile crests her face, shining half as bright as it used to and eyes looking far older than they should be.
I'll make it my mission to put the light back into them. Jamie’s too young to be jaded.
“Right,” they say in unison.
Chuckling, I shake my head at how they sound like one person. I swear twins have powers.
“Get going, Riah, before you’re late. I've got it from here. We’ll finish eating, then be out the door,” Jamie says.
Nodding, I say, “Listen, your lunches are on the counter, and the bus comes at the end of the driveway.” I look at Jamie, and say, “Make sure you lock up before you leave.”
Scanning my eyes over the three of them, I reiterate the rules, “Remember not to tell anyone Mom isn’t home. They will separate us if they find out.”
My heart cracks, a fissure running through the middle that I even have to say this.
Blowing out a breath, I grab the keys to my white Ford Explorer.
“Bye, have a great first day, and come straight home after school. I’ll be here when you get here. So I’ll know if you don’t,” I say, staring pointedly into each of their eyes before heading out the front door.
2
ARIAH
Edgewood Academy is a five-minute drive from the house.Megan’s Pianoby Megan Thee Stallion pumps through the speakers as I turn into the school parking lot and try to find a decent parking space.Holy shit.It's as if I entered a luxury car show. Almost every car here is worth at least six figures. Porches, Lambos, and G-Wagons. It’s ridiculous.Why the hell do high schoolers need cars worth as much as my house?Then, I remember all my run-ins with some of these rotten-ass kids over the summer. Since the diner is the hangout spot, I’ve seen more than my fair share of spoiled asshole behavior. Whiny cries when their parents wouldn’t give them the boat for the weekend, snide comments about being the help, and of course jokes about my weight were just some of the delightful topics whenever I was on shift. Like being thick and curvy is some sort of disease.Stupid elitist fat-phobic fucks.
