Chapt3r 1:
"Athena, wait!" My sister called. I turned around to see her running toward me. She dropped her math book, and I watched as it fell into a puddle. I coughed to hide a laugh, but I did it poorly, turning back to my car and getting in. The feeling of heat hit me as I turned it on and waited for the engine to cool down. Eryn climbed in on the other side of the car, wiping the muddy water from the pages of her book.
"You could have helped me, you know." She said. I rolled my eyes.
"I didn't hear you ask for help." I told her, smirking. She threw her book on the floor of the car and stared at me.
"God, Athena! Why do you do that? You can't be like any other big sister? You can't just help out your little sister, help me pick a freeking book out of a puddle or carry all of my stuff? You're the worst big sister ever." She sulked into the back of her seat.
"Don't throw your crap around in my car. Pick it up." I ordered her cooly, pushing my glasses farther up my face. "You know all of the things that I do for you, so don't even try me. We have to go pick up the twins and Dylan. Pick it up." She picked up her book, slamming it on her knees. I pulled out of the parking lot and took a left down the street toward the high way.
We didn't speak for several more minutes. I didn't mind. I was grateful for the silence. Eryn would sniffle every once in a while, still upset with me. I didn't care. We pulled into the elementary parking lot and pulled up to the door. I turned to Eryn.
"Go get them." She told me. "It's your turn." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started texting. I rolled my eyes again, turning off the car and heading into the school.
The halls were colored brightly, displaying artwork of children who had no true potential, stick figures smiling at each other near houses and giant suns with sunglasses. Fliers for parents night smiled powder blue and electric yellow and faces drawn with broken crayons on paper plates jumped out at you, screaming "Look at all my talent!". I continued down to the end of the hallway, going into the last door on the left.
"Ah, Athena George." Mrs. Burns said. "Robyn and Jasmine are at the playground, and Dylan is in the bathroom. I'm sure he'll be back in a second." I nodded, picking up the three backpacks as Dylan walked in the room. He came over and gave me a hug.
"How was your day?" I asked, squatting down to match his height.
"We built a rocket today! It was so cool, Athena! You should have seen it, it was amazing!" He rambled. I smiled.
"Go get your coat, we have to go get Jasmine and Robyn, okay?" I said. He nodded and scrambled to his cubby, picking the bright nylon jacket up and forcing it over both arms. He zipped it up with some difficulty, and then pulled his black backpack over it. "Say thank you to Mrs. Burns, Dylan." I told him.
"Thank you, Mrs. Burns." He walked over and gave her a hug, and then returned to me like a faithful dog. I grabbed his little hand in mine and led him out, thanking Mrs. Burns as I went.
We walked around the back of the school to the playground where the twins were. Robyn hung upside-down on the monkey bars, her dark brown curls falling more than a foot toward the ground. Jasmine swung highly on a yellow swing, her open jacket flapping with each push and pull of her feet. She saw me and jumped off at the peak of her swing, falling in a mass of brown curls, and jumping up without injury, less than a second later.
"Athena!" She yelled as she ran toward me. I plucked the wood chips out of her hair and helped her with her backpack as Robyn came over to collect hers.
The four of us trudged back to the car as the twins rambled on about the bunny they were getting as a class pet, what they were going to feed it, and asking me whether or not bunnies ate turtles. I let them climb into my mini van.
The drive home was short, and the three of them came out of the van and chattered as they went into the house. A car pulled up behind me and Patrick came out, guitar case in hand. He gave me a hug and then went into the house as Eryn followed. I grabbed my own bag from the space between the front seats and headed into the house behind five of my seven siblings.
Mother groaned from the couch, an empty bottle in her hand. I helped her up and brought her into her room down the hall, allowing her to collapse on her bed as I took her shoes of and helped her slide under the covers.
I supposed that my mother was pretty at one point; her curly brown hair that all of us had inherited, her deep blue eyes, almost a navy color, and her tan skin. I pushed a curl out of her eyes and she groaned with the effort of keeping them open.
"Go to sleep," I whispered in her ear.
Mother had been in a drinking depression since our father died two years ago. I had been fifteen when he died, a car accident. No one could have seen it coming, and it wasn't her fault. Yet she blamed herself. I tucked her in, taking the empty bottles from her room into the kitchen before going in to check on the baby.
Mallory stepped in the door behind me, wearing a sports bra and shorts, having just come back from running. I picked up the baby, Genesis was nearly a year old now. She was blond, the only blond in the family, taking after dad. Her eyes were losing their baby blue, and turning into a light green color. She was tan, like mom, and her little fingers stretched out to greet me as I entered the nursery.
"'Thena! 'Thena!" She screeched in delight, clapping her little hands together. She pushed herself up against the edge of the crib, and I picked her up and held her on my hip.
"What's up Mallory?" I asked, wiping drool from the side of the baby's face.
"Just making sure someone was home with her, Mom doesn't look good today. I'm going to go shower though." She said. I nodded as she walked out and brought the baby to the changing table.
Our house used to be nice to look at; Dad had put a ton of effort into making every room painted to our liking. Everyone had their own room, and the twins shared. But after Dad died, with Genesis on the way, Mallory moved into my room and her room became the nursery. She was really good about it. It was hard on all of us when Genesis was born. Mom named her, breast fed her for three or four months, but only when we told her too. She didn't want any part of the baby that looked like her late husband. It was up to me now to keep these kids in line.
Patrick worked at a music store, selling CD's and guitars to help us out. He was good at it, and he made money doing it. But Mallory and Eryn and my other little brother, Charlie didn't work. Not that I expected Charlie too, he was only fourteen. But Eryn was sixteen, she could work at A&P for all I cared. As long as it brought in a little more money. Even Mallory, she was so focused on running right now. She wanted a sports scholarship so that she could go to whatever college would take her. We just needed more money. The welfare check with mine and Patrick's combined salaries wasn't enough.
I finished changing the baby and brought her out to play with the other kids in our playroom. Small toys littered the floor, and I set her down in the playpen and told Dylan and the twins to include her in their endeavors. I followed Patrick into the kitchen. He pulled out a check.
"It's a little more this week. They promoted me to floor manager and gave me a raise. I get to fix the guitars too." He handed me a check for three hundred dollars.
"Thanks Patrick. I'll go to the bank tomorrow." I ran my hand through my curly hair. "Um, I have to go to work, and then I'll go food shopping. Have the twins do their homework, please. They need to be showered and in bed by eight, and Dylan showered and in bed at seven thirty. Tell Eryn to do her homework, but she won't so... whatever. What am I forgetting?"
"Nothing, Athena. Go. Mallory and I will take care of everything. Alright?" He asked, rubbing the sides of both of my arms with his hands. I nodded and gave him a hug, trudging down the hall to get ready for work.
