AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He waves me off. “I’m ready now.”
I press my lips together to keep from arguing with him. I don’t want to start a fight before dinner. The plan is that a full stomach of tacos will soften him up, and then I can ask him about schoolafter. I decide to drop the homework for now. It’s not as though one day is going to make or break things at this point.
An hour later, we’re huddled at a pastel-painted picnic table in Amarillo, a dozen tacos spread out in front of us. Barbacoa for me, chipotle chicken for Garrett, and grilled mahi-mahi for Jesse. I crack open a green soda and make a face at the sweet, fizzy taste bubbling up on my tongue before sipping again. I don’t much care for the drink, but when in the Southwest and all that. Garrett loves them.
We devour our food while Garrett talks our ears off with more funny wisdom à la Case Michaels, and Jesse, for once, doesn’t put her off. He asks her questions and even informs us Pax and Case are pretty good friends. He tells us a story of how he saw Case jump in a pool naked at a party a few weeks back that makes me choke on a fried tortilla chip and sends Garrett into a fit of giggles. Bless. I wonder if that was the morning I ran into him and we fought in the parking lot.
That feels like a year ago. Or at least several flip-flopped changes of opinions ago.
I decide to bring up school when all that remains of our dinner are empty wrappers and everyone is in high spirits.
“Hey, Jesse, I got a phone call from school today. Second one this week.”
Jesse rolls his eyes. “What, they want to put up a plaque in the cafeteria in your honor or something?”
“Yeah, no, definitely not,” I say humorlessly. “They said you’re about to be expelled for truancy. And they will have to report our family to the police.”
He pales so much I can see his baby freckles, the ones I thought disappeared years ago. “What? Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know, maybe because it’s illegal to miss school so much?”
He scowls. “Let me quit, then. I’ll get my GED.”
“My dude. You’re only fourteen. That’s not an option.”
“Then tell them I’m homeschooling.”
“That only works if you’reactuallydoing school at home. With a parent or guardian to supervise your progress. You barely live at home these days, so that’s not happening. What’s your deal, anyway? It’s not as if you aren’t smart. You’ve always done super well in school.”
“I don’t care. I’m not interested in college, not that we could afford it, anyway. Maybe I want to get a job.”
I raise a brow. “Really,” I drawl cynically. “A job.”
He shrugs, peeling the greasy wax paper in front of him. Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.
“Look. As much as I wouldlovefor someone else in this household to get a job and help out, you’re too young to be working. You need to stay in school. We can’t afford truancy fines, and to be frank, we can’t risk an inquiry from CPS.”
I watch the little color remaining in my younger brother’s face leach away. Garrett audibly swallows next to me, reaching for my hand with her small, slightly sticky one.
“I’m gonna level with you here. You’re playing with fire, and we don’t have a single pail of water to our names. I get it. I do. You’re tired of things being how they are. Sick of struggling. I swear, I know. But if you give up on me, onus,” I correct, squeezing Garrett’s little fingers gently, “I don’t think I can fix it. We don’t have parents around. Legally, that’s very bad.”
“You take care of us,” he says in a low voice. “We don’t need parents.”
I swallow hard at the childlike assurance in his changed voice and try not to smother under the guilt of yesterday and Garrett’s dance with a longhorn. “And I always will. I promise. But I’m not your guardian. I don’t have a say in what happens.”
“What if you were?” Garrett asks softly. “Why can’t you be our mom?”
Jesse narrows his eyes. “Because she’s not our real mom.”
“Obviously,” Garrett says, glaring at him. “But she’s the only mom I’ve ever known. And Winnie already takes care of us.”
I sigh, raising my hand between them. This is the part I researched. What I’ve been researching ever since I talked to my dad and he refused to help.
“Technically, I could file to be both of your guardians. I’m nineteen. Dad would have to give up his rights, though.”
Garrett brightens, but Jesse frowns. “No way, Win. You can’t do that. Like you said, you’re nineteen. You can’t take responsibility for us. You have your own life.”
I squeeze my sister’s hand reassuringly but look at my brother. “You’re right. I do.”Kinda.“And I didn’t want to be a parent before I even got to be a kid. But that ship has sailed. A long time ago. I won’t leave you guys. So here is the way I see it: either you get your ass in gear and back into school until you’re at least sixteen, when you can and will get your GED, or I’m going to file for guardianship. Because I can be your big sister, or I can be your parent, but I can’t be both.”
