Do you have any idea how hard it is to be me? Seriously. Yeah, I know, everyone is seventeen once, even your parents, but it's so much harder now than it was for them. Right? Everyone says that. Well, I've got news. Even if you're seventeen and reading this, you don't know anything about how hard it is to be me. And I know you're rolling your eyes and just gearing up to tell me your sob-story of a tough life.
Well before you go and embarrass yourself, let me tell you my story first. I am Jessica Lee Franklin. And my older brother is Jarred Franklin.
You think your family are weird? They've got nothing on mine. Ever heard of Leonard Franklin? My point exactly! He's my father. You heard me. Leonard Franklin world class trial lawyer is my father, Now normally growing up with a lawyer father isn't too bad because there are normal people, who aren't lawyers around. Not with my family. Every single person in my family works in the legal industry one way or another. And did I mention I no longer live with my father? Yeah. My brother is, like, Jared Franklin from Franklin and Bash. All crazy stunts and disappearing in the middle of the court to pull out the surprise witness that saves the day. You've heard of them, right? Franklin and Bash. Yeah, my point exactly. How's that for 'career day' at school? "My daddy's a lawyer, who hates my brother and mummy's dead but my brother looks after me, and he's a lawyer too. Not a very good one if you ask the judges." Of course, there were only, like, a couple of hundred and twenty other kids in my school, No, not my grade but my entire K-12 school. And I can't make friends because being a lawyer is wired into my every fibre. You think you've got cliques and social ladders at your school? Well, I was born into it. I wasn't the popular one, I was the one everyone was respectful to, because, well, everybody was afraid of a trial lawyer with some flashy cars, and so their kids were taught to respect and fear them, too. So I kind of got promoted by association. I never got invited to sleepovers, because normal people don't hang out with us like that. It would be disrespectful.
Raise your hand if you can one-up me still.
As you can imagine, I grew up in a very adult world. Before mom died and my dad disowned my brother my parents tried to shelter me from the fact that my destiny was to be shut up in a courtroom with my brother for the rest of my life, and when I was little, I never would have guessed. My brother and I were best friends. When he was home, he'd read books to me and help me build forts in the living room. We'd go swimming in the ocean or ride a bright-red motorcycle to the shops for ice cream. I always thought it was so cool that my brother gave me rides on a red motorcycle. But the first and only time I swore at my mom, I saw the G.I. Joe side of my brother. It wasn't pretty. In fact, I'm kind of surprised the prosecutors have the balls to take another shot at him after having seen my brother in court. But I'm wandering way off topic.
My best friends were all grown-ups. There was my big brother, of course, and then a few friends of my brothers who were let's just say co-workers and practically my brothers. When I was eleven, Jarred had left for college and I was a few months from walking out to live with him. I asked Pete and Jarred about their jobs. "How come you guys want to be lawyers?"
Jarred decided that as my brother he should take this question. "Because," he said with a smirk. "People told me I couldn't do it."
But yeah, that's my messed up childhood. Nothing too traumatic, just…messed up. No kids my own age to play with, and the world's best goofballs for best friends. I hadn't realized how lucky I was until my brother went and traumatized my adolescence. You see, I turned seventeen a week ago. Apparently, Jarred and Peter thought that seventeen was old enough to be entrusted with matters of people lives and litigation so my whole world got turned on its ear. I'm still wondering if they're right.