"No," I said, looking out of the car windows as city lights slowly faded into rolling hills, country side, and grazing cattle. "I never agreed to this."
"Fang," Dr. Martinez, my adoptive mother, sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. You know that money was getting tight in San Diego, and I was offered a higher paying job here in Texas. I sat you, Angel, and Ella down to discuss this move and why, and you didn't say anything. Zip. Nada. Goose eggs." She pushed a lock of dark chocolate brown hair behind her ear, and looked over to me.
Ella and Angel's soft snores came from the back seat. Ella was Dr. M's biological daughter, and Angel was another adopted kid. Even though we weren't related, I cared for them as a big brother should, me being the oldest at eighteen, Ella being sixteen, and angel was the baby of the family at thirteen.
"For a while," Dr. M started then stopped, taking a deep breath and composing herself. She started again, "For a while we will stay with a family, they own the veterinary practice I'm going to be working with, the Walkers, until we can get back on our feet, and I have enough money to buy us a place of our own."
"But," I started to protest.
Dr. M cut me off. "Hush. I don't want to hear anything from you, Mister. I didn't beg them if that's what you're worried about. They offered." I sneered out of the window, unhappy. "Besides," She said, noticing my facial expression. "The Walkers have two kids your age, a boy and a girl, they're twins. Maybe you'll be friends."
I saw the hopeful look in her eyes, and I looked back toward my little sisters, knocked out from the extremely long drive to middle of freaking nowhere Texas, from San Diego. This was not how I wanted to spend my Senior Year of high school. Damn me for wanting what was going to be best for my sisters. Sometimes it was a pain being the eldest.
After a while, I saw the rising sun, and I knew that we were almost there. Where, I wasn't absolutely sure, but it was probably filled with hillbillies. I looked over at my restless mother, and offered her a sip of my Monster Energy drink that I had gotten at our last pit stop.
"Fang," She yawned. I knew that she was tired from driving all day and night. Many times I had offered to take the wheel, but she just told me to relax while I still could. That didn't make me feel any better. "You know that I don't like to drink those things, they're bad for you." She yawned again.
"Seriously, Dr. M. Either take it, or pull over so I can drive. I don't want you falling asleep at the wheel. We've still got a good few hours left until we're at the Walker's house." I told her, putting the Monster in the cup holder closest to her. I could tell by the way her eyes were drooping and her hands went slack on the wheel.
"Fine," She yawned again, and pulled over onto the emergency ramp. Quickly, we switched places, and Dr. M quietly fell asleep in my passenger seat.
After driving for a few hours, stopping for breakfast for the girls, and screaming over who controlled the radio, Dr. M woke up and drove for the last thirty or so minutes until we reached a long gravel driveway.