I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
Pounding feet on hardwood flooring is what wakes me up on the first day of classes. I look over at my alarm clock and see that I still have five minutes left before I have to wake up, but I guess that that is a pipe dream because that pounding is headed straight for my door. I hear a high pitched screaming and then my door flies open.
"Riley! Lena is taking forever in the bathroom! She's been in there for twenty minutes!" Mason says. I open my eyes a bit to see him in sequined skinny jeans, a pink V-neck that says "diva" across the front, and a pair of semi-new converse that I got from the salvation army which he decorated with silver and gold Sharpie as well as more sequins. His brown hair hangs down into his eyes, but his bangs are held back by a butterfly hairclip. He really went all out for school. I wish I had had that sort of motivation when I was his age.
"Why are you complaining? You look like you're ready." He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.
"I have to brush my teeth and do my makeup. Come on, you know my daily routine!" Now it's my turn to roll my eyes as I throw the covers off my body and stand up. I stretch my hands over my head. That kid has a more complex makeup routine than I do and he's only twelve.
I make my way to the one bathroom that my siblings have to share, and, sure enough, I find six of my siblings crowded by the door and I hear Nicki Minaj blaring our from the other side of the door. I knock on the door. No answer.
"Bust the door down!" Ben exclaims. I give him a look.
"I am not going to bust the door down, Hulk." I shake my head and knock harder. "Lena! Time's up!"
"I'm not ready yet!" she yells over the music. Sometimes I wonder if I was on crack when I decided to take on all eight of my siblings. I really wonder.
"Who cares if you're ready?!" Sofi yells. "Some of us need to use the bathroom!"
"Lena we went over this," I call to her. "On school mornings everyone gets ten minutes each in the bathroom."
"But that's not nearly enough! How am I going to do my makeup!"
"Do what Mason does and don't go all out on a fucking school morning!" Phoebe says. "Or we have, ya know, a bedroom!" I pound on the door again but it doesn't budge. Okay, now I'm angry. Why the fuck do teenage girls feel the need to take up all the bathroom time in the morning?
"Lena! If you're not out of the bathroom by the time I'm ready, then you'll regret it! I swear to god!" I warn. The music is only turned up louder. My blood is boiling. I have a nice solution to fix this that will get the attention of every one of these kids. I have to deal with everyone else first, though. I turn to the rest of my siblings.
"Okay, those who only have to pee can get my bathroom first. Those who need to brush their teeth, too, can go after." I have a bathroom connected to my own room. It's supposed to be my private one, but Lena is making that impossible. While they run to my room, I go down stairs and into the connected garage. I grab the battery powered screw gun, and head back upstairs. This is something I learned from my years and years in foster care. One of my first foster father's did this when nobody wanted to share the bathroom and, even though I was mad at the time, I think it's a great idea.
I unscrew the hinges in the door and hear a screaming.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Lena screams over the music. I don't answer her, and when the last screw is out, I use all of my strength to lift the door up and slide it over to the wall.
Lena stands in the bathroom, lip gloss wand in her hand, blue eyes as wide as saucers, her mouth hanging open. She's in shock. I can tell that her last set of foster parents (or any of her foster parents) had no form of discipline. Well, that's gonna stop right now. I'm not gonna deal with her bullshit. Then her shock turns to anger.
"What the fuck, Riley?!" she screams. "What'd you do that for?!" I cross my arms over my chest, calm. As the rest of our siblings come out to check what the screaming is about. Their reactions are similar to Lena's.
"Since you guys can't seem to figure out how to share a bathroom, the door will be coming off until further notice," I tell them. "You guys will shower without a door. You guys will shit and piss without a door. You will do everything without a door. If you want, you can hang up a sheet to cover the door way. But this way you won't be able to lock yourself in." I hear an uproar of complaints but I'm having none of it. "You guys think that the world owes you everything because you guys were in foster care. But let me tell you something right now: I. don't. give. a. fuck. I was in foster care, too, on top of spending eight horrible years with our abusive, drug addicted parents. And yet do you see me walking around acting like universe owes me? No. Because I understand that the world doesn't revolve around me. I understand that I have to work for everything I get."
"We get it, already!" Phoebe growls.
"I don't think you do," I retort. "Do you guys understand how good you have it? I worked my ass off to get a good education and a job so that I can get custody of all of you. Every single day I think that I'd be better off dead. But I stick with this because I know that you guys depend on me. I didn't have anybody to take me out of foster care. I didn't have anybody that cared enough to do what I'm doing for you guys. So I want you guys to think about that the next time you decide to be ungrateful assholes." I go back to my room and close and lock the door.
I take deep breaths and try to calm my nerves. I knew that taking on eight kids was going to be tough. But I'm starting to regret my decision. I could be going out, having fun, living a normal life like every other girl in her twenties. But that's not my reality. I'm not going to turn my back on those kids, no matter how much they make me want to jump in front of an overpass.
They just need the parenting that they never got. And I'll be damned if I let any of them turn out to be like Helen or Bob. So I get dressed in the outfit I specifically picked out for the first day of school—a red t-shirt with the words "My Classroom is My Happy Place" on it, with a knot tied at the bottom so that it doesn't seem too big, along with a pair of high-waist shorts and my converse—and make my way to the kitchen.
My brothers and sisters are all in there, bustling around and getting their breakfast as well as making themselves sandwiches. They're making a huge mess. I try not to let the mess bother me as I grab myself an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter. But I get down to business.
"Mason don't forget to bring all of the free-lunch forms to the office. They take a couple of days to process and the sooner you guys can get free lunch the better," I tell him. He nods as he closes his paper bag. "Lena, Phoebe, and Carson, don't forget that you each have doctor's appointments after school today. You'll be taking the school bus to the building. Please don't miss it as you all need your physicals before you start your school sports." The three of them don't pay attention to me, still mad about the door, but I know that they heard me. "Toby, make sure Savvy and Sofi make it to their classrooms. You'll be the oldest sibling in that school so I expect you to keep an eye on the rest." He shrugs. "And all of you: please be good. If I get one call from the principle, you'll end up losing privileges. Got it?" I hear a few mumbles as I see the school bus pull out front. "Toby, Mason, Ben, Savvy, and Sofi. Get your bags and go. The bus is here!"
They shuffle out of the house and then I'm left with Lena, Carson, and Phoebe. We don't have to leave for a few minutes, so we're in no rush. I look at Lena and see that she's still upset.
"Look, Lena—"
"You think you're my mom, but you're not," Lena growls. "So stop acting like you are. I'll mind my business, and you'll mind your own. We don't get in each other's way." I shake my head. When is she gonna let this whole act go?
"You're right, I'm not your mom," I agree with her. "But I'm the closest thing you've got. Do you really think I want to be doing this? I'd much rather be on my own. Caring for myself and living the life I've worked so hard for. But instead I have to raise the eight of you. I promise you that life won't always be like this. You'll learn how to be a normal teenage girl. You're only sixteen. You don't need to fend for yourself anymore.
"But you also have to understand that the planet doesn't revolve around you, Lena. I know that you want to have thirty minutes in the bathroom to do your makeup. But for right now we don't have a lot of money. I was lucky that I was able to afford this three bed-room house and that I qualified for government help. Most of our groceries are paid with food stamps. We're able to go to the doctor and dentist because we're eligible for Medicaid. Your school lunch will be free because I don't make enough to give all eight of you lunch money every single day. But you know what? We're pretty damn lucky. There are people out there who don't have anything. Before you were born, I had to survive off of table scraps, and the only time I ever went to the doctor was when I got the flu and almost died. I had to go to sleep cold and dirty and hungry most nights. If I so much as touched the food in the cabinets, I was beaten. I was raped and forced to have a baby at eleven years old."
"I—I know. I'm sorry." Lena's voice is soft and she's dropped the attitude.
"So, yes, I know that our life isn't great. I know that you guys must have had a tough time in foster care. But, please, at least try to be grateful, okay?" Lena doesn't meet my eyes, but she nods. I look at the other two and give them a sad look. "Okay. Let's get to school."
A/N: What did you guys think? Sorry for the lack of uploads for this story. I've just had major writer's block on this one and it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted the first official chapter to go. If you guys are interested in what these characters look like, I have a board on Pinterest under the same title as the story. My username is "G Reader1". I imagine Annegien Schilling as Riley. Please review!
~Gina