(Mid-May)
Ahhhhhh, the first day of summer break! I think to myself. All my schoolwork is done, and I can just lay in my bed and listen to AJR, and no one will yell at me to get up and do something productive for once. Summer break is the best!
"I need all the kids in the living room for a family meeting!" Mom yells.
"And please hurry, we don't have all day," Dad adds.
Well, so much for doing nothing all day. I sigh. And I'm pretty sure that we have all summer, Dad. I retort in my head. Nevertheless, I get up before the song even finishes, because I don't want to be on their bad side all summer. Paxton and I meet up in the little hallway that connects the bedroom wing to the rest of the house, and exchange confused looks before heading to the living room together.
When we get there, I can see Padgett already sitting prim and proper on the couch, and Paisley sitting next to her in the same position. I sneakily roll my eyes and see that Paxton is doing the same. Although Padgett is my twin sister, we couldn't be more different. Padgett is always put together and constantly looks and acts like a princess, while I'm just plain old sloppy Patience who only wears t-shirts and sweatpants and almost never brushes her hair. Paisley is our ten year old little sister who thinks Padgett is the best person in the world, and is constantly copying her, and Paxton is our thirteen year old brother who in my eyes can sometimes be annoying, but most of the time is extremely fun to be around. We both sigh at the same time and sit down next to each other.
"Will someone go get Palmer please? I don't think he heard us over his music," Mom says with a slight grimace. Palmer is our older brother who is going through a "depressed bad boy" phase, and right now is obsessed with rock music. Mom and Dad let him listen to it, although he can't play it out loud. They say they want to keep Paxton and Paisley "as innocent as possible", although Paxton is as obsessed with AJR as I am.
When no one volunteers, Mom says, "Oh, alright. I'll go get him myself." A few minutes later, Mom returns with a sulking Palmer in tow.
"Alrighty," she says. "Would you like to tell them, Jason, or should I?"
"I'll tell them, Amy," Dad says. Paxton and I exchange looks. It's never good when Mom and Dad call each other by their first names. We turn our attention back to Dad as he starts talking again. "The thing we want to tell you kids, is that I've taken a call to a church in New York."
Immediately my brain goes fuzzy, and I start to panic. I don't know anybody there! I think. What am I going to do! But then I realize that I'm not friends with anybody here in Illinois anyway, and brighten up at the chance to get away from the teasing at co-op.
Padgett, on the other hand, doesn't seem as thrilled to get away as I do. "But what about all my friends?" she asks.
"I'm sure you can keep in touch with them on your phone, honey," Mom says.
"Alright…" Padgett says, still a little unsure.
"What's it called?" Paxton asks.
"The church's name is St. John, and it's in a kind of small town called Denton," Dad says.
"Will there be a co-op there?" I ask. If there is, it will be the perfect chance to completely reinvent yourself, and actually make some friends! I think. But knowing myself, I'll probably just chicken out and be that quiet girl in the corner staring at nothing again.
"Yes there is, and you all will be attending," Mom says. "Even you, Palmer," and gives him a look.
"Ugggh," he groans. "Can I leave now? Noah and Dylan are waiting on Discord."
"Fine," says an exasperated Mom. "Go back to playing Twilight or whatever it's called."
"It's called Fortnite!" he yells over his shoulder as he practically sprints out of the room.
"Well, so much for a family meeting," Paxton mutters under his breath.
Dad sighs and says "I guess you can all go now. If you have any questions, just ask Mom or I, and we can answer them," Paisley raises her hand. "Yes, Paisley?"
"When are we leaving?" she asks.
"In five weeks." Mom and Dad say together.
Oh boy, I think. So much for summer vacation.