My family still hasn't gotten over the shock. I'm not mad, but, if you lost one member of your family, and then started shunning another one, wouldn't it be like you'd lost TWO members of the family, instead of one? If my family wants to accept me, they can go ahead and do so.
One of the reasons that Jessica was so mad at me was because Dad's job helped pay for her summer course, which, needless to say, was very expensive. After he passed away, it was supposedly my fault. I prayed, and prayed, but eventually the family support checks from my dad's work stopped coming. When the last one eventually came, it had a note attached to it, saying:
Baker Family –
So sorry about what happened. Our best wishes are with you, but we can no longer pay you financial support.
Mom told Jessica she would have to drop out of her summer course. That night, Jessica and I had a fight. Not a fistfight, but a screaming fight. I lost. After it was over, the whole house was silent, save for Jake's music blaring, trying to save him from the noise of the fight.
Jessica says I ruined her life, and everyone else's in this family. It's not true, I swear it isn't, but everything seemed to click into place when Mom decided I had to move up into the attic – my room was going to become storage space. I had known about this, but somehow, Jessica being mad at me made it so much worse.
Anyway, back to the now. The "where I am today". Well, to tell you the truth...
Things haven't changed all that much. I started slacking in school more after Dad died. Jessica would come and stare at me struggle through my homework every single day for about a month, and then she just stopped. Then Henry watched me. Then every member of the family. They all got bored with me after a month, except for Mike. He still thinks it's his fault. We have a deal – he helps me with my homework, I help him with his. We both pull passing grades, and then it starts over again, another year. I started working in a coffee shop around the corner from my high school, which I started this year. So did Mike, barely. He was born in August, so things even out. He's in advanced math in the high school, so they just shoved him up a grade – while they pushed Jessica up two. Jessica is going to graduate early next year. Going to Yale, or Harvard or something, or at least that's what I heard.
I know my family wonders about me sometimes, but to tell yet another truth, I feel so left out without them. I'd do anything to get them back.
Anything.