Daddy Dearest

So, the next day, I was awoken by a hailstorm of shorts, tank tops, make-up bottles, and underwear. Junie and Amber were accompanying us in the less than an hour drive to Atlanta. Mom didn't care who took us. We could've been being driven to Atlanta by Charlotte and her dealer. As long as we got to Atlanta and were out of her hair for a week, Mom was unconcerned with anything else. She would let Violet make Matt and me walk in the pouring rain to get away from us.

"Wake up!" Junie yelled at me. She shook me violently until I fell off of the bed. "Come on! Vi went to get gas and we are leaving in seven minutes."

I hated Junie with a passion. Junie was Violet's best friend that was from New Jersey. Aside from her stupid accent, she also looked pretty much perfect. She had long beach blonde hair that she was born with and pretty hazel eyes. She was 5'10 and walked perfectly in any height stilettos. I hated Junie for none of these though. I hated her because my sister, the oldest, trusted her best friend's advice on how to deal with children. Junie was an only child. At least Amber knew the dos and don'ts of siblings. She had seven of them that her parents had adopted. But no. Out of all of the people she could listen to in this town, my sister chose to listen to her siblingless best friend and I hated both of them for it.

I sat up groggily. I was smart enough to get in the shower the night before and I was already dressed. I was wearing my Mickey Mouse t-shirt, where he was giving Minnie a big kiss on the cheek and Lee's that were super comfortable. I sat up, sunk my socked feet in my blue Nike's, and rubbed my eyes. Junie looked at me and laughed. "Gross. Mickey Mouse t-shirt? Lee's jeans? Nike's? So nineties. Laaame!"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't you have somewhere to be? Some little puppy to stuff in your purse or a T-shirt to snip to unreasonably tiny lengths?" I asked as I slathered deodorant on my armpits.

Junie grunted at me and rolled her eyes. "Just be in the car when it starts moving. I'm not missing seeing your hot brothers."

I rolled my eyes, pushed her out of my room, and went to brush my teeth. I hated my "siblings" almost as much as I hated Junie and Violet's habits. I scrubbed my teeth angrily, occasionally spitting out bloody foam. I washed my face and then looked in the mirror. There was pretty much no point in doing anything with my stupid limp brown hair since it would just be frazzled and damp by the time we made it to Atlanta. Still, I ran my brush through my hair until it was smooth so I could pull it into a ponytail. When I was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror. It was good enough, I guess.

I heard Vi honk from outside. I had to get this over with. I grabbed my suitcase from my room and followed Matt, Amber, and Junie downstairs. It was already muggy and unbearably hot. Great. Junie piled us in the car, forcing poor, spineless Amber to sit in between Matt and me. Junie decided she was driving and Vi was navigator. So, with Rihanna blaring in our ears and Junie's foot on the gas, we were out on another adventure.

It was a whole five minutes before I was annoyed. That had to be a new record. Junie started to blab about her "boyfriend," Ray Grimsby, who lives in Atlanta and has been arrested twice for weed possession. Of course, Violet had to top her by talking about Brian Harlston, this disgusting prick who'd been hounding my sister for three years. Violet did something to make him go away but she never wants to talk about it so it couldn't have been good. Amber, the only one with a real boyfriend who wasn't a total pig, opted to stay quiet. Even though I liked Amber, I could never respect her. She never spoke out when Junie was around and fear never got anyone anywhere.

When we pulled into Dad's driveway, I was so tired of men and my sister's friend that I ran to the door. I pressed the doorbell anxiously trying to get away from my siblings. My older stepbrother, Lloyd, opened the door. He smiled at me deviously and blocked the door with his fatness. "Well, well, well. Look who it is. If it isn't little Samantha. How have you been?"

"Move, Lloyd," I said through gritted teeth.

Lloyd just smiled, showing his yellow teeth. I was about to punch him in the nose when I felt Matt hold my hand and Junie's hot breathe getting closer and closer to my neck. Soon, she was right next to me with her long arm rested on my head and her teeth gleaming at Lloyd. "Hi there, baby doll. I see the twerp's brought a cutie along."

I groaned and led Matt past my fat ass brother, pushing him as we went through. Jenny was waiting inside for us. She looked sort of like how Gwen Stefani would look if she'd ever let herself get fat, wrinkly, and forgot her ability to do lipstick. Jenny was sitting on the couch nursing my twin brothers, Max and Dax (because normal names were too hard to come up with). She saw us and smiled. "Hi, Matthew. Hey... um... Serena?"

I rolled my eyes. That bitch knew my name. She named my little brother, Sammy, after me. I held my brother still so he wouldn't try to hug Jenny and catch one of her many STDs. "Where are we sleeping?" I asked.

"Didn't your father tell you?"

"Uh no or I would just go there and go to sleep. Where's my bed?"

"Well, my Lauren is sleeping in there right now. She already has to share it Lesley and Leila. So, you will be in a hotel."

"What? All my stuff is there. They can stay in a fucking hotel. I want my bed."

"Don't use that language to your mother," I heard my dad say.

"She isn't my mom!" I yelled at him.

My dad, the biggest deadbeat in the world, came over to me. "In this house, she is whoever I say she is and she is your mother."

"Fuck you!" I yelled at him impulsively. "Why didn't you fucking tell me we had to stay a damn hotel! I would've packed more carefully!"

"Do you really want to stay here with all of these people? There are twelve people here and you three are last. It's first come, first served in this house and you came last!" My father and I were nose to nose now. The stale cigarettes on his breathe was nauseating. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matt's tiny hand fishing for Dad's wallet. He knew the routine well. He'd swiped Jenny's from her purse as soon as we came in. "Now here's twenty bucks. Go find yourself a hotel."

I snatched the bill from my dad and sweetly told Matt to go back to the car and tell Violet we had to get a hotel room. He smiled and nodded. The cards were already in his pockets. Then, I went into my room. The baby blue walls had been repainted hot pink and my bed was occupied by a sleeping five year old. I felt so bad for my bed. It should be laid on by me and me only. I was going to get back at that snot-nosed brat since I had to be with her for a whole week. Lauren looked up and me and smiled.

"Want your bed back? Because I'm not moving!" she laughed. "Do anything to me and Mommy will make you pay."

"So? Is that supposed to scare me?"

Lauren stuck her tongue out at me. As soon as her eyes were close, I swiftly kicked her off of the bed in one swift motion. She went tumbling to the ground along with all of my sheets and the pillow. I laughed and jumped onto my bed. Lauren hit the floor hard and began to cry. Fuck her. I laid on my bed happily until Jenny came in hollering, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY!?!?!" 

"Just make her shut up and gone somewhere. You're being annoying."

"HER NOSE IS BLEEDING!!!" Jenny screamed.

"So? That's not my problem, now is it?" I asked. "You're the parent. You do something."

Jenny screamed annoyingly for my father. He came in yelling and tried to hit me with his large, muscular hands. He was big yet slow. As he came in to hit me, I rolled off of the bed like I was in some awesome Bruce Lee movie. I hit the ground and dove out of me window like a boss, landing in the sharp rosebushes below. Junie pulled around and I hopped into her mom's minivan. We sped off with Jenny and Dumb Father yelling distinctively in the background. I sat on one of the seat and pulled my seat belt on.

"Did you get his credit card?" Violet asked when we were down the road.

"Of course." Matt said proudly. He handed her the cards out of instinct.

Now before you go on about that stealing's wrong and that he's my dad and I have no reason to steal from him bullshit, let me take you into the journey of a lifetime. Imagine there's this man who is basically a sperm donor to you. He never calls. He never writes. And he sees you one week out of every month because he doesn't want to pay your mother child support. And then, on top of that, he badmouths your mother and gives your room to his wife's children because they are "conveniently" staying there too. Now, do you want to steal his credit card? Exactly. That's why we did it.