“Mom wants me to go, but I’m not sure I can leave them.” Kye stared at Chloe. The two of them argued like cat and dog but he loved his sister something fierce.
She looked up, poking her tongue out at him.
“She’s got trouble written all over her,” I said.
“You’re telling me. I’d lock her up and throw away the key if I thought she wouldn’t find a way out. At least you’ll be around next year to keep an eye on her if I do decide to apply for college.”
“Lucky me.”
“Hey, maybe we could both take a year out and bus tables at Pizza Dash or work construction?”
“I’ve been thinking about looking for something more permanent.” I picked up some work down at the mill on the edge of town sometimes, but between school and looking after Grams, it wasn’t much.
“And quit school?”
“No way. Grams would kill me. But the shift manager, Morris, said he might be able to give me some more hours that fit around school.”
“The graveyard shift? You’ll be like the walking dead at school. Coach will never go for it.”
“Football season is over soon. I could make it work.” I didn’t relish the idea of getting up at four a.m. every morning. But I’d do whatever’s necessary to keep my grams comfortable.
“Have you talked to her about it?”
“The less she knows the better.”
Miriam Washington was a stubborn old woman. As smart as a whip, and as quick as lightning. Her body might have been failing her, but her mind was as alert as ever.
But I knew it wouldn’t always be that way, that eventually the MS would ravage her brain too.
“You could get a scholarship, Z. Talk to Coach Farringdon. There’s still time.”
“Nah, we both know that’s not in my future. There’s no happy ending for me,” I said, glancing over at Nix and Harleigh.
He’d found his salvation. His ticket out of this shithole. And he deserved it. He deserved all the good things. But I wasn’t under any illusions that it was my turn. That there was something better out there for me.
Some kids escaped The Row, and some were left here to rot.
It’s just how it was.
But so long as Grams was okay. So long as I did everything I could to make her life that little bit easier, I could accept my fate.
* * *
The party raged on, but my mood only got worse. The girls had left the safety of our little circle and decided to dance over by the bonfire with Nix and Kye watching them like hawks.
“Having a little sister sucks,” Kye complained as another drunken asshole tried to muscle in on Chloe.
She stood her ground though, giving him an earful and flipping him the bird as she whipped her hair around and carried on dancing with Harleigh and Celeste.
Celeste didn’t look at me, and I didn’t blame her. I was pissed and nothing good could come from verbally sparring with her.
“You going to sit there and sulk all night?” Nix chuckled.
“Fuck off, Wilder. You’re lucky I stuck around at all when she showed up.”
“Don’t see why you would even care unless—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” I growled.