Isolation (Book #1 of the Taylor Series)

Fourteen

"Hey, hey, hey," Julie smiles as she enters the kitchen at dinner time with her long hair in a braid at her side, "My dearest family, let me tell you about my beautifully, marvelous day." She grabs her plate from the stove, and we all stop our chattering for a moment to hear her.

"What is it, Julie?" Mom asks, with an annoying hint of niceness in her tone.

Julie sits down in between Lauren and Violet across from me, and I stare at her as she folds a napkin neatly into her lap. "Well, you know how I got the lead in the school musical?" We all nod, and she smiles jittery, "My drama teacher absolutely loved my take on the character so much that she actually recommended me to a few colleges, and guess what? One of them actually offered me a spot in their summer classes." We all look at her with surprised looks on our faces.

"That's amazing Julie," I comment, and our siblings and Dad say similarly surprised compliments. 

The conversation starts up again, but it's all about Julie getting to go to the summer class. However, once Mom clears her throat, we turn to look at her. From the stink eye, I can tell that somebody's dreams are about to get crushed, and I immediately want to tell Julie to go pack her things and leave for the college before Mom can stop her. At the very least, leave the room before she starts ranting about something stupid.

"Is it free?" Uh oh, I'm too late.

Julie looks around the table and awkwardly back at mom, "No, but it's not really that expensive either. It's just fifteen hundred."

I choke on my water.

"Oh, so I suppose that you have that fifteen hundred then. I don't have to pay for it, right? Because you've got the money." Her tone bites at the atmosphere and we all look at Julie, too afraid to speak up for her.

"No, but you don't pay for anything around here anyway. I'm sure Dad can pay for it, right Keith?" She looks to him for help and he looks back and forth between his wife and his favorite child.

Come on, Dad, don't screw this up for her.

"Sorry, Juliana, but what your mother says is right. We haven't got that much money to just throw around, and because I'm the only one with a job, I doubt we'd be able to give you fifteen hundred." He takes a small bite of his steak, and I nearly want to vomit. Not just because he's eating meat, but also because Julie never asks for anything. If Mom had said yes, then I'm pretty sure that Dad would've been completely behind letting Julie go.

"Are you serious?" Julie looks between the both of them and when Mom nods tightly, Dad follows in her footsteps. "You guys are the worst! This is something that could get my name around colleges, something that could really help me start my career as a singer, and you guys don't even care!" She pushes her plate away from her and stands up abruptly.

"It's too much money, if you can come up with fifteen hundred, then we'll gladly let you go." Mom smiles, but I know it's not supposed to be comforting. 

It's an annoying smile that says 'I'm right, you're wrong. I'm the parent and you're the child. You don't have any power over me.' Julie huffs and looks back at Dad with a pleading look. He shrugs his shoulders and feeds Gavin a bite of his food.

"Fine. I'll just die here like an old mai--"

"I'll help pay for it." I spit out before I even register what I'm saying.

"Huh?" Julie asks at the same time that Mom says "Pardon?" I look up from my plate to see my entire family looking at me with wide, shocked eyes.

"I said that I'll help pay for it. I've got a bit of money saved up, and I can help pay for it. I can pay for most of it, and Dad can pay for the rest." I look at Dad and he nods along slowly.