forever my baby

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

"mom? dad? i'm home!" i throw my backpack on the floor and run to the kitchen. there's lunch on the table and i hurry to wash my hands. when i'm done, i take a sandwich and bite it immediately. my friends come in and join me in the kitchen. "my mom made lunch." i say covering my mouth.

"hell yeah." jacob drops his bag and reaches for a sandwich. "ew wash your hands!" i slap his wrist. i scrunch my nose up. "yeah yeah." he goes to the sink and the girls follow.

"hey kids, how was school?" mom comes downstairs. "good." they all say. i run up to her and hug her. she squeezes tightly making me feel safe. "i change my mind. please make my lunch, i'm begging you." i let go and hold my hands together pleading.

the school food wasn't as bad as i thought. i thought we would have mashed potatoes, a piece of bread and some milk. maybe even meatloaf like how they portray it in shows.
instead we had pizza, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets. stuff like that, not the healthiest options.

"yes ma'am." she kisses my forehead. "where's dad?" i ask looking around. "he's in the backyard cleaning the pool so you guys can swim," i go back to the kitchen with my friends who are all stuffing their faces. we get excited. i take a few more bites of my sandwich and walk outside to the backyard. "hi dad!" i run up to him while trying not to drop my food.

we hug and he kisses my cheek. i love him so much. "hey bug. how was school? did the popular eighth graders make you sit by the trash at lunch or was it all your imagination?" he makes me laugh. "all my imagination. eighth grade's not that bad." i sigh and take another bite. he opens his mouth and i let him bite some too.

"you kids ready to go swimming? it's the perfect weather!" i walk back over to my friends. we all shout and hooray. "parker it's not the perfect weather. it's literally seventy-five degrees and the sun is behind the clouds." zoë says and i laugh and look at my dad waiting for his response. "okay buzzkill, no swimming pool for you, literally." he splashes her making us laugh.

dad splashes jacob, then me and we all scream and run inside. "homework first!" he yells. "it's the first day, we have none!" zoë yells back. we wash our hands again after eating.

"can we swim now?" i ask my mom. "go ahead." she says taking two wine glasses out of the cabinet. oh god, they're about to party. "dibs on the bathroom!" ella yells and we all rush upstairs to get dressed in the bathroom. ella gets there first, jacob second, me third and zoë last.

"ha! losers." she grabs her bathing suit from her backpack and goes into my bathroom. jacob groans and sits on my bed. i sit next to him as i wait.

"so? how did you like school?" he turns and looks at me. "it was pretty cool actually. the teachers were nice, i met a few people. some girl named marley said she liked my outfit." i say and his eyes go big? "marley as in marley hamilton?" i look at him weirdly. "the most popular girl in our grade said she liked your outfit. how do you feel?"

"what are you talking about?" his reaction makes ella come out of the bathroom. "marley hamilton said your outfit was cute? what else did she say?" she puts her clothes in her bag and sits next to me with her towel. "she asked me why she's never seen me before. i told her i was homeschooled."

"oh my god, did she laugh at you?" zoë asks as she hurries to steal the spot in the bathroom. "hey!" j shouts.

"was she supposed to?" i question looking at all of them. "aren't all the popular girls mean?" ella asked. i shrug. "that's such a stereotype." zoë says from the bathroom. "hey, why is being homeschooled something to laugh at?" i frown. i liked being homeschooled. until i got older, i felt like i was missing out.

"it's weird." jacob says making me feel weird. i actually never knew why my parents decided to homeschool me in the first place. i guess i'll ask later. "what's weird is your long armpit hair." zoë winks at me. i wink back at her.