The Sitter's Sister

Chapter 34

Joe was eating hungrily that Friday night at dinner. " . . . so I told him he could come over but only if he agreed to not be weird but I have a feeling that he'll do something weird 'cause . . ." he shook his head. "I know that he has a crush on her. They all do!" he was laughing with his step-dad and mother.

Janice wiped a tear away from her eye at what her son was saying. It felt really good to see him eating with so much zest and interacting with them. He spoke really fast and didn't seem to want to stop but she enjoyed hearing what he had to say. Apparently, some of his friends from school wanted to come over to play games with him in person. And I didn't have to get involved at all. In the past she would arrange Joe's playdates with his classmates through their parents but now kids willingly wanted to come over. The only thing was that a lot of Joe's peers were interested in his best friend as well.

"Well Joe, you're all getting to that age so it's expected," Andrew told the boy. It was nice hearing him share about his day. He and Jesy tended to be reserved when he was around for dinner. Sometimes they would even be cold. Between the two of them Jes was always colder though. Joe would usually be more interested in his games than eating.

Joe raised an eyebrow. "That age? Like . . . the puberty age?" he cringed.

Janice laughed. "Well you keep saying they're interested in Sairah so maybe that's why,"

Jesy rolled her eyes. She was scrolling through her phone during this stupid family dinner. The week had been pretty uneventful as usual. Life didn't get much better for her despite her efforts at being a good person. None of her friends wanted to be back in her life and she was starting to think that the ones who stayed were getting tired of her.

She bit her lip as she thought about it.

Jesy's eyes stung. I . . . I don't . . . she was gripping tightly at her fork as she thought of how things kept getting worse and worse for her. Why was she being punished? Was she a bad person? No I'm not. Everyone around her kept saying to just keep working on herself and to be better but she had been doing that for a few months and it felt like she was pushing people away even more.

She wiped her hand down her face in frustration as her chest began to feel tight.

Her blurry eyes looked around the table and she saw her mother and step-dad laughing away at whatever her brother was saying.

Joe was speaking so fondly and seemed to be doing so much better and yet here she was suffering and no one cared. No one cares. Why did she feel like she was standing outside of a glass and watching everybody around her get farther and farther away? Were they running from her or was she distancing herself from them? I'm not . . . I just . . .

She got up and walked out of the kitchen.

Everyone was surprised.

"Jes?" Her mother got up right after.

"I'm going to the bathroom," she muttered as she went to the stairs.

The kitchen was left in silence after that.

Joe blinked at where his sister left then looked at his mother as she sat back down. "Do you . . . think she's okay?"

Janice sighed. "I'm not sure . . ." To her, Jesy seemed like she was becoming as angry as she had been around when their lives got turned upside down. Dr Jung kept telling her that her daughter was still going through some very rough patches and that they should all just let her find her way as she stumbled so Janice was trying to be understanding.

Andrew twisted his mouth. "Should we give her space or do you want to go after her?" He turned to his wife.

Janice was not sure. "I'll give her five minutes,"