It All Started with a Lie

Chapter 6

the only thing worse
than a boy who hates you:
a boy who loves you
~ Markus Zusak

Chapter 6
His POV
**content warning: fade to black**
I set my gym bag down as I entered our house, me and my siblings'. It was a small little house, two stories but very skinny. My sister had picked it out, she fell in love with it the second we walked in, and because her boyfriend was paying for it, neither me nor my little brother, Sonny, argued, not even after seeing the bright yellow siding and hot pink trim. The interior was painted a horrendous chartreuse green, nothing a few coats of paint couldn't fix. The house is still yellow but the trim is cream. We painted my room purple and my sister's seafoam green; Sonny's is white. As for the living room and kitchen, it is still a horrible green shade but we are working on repainting it, as soon as we can all agree on a color.

We moved out the day my sister turned 18. Thankfully, having a house, and two older siblings willing to take care of him, Sonny was able to get emancipated before our mother even noticed we were gone. We've been here for a few months now, and half of our stuff isn't even unpacked.

"Beatrice! Sonny!" I yelled up the stairs. "I'm home!"

Two sets of footsteps quickly came trotting down the stairs. "You are not gonna believe what Seraphina did!" My sister didn't even bother saying hello, holding up her book to show me.

Seraphina was the main character in her latest book which she'd spent hours telling me about two days ago. "What did she do?" I asked we walked to the kitchen so I could start dinner. It was my day to make dinner, terribly unfortunate for my family seeing as I can only cook one meal and we eat it every week. Worse news: I'm the best cook in the family. So Beatrice makes microwavable tv dinners and Sonny orders takeout on their respective nights. I make us cheesy pasta because it only takes 25 minutes and five ingredients.

Beatrice told me all about her book while Sonny sat on the kitchen counter sketching his latest drawing. This is the best part of my day, everyday. After dinner though, not so much. While my siblings cleaned up the kitchen, I sorted through the bills, trying to figure out if we'd have enough money this month to pay for utilities. Beatrice helped me pay for them but I handled everything else. She's still in high school and this was never a burden I'd want her to have to deal with. As for Sonny, we try to keep any talk about money away from him, so he never knows how close we are to having no electricity or water each month. All of his money got to go to more material for his projects and takeout every week. After dinner is the only time I can get away from the two of them long enough to take a look at all the bills.

I picked up extra hours this week, so we'd make it with a little to spare.

"We finished the dishes." Beatrice made her way into the living room. I closed my checkbook and covered the mail on the table with a magazine before she noticed. "Plans for the evening?" She asked.

I smiled, knowing she'd hate my answer. "They're throwing a party at Kappa Theta Pi—" my fraternity— "so I'm gonna stop by."

She tried her best not to show the concern on her face, but I could spot it immediately. Beatrice has never been the most comfortable when it comes to drinking. I have only seen her drunk once, and I almost killed a man for it. Her boyfriend gave it up altogether because of how uncomfortable it made her. He's a better man than I; I love my sister more than anything but that's one thing I can't seem to quit, no matter how hard I try.  "When are you leaving?"

I checked the clock. "In an hour or so."

Her smile widened into a maniacal grin and before she could even say anything, Sonny came in running from the kitchen before leaping into the air and landing on the sofa. "The Umbrella Academy!" He screamed.