Being in a group home wasn't ideal for anyone, but for the six teenagers, it was the best they could get out of the crappy system. In other's eyes, it was an odd way to form a friend group bonding over being in the same abusive home. But in their ey...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After I was harassed I quickly changed into some random clothes and sat in the kitchen with everyone else.
"Any luck on the food?" I ask, rubbing my eyes and walking into the small kitchen with Quinn, Jack, Ares, and Alea lounging around.
Ares is about to answer me when Alea's loud groan makes my eyes snap towards where she is sitting against the food cabinet, "It's locked." She holds onto the padlock and pulls her weight trying to get it to open.
Jack rolls his eyes dramatically from where he's sitting on the counter above her, "She never unlocks it in the morning, you're acting like this is new."
She starts fake tearing up, "It's like a knife to a heart every time."
I know this probably isn't the right reaction to our water being cut off and our pantry being locked at certain times but this is how we have lived for several years. Sometimes I think it's our way of coping, acting like this is a normal life for teenagers.
Ares looks over at the oven clock, which is an hour and thirty minutes behind and starts calculating in his head. "We should probably get going." He says, brushing a hand through his hair.
"Ughh, school. " Jack says, jumping off the counter and walking towards our shoe pile. He grabs his very beat-up white Converse that has little doodles on it.
"Pass me mine!" Alea shouts from where she is now sitting on a chair right next to Quinn who has her knees chucked into her chest.
"You okay, Quinn?" I ask, assessing her. She nods and sends me a small smile, "Just tired."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alea get hit in her face with dark red Converse, I laugh as she scowls at Jack.
"MAK! What could you possibly be doing that makes you stay up there for so long?" Ares shouts, he has a thing about being late. He looks comical standing by the door with his dad's stance, backpack ready.
Usually, it's me, ordering everyone around. They always look to me for answers, I guess it's because I'm the calm one of the group. I mean I can't blame them, Jack and Alea are too childish for anyone to rely on them fully, Ares is a hothead, Quinn will start crying if too much pressure is put on her, and Mak is way too upfront and would probably send someone home crying with he brutally honest comments.
There's a loud bang, "Quit shouting so loud in the goddamn morning!" Robby yells making us all freeze. We look at each other for help, "Sorry!" I end up yelling back, mostly so he won't storm in here and pound us all to death.
He doesn't hit us a lot, but he's been getting worse recently. Shoves out of nowhere, rude comments, and him smacking us around just because he had a bad day at work.
I put on my white sneakers, and grab me and Quinn's bags. Mine is a dark green one with random tears in it, Quinn's bag is a light pink color but it's so worn out it's almost white, she at least made it look cute with some pins.
