Marching Band: The Journey [EDITING]

27 - Big Revelation

*Carson's POV*

With a groan, I rubbed my eyes as I sat up, letting my sheets pool around my hips. The only reason I slept without a shirt was because our air conditioning was broken. As I crawled out of bed to get ready, I glanced at the clock. 4:31 AM. After a quick shower, I threw on some black skinny jeans and a dark gray button-down shirt with short sleeves, pulling on my maroon vans and a royal blue beanie to finish it off. Once I was dressed, I tried not to wake up the passed out beast on the living room couch as I passed to wake up Magnolia.

She is my thirteen-year-old sister who is in sixth grade. I've always tried hiding the damages of our family from her, but she knows. Thankfully, she doesn't make me explain and she helps with Jack. He's our eight-year-old brother who is too innocent to be in this family. With a drunk and abusive father who beats our terminally ill mother, he doesn't deserve this. Magnolia and I work together to keep the darkness away from his light.

Once she's up and getting ready, I go to visit my mom. Ever since she was diagnosed, everything went downhill. She blames herself since our family doesn't have enough money to support us, let alone pay for her treatment. When she and our father came home that day, he started drinking and she started spiraling. Now, she's too exhausted to even move. Her room is in complete darkness, and she stays tucked under the covers to keep her warm even though she's always hot. I nudge her gently to wake her up for her morning dose. She takes her medication and then chugs the rest of her water.

Eventually, she kicks me out so I can make lunch for the youngsters. Magnolia had woken up Jack and gotten him dressed. They were both eating bowls of cereal as I entered the kitchen, stretching out my arms to prepare. While I made their PB&Js and bagged their lunches, we talked quietly about music and stuff.  Just as quietly, they grabbed their backpacks and followed me outside.

There are a few reasons I like Fridays, and others why I don't like Fridays. One, it leads to weekends. No school, no having to wake up early, time with Emmaleigh. Two, it leads to weekends. More time fearing of my drunk father, more time worrying for my family, more secrets and lies. Weekends can go either way for me, and Fridays are the days that determine which way.

-

*Back to Angela's POV*

"Em, drink some water and stop looking like you're going to puke with every jolt of the car." I order, glancing over at my pale friend. Ever since the party, she's been using alcohol as her solution. Not a good thing considering her dad is coming home this weekend.

She sips at the water bottle in her hand, but I hear a strange noise coming from her stomach. I roll down the window on her side to let in some cool and fresh air. Now that the color is coming back to her skin, I look back at Phillip. He's been better than Em since that party. I think being bombarded by barely clothed tramps shook him out of his slump. Sadly, he hasn't been as social as he used to be, which wasn't a lot to begin with. Currently he's sitting in the back seat with his earbuds in, music blasting loud enough for me to hear over the rushing wind through the window.

Even though Em's dad hasn't been home for the past two weekends, and he'll want to spend this one with her, I might try and convince her mom to let her spend the weekend. Her mom isn't completely clueless as to what Em's been doing, but she knows I won't let anything happen. She might even help me.

When we roll into the student parking lot thirty minutes before school starts, I notice the dark clouds overhead. How ironic. Off in the distance, I hear the soft rumble of thunder. Phillip groans as he exits my car, his bag slung lazily over his shoulder. Despite his mood, he roughly shoves his phone into his back pocket, with his earbuds still secure in his ears, and helps Em out of the car. She can barely stand on her own two feet.