Between the Barn and the Stage

1

I straightened my skirt. Maybe my little brother won't ruin this one. I mean, I don't blame him at all. It's not his fault. Being four and autistic is not a good combination. Last time he had a fit over one of his crayons and ended up spilling lemonade on it in the process.

"Bye, mom!" I said, grabbing my book bag. I rushed out the door before she could tell me to double check everything. I yelped and nearly tripped over my friends, who were sitting at my doorstep. No, never mind. I did trip over them.

I rubbed my palms and said, "You guys aren't homeless, so sleeping at my doorstep is not something I would expect you to do."

Two red heads, one with a braid and the other with big poufy hair and glasses, sat up simultaneously and picked me up by the elbows. "Nana, Gwen! Put me down. Hey, Julian, Liam, can you help me out here?"

A guy with bleached dreads sat up and dusted off a pale dude with brown hair. "I'm sorry, Lee, but you have taken too long."

"Julian, you suck." I said to the guy with dreads. Liam, the pale dude, stood and said with a grin, "We all do. Kieran was supposed to be here, but he wanted to get to the pool early."

"I have to ask, why are all of you in school uniforms?"

"Why are you in your uniform?" Gwen countered, and I rolled my eyes. Of my large group of friends, none of them really got along with each other. I mean, they were cool, but not friends. Nana, Liam, and Julian were friends long before I rolled along. I met Gwen a while back through Nana, and apparently they were sisters. Kieran is a member of the football team, and that's how I met him. The only girl on the team is what I am, so actually I know all the guys on the team pretty well. Kieran the most, though, because I had an eating contest with him to see how big a stomach he actually had. I would have won, but my mom came to school to take me to the hospital, which freaked everyone out. The very next day, they were swarming me and I had to explain I was visiting to see someone. Kieran was the most worried, which was odd. At first, anyway. He's huge. Six foot two, big bulking muscles, short blonde hair. But honestly he's a cinnamon roll on the inside.

"Well, root for me louder than the other guys, okay?" I said, walking down the long driveway. My mom thought it would be a great idea to get a farm in southern California, and now I have to walk fifty feet to get to the street. And then walk a mile to school. Because my mother had this little image in her head that our life should be perfect. It changes slightly over the years, the biggest being divorcing my dad.

Here's how it happened: I was born. My mom thought that a perfect family had only one child that was spoiled and the parents loved each other oh so much. Then my little brother was born four years ago. Then my mom thought perfect would be me rooting for my little brother when he played soccer and stuff. But then my dad got cancer. My mom didn't think that was part of the plan, and she used my brother as an excuse to get a divorce as well. Because he got autism. "All I wanted," she had said, "was a perfect family. Now my poor daughter has to live with a horrible father and a stupid little brother." and then she thought about how common divorces were, and that would be normal. It would be perfect. So she divorced my dad, got custody of me and my brother, and my dad moved to southern Cali to get better treatment for his cancer. We remained in Alaska until my mom decided that living on a farm would be so cute and blah blah blah. She practically ignored my brother half the time, and when he threw fits she would yell at him which made him cry harder. Then we moved. I joined the swim team, and became the star very quickly. I was the linebacker on the football team, and I worked at a Korean restaurant. Because, yes, my mother thought that having a deaf Korean husband and having half Texan half Korean children would be perfect. So I know four languages: Korean, Korean Sign Language, American, and American Sign Language. My mother refuses to speak in sign language or Korean, so I only get to do that at my job.