CHERYL POV: 8th grade
I walk into the house late from working, mainly trying to get out of the misery that is my life right now. I put my keys and purse on the table as I stare at a drunk Toni. She looks at me. "Cheryl... I can't get through this sober." She slurs. I've never seen her this bad. It makes sense she watched our kid die. "Toni." I sit next to her. She lifts up her glass but I quickly take it out of her hands. "I could have saved her, it was raining I could have pick him up from school and they wouldn't be walking." I take her hand and just let her rant. "I wish I could go back in time and stop everything that happened that day." She starts crying. "Toni there was nothing you could have done." She stands up. "Expect the was!" She yells. I stand up and cup her face, trying not to cry. "Toni it happened, there is nothing you can do. Come on let's go to bed." She nods, we walk upstairs. I look over at JJ's side of the hall and see him sitting staring at Rose's room. "I'll be there in a minute." I whisper as Toni stumbles into our room. I walk over to JJ and sit down. "Hey." He looks at me. "I don't want to talk right now, I just want to sit here and think." I nod. "Ok but if your here in the morning I will make you talk to me." I get up and walk into our room. "Toni stop your drunk." I stop her from trying to get her shirt off. When she's drunk she doesn't have control over her limbs. I help her get her shirt off and get changed. Once we are done we lie in bed.
I get up the next morning and walk out of our room. I look over and see that JJ has gone back to his room. He doesn't like talking to me about things it's weird, like he will just not as much as Toni or Rose even or his therapist. He probably talks to Mary more than anyone mainly because they are twins. I walk downstairs and go to the kitchen to make coffee.
"You sure you want to do this?" I ask her holding the ring. "Yeah. I love her, Cheryl more than anyone. Besides you and mom obviously." I laugh softly. I hand her the ring back. "Well if your happy with her than go ahead, and I'm proud of you, you went out and paid for that yourself." She stands up. "Yeah but mom helped me pick it out. I told her not to tell you about it." She told me about it but I'm going to pretend like she didn't. "Really?" I smile at her. "Yeah."
"Cheryl." I snap back from my memory. "Yeah what's up?" I ask. "You've been pouring coffee for like 5 minuets, that's what." I suddenly notice the pain in my hand and realize the coffee is over flowing onto my hand. I quickly pull it away. "Ow shit." I wash my hands. Toni gets the first aid kit and helps me rap my hand. "Cheryl, I'm sorry about last night. I'm going to talk to my therapist tomorrow about everything and find a way to get through this." I cup her face. "Toni, it was one time." She looks down. "Toni." I starts to walk away but I stop her. "I don't get drunk through."
JJ POV:
"Mary." I stop my sister in the hallway in between class. She looks at me. "What?" She ask clearly frustrated. "You need to come home, I get that every other thing in that house reminds you of Rose but our moms need both of us there." I step closer. "Mom has been drinking again, I over heard them talking this morning. And I was sitting out side my room last night and she was stumbling around. Maybe if you came home life would be a little but better for both of them." She looks up at me. "Please, I also want you home you haven't been home in over a week." She shakes her head. "I can't." She pulls me into a empty class room. "I can't look at our moms and think that I might never have what they have. JJ It's not just about Rose dying." She tells me. What could she possibly be talking about? "You know how I've been spending a lot of time at Jenna's?" She ask. "Yeah your like best friends, I'm happy that you have a friend besides me, I don't know how you put up with me sometimes, especially when I was younger." She slaps me. It's a thing. "Your an idiot. She's my girlfriend, Jason I'm gay." Oh, fuck of course I'm a fucking idiot. "Oh, so? Your still my sister and our moms of all people will except you." I take her hand. "I'm just not ready to come out." I nod. "It's ok, whenever you're ready." The bell rings and we both rush to class.
"Did you talk to her?" Mom ask as I walk into her office. "Were you going to tell me that mom is an alcoholic?" I ask. She quickly stops and turns around. "Why do you think that?" She ask. "I over heard you and mom talking." She sits down. "We promised each other that when we had kids we wouldn't drink in front of you guys or really in general. Mainly because she has had problems with alcohol in the passed." Oh, makes sense. Wait speaking of mom where the hell is she. "Wait where is she?" I ask starting to freak out. "She's fine. She's at her therapy right now, she'll be home is less than an hour." I think all of us are in therapy especially after Rose, all of us are messed up in some way. Before any more words can be spoken I rush upstairs.
TONI POV:
"I don't know how, that's the thing." I looks up at my therapist. She writhing something down. "I'm guessing this is not the first time." I shake my head. "Before we adopted Rose, like a year or so before. I ended up in the hospital because I got to drunk. When I woke up I promised Cheryl I would never drink again and if I did I wouldn't get drunk." I sit back on the couch.
Kindergarten
"So let me get this straight. You almost let my kid with attachment problems walk out without supervision." I start to get mad. "Toni, calm down." Cheryl tries to calm me down. "No! Something could have happened to him!" I yell at the principal. "We left him for 5 seconds." She shakes her head. "5 seconds to long. This kid will do anything to see me." Cheryl takes my hand. That sounded weird. "We'll talk to him when we get home." Cheryl and I get up and go outside the office where JJ and Mary are sitting. "JJ you don't do that." Cheryl gets down to his level. I look over at Mary who is just sitting there. "Come on." Mary takes my hand. "We'll be outside." We walk outside. "How was school before Jason caused some trouble?" I ask as we sit down on a bench outside of the school. "Good, we did a lot of reading today." She perks up. "Really?" She nods.
