At Aunt Amy's

Chapter 12

 "Everyone loves you," I groaned to Hazel when we returned home.

"Exactly as I intended," Hazel responded, not even looking me in the eye. We were met with the same "How was your day?" when we walked in the door, but only Hazel responded.

"It was pretty good, Uncle Eric," Hazel answered. "Almost everyone wanted to play with me at recess."

"That's nice, isn't it?" Uncle Eric exclaimed.

"Yes," Hazel stated before hopping her way upstairs.

"So...how about you, Avery?" Uncle Eric asked, begging not to be stuck in silence. I had to contemplate what to say for a while first.

"Not...that good," I answered, honestly.

"Aw, how come?" His voice was so patronizing it hurt.

"There's just this girl who's an a-hole to my friend."

"Hey, a euphemism for a curse is still a curse!"

"Did...you hear a thing I just said?"

"Did this girl say anything to you."

"Nothing directly, but-"

"Then it shouldn't be that bad."

"She whispered 'ya like that' to my friend every single time they crossed paths."

"Did she like it?"

"What? No! But a couple years before-"

"I mean, that's in the past!"

"But she's still bothering her about it-"

"Are you sure it isn't just a bother?"

"Yeah, it's been going on since as she was eleven!"

"Then shouldn't it be buried in the past?"

"Can you just-" I stopped myself before I could started yelling. Trying to keep my composure, I told him, "I'll...work it out later."

As I tried to walk away, he grasped at straws, trying to find a way to revive the conversation.

"Are...there any cute boys at your school?" he blurted out. I paused, shrugged,

and glanced over my shoulder at him.

"Or...any cute girls? If you're into that. I mean, I wouldn't-" He stammered.

"It's an all girls school, and no," I answered, before going right back into the

closet.
God, I can't talk to anyone in this house, I thought, fully aware of how dramatic I sounded. But I wasn't wrong! Hazel didn't trust me, Uncle Eric isn't smart enough, Brenda is Brenda and Aunt Amy just...doesn't like me.

Yeah, Aunt Amy was a piece of work. When I showed up she barely paid attention to me, and when she's alone with me she could barely start up a conversation. And whenever I saw her she had this weird-ass fake smile! She treated Hazel like a baby, and treated Brenda like my older sister was the smartest, nicest person in the world! But it didn't change the fact that none of them (except Hazel) could be woken by a raging party in their living room.

For the next few days, Charlie acted the same. Every single class, she'd subtly annoy us to death. Some of the things were little (like the stares). But other things were so blatantly obvious I was surprised that no one was calling her out! When Jenna and I were trying to do a quizlet on macromolecules, Charlie was nagging about something to Gretel, and for some reason, she decided to get us involved. I didn't hear what she said at first, but it didn't matter. Because before we knew it, Charlie was yelling, "Stop ignoring me! You wanna fight or something?"