The Gay Mafia Leader's Twins

Chapter (1) School and Work

"JAY JAY! I have the money for you to go to New York with your school on that field trip!" I say barreling into the apartment like my life depended on it. I've been working for the past two months to get money for her trip and some spending money for her and I finally did it. She's going to go to New York in three days!

She looks up from her book, and when she sees the wad of cash I'm holding she squeals and jumps for joy. "I'm going to New York?" She asks in a small voice, which is weird for her because she's always a little ball of joy and happiness. I nod my head rapidly, put the cash down on the living room table. She calls her school to tell her she has the money, and I grab her suitcase that has been around since dinosaurs walked the Earth. But it's in decent condition.

I pop it open and she comes in and starts to help me pack her suitcase, after turning on some music and dancing a little to it. She squeals every time she looks at a piece of clothing, before putting it into her suitcase. Jay knew about her end of the year field trip to New York for a long time now but decided it was too much money and didn't even ask if we could swing it.

But the school called, to tell us that if Jay wants to go then the money needed in three months for the trip. So I picked up extra shifts and got the money! She's going to be in New York for two weeks, seeing everything there is to see in New York and learning a few things along the way. We had to pay for three-quarters of the plane ticket along with spending money. They took care of the housing expenses which is great for the lower-income families (us included) in the school.

. . .

After a little while, we get her all packed and ready to go. She puts her spending money in her carry-on, and the plane money into the last pocket of her backpack. "Okay, bedtime, go! You have school tomorrow and it's eleven o'clock at night, so put the phone up!" I say to her. She hops into her bed, already in her pyjama's and I take her phone from her and put it across the room in her charger, flick the lights and leave the room so she can sleep.

I walk back to the kitchen, to start dishes and breakfast for her the next morning while I make her lunch for tomorrow. I should be sleeping, I just got off a 12-hour shift and I haven't slept (or ate but we don't talk about that) for the past four days. I have nightmares and other problems, so I always avoid sleeping. Jay says it's my 'suicidal tendencies' mixed with a little bit of 'fucking stubbornness that's going to get me killed one day.' They're her words not mine, I prefer to call my tendencies 'self-destructive' or 'self-preservation' (depending on the way you look at it,) but we can talk about that later.

I make her lunch and pop it into the fridge along with her breakfast for tomorrow. Then I grab one of her textbooks and start doing the questions in them. When Jay started school (after we escaped my mom,) we both agreed that it was a good idea I read her textbooks. That way there I'd still have an education. I'm good at technology, math, and English.

..

I stop doing homework when it's six-thirty in the morning, so I heat up Jay's food and put her lunch and textbooks all into her backpack. Then she comes out of her room, dressed and ready to go to school. She sits down and eats breakfast, just like clockwork every morning.

"What are you doing today? Sleeping I hope?" Jay interrogates me.

"No actually, I have a shift. I'll be home by 6:30." I tell her, she stops eating and crosses her arms before raising an eyebrow at me. Warning me silently that if I keep going with no sleep, she's calling Mama Rae and tattling on me like a child.

"No, you do not need to call Mama Rae," I say, not meeting her eyes. She won this time. I probably won't sleep but she doesn't need to know that.

Mama Rae is an older woman in her sixties who found out about us when we moved in. She knows that our past (that we were running from) wasn't a great one, but she doesn't ask questions. We're next-door neighbours, but she stops in at least once a week unless she's busy. She's more of our motherly figure than what our actual mom was. She brings cookies or cupcakes from her bakery when she comes. Mama Rae is the best cook, she also may have the best bakery in town.