Complications

Chapter 1: Please?

"Oh, I don't know honey." Mom says.

"Please?" I ask. "I'll take care of the bunnies for a week! I'll do the chores that Russell won't!"

"Orlando, Florida is hours from here, sweetie." Mom reminds me, setting a cup of coffee in front of me.

"Thanks for the coffee, and I know that, but we'll have Russell with us, and Collin, and Maddy!"

"And Rosella is attending?" she asks.

"Yes." I say. "Please?"

She sighs gently. "I don't know." Russell walks into the kitchen then in sweats, running his fingers through his blonde hair. "Good morning Russell." Mom says with a smile.

"Morning," he mutters tiredly.

All Kendall's have blonde hair, except Dad, or so I'm told. I don't know. He left when Mom got pregnant with Maddy Russell's blue eyes look exhausted. He gets a bowl from the cabinet and fills it with Lucky Charms and milk, grabbing a spoon before plopping down next to me. He shoves a mouthful of cereal into his mouth.

"Wha ya gis tlkn out?" he asks through a mouthful.

"Don't chew with your mouth full." Mom says, swatting him with a dish towel. "It's rude."

He swallows. "Sorry, Mom." He says. "What are you guys talking about?"

"I'm trying to get her to let us go to Halloween Horror Nights."

He frowns. "I thought you, Maddy, and I decided to ask about that together?"

I smile softly. "I got impatient." I reply, eating more Fruit Loops. Maddy comes walking in wearing a green hoodie and white Hollister sweats. I'm in black spandex and a blue hoodie.

"Good morning Madison." Mom says with another smile. Maddy grunts in response and gets cheerios and drops down across from us.

"Please Mom?" I try again.

"Our sister has decided to ask about Halloween without us." Russell explains to Maddy. He's my older brother. He's older by a year. He is eighteen. I am seventeen. Maddy is the youngest younger than me by a year, at age sixteen. Russell is in senior year with me though, because he got held back in eighth grade. Maddy is a junior.

"Any progress?" Maddy asks quietly.

I take a sip of my coffee and shake my head.

"Mom, I'll be there with them the whole time. Collin with be with us. So will Rose." Russell says. "We won't get separated. Come on. Please? We'll check in every hour."

"Yeah." Maddy says. "All of us have phones."

She sighs. "But Florida is two states down from us."

"We'll be safe. All of us have our license." I point out. "We'll take turns driving."

She sighs. "You kids need to get ready for school or you'll be late. We can discuss this later."

I sigh and finish off my coffee and put my dishes in the dishwasher, and then I walk upstairs to my bedroom. I get white panties, a beige bra, a gray sweater that has an American flag on it and white jeans. I go and take a quick shower and look at the time.

Great. I don't have time to straighten my hair.

Naturally my hair is curly so that it frizzes, but it kind of looks cute like that. I blow dry it and get dressed, and then I pull on gray vans. I grab my backpack and head downstairs.

Maddy's hair doesn't do that. She's the only one that has brown eyes in the whole family. My Dad apparently has them. The rest of us have weird shades of blue.

It's September 27th. We are planning ahead for Halloween.

It's luckily Friday.

I grab my car keys and head off to school. All of us take our own cars because Russell has football practice after school and Maddy has softball practice.

Me? I don't play sports.

I pull into my parking space and get out. Hands cover my eyes and I roll them through my closed eyelids. "Hi Collin. Can I see please."

"It's not Collin!" a high girly voice says.

"And I'm Not Madeline Faith Kendall." I reply.

He removes his hands and I shut my car door and turn to my best friend. He gives me a hug and I hug him back.

It is purely a brother-sister relationship, but everyone in the school except for my siblings and Rose think we're dating.

It makes sense, I suppose. We walk holding hands and he walks me to my classes and hugs me goodbye.

We head inside and Rose comes walking up to us. Her real name is Rosella Heidi Jane but she hates her name so we call her Rose.

"Hey Madeline. Hey Collin."

"Hey." We smile.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" she asks.

"I'll probably spend the night on Omegle." I admit.

"One day the people on that site are going to find you and rape you." Collin laughs.

"You're so sweet." I smile sarcastically.

"Any luck on Halloween?" Rose asks us.

Collin's mother is being stubborn, as is mine.

"Nope." I sigh.

"What Madeline said." Collin grumbles.

Russell drops down next to me. "Mom's going to say yes." He says, nudging my side. "We just have to suck up."

Maddy sits down next to Rose. "We have to suck up until she gives in." Maddy nods, agreeing.

"Well that won't take that long." I say.

"Exactly." Russell replies. The first bell rings and all of us stand up.

He kisses my forehead, hugs me goodbye and then walks off to class.

_______________

"How was school?" Mom asks when I walk in the door. I toss my backpack on the counter and shrug.

"It was alright. I aced my French test."

A huge smile breaks out on her face. "That's wonderful, honey!" she stands up and hugs me.

"How's work?" I ask. Mom works for some computer company from home.

"Work is work." She shrugs.

I nod and head to the kitchen. I get vanilla wafers and vanilla ice cream and head up to my room.

Right as you walk in the door, you're looking at my window and my king size bed. My room is small and narrow but I don't mind. my bed is just a box spring with the mattress on top. The comforter is make of feather and is messy. My pillows are askew. The fitted sheet is white, the pillow cases are white, but the comforter is a light yellow. Right at the foot of my bed is a TV stand with my TV on it. My room is so narrow that that the TV stand is against the left wall and the bed is against the right wall. I don't mind. Next to my bed is a shelved desk that doesn't have room for a chair and it's just cluttered in stuff. My floor is hardwood but I have a tan area rug on it. The walls are white and next to my bed is a ton of pictures of my siblings and friends and I that is formed into hearts. My window shades are up, which means Mom came in here. I have Christmas lights around the room.

To the left of my room, in the bottom corner, there is a beanbag chair, and in the middle of the left wall, there is my closet, which is closed. My dresser is in it and I have clothes hung above it.

Mom was in here to clean my room.

I take off my shoes and change out of my jeans and into red sweats, leaving on my gray American Flag sweater.

I plop down onto my bed and sigh.

Every day when I get home from school, I nap and then do homework and go on Omegle.

Finally I'm home. Now I can nap.