Jema

1. Occupied

Maybe I should sing a slow song to make the day go away.

"Jema!"

If I lay here. If I just lay here...

"Jema! 7:24!"

Would you lay with me and--

It didn't work.

"Oh my goodness. Jema!" And my mother bangs on my bedroom door. With that, I topple out of bed and let the tiniest bit of light sliver in through the small crack I've allowed my door to open to. "It's 7:25 now, Jema. I'm not calling the school to excu--" She's interrupted by Kelley, who has taken her shoes off and thrown them across the hallway. "Kelley, no.Go pick those up. Not calling the school to excuse you, Jema."

"Cool." I shut the door. She bangs again, louder this time. I give up. "Yes, mother dearest?" She hands me a plate of breakfast. The eggs look like they've been cooling, with the cheese curling up stale on the edges, and my toast is soggy. "I don't even get a fork?"

"If you're ready in ten minutes, you can have whatever--" Mom hoists Kelley up into her arms, "you want. Ten minutes." With a sigh, I set the plate on the dresser and close the door. "Ten minutes!" I hear her reiterate. I'm tempted to respond with a snarky 'o-KAY', but mornings are hectic enough without my extra attitude. Right as I'm about to strip out of my nightclothes, another knock sounds at the door.

"No, Anna," I say automatically through the wood.

"C'mon, Jem! I ask you every morning!" my little sister whines, referring to fashioning my 'Green Day' t-shirt that I purchased at their concert. "Please, please, please!" I open the door.

"No."

"Jema--"

"No."

"I'll tell mom about you and the Thompson boy."

"Mom knows already," I lie. "Go right ahead." Mom doesn't know much about me these days, and kissing up on Jacob Thompson is definitely far from the small list of things she doesknow. I don't keep anything from her if she asks, my personal life is just never brought up since she has a million other things to stress about.

"I'll tell Dad."

"Yourdad won't care. I told you I'd let you wear it on the last day of school, and it's not the last day of school. It's the last day before Spring Break. Different? Yes. Now leave before I change my mind about that.Piss off." Anna sulks away and stomps on the ground once. I groan. Spring Break isn't even a real break when you have five siblings. I'd rather just stay in school.

"Mom, Jema told me to piss off--" Anna begins. I close the door.

I wish all the other gremlins in this house had the same logic I did. Mom has the biggest plate of worries of anyone else in this town. I just learned to stay out of the way and not cause any trouble-well any trouble that would surface and give her an ulcer, anyway.

"A million dollars," I propose once I step into the kitchen ten minutes later.

"What?" both my mom and Anna say in unison.

"You said if I'm out of my room and ready in ten minutes, I can have whatever I want. A million dollars." I have to break my composure to scoop a five-year-old up from the ground. He's coloring on his shoes with marker. "Rowe, what did we tell you last week?" I scold. He pouts.

"Jema, you have to take everyone to school today," Mom breathes, completely ignoring me. She still holds Kelley in her arms. The dark circles under her eyes have let up just a little bit, since the weather has warmed up just enough for people in the house to stop being sick.