To the Brink

The New Guys

My alarm sounds too early for my liking. After only getting a couple hours of sleep I know today is going to be rough. I quickly get changed into a light pink dress that goes down to my knees, then I head to get the kids up. I wake Noelle up first knowing she will be easier to get up than the others. I dress her in some blue jean shorts and a plain light blue t-shirt. I then get Noah up and dress him in a similar outfit, knowing they still like to dress alike. Getting Remy up is harder, I tried just about everything, eventually it comes down to me bribing her with extra ice cream tonight after dinner. After they are all dressed I head down to make breakfast and decide on oatmeal and toast. As the kids are eating I head upstairs to get the boys up, while they are getting dressed I go to get Ollie ready.

"Bri!" Ollie yells as I walk into the room.

"Hey munchkin, are you ready to get up?" I ask

"Yes!" he screams.

I dress him into an orange t-shirt and some short overalls, then take him down stairs to eat. when I walk in I see the kids are done eating and the older boys are talking while finishing up their breakfast.

"You know you can wake me up to help you with the kids in the morning." Caleb says while scolding me, he then whispers under his breath that we will talk about the marks that cover my face and arms later. I immediately dread the future conversation.

"of course", I reply, "but you deserve all the extra sleep you can get."

" I hate seeing you try and do this all on your own" he says.

"Caleb its fine, you know I have trouble sleeping anyways."

"Can I have some cookies?" Remy asks with the cutest puppy dog eyes.

"No you need to eat your breakfast." I say as I see Caleb sneak a hand into the cookie jar and hand Remy a double chocolate chip cookie. I turn my back and pretend not to notice while sending Caleb an evil glare.

"Hey Liam, how's your science project going?" I ask.

"Don't worry about it." He responses as he walks out the door.

Caleb and I share a glance of annoyance as I clean chocolate cookie crumbs from Ollie and Remy's faces. Once we are all done we get our shoes on and grab our  backpacks then head out. The walk to school takes ten minutes and the only reason I survive it is because Ollie and Remy are strapped into a double stroller. Lucky for us the elementary school is next to the high school. We drop the kids off at school and rush to get Ollie to daycare, before heading to class. The bell rings as I walk into the room. My first three periods go by in a blur, I find myself unable to pay attention to caught up on thinking about the night before. As the bell rings I perk up knowing I get to see my best friend this period.

"Hey sunshine, rough night?", Corey asks as I walk to the table.

"Always." I reply with my usual answer.

"Have you seen the new guys yet?" Corey asks with a curious look on his face.

"No. What new guys?" I ask.

"I guess a couple of new guys started today and are really hot, according to like every girl at school. You aren't going to fall for their bad boy charm are you?" he asks while laughing.

"Well no need to worry about me falling for them, I don't have time for boys, like ever. Besides after Alex I don't think I am ready for anything serious."

After English Corey and I head to lunch. I grab an apple and bottle of water, not wanting to spend more money than necessary. I then meet up with Caleb and Liam and give them twenty-five dollars each to eat lunch for the rest of the week, I then head to sit down. Corey and I sit at our usual lunch table and continue our debate from earlier.