Day 2

Being the only girl in the family, excluding my mother of course, has it's disadvantages, and being the youngest of the five children didn't help either. The mornings are hectic in our house, to say it politely.

If I didn't make it down to breakfast before my four older brothers finished their feeding rituals I would be left to fend for myself.

"You know how they are, Julia," my mother throws her hands up into the air and shrugs her shoulders at my complaints of starvation. "Get down here earlier and you'll get a hot meal like the rest of them," she advises me before heading off to do yet another load of laundry for the older members of her small herd. She always seems to be doing laundry, or cleaning, or cooking something; its a wonder how it is she manages to keep her hair so neat and her make up always having the freshly applied look to it.

"What's the big deal?" Steve, the oldest of us Clarksons, questions me as he tosses an apple my way, which of course I catch with one hand. You can not have four older brothers and not learn how to catch a fly ball or flying food for that matter.

"The big deal is, for once I would like to get a scrambled egg instead of a bowl of cereal. The big deal is that I would love to get to the orange juice before Bobby's back splash ruins the entire carton!" My words fall onto deaf ears like most mornings, the boys: Steve, Bobby, Carl, and Martin are too busy boasting about their latest sport achievement or date with some girl, or are they fighting over some girl? I stopped paying attention to their crushes when I reached the age of 15 and started having my own.

My latest crush, Jeremy Woodsley, was due to pick me up for school at any moment and I still had not eaten, my stomach growled as if on cue. A quick growl at my brothers and I headed towards the fridge to collect my lunch bag. My mother, the most efficient woman in the world, had all of our lunches made and in the fridge before she went to bed last night. All, except for Steve and Bobby, since they had joined the world of higher education she simply leaves it to them to find their own lunches at the local junior college.

"Jules, do you need a ride?" Carl, the considerate one, offers a ride every morning.

"Nope," I decline, as I do the majority of mornings. "Thanks though,"

"Jeremy is probably taking her to school," Martin, the youngest boy at 17, still speaks of my boyfriends in the nasally make-fun-of little-sister voice that most people should outgrow as they enter puberty.

"This is like the fifth week in a row!" Steve looks at me with the concerned big brother look, which I roll my baby blue eyes at. I know they are baby blue because Jeremy has told me a dozen times how much he adores them.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll see the light and run for the hills soon," I assure my biggest of brothers. He has always treated me like a fragile butterfly, unlike Bobby who likes to think that I was born a boy, regardless of what the medical tests and my 16 year old female anatomy shows.

"Well, just kick him in the nads if he gets all man handling you," Bobby chimes in as he slings his back pack over his shoulder. "Steve, let's go,man. My class starts in like ten minutes!" ever the punctual student. The junior college is 15 miles away from our home, even if Steve were to fly to campus Bobby will be his usual 10-15 minutes late.

Martin and Carl finish scarfing down the last of their breakfast as I nibble on my apple. My delicious red apple that will not keep me satisfied until my 12:00 lunch time, but will keep my stomach from announcing it's frustration while Jeremy drives me to school. I toss another apple into my bag as a precaution against starvation after second period.

"Julia, there is a young man sitting in his car in front of our house," My father swoops into the kitchen, dressed in his best suit which means that he will be not be home for dinner due to a dinner date with a client. "Please tell said young man that if he wishes you to accompany him on any further dates, he will need to make his presence known by coming to the door," he places a chaste kiss to my cheek before swooping back out of the kitchen with his briefcase in hand and disappears into the garage. I wonder where learned to talk like that, maybe law school 'said boy' ...really, who talks like that?

I take a deep breath and calm myself before I throw open the front door and invite the day to begin. Jeremy is indeed waiting for me in his car. So is Trisha Jenson, my heart sinks. Jeremy looks over at me and smiles, awkwardly, nervously, maybe even a bit cautiously. I walk to the car with a smile plastered on my face, keeping an eye on Trisha, who is busy looking at herself in her compact.

"Hi," I hug my books to my chest as I approach the car.

"Oh. Hey," Trisha looks out of the passenger window and up at me. "Jeremy, tell her." she turns to him and glares at him.

"Tell me what?" my heart is beating so fast I fear it may burst from my chest.

"Julia, the thing is Trisha here, we kinda starting hanging out together a little while ago and..." the coward looks to her with pleading in his eyes. She is only too happy to oblige him.

"He's dumping you." the words roll off her tongue so smoothly, I am sure I misheard her.

"What?" I am holding onto my books so tightly my knuckles are turning white.

"He's dumping you," she repeats herself, only slower this time, saying each word purposefully as if she were speaking to a small child.

"Like this?" I ask incredulously, I mean who does this, who breaks up with someone like this?

"Yeah. Look...do you still want a ride?" Trisha asked with a twisted expression on her face.

"A ride?" I repeat, I am aware of how stupid I sound.

"Maybe your brothers could give you a lift?" Jeremy takes pity on me and points to Steve who is just now pulling his car down the drive. I nod, or I think I do. Jeremy winks at me, that sexy wink of his, and takes off.

"Hey! Where's he going?" Bobby yells from somewhere, I'm not listening to him, I'm too busy watching Jeremy drive away.

"Julia, get in," Steve's voice is comforting, understanding, he knows what happened but he's not going to rub it in. No, he's just going to drive me to school....