“Ready for another year of this bullshit?” Jaden asks as he puts his old clunker into park.
I let out a loud and drawn out sigh, “Do I look ready?”
He looks at me. His dark brown eyes are earnest but tired because even though the school year has just begun for me, he has been busy all summer. When he wasn’t doing summer maintenance at Our Lady of Grace Academy, he was working various odd jobs just to help us stay afloat. He had always placed so much importance on my academic performance, but in truth, he was the only reason why it really mattered. He had secured a job as a maintenance man at the most prestigious private high school in the city, if not the entire state. One of the perks of the job was reduced tuition to anyone who qualified as a dependent, and since my older brother was the primary breadwinner of our household, he was the one who claimed me on his taxes. Of course, the reduced tuition rate wasn’t enough for us. I also had to apply for a scholarship which I qualified for as long as my GPA remained at 3.5 or higher. Even though I had to study for hours, I had maintained near-perfect marks for the past three years. With luck, I would also be able to apply to any University of my choice and receive a full scholarship. Afterward, I’d be able to take care of Jaden the way he had taken care of Mom and I since Dad died.
He gives me an encouraging smile, “You look like you can take on the world.”
I scoff and look away from him, “What a fucking liar.”
He chuckles, “You’ll be fine. You’ve got your friends. You’ve got your whole life in front of you. This place may be a cruel master, but it will give you the start you need.”
I nod but I don’t correct him. I didn’t have friends. I had a friend, and I wasn’t even sure if we really were friends anymore. Teagan and I had been friends since I started at Our Lady of Grace Academy back in freshman year. She had been the only one that didn’t care that I didn’t come from old money. She didn’t care that my brother was a glorified janitor. She had accepted me for who I was and where I came from. That is until this summer. Her cousin, Brianna, had moved here during this summer and instead of hanging out with me like usual, Teagan had spent the summer ‘getting Brianna settled in’. I don’t know why I couldn’t have helped her but after a few weeks of dry text messaging and Instagram stalking, I realized that Teagan didn’t want me to help. She was having a grand old time with Brianna. I hoped that the situation could be simplified as two cousins getting comfortable with each other after years apart. I could accept the fact that I would have made that a little more complicated or harder, so I hadn’t pushed too much. I had been a good friend and liked all of her posts, responded quickly whenever she finally replied, and waited for her to shower her affection on me like old times. Now it was the first day of school and even though we had sent a few text messages back and forth last night, I still didn’t know what to make of our friendship. To be honest, I had no one else. I knew no one else at this school even though I had been going here for the past three years. I had firmly clung onto Teagan like a barnacle for three years and that had been enough for me. The real question was if that was enough for her.
He sighs and then reaches for his battered tumbler, “I guess we oughta get going.”
I nod and take off my seat belt. I lean into the backseat and grab my backpack. I open the creaky car door and get out.
“That door needs some WD-40,” I remark as we look at each other over the hood of the car.
“I’ll put some on later,” He says but I know he won’t, at least not until the door starts sticking.
I raise my eyebrows and make a non-committal sound before slinging my backpack on, “I’ll see you after school. I’ll probably hang around the library until you're done. Just text me and let me know when you’re ready.”
He nods and I turn to walk away.
“Octavia?”
I turn as he calls my name, “Yeah?”
“Have a good day, okay?”
I manage a small smile, attempting to push back my own insignificant worries for his sake, “Yeah, I’ll try. You have a good day too. I hope nobody pukes.”
Just like that his earnest smile turns into a smirk, “If someone does, I hope it's you. We’ll see how you live that one down.”
I flip him off and then walk towards the main building.
Without looking back I know that he is waiting a few minutes, digging around in the trunk as if he needs something out of there. In reality, he is just trying to save me the embarrassment of walking in by his side. While walking in with him was something that I genuinely hated freshman year to the point that I rudely yelled at him, I discovered that with time it mattered less and less that he was the school’s maintenance man. He was my brother and he was the sole reason that I was allowed to walk these halls in the first place. I shouldn't be embarrassed of him, I should be grateful. It also helped that within several days of my first week here, everyone soon learned that I wasn’t raised with the same silver spoon as they were. In the end, it didn’t matter if I pushed Jaden away or embraced him, the students here would never accept me regardless of what I did unless my family suddenly became millionaires. All that mattered at Our Lady of Grace Academy was money, plain and simple. If you didn’t have it, you didn’t matter. I knew I would never matter here, but my grades would and that was enough for me12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdq5uZmPJnC
