Raising Teens

Chapter 5

We cleaned the whole house, and I noticed how Noah started to drift away from everybody.

He's worried about Katie.

The mention of his family sets him off sometimes.

Everyone arrived, and we hugged and were exited and everything, and we had lunch, and now we're standing in the living room, and everyone is talking about their lives.

I'm standing there, holding a cup of coffee.

It's like the old days when we used to hang out, but my grandparents aren't here, and I can't hear Katie's loud laugh.

Also, there's not a bunch of toddlers running around. They're all older.

"Alright children," I start. "What do you want?"

"Yeah." Liam says. "Why did you drag us all the way up here?" he looks at Josh.

Everyone gets quiet, looking at them.

"So um...for the past four years or so, we've been teamed up, planning a vacation." Rose says. "And we've decided it's time to see if you guys will let it happen."

"A vacation?" I repeat.

"Yes."

"Involving...?" I trail off.

"Online school."

"No." I say. "No, that is completely out of the question."

"We want to see the country! We want to get RV's, and we want to travel!" Brooke says.

"You can travel after you graduate." I say.

"We want all of us to go!" Rose says.

"Then travel after all of you graduate."

"Aunt Brecklyn!" Justin snaps. "Stop fuckin' saying no to everything!"

"Justin!" Ben snaps.

"I'm going to continue saying no until you guys start making wise decisions. You're not going. At least mine aren't."

"I mean..." Noah hesitates. "It could be fun."

"See?" Rose says. "We'll look at colleges while we go!"

"I'm down." Liam shrugs.

Everyone slowly starts agreeing.

"If any of you get a C, we're going home. I'm not kidding."

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We all got a ton of RV's. Our family has one because there's so many of us.

We're all travelling.

We already went down the east coast, starting in Maine and making our way down.

We're in Florida, in Clearwater.

We parked the RV, rented a few vans, and got a hotel on the beach, the same exact hotel we were in when we stayed down here all those years ago.

It's nighttime now, and we're walking the shops.

I see a public restroom, and I seriously have to pee.

"Hey, I'm gonna go pee." I say.

"Okay." Noah kisses my cheek.

They all wait, and I go into the bathroom.

I pee and flush and wash my hands, and I pick my purse up, and the lock to the door clicks.

I didn't unlock it.