I Want More: Griffin Johnson

Page 2

"Clean your room. The dog made a mess," mom ordered and I had to pick up every single thing. They made me even clean their room and Katherine's. Not even one small nail shaving was allowed to be seen. We had a dog named Betty and it was Katherine's dog. Not mine. Just Katherine's. At night, I slept and Katherine was blaring music.

"Can you not? I'm trying to sleep," I told her and she called mom and dad.

"Phoebe is being mean and telling me to turn the music off," Katherine said.

"Yeah. I'm trying to sleep."

"Maybe you should move out so you won't be so picky," dad told me and I sighed. I finished my schooling in the morning and the year was almost over. I had to study for finals, so I didn't leave my room for a week. Griffin kept tweeting that he wanted me to go over and then tweeted my name.

G: Phoebe

Me: Yes?

G: Miss you

I snickered and shook my head, texting him.

Me: Griffin, I have to study for finals. After that, it's summer and we can hang out maybe

G: I'm gonna call you

He called and I answered.

"Hey," I said.

"I miss you! Can you come over?" Griffin asked.

"I live 2 hours away. I can't just go back and forth whenever."

"I know. But you promise we'll see each other soon?"

"Yes. I promise," I laughed and hung up. Finals were hard especially since I was in AP and never got a break. It was tiring and never-ending work. I wondered how college would be and if it might be easier. After the whole week, I passed and it was summer. I was so excited.

"You got a score less than perfect," mom looked at my score. "This isn't who we raised! Why can't you be like your sister? At least she has friends."

"You aren't going to have a job at all with this!" Dad scolded and I locked myself in my room for the night.

Me: Griffin, can you get a car and come over?

G: Yeah. Sure.

Me: Come in through the back.

He came to the back like I asked and climbed through my window.

"These are really good scores," he said. "Higher than I got actually."

"Well, my parents don't think it's good enough. They want me to move out so I don't humiliate them."

"Wait, really? Stay at Sway. The boys are okay with it. We've wanted to ask you if you wanna move in at some point."

"Yeah, but when do I pack?" I asked. "I don't want them knowing I'm leaving."

"Then pack now. There's tons of space in the car, Phoebe."

"Griffin, you're literally my best friend!" I packed a couple of suitcases and bags, quickly climbing out the window. The room was empty and colorless with all my posters and lights packed. We got in the car and drove to Sway. Griffin called Bryce, Jaden, Anthony, Quinton, Josh, and Kio and told them I was moving in. They said they would have a room prepared by the time we arrived and they sounded pretty happy about it.

"Maybe you should leave the Hype House," Josh said once I started unpacking in the room.

"Trust me, I will at some point. They're all obsessed with Katherine."

"Griffin never told us why you moved here," Quin hinted.

"So... I finished my finals today and I got my scores. And my score for my ACT," I started.

"They were higher than what I got," Griffin walked in. "But her parents didn't think they were good enough and told her she was never gonna make a living."

"Every time I do something that makes me proud of myself, they just bring me down. And every time they yelled at me, it would end with them telling me to move out. So, why not. I was finally done with it when Katherine gets to blare music in the middle of the night so I couldn't sleep."

"Do they ever say they're proud of Katherine?" Jaden asked, sitting on the bed.

"Yeah. When she opened a door by herself when she was 15, they were proud when she ordered her own Dunkin' Donuts drink... I could list forever. She's the younger, prettier, more precious sister."

"Oh, please!" Griffin scoffed.

"Who says that?" Ant asked.

"All of Katherine's fans, our parents, the haters who comment on my videos..." I still had another box left to go through.

"Turn comments off." I glared at him and sighed, stepping into the walk-in closet. "Or just don't look at comments. Just saying..." I shut the door with my foot and sat on a shoe rack, scrolling through my comments. There were a few people commenting "Shut the fuck up" to all the haters. There was talking outside the door and I could make out a few things.

"Anthony, you literally just became as mean as her parents," Bryce said.

"But it just feels like she wants attention," Ant said.

"If she wanted attention, it would be full of lies. And we asked her what was happening," Josh said.

"We don't live with her! How do you know her parents aren't mean and that she might have just wanted to move in to get clout from us?"

"We've known her for a month, dude!" Jaden said. "You're friends with the Hype House still, so you wouldn't get it." The door slightly opened and Griffin came in, sitting next to me. He made sure to lock the door.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I can hear everything they're saying," I rested my head against his shoulder.

"Ant's just in a mood. Don't listen to him."

"But he's right. Why do you trust me?"

"Because I've seen how spoiled Katherine is and how mean she can be to you." I was quiet and we just listened to the others.

"Fine, I'll just go to my room!" Ant walked out and Griffin slowly stood.

"Come on, they're gone." I walked out and sat on the bed, setting my phone on the side table.