I RACE DOWNSTAIRS to make breakfast. Gei, the boys, and Meg come downstairs to waffles with syrup and yogurt.
"Where's Daisy?" Adrian asks looking around the kitchen to find her.
"Asleep," Donnie says shoving his face into his waffles.
"Hey Meg, can you wake Daisy up?"
"But Luran usually wakes us up and has us put on our matching outfits. Can everyone wear red today, blue tomorrow, grey on Monday, and orange for Tuesday..."
I ignore her as I rush up the crowded steps as Gei and Ade fight for the bathroom downstairs because the one upstairs had stopped.
"Daisy, school," I say shaking her.
She gets up as she yawns, "Okay."
I wait for her to get out of her bed, "Breakfast!"
"Okay, Felix. Megalynn's being annoying about Mommy's place. Saying what she does and her nighty routines she has us dose." She flips her hair in the mirror of her closet door as she hugs her bunny tightly.
I don't get into the conflict between them about what they do and what they don't do at their Mom's house and I repeat, "Breakfast!"
"Waffles again?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," she shrugs. I wish they'd take in Adrian and Donnie, too but at least Daisy and Meg get a nice home, especially because they're younger. They deserve a better life. I help her get dressed and stuff the waffles into her lunch bag for daycare and run her over next door to the Wilstones. I knock on their door. Mr. Wilstone comes out. "Hey Mr. Wilstone, can she brush her teeth in your bathroom, please?"
"Sure, come in," he says in a low voice.
"Thank you so much I could kiss you right now."
"Stop, you're finna make my dick hard," He laughs. He's one of Maria's friends. He's so close to the point we just call him family.
I laugh along with his contagious laughter.
After she's done brushing her teeth, I pick her up and rush her into the daycare center, I hope and run to school.
After school, Busk and I start planning when to sneak in and when to leave. I throw my stuff on the ground next to the spare bed getting ready to throw my things onto the top bunk to sleep there for the night. Adrian's not going to like the bottom bunk.
"This your house?" He asks looking around the room.
"One of them. My siblings and I alternate between our grandparents and Maria. I usually don't go to school while living here, but my grampa had an asthma attack last week so I drove my siblings to Maria's house."
"Damn," he says getting a pipe of my cigarette.
"I know. I just texted him to see if he's okay and I also texted my gramma."
"So, I snuck my little brother in, too. We're going to a group home. Just until things with the home are okay."
"You can stay at my grandparents' house. They have an extra room literally for guests."
"But--"
"I drive you and Tyrecee over there later tonight. And, besides, I need to check on them anyway. So, might as well, kill two birds with one stone," explain as I hop on the top bunk to throw Donnie's things off of his bed.
"Good plan, but what time exactly," Tyrecee asks.
"12:00 midnight."
"Okay, sounds good. Don't it, Xay?"
"Yeah, it sounds perfect. Yo, can I have another pipe on that cig, bro!?"
"Yeah," say hopping off the bunk and giving it to him. "Hey, Imma seak you both a piece of leftover chicken, 'ight?"
"Yeah," they almost say in unison as Tyrecee takes a hit off the cigarette.
I go into the kitchen to heat leftover "KFC" from Maria's work. I notice her lingerie on the chair where her coat is supposed to be. I don't touch it. I just sit next to Donnie and Adrian eating their chicken. They eat so differently, Donnie shoves his face in it, while Adian slowly eats it. Where could she be if she isn't with David? I shake that thought out of my head and I see Gei sitting at the table eating chicken with Ade, Donnie, Daisy, and Meg.
"Aw you guys are all sitting together like a normal family," Maria comments as she takes her coat and shoes off.
Everyone leaves, Donnie with his beer plopping on the couch as he turns on the only tv source--cable, Adrian putting the dishes in the sink and putting Daisy on her rocking horse afterward, Gei leaves to go into the girl's room, and Meg stays at the table not touching her food. While cleaning the kitchen I ask, "Meg, why aren't you eating your chicken?"
"Because Mama usually cooks lasagna for dinner."
"So, now you call her Mama, now?" I ask as I dry the dishes.
She goes upstairs. I take her plate and give Donnie a piece of chicken and I eat one.
"What are you guys watching?"
"I dunno, something on "Hallmark"," Donnie says drinking one of the beers from the fridge.
"You look like an old man from a "Disney" movie," Daisy says rocking harder on her rocking horse.
"Hey, Daisy, be careful," I chime in.
"Okay," she says as she slows down.
I watch a little bit of tv and then I go upstairs with four pieces of leftover chicken after I get it from the microwave.
"Here," I say handing them chicken. "We're going to my Grandparents' house."
They just have the clothes on their backs so I text Alaska and her twin Charli for some spare coats as I guide them out the back door and into my car. Surprisingly, Donnie's asleep on the couch with Daisy curled up in one of his arms and a beer in the other. He looks the most like Dad. Adrian, and I look the most like our mom with her shiny, brown hair and her parched eyes. Meg and Gei look the same, given that they're both blond, and Daisy looks the most like her mother whoever that might be. The boys all have the same mother but she passed from cancer, and the three girls have separate moms. Before I was put on this fucked-up planet, Dad had a fling with this woman from college, then he met our mom, and lucky for the two, they had us three boys. Then, when she died, he wasn't his sober loving self anymore and he banged hookers and prostitutes all over town, then Meg and Daisy were born and he married another woman when I was nine and now Daisy and Meg go to her place with her family every weekend. Who knows where their moms are now, all we know is that we're one big messy family looking for a better life and looking out for each other. I get in the car waiting for the engine to start.