The Four Houses

Eleven

Summer, the most beautiful time in a childhood's life. Full of traveling with family, cooking with family, being with family, having a family. For the four friends, on the other hand, summer meant trying to not get evicted. The moment they returned from taking the bus back to their home, they saw something that made the twelve and eleven-year-olds nervous. The rent had been raised by an overall twenty pounds. Letters were piling up in the apartment mailbox, which was a dumb place to put important messages, and the friends had spent three hours sorting them on top of Clara's mattress. Her mother was gone and would be gone for another week leaving the kids mainly unsupervised which was something they were used to. After unpacking, well Kylan and Clara unpacked, Frank and Alec would wait until it was night, the four sorted the mail into three piles. Bills, notices, and rent. Soon, the three hundred letters were all sorted and the apartment was becoming unbearably hot. Frank opened the cooler only to realize that the electricity had been cut. 

"Is the electricity bill there?" Kylan rummaged through the mess of papers before finding the correct one and separating it from the rest. Frank glanced at it, drinking the lukewarm water in mild disgust. "This was meant to be paid months ago." The four glanced at each other in worry. Maybe it was a bad idea coming back. It wasn't like they had a choice but still anywhere was better than here. The four then decided to switch the topic of conversation to object sold for lottery tickets. Clara first checked her wardrobe to make sure the radio was still there and working, luckily it was and then checked her sock drawer to make sure that her extra forty dollars were still intact. Luckily they were. Her mother must not have attempted to look that far. Alec counted at least ten plates missing, along with thirty cutlery and five cups. Kylan noted how the majority of her mother's jewelry was missing save the neckless that she had planned to give to Clara. Clara quickly pocketed the neckless knowing that Alecsia wouldn't mind. Frank noted how half of Alecsia's shoes were missing along with Clara's boots. Clara frowned at this, trying to keep her frustration at bay but her friends saw through her facade. Kylan gave her a soft hug, reminding her how she still had the extra pair under her mattress that she could always use. Clara lightly shrugged off the hug before mounting her backpack on her back and throwing on an old pair of sneakers that were too big, storming out of the apartment with her friends quick on her heels. 

Clara had done the majority of the shoplifting that day. The friends mainly watched and stood their ground to cover her when the shop clerk got suspicious. Then the three made sure to let Clara lead them away from the cops when they pulled up. She then ate the majority of the snacks she stole and broke every toy she got her hands on. The friends all glanced at each other worriedly while watching Clara. This was the second most emotional they had seen her and the first was when the puppy died. They didn't speak of that day. It was almost as though the four all decided to ignore it. Once they went back to the hot apartments and rested for the day, the event was seemingly written out of the history books. The next week Alecsia got back in an award-winning scene, sobbing for Clara's forgiveness. Alec, Frank, and Kylan were good enough to close the door on their way out to give the two privacy. Clara, of course, forgave her mother after ten minutes of her whining but made her promise to hold off from lottery tickets until she got the rent covered. Apparently, none of the mothers realized the rent change until the moment their children got back, too busy feeding their demons to care. 

The four spent the entire summer working at the diner near the good neighborhoods. Although they were all young, the manager knew of the rent increase and let the kids clean the floors for the entire day. From eight to eight, morning to evening, day in and day out except on Sundays the kids worked for three pounds an hour. The friends had nothing better to do so they worked as hard as they could. Their hands got blistered and their skin went hard but they weren't complaining. It was good pay and by a month into summer, the children had accumulated enough to pay off some of the bills that were weighing on Clara's nightstand. The manager decided to give them a break between twelve and one without doxxed pay so during their break the friends discussed their plans when they weren't always hungry. They wondered who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would be and Kylan commented how he hoped it would be someone who didn't care about kids.