Elijah's POV:
Early in the morning in the morning, I went to pick to up Liam.
"I'm here for Liam and dropping off money for Carl!" I yelled.
Carl came downstairs with his backpack and a smile on his face.
"Thanks," Carl said as they all took off to school.
"Here's some money," I said, giving her money as she handed me Liam.
"You don't have to give me money for the house," she tells me.
"We're raising these kids the best way we know how and even though I keep telling you that I can hook you up with a stable job that can pay you good money, you won't let me hook you up," I tell Fiona.
"You already do enough for us. I don't need you hooking me up with a job," she tells me.
"There's bills to be payed and bouncing from job to job when you're brother keeps telling you that he can give you a job that can help doesn't work. Just take the money," I tell her before taking off.
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After I left with Liam, I met with Guadalupe at her parents house. When I arrived to the door and knocked, her mother Victoria answered the door.
"Hey Elijah, and who's this baby?" Victoria asked as Guadalupe and her father came to the door.
"This is my little brother Liam," I answered.
"You have a little brother?" Fernando asked.
"Yes I do," I answered as Guadalupe picked up Liam from my arms.
"Day off?" Guadalupe asked.
"Yup. Plus, Fiona is busy today running errands. So, I decided to take Liam off of her hands for the day since no one would be home to take care of him," I answered.
"Don't your parents raise the kids?" Alex asked.
"If you ever meet my parents, then you'd understand why we don't leave them with the kids. And it doesn't help that my mom took off when he was born," I answered.
"And that would explain the problems that they have," Guadalupe added and I nodded in agreement.
"Are your parents really that bad?" Guadalupe's father asked.
"My parents don't care about anyone but themselves. My two youngest siblings don't have a single memory of my mother, since she walked out on us, to which I'm grateful for. But unfortunately, they have to deal with my father, who's too drunk to remember that they exist," I answered.
"How did you survive?" Guadalupe's mother asked me.
"I almost didn't. My parents often took me to their drug deals and didn't stop me from doing drugs. Sometimes, they would force me to do it, which almost killed me. Because of that, I decided to straighten out and join the army to make a man out of myself since I had no good example at home," I answered and Guadalupe's family looked at me in shocked.
Before I know it, Guadalupe wraps me in a big hug.
"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" Guadalupe asked me with tears in her eyes, as she sat back down on her seat.
"Because I wasn't and still not proud of the person I was. I worked hard to get where I'm at right now," I answered.
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After spending some time with Guadalupe and her family, I came home with Liam. When I arrived, I see Lip and Karen arriving at the house.
"Where did you two go?" I asked the two teenagers in front of me.
"I could ask you the same thing," Lip said.
"I was with Guadalupe and her family," I said.
"I went to a college visit to see that guy that busted me from my SAT stitch," Lip said.
"I told you that you were going to get caught," I said, with a slight smile.
"He wants me to attend the school," Lip told me.
"And by the look on your face, you don't want to go," I said.
"You didn't go to college and you turned out fine," Lip said
"Well that's because I didn't finish high school at the time that I should've and I had other things holding me back," I reminded him.
"Us," Lip concluded.
"Mainly, it was you guys. You guys are were you little and it would've been too much to handle by herself. The second reason was to focus on my sobriety," I explained.
"I still don't think I want to attend college," Lip said.
"You don't have to go college if you don't want to go. I don't want you to factor your family as a reason for you not wanting to go to college. There's nothing that's holding you back from going to college, if you decide to go to college," I tell Lip before we parted ways.
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Later on that night, I went to my sister's house and I see Frank playing the piano.
"Is something wrong with Frank?" I asked my family, noticing that Frank was acting different, when I walked in.
"Frank is sober," Debbie answered, which confused me.
"Frank will never willingly be sober," I say.
"He's only sober for some money," Fiona explained.
"That sounds more like it," I said.
"Please tell me that you're not buying into this," Lip tells me.
"Lip, you forget that I hate Frank more than you hate Frank. Of course I don't buy Frank's sobriety one bit," I tell him.
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The next day:
I came in the next day with Frank with a bottle in his hand.
"Frank started drinking again?" I asked my sister.
"Debbie figured out that it was better this way," Fiona answered.
"Smart decision," I say before we all sat down and relaxed for the day.
