Julie Porter
Has anyone ever told you that by the time you reached your teenage years you'd basically have your life figured out? That you know what college you were attending and what you were studying. That you'd know if you weren't going to college and just working with your parents or any other things along those lines.
I've been called down to the counselors office and have had many people from different corporations and colleges invited down to the office just for me. To give me a pep talk and help me figure my life out.
I'm a senior for crying out loud and I graduate in a little less than 5 months and on every assignment about our future I get a zero because I turn it in completely blank or with just my name and date.
I don't have my life figured out not one bit.
"Why don't you talk to your parents. I'm sure at least one has a good paying job and can help you and inspire you" I've been told.
Well, I don't even know my dad. My mom... well... she grew up in a big household. She was the oldest of her 8 siblings so she never got any attention. So when she was 12 and was already damn near in a D cup and noticed the men thirsting over her, she knew she could finally get the attention she wanted. My mother lost her virginity to a 19 year old when she was 14. She got pregnant and ended up having a miscarriage.
She then fell in love her senior year of highschool with a man who built mansions for rich people. That man, is indeed my father. The moment my mom graduated she married him. Got pregnant with me. And when she announced it to him, excited to start a family, he divorced her and left her on the streets.
I have no clue where she lived and how she took care of me from the point on. All I remember is waking up one morning when I was 10 in a decently nice house with my mom and her husband and a baby brother named Franklin. My therapist that I once had told me I don't remember anything from before I was 10 because my mind decided to block it out due to severe trauma.
But my moms husband was a great man. They had been together for 5 years, married for 3. But when Franklin was 4 he found out my mom had been cheating on him with our neighbor. He divorced her and she took me and Franklin and left and we got an apartment and that's where we've been living up until now.
My mom is currently an unemployed alcoholic, my brother is in 5th grade and he's practically my child. I take care of him. I work to pay the rent for the apartment, I work to put food on the table and get me and my brother new clothes and shoes.
Where I work you may ask? I work at a little coffee shop. I go to school and then leave my last class early to change and then head straight to work. I then work from 3pm to 11 at night. Which isn't entirely legal on school days since I'm a minor but I begged for the extra hours.
So when people ask who do I say I look up to? Am I supposed to say my 11 year old brother whose the top of his class? Hell, I may as well. He's probably the most intelligent person I know. And I don't know many people.
But, that's exactly what I did. Today we had another assignment about our future and for the first time I turned in a answer. And my answer was my 11 year old brother. He's my biggest inspiration.
The bell rang and I grabbed my bag and headed to lunch.
It's weird. I'm actually quite popular at school. Apparently I'm the "hot senior". But I think the hottest senior is definitely Ellie Harbarrow. She has long brown hair, gorgeous green eyes, she's skinny and has the prettiest smile. Her style is always trendy and cute.
I on the other hand, have blonde hair that barley reaches my elbows and split ends. I only wear my hair in ponytails at school and low buns for work. I wear a t-shirt and jeans to school everyday and the same pair of dirty Jordan's. I don't wear not an ounce of makeup. It's not like I can. I can't afford to spend money on makeup when I have a family of 3 to feed and bills to pay. It's not like I know how to do makeup anyways.
