TONI POV: 8th grade
"Toni we are not doing this again." she pulls away my beer. "You need help." i look over at her. "What?" she turns her head. "This is the 3rd time this week I have come home from work and you sitting there drunk." she whispers, trying not to wake up the twins. "Cheryl, i'm fine." i stand up and start to walk out. "Yeah last time I said that, Archie had to save me from the icy waters of Sweet water River and than I burned down a house." she stops me from walking away. I don't cry, but this time I was close to crying. "Toni if you need to talk, i can listen." i sigh giving up the fight. "Can I be honest?" She puts the beer down and nods. "Rose was everything I wanted. She had the family I never had, the support I never had. She was everything I couldn't be. You and the serpents are the were the only good things that happened to me when I was in high school." cheryl pulls me closer and kisses me. I kiss back, not really having control over my actions I deepen the kiss. She pushes me back slightly. "You know our rule." i smile. "No sex when either of us are drunk." she pushes me towards the door. "Let's go to bed." i walk up to bed. "Mom." i look over a Jason. "I'm busy." i walk into our bedroom. "Jason, I'll be there in a moment." I sit on the bed and Cheryl helps me get my shirt off. Yes i'm that drunk it's starting to hit me.
"I want to find the person who killed Rose." Jason comes running into the kitchen for breakfast. "No!" Cheryl exclaims. "Why? because the police are going so well. Who solved your brothers murder? Teenagers." Cheryl sits down next to me. Jason quickly realizes what he did wrong. "Sorry but, I'm going to find the person who killed my sister." he looks over at me. "mom." I shake my head "just be safe, because there is no stopping you." cheryl looks at me. Jason smiles and leaves to go to school. "There is no stopping him. Mary is getting involved, i bet." I get up and kiss her check. "I love you, I don't know when i'll be home it's a Tuesday."
Jason pov:
"Jason Blossom." i don't respond at first because I usually don't use Blossom, even though legally my last name is blossom. It's just I don't really like being associated with my dead uncle. "Jason. It's my dad." i look up Jenna than officer Fogarty. "Your under arest." he handcuffs me and we walk out. I look over and see Mary. "Call mom." she nods and pulls her phone out.
"You were bullied a lot." some random police officer points out. "Yeah, i'm named after my dead uncle, who was killed by my grandfather. All of that happened pretty publicly." i sit back. "Your grades aren't the best, Prone to bullying. Rose was the golden child, straight A's, never really bullied. Maybe you were jealous." he pulls out his fancy paper work. "I want a lawyer." i look away. He nods and walks out. Mom comes in. "I didn't kill her." she nods. "I know, I watched it happen." she starts pacing. "I called Cheryl to pick you up." i look at her. "How did you get here?" she looks back at me. "I work across the street." right because she has had the same dead end job for a while now. "The officer said she was the golden child." before I can finish she stops me. "No, she was not. Complete opposite actually. She had so many issues with school, she was never bullied because we never let her, she had slightly below average grades but for her it was better than nothing." she sits in front of me. "Why? It's more than an interrogation." i take a deep breath. "I overheard you talking to mom." speaking of mama she and Mary come through the door. "Let's go home." i get up with mom. "I'll talk to you when you get home." i tell her walking out and going home. "Your a good kid JJ." sometimes she calls me that, again her brother. "Do you have my camera?" i ask. "Yeah, it's in your room." i sink in my chair. "Jason, can we talk when we get home?" Mary whispers. "Yeah."
"What do you want to do for our birthday?" she ask. "Booth at Pop's with you, Jenna and Asher. We haven't seen him in awhile." i pause. "What do you want to do?" i ask. "I stopped caring." we both laugh, there was a knock on the door. "Hey you wanted to talk to me." mom walks in and Mary walks out. "What?" she sits down. "I overheard you and Mama talking." she nods. "I was drunk. That's why when you tried." I look at her. "i thought mama didn't want you to drink." she nods. "she doesn't but I do it anyway. Rose dying was the worst thing to happen to me. That's saying a lot because both my parents killed themselves and my uncle was abusive. Did all of that suck? Hell fucking yeah, but you guys are my children. You should never have to say goodbye to your children." she let's a tear drop from her eyes, i've never seen her cry so this is a first. "mom." she shakes her head. "i have done everything to make your life's safe, and I failed." I look down. "if you failed we would all be dead. I ended up in the hospital when I was 4 from allergic reaction to peanuts you realized it before even me, you also got me to the hospital before I completely stopped breathing. When me and Mary were 8 you stopped her from getting ran over twice. You also almost died for Rose when I we were 3. yeah I might now have PTSD, but at least I can remember Rose. Long story short you are the reason only one of us is dead. Also mama told me stories from when you guys were in high school."
TONI POV: 3 months old
I pick up JJ, he look like Jason. I walk over downstairs. "hey stop." Cheryl is trying to calm down Rose again. "i know you've had a long week but you need to breathe." Rose shakes her head. "no." She starts to walk away but Cheryl grabs her arm. "Do you want to go upstairs?" Cheryl ask. "Hey, you need to look at me." Rose looks at her not really wanting to. "Do you want to go upstairs?" She nods. "I'll be back in a minute." They walk upstairs.
Freshman year
"You are suspended for a month." Jason stands up and storms out. "Maybe you should think about consoling." I look up at Reggie who now runs this school. "You don't think we have?" I say sarcastically, Cheryl grabs my shoulder. I look at her. "Stop. We have, It's better than before. She can leave the house."
"Toni, you need to hold back." She closes the door to her office behind us. "Cheryl he, he." She holds my shoulders. "Calm down." She rubs my shoulders. "I try to be a good mom and I can't." I look down. It's true I could have stopped Rose from dying last year. Maybe if I wasn't stabbed maybe Jason wouldn't have been suspended. Maybe if I stopped Rose from being shot maybe Mary would spend time at home. "T, you are an amazing mom. You have saved my life, you saved Mary's life quite a few times. Same with Rose, you couldn't have done anything to stop it. She never had the fastest reflexes and if it wasn't her it would probably be JJ." I break down crying. She pulls me into a hug and rubs my back. I never cry in front of my kids. I don't even drink in front of them. "The past year has been hell." I say pulling away. She wipes my tears. "I know all of us have. We will get through this, Toni you are are the strongest person I know."
"Jason." I say walk into his room. "I don't want to talk." He looks out the window. "What's wrong?" I sit on the bed. He's never really opened up to anyone so this might be the first. "He was asking for it. He was making fun of Mary for-." He quickly stops, gets up and close the door. "Can you keep this between us? because it's not my business." He ask, i simply nod. "Yeah." He sits down. This better be good. "She has a girlfriend and I was protecting her. Don't tell her I told you." I rub his shoulder. "We all know, we don't care."
Should I just end this book?
