Anne Gallagher

I've always been top spot, and I'm certainly not losing to a boy.

As my brothers and I were sitting in the kitchen, getting ready for school, we hear the front door open, followed by some groaning.
"Fuck, I need sleep." We hear Frank say. I look to see Debbie leading him inside the house.
"Don't worry, daddy, you'll be in a nice warm bed in no time." Debbie smiles as she holds his hand. The four of us then looked at each other, knew what was about to happen, and started racing upstairs to reclaim our beds as our own.
"What's going on?" Fiona exclaims, popping her head out of her bedroom door after hearing us all run.
"Frank. Drunk. Looking for a bed!" Lip exclaims. Carl and I run as fast as we could to our room so that we could help Ian barricade the door. I couldn't run as fast as him, as I was still very weak.
"Who the hell let him?" I finally make it to the room before Ian and Carl could put the dresser in the way.
"Debbie." I answer.
"Anne, just sit on our bed and don't move." Carl demands, and I do as he says.
"He's not hot-bunking my bed." Lip exclaims.
"Can't he sleep on the porch? It's warm enough." Carl complains.
"I want my old bed back." We hear Frank come up the stairs.
"Oh hell no!" Fiona yells, ready to fight as she realizes that's her room.
"It's okay, daddy. You can sleep in my room." Debbie says, softly.
"Wouldn't do it, Debs. He's especially ripe this morning."
"Frank smells like dog piss." Carl complains more. I decided to get off the bed and join him at the door frame.
"Not dog piss." Frank argues. "Gary, the homeless guy."
"Come on, daddy." Carl and I go to see Debbie and Frank in her room.
"Hey, that's my tent!" Carl points out, noticing Debbie put it on her bed so Frank could sleep without ruining her sheets.
"I'll hose it off after he wakes up." Debbie rolls her eyes.
"Don't hose it, just burn it." I start. "Carl, I'll get you a new one."
"Debs, don't let Frank in here anymore." Lip says, walking up behind Carl and I.
"This is his home too." Debbie rebuttals.
"He disappeared for months." Ian points out.
"And now, he's back. Excuse." Debbie starts to push Ian out of the way. I finally decided to give my input on the situation.
"Debbie, if I'm actually sick, him being here, can not be an option."
"And why not? It isn't always about you, Anne!" Debbie yells. Woah. That came out of nowhere.
"Oh no, the sisters are at it." Lip groans.
"We better get out of here." Ian responds.
"No, let's see where it goes. They've never actually fought before." Carl says, keeping Ian and Lip right in their spots.
"Debbie, I know it isn't all about me-" She cuts me off before I could say anything else.
"Then why is it? It's Anne's fraplexia. It's Anne's separation anxiety. It's Anne's kidnapping story. It's Anne's cancer, which you don't even have! It's always about you!"
"What, you think I want it to be about me? I've been doing everything in my power to make sure it isn't, but it always comes back and bites me in the ass!"
"Maybe that's just because you're a selfish, attention seeking bitch!" Okay, ouch. That one hurt.
"Woah!"
"Hey!"
"Debbie!"
"At least I'm not a dumbass! All you're doing is worshiping an alcoholic and a drug addict! When are you going to learn that Frank is an asshole, who's just gonna make me that much more sick, with the germs he's bringing in? You're so fucking stupid! You're the only one who hasn't been fucked over by Frank, and it makes you think you're daddy's little princess, but you're not! Get that through your thick skull! All he cares about is scamming you into doing what HE wants! God, I can't wait for the day when he fucks you over!"
"Anne!"
"Christ."
"Alright, that's enough!" Fiona yells, coming out of her room, now fully dressed. Debbie punches me in the eye, before Fiona could get in between us. Everyone except for the two of us freezes.
"God I wish you were never born!" She yells out.
"Jokes on you, I've been wishing the same thing about myself for years!" I reply, storming downstairs before another word could come out of my mouth, or another fist went flying.

I went straight to the freezer to grab something to put on my eye. I've seen Fiona do this to Carl when he gets into fights at school. It did help a little, but my eye was still hurting pretty bad. No doubt it would turn into a black eye soon. Imagine that. The only Gallagher who doesn't fight, getting a shiner. After icing the eye a little, I take a seat at the kitchen table, and notice a pink piece of cloth on it. I pick it up to see a mask. Fiona must have picked it up for me. I take a good look at the design. Jasmine flowers with green stems and leaves on it. I couldn't help but smile. She knows me so well.
Not long after I stormed downstairs, everyone else started filing in for breakfast, as if nothing happened. Thank God, I don't think I could handle more confrontation right now. Carl fixes some breakfast for us, and sits next to me. Jimmy was next to follow, starting to make breakfast for everyone else. Fiona comes in next through the living room, and hands me some cash. She rubs mine and Carl's heads.
"Milk money!" She says before walking to Jimmy. "Anne, when you and Carl come back from picking up your homework, we gotta have a talk." Debbie comes down the stairs and rolls her eyes when she looks at me. I just grab Carl's arm, worried she'll punch me again. I wouldn't put it past her. "And Debbie, straight home after school." Debbie just grabs her backpack and storms out the door.
"Breakfast." He says, holding out a plate for Fiona.
"Did you wash up after you pooped?" She grabs a coffee cup.
"What are you, my mom now?" Jimmy asks.
"We're supposed to do that?" Carl follows.
"Yes! Even more so now that Anne might be sick."
"Fiona-"
"Anne, don't start. We've been over this, your health is important. Now, where's your mask?"
"It's right here." I smile as I lift it from the table.
"Good. Do you like it?"
"I love it. Thank you."
"I figure it matched your style pretty nicely. And since you like Jasmine tea, I thought the flowers were a bonus. Now remember, you have to wear it the whole time you're out of this house, okay? I took the day off, so we can make sure everything here is disinfected and cleaned, okay?"
"You're losing a days pay?"
"No. I told my boss what's going on, and he gave me the day off with pay. Like I said. Don't worry. We got it handled." Before our conversation could continue, Mandy comes in without pants on.
"Tell your girlfriend to wear clothes, Lip." Fiona says. I look away from Mandy. It would be rude to stare. Carl didn't seem to think so, as he couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Not her keeper." He answers.
"Don't look if you don't like what you see." Mandy replies.
"Sweet." Carl drools. Fiona notices Carl, and throws Mandy some pants.
"Pants. Now."
"Jesus. Hey, you going to school today?" Mandy asks, looking at Lip
"Oh, no, later. Gonna skip my first periods so I can clock community service hours." Lip answers as he pulls out some money from his back pocket. "Adding the last 50 bucks to the property tax, yo." He gets out the squirrel fund. "That should bring us right around where we need to be."
"I didn't put in the money from that last toxic-waste gig I had yet."
"Okay, that's cool. Hand it over, and I'll drop it off before community service, pay the tax man."
"I don't have it."
"Don't have what?"
"The money. I used it to put down a deposit on a club night." This can't be good. "Hey, Anne, Carl, finish up so you can get to school. Remember, straight there to pick up your work, and straight back. And say hi to Gilbert for me." Carl and I figured that was our cue to leave, so I put on my mask and we head out the door.
"Fiona's just looking out for you, Anne." Carl states. "She knows what's best for us."
"I know." I sigh. "I'll apologize to her when we get back. But right now, I just wanna see Gilbert."
"How are you two anyway?"
"I mean, we're okay. We talk to each other every night. But I haven't told him about the cancer yet. I'm afraid he's not gonna take it well."
"If anyone should be taking it any way but well, it's you and me. Fuck everyone else. They're not gonna have to go through as much as us if you do have it."
"Everyone's acting like I do. But we still don't even know for sure yet."
"Yeah, but it's a possibility that you do. A larger one than if I have it. So we just gotta make sure it doesn't get worse if you DO have it."