Plié and Clout

Chapter 7: Accidents

so if i get corona, which might happen, I'll do a mass upload if I end up in the hospital.

Music: Reveries - Bones & Bridges

-rabid

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STEPH:

"Gotta bust guys, picking up Jilly from some school thing." I yawn and make my way toward the door.

"Right, Saggy is a dad." Rocket yells.

"Not my kid, my sister," I shout back.

"You act like a dad."

"I gotta." I snort. "Parents live in Maine."

"Right right, elite private school biz." Rocket laughs. "Smart kid sister."

"Smart kid sister," I repeat, then disappear out the door.

Pickup is less disastrous today, but that's just because I'm getting her from school, not the studio.

"How was the day?" I say once she hops beside me. The school uniform is tacky, but it's required, she hates it.

"Awful," she mumbles. I nod once and turn out onto the main road. "I miss my old friends."

"Everyone misses someone," I sigh. "It's going to be rough, Jilly, I know it is."

"I just, I haven't made any friends so far, and I can feel that my old friends are going to drift, you know?" I nod.

"My friends drifted when I got into the OHL, but it's different with guys."

"One moment you're their most important person and the next. They're moving on." She lets out a long sigh. "Nobody seems to like me."

"It's just the beginning, Jilly Bean," I reach over and ruffle her hair. "And if it doesn't get better? I'll clout my way straight into the headmaster's office."

"No," She gives me a hard answer which causes me to look at her funny. "I will not be that girl who's famous older brother had to buy her friends from the headmaster."

"Good point."

"What's for dinner?" she asks. I suck in a sharp breath.

"I don't know, this whole, no billet family and no parents thing isn't working well."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I wish I was still in Maine, with mom, seeing dad on the weekends, I like you, yeah, but I miss how easy it was." She sniffles a bit and looks out the window.

"Hey, Jilly, don't cry, it's okay." I reach over and rub her shoulders. "I know, the both of us have never really been around each other much, I mean, we're nine and a half years apart, I got into the OHL when you were only seven. I'm basically a nonexistent figure in your life, but Mom wanted you desperately in this school, okay?" She sniffs again and I don't know what to do. "And you need to know before you're older like I was when I found out; Mom and Dad never planned to have kids, really," I let out a sigh and she sniffs harder, leaning over the small center console to rest her head on my shoulder. "I was a mess up and it strained them," I'm doing my best but it's not good. "And then, as much as it hurts, you were kind of like a bandaid attempt at their relationship but it just fell apart, okay? It's not our fault, and me leaving at sixteen for most of the year killed them,"

"Steph?" She looks over at me. "They didn't make me move here because of the school, did they."

I pull into the parking garage and shake my head. "No, they didn't." I get up out of the car and walk around the other side, opening her door. She stands up and immediately attacks me with a ferocious hug, burying her face in my sweaty chest, crying.

"They made me come all the way out here, so far away from home because they didn't want me around?"

"No, Jilly, they just," I don't know how to make that lighter, that's exactly what they did. "They're done raising kids, they want adults now," I rock back and forth. Some old lady that lives in the same building as us gives me a look and I glare right back. "I wanted to stay in Boston, to see if I could actually act like your brother for once, but," She pulls me tighter. "But Rocket and I got traded for Osling, and Mom seized her opportunity."

"They didn't want us?" She's still in disbelief. I kneel down, pulling her hands off her face so she can see me when I say this.

I take a long deep breath. Her eyes are the same color as mine. "Jills, they want us, okay? They're just really bad at showing it." I take a second then shake my head. "That sounded off, okay. They love us, but not the same way other parents do."

"It sounds like they don't." She scumbles her sniffling just a bit. I try to smile a bit for her.

"Hey, hey, they do, it's okay, you'll see it later, okay? They just sound horrible now because I just told you," She puts her hands on my shoulders, stopping me.

"You just think that they love you because you've become indifferent to the fact that they don't want us around." I just shake my head. "I feel like I have nobody now."

"Jills, Jilly, Jelly bean, Julianna Sagamore," My voice is echoing in the parking garage. "I know I haven't been around for you, but I'm going to be here for you for the rest of my life, okay? You're going to have me always, even when you feel this alone."

"Thanks, Steph." She hugs me again, and I pick her up, spinning her around once before setting her down.

"And Jills?" I look down at her. "You're going to make a ton of friends, okay?" She smiles off her tears and I grab my bag from the back of the car. "What do you say we get take out and make cookies for dinner."

"Good idea."