Anne Gallagher

Anne, you're supposed to be the smart one.

"Hey! Carl, stop it." I hear from the bathroom. I ran out of our room to see him holding a water gun, so I took it out of his hands.
"What are you doing?" Carl asks.
"Trying to push my teeth together. It's not fair that you have braces and I don't. I'm older than you."
"Carl also had a worse overbite than you." She turns to see Carl's smile.
"Ew, there's food in your braces. You're supposed to floss."
"Flossing's for fags."
"Carl, you can't say that!" I wack him over the head. He takes the opportunity to take the water gun out of my hands and squirt Debbie again.
"Quit it out!" Debbie groans, going downstairs. We bump into Lip before we could follow her.
"What are you doing with a water gun in the house?" Lip asks.
"Cause I don't have a paintball gun."
"Actually, that, uh, kind of makes sense." Lip takes it out of his hands and proceeds to blast us with it.
"Need a paintball gun when we move to Michigan."
"Uh, no."
"Hell Survivors Paintball Field is five miles outside Ann Arbor."
"We're not going to Michigan."
"We're not?"
"Fiona said we were." Debbie says, bringing the cereal box to the table.
"Yeah, ah, that's when Jimmy was here. You seen him around lately?" Debbie sits down without another word. "Exactly."
"Did Fiona and Jimmy break up?"
"I don't know." Lip answers, sighing. "Fiona barks at me every time I bring it up." He pours himself a cup of coffee. "Just don't bring it up unless she does first, okay?"
"But I picked a fight with Becky Alexander because I thought I was never gonna have to see her again."
"See who again?" Fiona asks, coming downstairs.
"That a new look for work?" Lip asks. Fiona was wearing her white bra with black pants, and her hair in her usual ponytail.
"If I was working the corner, yeah, but since I'm doing data entry, I better put this on." She holds up a nice blouse. "Big day today, Lip."
"Yeah, whatever."
"It's not whatever!" I gasp. "It's your high school graduation! Being a good example for Debbie and I."
"What about me?" Carl asks.
"Oh, my sweet twin brother, we both know you won't finish high school." I joke and ruffle his hair.
"Lip, you're the first Gallagher kid getting his diploma. It's a big deal."
"Who'd you buy it from?" Carl laughs, causing Lip to chuckle himself.
"He's getting it fair and square, setting a good example. Pay attention."
"You have to go to some ceremony?"
"No, picking up my diploma at Guidance and getting the hell out of there."
"No ceremony in the fall. He'll walk with everyone in the spring." Fiona says to us.
"No, he won't." Lip begins to argue.
"Yes, he will." Fiona shoots back. "And we'll all be there to yell 'Lip' and embarrass him."
"Well, when our time comes around, I'm sure you will do the same for Carl and I." I smile and shove Lip. Ian comes down all decked out in his ROTC camo.
"Mornin." He says to everyone.
"Wow, Ian, looking sharp." Debbie comments.
"Thanks." He smiles.
"What, you got ROTC on the last day before Christmas break?"
"Yeah, they're having some sort of winter ceremony."
"Speaking of Christmas break, have you three written your lists for Santa yet?"
"No, because Santa-" Debbie gets cut off by Ian shoving his palm in her face, covering her mouth.
"Santa's what?" I ask, looking at Lip.
"Is a very busy guy right now, Anne." Lip smiles.
"But won't he be busy even closer to Christmas?"
"Okay, then, little miss smarty pants, when did you make your Christmas list?"
"October." I smile. "Carl thought it was too early, but Santa Claus and the elves work year round. So I wanna make sure they have plenty of time. And it's not like I asked for much, anyway."
"What did ya ask for?"
"I asked for the little house on the prairie book set. And a new dress. As well as a new pocket knife for Carl, and that homeless Hank has somewhere to stay and eat for Christmas. He goes to church with me sometimes." Ian finally takes his hand off Debbie's mouth.
"Anne, you're not supposed to put stuff for other people on your wishlist." Debbie rolls her eyes.
"I think it's sweet." Lip says.
"Always thinking of others, Anne." Ian smiles, ruffling my hair a bit. "Alright, later guys." Ian says, heading out the door.
"Finish your breakfast, you guys. No more talk of Michigan or Santa." Lip glares at Debbie for some reason, and heads out the door.

After school, Carl and I head upstairs to get started on our Christmas break reading. I wanted to give William Burroughs a shot. He was a Beats writer along with Kerouac. So on the way home, Carl and I stopped by the library to pick up a couple of his books.
"What are you doing?" Carl asks Ian as we set down our backpacks next to our bed.
"ROTC retreat." He answers.
"Since when?" I sit on Ian's bed while Carl gets the desk chair under our loft bed, opening the comic book Gilbert is letting him borrow. It was his favorite superhero. Spiderman. He's my favorite too. I haven't read much of the comics, but Andrew Garfield did a great job playing him in the movies.
"Last minute." He throws a couple items into a duffel bag. "Hey, where's my knife?"
"I don't know."
"Carl, my SOG SEAL team." Carl shuts the comic book. "It's the best fixed blade I got." He sighs and gets up.
"My samurai sword broke." He reaches under the mattress and pulls out the knife. "Need a backup till it's fixed." Carl complains, handing Ian the knife.
"Yeah." Ian takes the knife from Carl.
"What if the zombie apocalypse goes down while you're gone? Who's gonna protect Anne?" Ian looks up, before deciding to give back the knife.
"Fine, keep it."
"Really?"
"Someone's gotta be the man of the house while I'm gone, and I know it's not gonna be Lip." I laugh at Ian's remark. "Promise you're not gonna use it on anything human."
"Cats aren't human." Carl says.
"Anything living." Carl takes the knife out of the holder. "Promise."
"I promise. Can you teach me the different hand grips when you come home?" Carl asks eagerly.
"Sure." Ian agrees.
"Thanks!" We both head out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen for an after school snack.
"Twins, we gotta head to the hospital." Fiona says to us.
"Is everything okay?" Carl asks.
"Probably. It's Frank. Who knows."
"Can we get a snack first?"
"We can stop somewhere on the way home if you wanna wait?"
"Hooters?" Carl grins.
"That's a no. Anne, why don't you pick what we bring home?"
"KFC?" I ask. It was good for everyone, since it was one big bucket of chicken, and sides that each of us could choose from. Didn't have to worry about writing down a bunch of different orders.
"That sounds perfect! All right, let's head out."