It ended up taking a whole hour for me to drop off both my sisters in different places. I thought I talked a lot but Sarah, she's something else.

I went back home well my moms house, right after dropping them off and oh my goodness, was it hot as hell outside. I should probably learn how to drive already.

It's not that I couldn't it's just that I was a really bad driver and my mom didn't trust me to drive her kids around. Makes sense I guess.

When I arrived at the house, mom was putting the boys into the car seats, getting them ready to head to their soccer game. Anthony was in the passenger seat, I stood there waiting for my mom to notice me.

"Thalia! Finally you're here." She says looking stressed. Her hair was tied back into a high ponytail but some pieces were staring to fall apart and frame her face.

"Is there any room for me?" I ask, looking into the car but not seeing any empty seats.

"Oh. You don't have to come. If you could just clean off the mess in the kitchen that would be awesome, I don't have much time to clean anymore." She puts her hands on her hips and I'm a little disappointed to hear that I wasn't coming along.

Even tho the rest of the family was.

"Oh. Okay. Good luck!" I waved to the boys and CJ waves back.

"Alright we'll be back soon. Oh and don't forget to pick up Kenzie at three. Sarah will call you or me to come pick her up" mom says before shutting the door of her car.

"bye.." I forced a smile as they drove out of the driveway.

For such a big family I have, I've never felt more alone.

I felt much more appreciated at my dads house. He would actually spend time with me, even if it meant I had to sit still for hours, I don't care, at least my dad includes me.

I sigh and turn around walking to the front door. I open the door or try to anyways because I notice it's locked. And I didn't have a key.

Are you kidding me.

How am I supposed to get in. I bent down and look under the welcome Matt but there's nothing there. Ok, so they're not stereotypical enough to hide an extra key under their welcome Matt.

Think, think, think.

I gasp once I come up with an idea. I walk around the front entrance and walk towards the backyard. Sarah always kept the window slightly opened because she says she likes waking up to the fresh morning breeze.

Fortunately the window was opened, unfortunately I was too short to reach the window.

If only I was two inches taller, I jump and try to hold onto the window but my fingers slip and I fall onto my feet.

I groan and try a couple more times until I finally hold onto the window sill with my hands, gosh, I'm not athletic enough for this.

My feet dangle from here and all I have to do to get inside is pull myself up with my arms. I really don't have the upper body strength to do this.

My spaghetti noodle arms wobble as I try to pull myself up, my feet try grabbing onto the walls of the house but it's no use. My arms shake and I can't hold in any longer.

That's what she said.

Even in the moment of me about to fall, I think of something dirty. I feel myself fall and I land on my knees into the spiky bushes below.

"Dammit." I groan and accept the pain in silence.

I stand up and wipe my shorts and hands, dusting off the dirt. My knee is slightly scraped but there's no blood so it's okay.

I take a deep breath before walking to the slide doors near the mini patio in the yard. I slide the left door but it was locked too, I move to the right door and it slides open.

"All this for nothing." I mumble to myself as I enter the house.

Next time I'll make sure to check all the doors before trying to climb to the windows. I want to whine and throw my head back in annoyance when I see the mess I have to clean up.

There were dirty plates, food under the table and some liquid spilt on the floor. And lots of piling dirty dishes in the sink. Is this how Cinderella felt? Because I feel her pain now.

I decide to start with throwing everything away before moving on to the cleaning part. It'd probably take about an hour to clean all this up but knowing me, I'll get too lazy and take some breaks so about two hours to clean up.

I was slightly on point because when I checked the time again two and a half hours had gone by. My moms kitchen was now squeaky clean and even cleaner than before.

It's a good thing I only come here twice a month.

I throw myself on the couch and close my eyes to get a little bit of rest. But then my phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket.

"Hello?" I ask, not recognizing the number.

"Thalia? Can you pick me up please?" I recognize Sarah's voice and she sounded unlike herself. Kinda like she was holding back her cries.

I sit up and furrow my brows.

"Right now? But I thought you were going to stay for a longer time." I said, taking a cushion and hugging it.

"I know. But I wanna go home. Can you pick me up, please." She says and I sigh.

"Okay, I'm coming." I said and my eyes widen in realization.

"Coming to pick you up, not- never mind. I'm on my way." I hang up and tie my shoes before heading out the door.

I walk out the house and go in the direction of Sarah's friends house, which was luckily only a couple blocks away.

I look down as I walk and watch where I step, over the cracks. Eventually I make it to the house and I knock on the door asking for Sarah.

Sarah comes rushing through and hugs me tightly. This was out of character for her so I knew something was wrong, I hug her back and I hear some whimpers come out of her.

"What's wrong?" I ask, and pull away.

Her eyes were puffy and she wipes her tears away.

"G-Gabby was being mean to be all day and s-she would ignore me and pretend like I wasn't even there." She explains, still crying.

I feel for her because I know she was mature and really smart for her age, kids would like her if they really got to know her.

"Do you want me to go in there and give Gabby a talk? Because I will." I said, cracking my knuckles only half joking.

She laughs a little but then shakes her head.

"No, it's okay. I don't want you to get in trouble." She smiles.

"That's a first but thank you." I wrap my arm around her.

"C'mon let's go." I said, walking with her.

"Can we get ice cream?" She then asks, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes.

"No, ice creams bad for you." I said seriously making her pout.

"Sike, of course we can. And you think I'm a bad liar." I scoff and she smiles.

"You are." She says and I secretly agree.

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A/N

A little 'family' time with Thalia 😜

7/3/22