Don't think I won't report this.

                                    

                                          
"Going to the store today!" Fiona announced. Thank God. We can finally get some toothpaste.
"Toilet paper. I'm starting to chafe from the streamers." Lip says. 
"Anne needs toothpaste," Carl says
"Why are Steve's clothes down here?" Debbie asks. 
"Somebody couldn't wait to get upstairs last night." Ian answers. 
"So, my SAT gig's a bust, but, uh, I can scrape up some money another way if you need the help," Lip tells Fiona. 
"It's cool. I got 35 bucks. Plus, I'm picking up that temp check later."
"Okay." Carl starts to play with the taser that Lip stole.
"Is that a taser? Where'd you get that?" Fiona asks. 
"I let him borrow it." Fiona disapprovingly looks to Lip. 
"Hey, help me out." She didn't want him carrying a taser. Or any weapon for that matter. 
"Carl and Anne finally got invited someplace by normal kids. Robbie Rebello's having a paintball party." Lip explains. 
"Seriously?" Fiona asks. We don't get invited many places, so this was a pretty big deal. 
"Yeah, but they're not going, so I gave Carl the taser to play with. Don't worry. It doesn't work." 
"Who's Candace?" Debbie asks. 
"No idea." Fiona answers. "You guys aren't going?
"No. It costs $27 per person."
"Oh. Sorry, kiddo. Maybe if you guys get invited somewhere cheaper, I could swing it."
"It's cool. I'd rather have toothpaste than go to some dumb birthday party." Carl shrugs his shoulders. 
"Steve got a text from Candace. 'Sweetie, call me. It's important.'" Debbie reads from Steve's phone. 
"Hey, you don't read other people's messages," Fiona says, snatching Steve's phone out of her hand. 
"Is he dating someone else?"
"Go! You're gonna be late for school."
                          
After school, Carl and I came home to an empty house. Lip and Fiona were getting groceries, Ian had to go straight to work, and Debbie decided to go to the park with Holly. Carl decided to watch some TV while I did some homework. Not even 10 minutes in, Debbie comes bursting through the door with Frank. 
"Get out, Frank." Carl says. Fiona's gonna kick him out either way. 
"Hey. Don't go treating your father like that. I raised you two degenerates. Show some respect." 
"Fiona raised us while she dragged your drunk ass in from the yard so you wouldn't freeze to death." Carl argues. 
"Beside the point." Frank says. 
"We have to keep daddy busy so he doesn't drink." Debbie says, leading Frank into the kitchen. 
"Yep. I'm a sober man." I wonder how long that's gonna last. I give it 20 minutes. 
"Carl and Anne! I'm cutting the cake that's in the fridge if you two want some!" Carl goes straight for the kitchen, and I continue on my homework. I'm probably the only kid in the world who doesn't like sweets. They just don't taste very good. Not only that, but we were celebrating Ian's promotion in ROTC tonight, so Fiona said she was going to bake a cake. She is gonna kill those three for getting into it. 
Lip came home with Karen about 10 minutes in the sugar rush in the kitchen. 
"Anne. You care if Karen and I hang out in here?" 
"It's your house too." I say, not looking up from my geometry homework.
                          
When Fiona came home, she walked in to see Carl and Debbie bouncing around in the kitchen with Frank, Lip, and Karen making out on the couch, and me reading To Kill A Mockingbird on the spare chair. 
"You have a bedroom, Lip," Fiona says, shutting the door. 
"Yeah, says the girl who had sex on the stairs last night," Lip argues. 
"Hallway."
"I stand corrected." Gross. Didn't need to know that. 
"Kev and V are on their way over with meat sauce."
"Is that a euphemism?"
"I bought pasta. They're bringing their foster kid over to play with Anne and Debs." Oh right. I forgot. I really don't want to. I have too much work that needs to be done if I want to stay ahead of the game. I go and sit on the couch next to Lip. That's when Fiona and Lip finally notice what's happening in the kitchen. 
"Debs, what's going on?"
"We got high on sugar because Daddy quit drinking."
"Whose daddy?" Fiona asks, concerned. 
"Me daddy. Me, me, me-me-me-me." Frank repeats. 
"Shit." Lip groans. 
"What?" I ask. 
"He's done this once before." 
"We gotta help Daddy stay busy and keep his mind off of drinking, so he can make $3,000."
"Can I go do my homework so I don't have to listen to any of this crap?" I ask Lip. He nods, and I go up to our room. 
I don't understand how Carl could be falling for that. Debbie, I get. But after what Frank put Carl and me through?
I open up my school provided laptop and go to my email. A message from Gilbert is at the very top. 
Hey, it reads. He sent it less than 5 minutes ago, so he should still be active. 
Hey. What's up? I answer back. He replies instantly. 
Nothing much. Just wanted to see if you and Carl wanna hang out. Wait. Does he actually want to hang out with us?
Well, we have some stuff going on at home. But you can come over and we can hang out in my room if you want to?
Sure. I just have to ask my dad. I rush downstairs and sit back down next to Lip.
"Lip?" I start to ask.
"Yeah, what's up, little bit?"
"Can Gilbert come over. We'll stay up in our room, because of all the chaos down here." We look over to everyone else to see an obstacle course, with Ethel and Carl ready to race. Kevin looks over to me and stops what he's doing. He grabs Ethel's hand and leads her over to me.
"Hey, hey! Anne, I want you to meet our new daughter." 
"Foster daughter," V yells from the kitchen.
"Why you got to do that?" 
"Nice to meet you." She says, sticking out her hand for me to shake.
"You too," I say quietly.
"I can tell that you're shy. One of my sister wives was just like you." I look to Lip, ready to go back upstairs. He nods, and I go back up. Once I see my computer screen, I see another e-mail from Gilbert.
Just let me know where you live, and I'll be on my way.
And so, I did. Less than 5 minutes later, Lip comes up to our room.
"Anne. There is a boy downstairs asking for you."
"Gilbert!" I say, getting up and rushing down the stairs. When I get to the last step, I see Gilbert's eyes looking down at mine. We then hear a yelling from the kitchen.
"Let's go upstairs before Frank sees you." I grab his hand and lead him to the room. He takes a look around.
"This is your room?" He asks. "It's kinda boyish, you know?"
"Yeah. I share this room with my three brothers. It's a cost that comes with the separation anxiety."
"Oh, that's cool. Which bed is yours?" I point to the bottom bunk. It has an open textbook, 4 pillows, and a blue comforter on it. He sits down. "You were doing homework, weren't you?" I smile and nodded.
"I like to be ahead of the game. Take extra classes for just the purpose of knowing new things."
"See, I knew I liked you for a reason." I blush and sit next to him, facing the door in case one of my brothers came in. "You like exploring new things out of your comfort zone."
"Yeah. I'd be in high school now if it weren't for the whole separation anxiety." I look behind Gilbert to see Carl. 
"Oh. Hey Gilbert." He spits out. 
"Carl?" I start.
"No, maybe you should just go on to the high school. It's clear that I'm not smart enough for you." He crosses his arms.
"Gilbert, please excuse us for a moment." He nods, and I lead Carl out of our room.
"You know for a fact that's not what I mean. What's really going on?"
"Why aren't you downstairs, hanging out with Frank and the rest of the family?" I knew Gilbert could hear us, but I didn't care about it. Carl's more important.
"Uh, do you not remember when we were kidnapped for drug money that Frank owed?"
"Yeah, how could I forget that? I'm only reminded every day from our separation anxiety and my anger issues. Anne, maybe he's gonna get through the next two weeks. And then he's going to start being a dad. Maybe he will even go to one of my football games."
"Carl, he's a raging alcoholic. He's never going to start being a dad because he's going to realize that booze is more important than his kids. That's just how it's always been. That's how it will always be."
"You're right. But, I'm going to enjoy this while I can. Let me know when your FA kicks in. I'll be downstairs." He walks back downstairs, and I turn back into my room. Gilbert looks back at me.
"I'm sorry if this was a bad time." He says, getting up.
"No, you're perfectly fine. This is one of the least hectic nights we've had here in a while." He sits back down, and I shut the door. "Usually when the door is shut, that means that the other siblings can't come in for at least 30 minutes."
"What were you talking about with Carl?" He asked.
"Oh. You heard." He nodded. 
"You guys were kidnapped?"
"Yeah. Our father, Frank, is an alcoholic and a druggie. He didn't pay someone, and the guy took us for ransom."
"How long were you gone? If you don't mind me asking."
"It's cool. Ask anything you want. We were with the guy for about 8 months. Maybe 9."
"Jesus Christ. He didn't, like, do anything to you guys, did he?"
"If your asking if he raped me or Carl, then the answer is no. He didn't. He treated us like his own kids. He made us call him dad." I chose to leave out the Fraplexia Amega. I don't want him knowing that too. I'm only telling him this because I knew he heard us in the hall. 
"Why did he make you guys call him dad? That's sick." I don't know why, but I found myself defending this guy. 
"It could have been a lot worse." I glance at the clock that read 6:55. "Gilbert, I think you need to leave. I'll see you at school."
"Okay. I'm sorry if I pushed you into talking about some things you didn't want to." I put my eyes on the clock. 6:56. 
"Gilbert, seriously. I need you to go."
"Okay, Anne. Goodnight." He leaves, shutting the door behind him. No one at school knows about my FA. No one at school will ever know about my FA. I'll make sure of that. 
I pull out a movie from my bookshelf, and pop it into my computer so I can ease into my FA. It's a lot easier than it just popping in. Mulan. My favorite. I think to myself, FA kicking in.