"Oh my gosh," Richelle grinned at me as she paced back and forth in the kitchen. Her left leg was set in an Aircast boot, but she had lost the crutches about a week prior. "I am so happy." She stopped and looked at me. "I took a shower today and I wasn't tired afterward." She grinned at me. "Oh my gosh, I am now realizing how low of a bar that is." She shrugged. "Well, I did it. And now I'm proud of myself."
I stood, shoving water bottles and snack bars in my backpack while listening to her rave about not being tired after taking a shower. Which, for her, really was an accomplishment. She hadn't had much energy to do pretty much anything in the past months with chemotherapy and everything.
She had a week and a half before her next chemotherapy treatment, so Mom had decided to take a break from everything and go up to a beach house in Galveston for a few days.
"Guys!" Gabby bounced into the kitchen, her face practically shining. "Mom and Dad are loading up the car! Come on!"
"Alright, let's go!" I pumped my fist in the air excitedly and followed Gabby. Richelle ran after us. My siblings usually aren't this... how do you say it... friendly with each other? Normally, if we're around each other, we annoy each other until we're ready to scream. Not to mention, for the past six or seven months while on chemo Richelle had no desire to even talk to us, much less do anything with us. But now we were going to the beach, she was feeling better, and Mom was making her spend time with us instead of sleeping, now that she could.
"Girls, where are your suitcases?" Mom asked, shoving a very small suitcase in the back. If I were going to guess, I would say it was all of Richelle's medications. She had two bottles of steroids, four bottles of painkillers, innumerable nausea medications, and even emergency painkillers in case something got really bad. She had more medication than both of our parents put together.
"You loaded our stuff last night, remember?" Richelle said, typing something out on her phone. Teenagers and their phones.
I looked at the sunrise. Six o'clock. It wasn't even seven. I'd been up since four-thirty.
"Oh," Mom touched her temple. "That's right. Sorry."
Richelle shrugged. "I call backseat."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course, she calls backseat."
Gabby snorted. "You expected something else?"
"Not really," I shrugged and climbed in the van after her. Sure enough, Richelle sat in the back, her leg resting on the seat next to her, her backpack on the floor below her.
She looked up as I stared. "Problem?"
"You have all that space," I gape. "No fair."
Richelle leaned forward, bringing her head close to mine. "Do I need to spell it out for you? C-A-N-C-E-R."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."
"Let her have it, Sadie," Dad said from the front. "You can have it when we take a rest break."
"What?" Richelle protested. "But what about me? Broken leg, remember?"
"Richelle Jane, watch your tone," Mom said. "If your father said something, you'll just have to deal with it."
I smirked at Richelle triumphantly. She stuck her tongue out at me and leaned back in her seat.
"But," Dad said, holding up a hand. His eyes glinted mischievously. "Because you two decided to argue, Gabby gets it the whole way back."
"What?" Richelle demanded.
"Not fair!" I protested.
"Exactly!" Richelle agreed. "Gabby didn't even ask for it!"
"Gabby, do you want the backseat?" Dad asked, looking at Gabby.
Gabby smirked at each of us. "Why, of course, Daddy," she said, all angelic-like.
"Dude!" I objected. "But I'm older!"
"I'm older than both of you!" Richelle countered. "I should have it!"
"You do have it!" I yelled back.
"Fine!" Richelle snarled at me.
"Whatever!" I snapped back.
"Glad we agree!" Richelle barked.
"Glad we do!" I growled, leaning back in my seat and pulling out my phone.
"Good job getting us peace and quiet," I heard Mom mutter to Dad right before I plugged in headphones.
They may have won the battle, but they won't win the war.
"Look!" Gabby pointed to a car driving up to the house next to us. "Neighbors!"
Mom and Dad had rented a beach house for two days.
"Gabby, this trip is for family," I said, dragging my suitcase behind me.
"Doesn't mean we can't engage a little," Richelle said, walking past me.
"Do we each get our own room like at home?" Gabby asked as Dad held the door for us.
"No," Mom said. "Unless one of you wants to sleep on the couch, you're all sleeping in one room."
"What?"
"No!"
"Gabby snores!"
"Richelle snores too!"
"You both snore like you have deviated septums!"
"Girls-"
"You're one to talk!"
"I want my own room!"
"Me too!"
"I want one too!"
"Girls!"
"Sadie brought too many books to even fit in one room!"
"I only brought ten!"
"That's nine too many!"
"I'm not the one who brought a box of candy!"
"Richelle brought all of her freaking art supplies and no one complained!"
"GIRLS!"
We stopped and looked at Mom.
"Girls, you're going to have to make do," Mom said. "And if you keep screaming and arguing, then you're all going to be sleeping on the kitchen floor. Richelle, you're going to have to put up with Gabby's snoring and Sadie's books. Gabby, you have to figure out a way to deal with Richelle's snoring and art supplies. Sadie, you're going to have to endure Gabby and Richelle's snoring and Gabby's- wait, you brought a box of candy?"
I stifled a snicker as Mom turned on Gabby. Gabby shrunk down, looking meek. Mom held up her hand and shook her head.
"I don't even care this time. Just don't stick anything to the walls or flooring," Mom said. "These two days are for family. I'm going to put up with more from you three than normal, and in exchange, you're going to refrain from arguing or we will hightail out of here. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am," we echoed.
"Good," Mom nodded. "Now go unpack."
I glanced at my sisters, a little nervous after that wonderful pep talk.
"Go!" Dad said, barking like my P.E. coach.
We scrambled to fulfill his orders.
"Whoa," Gabby whispered as we stood in the entryway to our bedroom.
"Whoa is right," I said, somewhat awestruck. Our room looked amazing. A window facing the beach. A bunk bed to the right, and a twin to the left. A little chair and table that would be perfect for reading. Oh, I was so in heaven.
"I call top!" Gabby said hurriedly.
"Good," I said, zipping open my suitcase and shoving it under the bottom bunk. "Because I don't want it."
"I'll take the twin," Richelle said, shoving her suitcase underneath.
"I don't get why you guys don't want the top," Gabby remarked.
"Because I'll fall off," Richelle said.
"Because I'm scared of heights," I added.
"Because rolling off in the middle of the night is too much of a possibility," Richelle punctuated.
"Because there's nothing to hold anything up there," I reckoned.
Suddenly, Gabby was looking hesitant. "Does anyone else want the top?"
"You already called it," I said. "I'm staying down here." I set a piece of paper with my name on it on the bed. "And before you ask, yes, you can see my name on it." I carried a piece of paper with my name on it around with me, because, you never know with my sisters, when you'll have to claim something.
"Fine," Gabby pouted a little. But not for long, because Mom came in shortly after.
"Wow, this is nice," Mom smiled. "Do you like it?"
"Oh yeah," Richelle said, standing to gaze out the window.
"Can we go down to the beach?" Gabby asked.
"Are you girls up for that?" Mom asked.
I shrugged. "I don't really care." I glanced at Richelle. "What about you?"
Richelle pursed her lips. "I'm getting tired. I don't think I'm going to get in the water or anything."
"You sure?" Gabby asked.
Richelle gave her a look. "Yes."
And that was that. We changed into swimsuits and went outside.
"Race you!" Gabby kicked off her flip-flops and ran into the rushing waves.
I ran in after her and tackled her, landing us both in the water, laughing. Salty water rushed into my mouth. Our laughter was caught in the salty air and whipped out into the ocean in salty gusts.
I ducked as Gabby attempted to splash me. Gabby took off running through the sand.
"Gabriella Mae, you come back here!" I yelled as I tore off after her.
Gabby took a face-first dive into the water to avoid my splash.
We landed on our backs in the sand, panting.
"Dogpile!" Gabby yelled and jumped on top of me.
We were a screaming pile of kids for a few minutes, at least until we untangled ourselves.
We lay on the sad, staring at the clear blue sky when Gabby asked, "What is the meaning of life?"
I reached over, felt around, and slapped her.
"Hey!" she protested. "What was that for?"
"For asking ridiculous questions that don't have an answer!" I yelled, tackling her.
Gabby bolted across the sand, me right on her tail, past sandcastles, over picnic baskets, and finally landing where Mom, Dad, and Richelle were.
Richelle raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
I shrugged. "Gabby asked what the meaning of life was."
Richelle sighed. "What the heck, Gabby?"
Gabby shrugged. "What?"
Richelle rubbed her temples. "Gabby, you never ask that question." Richelle looked at both of us. "Now leave me alone. I'm tired." She stretched out along the beach towel, put both her hands behind her head, and shut her eyes.
"Watch it!"
Too late. Whatever it was sailed right into Gabby and knocked her flat on her back in the sand.
Richelle bolted upright. "What the heck?"
I narrowed my eyes at the boy it came from. "What the heck was that?"
"Frisbee," the boy said, picking it up off of Gabby's stomach.
"Watch where you're slinging that thing next time!" I snapped.
"Geez," the boy said, rolling his eyes. "Sorry, your majesty."
I looked at him as if he were so much lower than I. "You are forgiven, peasant."
He laughed a little. "I like you. You're funny." He reached out a hand to Gabby. "Sorry about that. I didn't see you."
Gabby ignored his hand. "That's fine."
"You alright, Gabby?" Richelle asked, her brow furrowed in concern. "Anything hurt?"
"Just my pride," Gabby shrugged.
"Elijah!" A girl, who looked about Richelle's age called, running up. She wore a blue bathing suit with a purple towel wrapped around her waist. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back in beautiful golden curls. "What did Mom tell you about watching where that thing was going?"
Elijah shrugged. "Sorry, Brooke."
"Right," Brooke narrowed her eyes, then averted them to Gabby. "Are you alright?"
Gabby nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Gabby," Richelle grabbed a towel from beside her and handed it to her.
Brooke glanced down, seemingly just now noticing Richelle. "Oh hi."
Richelle looked wary. "Hi."
"I'm Brooke," she said. "Nice to meet you."
"Richelle," my sister said. She still looked cautious.
"Anyways," Elijah looked at me. "What grade are you in?"
"I'm about to be in seventh," I said.
He nodded. "Oh, that's cool."
I glanced at Gabby, who seemed perfectly content to not be noticed. Brooke was still trying to engage with Richelle, who wasn't being very cooperative.
"Do you want to hang out?" Brooke offered.
Richelle stood up, pulling up the towel underneath her. "That's alright. I think I'm going inside." Then she turned and left.
Brooke looked annoyed. "What the heck was that about?"
"She's probably just tired," I said.
Brooke glanced at me, shrugged, and walked off.