The Attic

When they had first shown this house to Daddy, they said she was a "Fixer-upper". It turned out they were right. The inside was so rundown that we had to block off most of the house, and put safety nets under the ceilings of all the rooms we lived in (including the porch), in case of a cave-in. After all safety inspections we had two bedrooms, a bathroom, half a living room and a quarter of a hallway. We bought a two-room shed to make up for the kithen and my sister Tracy's room.
After a month of living here we had managed to buy and paint law chairs and an outside table, paint the house a pale yellow, the shutters green and the porch that attached all the way around the thing white. The bathroom we completely replaced. My mom planted two flower beds at the porch stairs in the backyard, and they rebuilt three of the four walls in the parent's bedroom. As soon as they finish the forth, they'll paint the walls, work on the rest of the house, paint that, polish the floor, go upstairs and fix the floors there (AKA the ceilings downstairs) and when they finish all that, the house will be livable. The Children's Safety Department gave them one year to do all that. If they didn't make it, we were gonna be taken away. So we helped. Well, most of us.

***

I walked on the path we had worn that led from the dirt road all the way to the back yard. I heard banging from the house and knew that my parents we working on the last wall of their room. I stepped inside and peeked in the room. My older brother, Ray, and twin, Jake we helping. I slipped back out, dropped my bag onto one of the lawn chairs, and entered the trailer.
" Duh, of course! ........ No you imecile, Donovan said that. ........ I know right?!" Tracy squealed from her room.
"Trace!" I called.
"Wait a minute," I heard Tracy say. Then the door to her room opened, letting a loud boom of music out. He toes had cotton stuffed between them and her hand were holding two bottles of nail polish. She scowled at me. "My name is NOT Trace," she said in a superior attitude, as if she was talking to a bug. Then she slammed the door in my face and I heard her squeal on the phone again.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a bag of chips. I slapped my notebook on the table outside and popped a chip in my mouth. I scribbled answers on the math homework, hoping against hope that one might end up being right. Mom would kill me if I failed anything, but I'm not one to care much. Unlike Ray, who was the genius of the family. But I loved him all the same. I yanked the hair tie out of my blue-black wavy hair and tied it back up tighter. Finally, I stuffed everything in my bookbag, stalked up the stairs, and went to help Mom sand-paper the done walls.

After dinner I stepped into the only modern room of the house, our white-and-blue bathroom. After taking a shower and stuffing my shorts and tee into the laundry basket, I pulled on some gray sweats and tank top, then padded into the bedroom that I shared with Ray and Jake. We all had inflatable beds, so that we could move them around when my parents worked on the walls. I sat on mine, pulling the covers up to my chin and hugging my pillow.

"I was here first, so go jump out a window," Jake's voice yelled.
"Ever heard of ladies first?" Tracy said smugly.
" Jake, be a gentleman," Mom yelled.
No way I'm letting Tracy get the bathroom first, I thought, jumping out of bed and sprinting down the hallway. Tracy was just stepping in when I jumped I front of her, making her yelp and step back. I slammed the door in her face. I could hear Jake's hysterical laughter through the door.
"Shut it!" Tracy screamed at him. I grinned. Payback.