Audrey hoisted her bag up onto her shoulder and caught Oliver mock saluting her out of the corner of her eye.
She unlocked her car, affectionately known as Big Red. Not because at one time in the mid-nineties it had been a vibrant shade of vermilion, but because it had big red rust patches on both back panels. Sure, it wasn’t pretty. But Big Red was about the most reliable thing in Audrey’s life, and she’d drive the damn thing until the wheels fell off.
“What’s our fact for the day?” Deanna asked as she took her place in the front seat beside Audrey. That was always the rule: littlest kid gets the front seat on the first day of school.
“Oh no, I forgot to look up a fact.” Audrey started the engine and eased the car away from the curb.
“No, you didn’t.” Deanna stuck a bony elbow into Audrey’s side. “Tell us. We have to learn.”
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at school?” Audrey glanced at her little sister, trying to hide the smirk tugging at her lips. She was a miniature version of their mother—with her chipper personality and thirst for knowledge. Deanna even resembled her, with long blond hair and blue eyes so big she looked like a cartoon character.
Audrey had also inherited the long blond hair, but instead of blue eyes she’d gotten a rich olive-green from her dad. She’d also skipped out on her mother’s naturally lean figure, too.
“It would be if the teachers actually knew anything,” Georgie chimed in from the backseat with her signature teenage drawl. “I don’t know where they find half of those idiots, I swear.”
Audrey narrowed her eyes at the rearview mirror. She couldn’t fully disagree, since there’d been a number of teachers with questionable education skills back when she was a kid, but she didn’t want Georgie scaring Deanna off on her first day of high school.
“You’re right, Dee. I do have a fact.” Distraction—that was her go-to technique.
Deanna pumped her fist into the air. “My brain is ready.”
Oliver chuckled from the backseat but didn’t look up from his phone. Georgie listened on with interest, however. Despite her attachment to electronic devices and her generally sullen attitude, she was a sponge for information.
“You’re twice as likely to be killed by a vending machine than a shark,” Audrey said. She’d looked up that fact first thing that morning, when the house was still quiet and she’d had her coffee and breakfast in a rare moment of peace.
“No way.” Deanna wrinkled her nose. “How does anyone get killed by a vending machine?”
“Darwinism?” Georgie joked.
“Actually, she’s kind of right,” Audrey replied. “There was one guy who shook a vending machine so hard it toppled over and crushed him to death.”
After debating the silliest ways to die—top contenders included peeing on an electric fence, trying to hand-feed an alligator, and driving with your eyes closed—Audrey pulled Big Red up to the high school drop-off zone. Oliver and Georgie slid out of the back, eager to be away from the embarrassing car as fast as possible. Deanna stayed put for a moment, biting down on her lower lip as she watched the students streaming into the school.
“Don’t be scared. You’ll have a great time.” Audrey kissed the top of her head. “Look, Celeste is here. Why don’t you catch up to her so you can walk in together?”
Deanna’s eyes lit up at the mention of her friend. “Good idea.”
She slid out of the seat and hoisted her backpack onto one shoulder, slamming the door behind her. It was warm out already, the sun making her hair look like fibers of spun gold. At the last minute, she turned around and leaned in the open window of the passenger’s side.
“I like your fact, by the way. Morbid, but interesting.” She grinned before darting off into the crowd.
That was their routine. Every morning, Audrey would come armed with a fact, and Deanna would give her an assessment. Georgie and Oliver would both act like they didn’t care about the ritual, but she knew they secretly enjoyed it. Even Jane, when she’d lived at home, had joined in.
Their life wasn’t perfect by any means—they all missed their mother like hell, and they missed the man their father used to be. And they lived in the shitty part of town in a house made for a family half their size. But they were happy…and that was the thing that mattered most.
Switching her focus to the day ahead, Audrey followed