We Belong: Chapter 28

678 words

5 minute read

SOPHIA THE WORST

(Jesse)

TW: Ableism

For a long time, I wait for official club business.  Will one of them call us to order?  Will I get a secret code name?  But nothing happens.  Sophia sprawls on my bed and eats candy.  Shane and Connor sit on the floor and wait for the bag to get passed to them.

When Connor offers it to me, Sophia leaps up.  “No!  What are you doing?”

“Jesse’s in the club now, he should get candy, too…” Connor says.  He looks a little scared of Sophia.  I think we are all a little bit scared of her.

“That wasn’t the deal.  The deal was, Jesse gets to be in the club and we get to eat his candy.  If he eats his own candy then he can just be out of the club with Loser Lexie.”

My mouth drops open.  

True, Lexie’s not exactly acting like a friend right now, but she’s my twin, and we love each other no matter what.  We definitely don’t let other people call us names.

All my words stay stuck inside but I just manage to reach a pair of Seth’s train pajamas and throw them at Sophia.  They hit her in the face.

“Ew!  These stink like Seth!”

Connor laughs so hard he falls over.

"Kids!  Come and have a cookie!" Mom calls.  

Sophia gets up and runs out of the room before the rest of us even move.

“Why do you let her boss you around?” I whisper to Shane, once we're alone.  

“Because,” he says back in a quiet voice.  “Our clubhouse is her cabin.  She says because it’s like that she’s the boss.”

“But when do I get my code name?” I press softly.

“What?” Shane looks confused. “We don’t do that.  It’s mostly just Sophia bossing us around every day.”

I wrinkle my nose.  “I gave up my candy for this?” I complain in a louder whisper.  “Why didn’t you guys warn me?  Or better yet, why don’t you leave?”

“She says we’re in for life.  She did some My Little Pony magical friendship spell that we have to be her friends or else.”

[Image: A blue My Little Pony toy]

“Jesse!  Connor!  Shane!  Come have a cookie!” Mom calls.

Good.  I’m starving, since I can’t have my candy.

Shane and Connor get up to leave and I hear Sophia say: "I'll help Jesse," and she comes back.

Now it’s just me and Sophia left in the room, she dangles the candy bag in front of my face and then she smiles and skips toward the door.  In her annoying sing-song voice she says, “I’m putting this where I know you can’t go…”  

I raise my eyebrows to tell her I’m on crutches most of the time now and I can go anywhere I want.  It’s like a challenge on my face.

Sophia understands, but smiles a mean smile.  “You can’t go everywhere.  You can’t go downstairs in your basement, and that’s where I’m going.  There’s not even a railing on those stairs for you to hang onto, so ha!”

She walks away, right past Mom in the kitchen, telling a big lie about how she has to get her purse.

Seeing her do that makes me so angry I want to scream.  I feel tears in my eyes instead and a burning feeling in my throat and nose that always happens when I’m trying not to cry.  When I get to the kitchen, I want to tell Mom but I’m embarrassed to whisper to her in front of Sophia, who is back super fast after hiding my candy in the basement.

Mom can see something is wrong, though, from my face, and Shane’s and Connor’s.

“Do you need to talk to me privately?” Mom asks.  It’s probably because, since I feel like I might cry, I must look like it, too.

I can't answer.  I can't even nod my head.

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Questions for Discussion:

Jesse communicates a lot with facial expressions when he can't talk.  What other ways do you communicate besides talking?

Sophia takes Jesse's candy down to the basement because she knows he can't go there.  Has anyone taken something of yours somewhere you can't go?  How did you feel?

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