My Little Mate *Austyn and Zeus*

one

Austyn

I finally graduate from high school today. I am happy to be done, but hate the fact that my parents are going to make it suck a big deal. I got accepted to 3 colleges. The first one is 15 minutes away, the other 4 hours away, and the third one is halfway around the world. The decision of which one I should go to has been the hardest decision I have ever made. After nights of anxiety and thinking of every bad scenario both here and there, I decided to go to the college that is 15 minutes away. I know I should have chosen to leave halfway around the world. Go away and stop giving my parents headaches, but hearing mom cry to her sisters about me leaving for college, because I hate her, and don't want to spend time with her was a punch to the gut. I don't hate mom. She always says that though. I thought she was joking, but now I realize she was serious when she said it. She says that my face always gives me away, but this is my face. The only face I have. I know she tells me to smile more, but I have never had anything to smile about, until today.

I won't say that being me has been easy. It is expected with who my parents are. Kids who have rich parents and everything gets handed to them. It isn't always sunshine and rainbows though. I am not the brightest crayon in the box, or the smartest person in the room. I needed a tutor for my sophomore and junior years of high school, so that I wouldn't fall behind. Of course, in my perfect family, I could not let anyone find out. My parents and siblings are all intelligent. My parents always make the best business decisions. I must get the dumb gene from being a Miller.

There's also grandpa, who I can't leave behind. I help him on the weekends with the horses, and the green house and all the flowers around the farm we began planting when I was 8 years old and began showing an interest in flowers. Mom hates flowers, so grandpa makes sure they are as far away from her as possible. I am his trusted assistant. He expressed his sadness and said the horses and our plants will miss me, but he said he would take care of everything while I am away studying. I can't wait to surprise him with the news. I can continue to come every weekend to help him.

Also, auntie Cali lets me work at her bakery part-time whenever I need cash. No, I can't go to grandma Tilly. We help her around Tilly's for free, and she would tell if I asked her for money. Auntie Cali pays us all, even if we are just helping her for an hour or a small errand. Yes, my parents give us money, but I always needed extra so I could pay for tutoring, and get the expensive plants I love so much. All these reasons together, though, are why this decision was made. I have never been away from family, and although a part of me wants to leave, I just can't. I don't know if I can go without seeing my family for months and years at a time. Even if some of us are always fighting with each other.

During graduation, they will announce what college each graduate has been accepted to, and where they are going. I am so excited for my family to find out which college I have decided on. I made the men promise not to look into it. They always know everything. We literally can not hide anything. This is why my tutoring was so hard to hide, but I did it, and if I have to get tutoring in college, then I will. I just hope college isn't as hard as people in the videos I watch say it is.

I already have it all planned out. The talk I will have with mom and dad once graduation is over. I will go to the college that is only 15 minutes away, but I am moving into the dorms, and I will only come home on the weekends. I think this is a great compromise, and it will make them happy. Especially mom. I don't really know what dad thinks about me anymore. I hardly speak to him. Ever since my sister and I got in a fight, I try my best to avoid everyone.

Graduation

"Austyn Browne," my name is called, and I walk across the stage. The announcer reads the colleges I was accepted to and then announces where I will be attending. I hear the cheers, but can't really see into the crowd, because cameras are flashing all over the place, and there are too many people here. To the left is the filming crew for The Reynolds. I have gotten used to them. We all have. They are basically a part of the family now. They have been filming us all for years. People love my family. Especially mom. She is the wild aunt in the family.

I grab my diploma and shook the principal's hand for the professional pictures they take. I take my seat again, and hope that this ceremony is over quickly. I feel arms wrap around my neck and smile when I smell mom's perfume. "I love you baby girl. I crawled over here just to tell you that you are my favorite and always will be. Now let me crawl back, because I see Ernesto over there zooming in on his camera. I don't need to give them more footage for the world to use against me on the show. I am so happy you are staying close to home, and I am so proud of you, my baby girl. I will see you after this is done. Look for the loud crowd, and you will find everyone who loves you," she whispers in my ear, and just as quickly as she arrived, she is gone. The ceremony finishes, and the caps go flying in the air and soon enough, I am off to find my family, feeling so good about myself.

I see my family waving at me from the bleachers, but unfortunately, I am stopped by my cousin on my real dad's side of the family. She just graduated as well. "Wait, dad wants pictures of us together, and you better smile and actually try to look nice you ugly turd," she sneers at me. She has always been evil towards me. She and her friends have bullied me my whole life. I used to try to tell my real dad, but he always made excuses for her. She just wants to spend time with you, or she doesn't mean it, or that's just the way she is. There was always an excuse for her nastiness. Eventually, I stopped complaining and either ignored her, or just took her cr@p, but I just graduated, and I am going to turn 18 soon, and I wonder what would happen if I punched her in the face if she tried me again. I can't get suspended anymore. What would happen if I punched her right now? "Austyn," I look up and I see him, my real father, his wife Marissa and their other kids walking over to us. This girl standing next to me is smiling and waving, and I want to throw up. Who is she kidding? This fake personality she puts on in front of him is disgusting. There is a huge smile on his face too. My stomach drops.

To my left, I watch my cousins jump over the bleachers and begin running my way. My parents and other family members begin walking this way too. Mom waves at me. Sadly, the Millers reach me first. "Congratulations to you both, my princesses," Beau Miller, who is my real father, tells us both. I just stare at him. Well, I can't really be his princess, as he was never my knight in shining armor. I also don't think I look like him. I am all mom. Thank god. "Thank you daddy," my cousin tells him. He isn't even her real dad. Her dad was a bad man. My family told me what happened many years ago. Beau Miller took her in and raised her as his own. She is the reason why he wasn't able to be a father to me. Who am I kidding though? It's all him. If he wanted to be my parent, he would have done it. I just blame her because she always added fuel to the fire. Every time I needed something, she made sure she did as well, and of course, she always came first, because who doesn't feel sorry for an orphan?

I watch my real father hand her a bouquet of flowers. Light blue carnations and sunflowers. It is an enormous bouquet. It is beautiful. She squeals. They all congratulate her, and then he turns to me and tries to hand me a much smaller bouquet of mixed colored flowers. It is such a sad bouquet. It looks like someone sat on it. Half of the flowers look smashed and dead. I just stare at the flowers. I feel tears fill my eyes. "Austyn, here. This is for you," he says. I finally look up. By now my whole family is standing like 3 feet away, waiting for me to finish this interaction. "You really shouldn't have," I say, and walk away, straight into my mom's arms. I don't bother getting the flowers. They suck, just like he does.

"Here honey. Congratulations, we are all so proud of you, and we are all so lucky to have you in our lives, and that you are staying home. You brighten up my day every day. I love you so much," dad hands me an ever bigger bouquet than she got. If I thought hers was huge, mine is enormous, and mine is filled with 100 dollar bills. There are so many of them. I smile when I grab it. All light pink roses. He kisses the top of my head. Then everyone else starts congratulating me. "So, we have to get you a new car to bring you to and from school every day." Dad is already making plans, so here goes nothing. "Actually, about that.." I only get to say that before my words get stuck when I see what stands before me.