Page 2 of Rent Free

The first child my parents had was Tarrant, my brother. Then came me. Followed shortly by Everest, the youngest boy. Finally came Sage, the youngest girl.

There were four years difference between Tarrant and Sage.

All of us went to school at Kilgore High School, in Kilgore, Texas.

Tarrant was a senior, I was a junior, Everest a sophomore, and Sage a freshman.

“I would like to know your side of the story,” my mother said expertly.

She never outright called my sister a liar.

That would set her off.

But she knew, just as well as I did, that Sage was a fuckin’ nut job.

She always had been and only seemed to have gotten worse since I’d gotten to high school.

I couldn’t wait until I graduated and could get the hell away from her.

“Well, I got to school this morning and went to soccer class like I always do, but when I went to change, my locker had been ransacked and I had no school clothes to change into,” I said. “So I had to wear my gym clothes, which I got in trouble for because they were too short. But let’s not talk about the fact that Kilgore Athletic Department is the governing body that gave me those clothes in the first place. I digress, though.” I waved my hand at the school at large. “So I get called to the principal’s office, and they tell me I need to change. So I break into Sage’s locker and find my clothes from this morning. Change into them. Only, Sage then complains to the school resource officer that I broke into her locker. I’m then questioned by him, and now here we are, talking to each other.”

“And what is she saying that you did this morning?” my mom asked, pain filling her eyes.

Every day was a new adventure when it came to Sage Solomon.

She was, by far, the nuttiest person I’d ever met.

And that was not said in a good way.

Sage made everyone’s lives a living hell, and not a day went by that we didn’t tread carefully to avoid stepping on her toes.

“I’ll handle this.” Mom got up and headed into the office.

“I’m suspended for four days,” I called out after her.

“Over my dead body,” Mom replied.

Age 19

“I’m sorry, but what?” I asked, speaking into the cell phone.

“I need you to come pick me up,” Everest pleaded. “She fuckin’ called and said that I’d been dealing drugs!”

I pinched the bridge of my nose between two fingers and asked, “Where are you?”

After getting directions to where he was, I called to my boss and said, “I’m so sorry to do this, but I have to go. Everest’s in trouble.”

My boss, the sweetest candy maker on the planet, with a smile in her voice said, “Go, dear. Let me know what Sage did this time.”

The worst thing was, she wasn’t exaggerating.

Every single time something happened and I was called away from work, it was Sage related.

Going so fast over the posted speed limit that she was arrested? Yep, Sage.

Caught stealing candy from the convenience store? Sage.

Out past her curfew, and caught by the chief of police trying to sneak into the school? Sage.

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