The Ones that Matter

We did something really cool today. Im so tired. Tell you more some other time

Lying in bed, Frankie dropped off a text to their folks because she could. She didn’t expect a reply and didn’t get one, but it made her feel better.

“Are you thinking of them?”

Katie was snuggly wrapped up under her own covers, but she couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable.

“Mm.”

“Tomorrow is Christmas, and we’re lightyears away…”

“Kinda sucks, huh…? What a weird year…”

“The first eleven months were pretty normal…”

“I don’t remember the first eleven months.”

Katie rolled over to face her sister from across the rented room.

“Remember… when I told you not to drop out? Of high school?”

Frankie met with her sister’s eyes.

“…Yeah. Back in Venge City, you brought that up.”

Katie hid her mouth under her soft, fluffy sheets.

“I take it back. Drop out.”

“…Huh?”

“There’s a theme park the size of a planet now. And I want to explore it with you one day. So don’t waste any more of your life going to school, okay?”

The room felt small.

“I…” Frankie was taken aback to say the least. Katie had never said anything like this to her, in all the advice she’d ever given her little sister… except… somehow, this fit perfectly within everything she knew she believed. She could tell it wasn’t a joke.

“Aren’t you worried about my future…?” The younger girl snidely chuckled, a semi-forced response.

“I am. And that’s why you should drop out.”

She blinked at her older sister, hard.

“We only have so much time on this world, and now we’ve got a lot of money to spend over the course of it.”

Frankie snickered.

“You saw what happened the last time we had a large sum of money.” She remarked.

“Yes, and… I don’t regret having that memory. But this time we’ll do better. We’ll spend it smart, and… make it last. We’ll do this for the rest of our lives.”

“Katie, I…”

“What, is there some other way you want to spend your life?”

It was the rudest Katie had ever sounded. The suddenly acidic tone of her voice scalded and terrified Frankie- though, in a way it wouldn’t have if the words hadn’t cut so deep.

“I don’t know that yet.”

“So come with me. Think of everything I’ve shown you. I know it’s been awful sometimes, but the highs have matched the lows, wouldn’t you say? Better than getting ostracized in a shitty classroom for kids that will never amount to anything, isn’t it?”

Frankie couldn’t look at her big sister anymore… even though she wholeheartedly agreed.

“…You aren’t wrong there.”

“I’m glad you understand. Just… think about it, okay…?

Frankie tried, but resting her head in her pillow as she faced away from Katie, all she could think of was what other way she would spend her life.