I sat on my bed, staring at the bare, white walls around me- my pitiful excuse for a room. I heard firecrackers going off and kids shouting from speeding cars on the highway. That night, practically everyone was out celebrating the start of summer vacation, but I remained at home as usual. Even my little sister Hillary was getting ready to spend the night at her friend Marcy’s house.

I looked out the window and saw Dave, Travis, Kyle, and Lucas, the stars of the junior high football team, throwing eggs at the front of the house.

“There he is!” Travis pointed and laughed. “Let’s get his window!” Before I knew it, my bedroom window was dripping with yolk.

“Jake!” Mother screamed from downstairs. “You better clean up this mess right now!”

I got up and opened my door so I didn’t have to shout. “It’s not my fault,” I said miserably.

“Of course it’s your fault. They’re throwing eggs at you, so you clean it up.” The boys roared with laughter. They could hear Mother’s shrieking all the way outside. How humiliating.

“Can I at least wait until they leave?”

“I guess so. But it looks like they’re going to be here a while. Look at all the cartons they’re carrying! Oh, never mind. You can’t see out of your window because it’s covered in eggs,” she sneered. “You better get this cleaned up by the time the sun comes up tomorrow or I’ll make sure that your summer will be absolutely miserable.”

I climbed back into bed and pulled up my itchy, threadbare sheet. It didn’t quite reach my scrawny shoulders.

Hillary came into my room, carrying a sequined pink overnight bag and a sleeping bag adorned with some cartoon character that I didn’t recognize or give a shit about. “Are you all right, Jake?”

“No,” I mumbled. An idea came to me in a split second. “I’m leaving.”

“What do you mean you’re leaving?”

“I can’t take this anymore. I just want to get away from Mother, the kids at school who torture me.. everything. I want to start over.”

Hillary looked at me wide-eyed, like she was Bambi or something. “You can’t just escape your life!”

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