Wiping away the beads of sweat slowly forming on her forehead with the back of her left hand, Jan tries her best to concentrate on the teen magazine she had purchased two days prior, instead of the radiating heat that currently engulfed her like a pig in a blanket.

It was only the second week of summer vacation and it was already off to a bad start. Her family's small, and outdated, apartment's ac unit had decided to blow its last breath the day before, and no amount of fixing - or begging -  would have it back and running again. Much to her dismay.

Flipping through the magazine's glossy pages, Jan tries to find some interest in it. But, besides the silly quizzes it possessed, she found it absolutely boring. Why did she even buy the stupid magazine?

Dramatically falling back into her bed, she let's out a groan full of frustration.  Life was so unfair. She had bought the magazine to learn how to be a normal teenager.

In school, she was always the odd one out. It wasn't like she ever did anything weird, said or smelled weird, nor was it because she looked different from any other basic human being. She possessed black, short hair, two brown eyes, a nose, a mouth, arms and legs, and pretty average body proportions. But for whatever the reason, no matter the school she went to, people would be quick to label her the weird one and stayed as far away from her as they could. She didn't know why.

She had hoped that, during the summer break, she could read teenage magazines instead of her regular teen fiction novels, and learn the basics of being a normal everyday just-like-everyone-else teenager. But it was turning out harder than she imagined.

After a minute of contemplating wether or not reading the magazines was worth the trouble of being normal her little sister, Raina, runs into her room gleefully  screeching, "Jan! Mom says I can go to the pool if you come with me."

Slightly turning her head to look at Raina, Jan nonchalantly responds with, "no."

Raina's goofy smile slips off her small face and Jan starts to feel slightly guilty at her decision not to go with her sister to the pool.

"Please Jan! I'm so hot! I want to swim!" Raina begs her.

Jan doesn't respond, and instead opens up the magazine back to a random page. She didn't really like spending all that much time outside of her room, much less outside of the house during a heat wave.

"Please Jan?" Raina continues begging. This time grabbing one of Jans hands and resting her head on top of it, just like a puppy would.

Jan tries her best to ignore her sisters pleas, by hopelessly focusing on the useless magazine, but eventually ends up agreeing to taking her to the pool. She loved her younger sister to much to just completely ignore her. She was such a sucker for her sister.

"But only for an hour," Jan warns Raina.

Smiling, Raina joyfully squeals, "Imma go put on my swimsuit," then runs out of the room.

Slightly gazing down at the magazine, Jan sighs. So much for trying to be normal. Folding it up into a cylinder shape, she tosses the magazine into the trash can by the side of her bed and starts looking for something to wear to the pool.

Finding the faded blue tank top she had salvaged from the local thrift shop, and some old skinny jeans she had turned into shorts, Jan slips them on, and heads out towards the living room in search of some sun screen and towels.

*

"Mom have you seen the sunscreen?" Jan asks her mom, after looking everywhere for it.

Cindy Piper walks out from the kitchen and into the the living room, in her arms three month old baby, Oliver, lay sleeping. Cindy looked worn and tired, even with the brightly colored sundress that covered her form. "No honey. Try the bathroom, it might be in there."

"Never mind, I found it. Thanks mom." Jan says, grabbing it from the tv stand and slipping it into her purple backpack. Spotting a novel she had started the day before, she grabs it and slips it into her bag. Ready.

"Where are you going?" Cindy asks Jan, confusion etched onto her face. She honestly never seen Jan leaving the apartment without some sort of motivation. Mainly involving books on sale.

"The pool?" Jan responds slightly confused. How did her mother not know where she was going.

"Are you taking Raina? She's been wanting to go, and I just haven't found time to take her." Cindy says, guilt flooding her features. She tried hard to make time for all her children but, with everything going on, time and energy was always tight.

It didn't take Jan any more clues to figure out that her sister had tricked her into taking her to the pool. At that moment she felt like marching back into her room and telling Raina how she had discovered her dirty little trick and call off the trip entirely.

The only thing stopping her was the guilt and pity she felt towards her Mother. Five months before Oliver had been born, Jan's Father had disappeared like a ghost in the night. He had taken a couple of clothes, cashed out all the credit cards/ checking/savings accounts, and taken their dog Sal with him. He didn't leave a note or anything to explain why he had done what he had done. He just left. Leaving behind two children and a wife, who was months away from giving birth, with practically nothing and neck deep in debt. Jan hated the man. She didn't care what his excuse was, family stayed together through everything.

Knowing how much stress her mom carried around, she knew better than to act like a brat. She didn't want to make her mom stress so much more, so for the time being, she had to be completely unproblematic. No matter what. It was the least she could do.

"Of course I'm taking Raina, it'll be good for her to swim around and cool down a bit." Jan says with a light smile.

"I'm ready!" Raina announces, skipping into the living room. She had decided to go with a faded pink, one piece swimsuit covered with purple flowers. It had been Jans when she was Raina's age. In this family, everything was used till it couldn't be used anymore. Even Oliver wasn't safe from the hand me down. He currently was sporting one of Raina's old baby shirt's. Mom would always say that people couldn't even tell boys and girls apart when their babies, so it didn't matter what he wore. That and he was going to either barf or poop on it up later. So why even waste money. She had a point.

"Alrighty then, we'll be back in like an hour or two. Bye mom." Jan tells her mom, grabbing Raina's striped blue bath towel from where it had been hanging and tossing it over her shoulder.

"Be safe and take care of your sister, love you."

*******

"Hurry up Jan!"

Jan grins, slightly bemused by Raina's determination to get to the pool quickly.

It only takes about two minutes to get to the apartments pool from where they lived, but two  minutes to a toddler like Raina might as well be 100 years.

"I'm going." Jan calls out, quickening her steps. Her red plastic flip flops slapping against the hot concrete. She had wanted to slip on some tennis shoes but decided against it. She only owned one good pair, and she didn't want to risk getting them wet. She didn't need to add stinky feet to the list of why people might find her weird.

Once they reached the black gates, that enclosed the pool, Jan starts to scan the area. It was full of people, mostly kids. She frowns. She didn't like crowds, they made her feel like she was being scrutinized. Judged. Maybe it wasn't too late to call off the pool trip.

"I'm going to do a cannonball!" Raina says, staring at the pool gleefully. There went that idea. Jan smiles at her and, through the corner of her eye, spots a family about to leave their spot underneath a table with an umbrella. Bingo! Grabbing Raina's hand, Jan quickly bolts towards that direction. "Come on Raina."

***

Standing to the side of the family, Jan waits for the family to finish packing up in order for her to sit down. Having already applied some sunscreen, Raina was already swimming and having fun in the kiddie pool. Oh to be young and carefree.

As soon as the family left, Jan quickly makes herself at home on the table. She places her bag on the seat left to her, Raina's bath towel on the chair to her right, and herself in the middle seat. Perfect. Nobody would think to come talk to her, or ever so rudely make themselves welcomed at her table without an invitation. People could be so stupid sometimes.

Pulling out the book from her bag, Jan glances at Raina one last time before beginning to read. Finally some proper reading material.

****