Chapter Eight

 Author's Note: In this chapter, we switch POVs from Henry to our generation 2 heir James! 

Dear Journal,

Prom ended up being a drag. Betty made Prom Queen, but when I asked out a girl I had a crush on, she rejected me! It was so humiliating. Dad kept going on and on about how proud he is of us, and I love him, but man he has a tendency to be so sentimental sometimes.

He's tried repeatedly to get me to take over the farm when I'm of age, and I keep telling him it's not gonna happen. I've known since I was a kid that I just want a normal job, maybe something in business. We've struggled so much growing up, never having as much as other kids, and I don't blame my parents, but I just...don't want to struggle for money so much.

So on Leisure Day...yeah, I get the irony...I decided to do a job shadowing thing at the Doo Peas Corporate Towers. One day I'm going to get a job there for real.

Betty got asked out by this kid named Arthur Grover at prom and now they've got a steady thing going. I wish it was as easy for me to talk to girls as it seems to be for Betty to talk to boys.

While I was working hard to ensure we actually have money in the future, my family was goofing off in the garden. Why am I not surprised...I mean, I guess it was Leisure Day but still. No wonder we never have any money!

Apparently they went from playing in the sprinklers to having a water balloon fight. Don't they realize how bad that is for the environment?? That's a total waste of water. 

Betty spent the day at the Festival with Arthur. She placed dead last in the hot dog eating contest. I could make a joke about that, but I'm not, because it's my sister and that would be gross.

Dad loves Arthur. He says he's an upstanding young gentleman. He's always saying old-fashioned stuff like that. He's taught me how to be respectful and polite and stuff, but it does get old after a while. Sometimes I just want to break the rules and see how much he flips out.

Dad kept going on about having the perfect garden for some reason. I don't know. It looks like any old garden to me, but I don't know anything about plants. But yeah he feels like he's achieved his lot in life or something, and now it's basically just discovering all the plants there are to grow or something. Wow, so exciting. I swear I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but we're just different people.

Samuel grew up into a toddler. He's pretty cute I suppose. I don't feel all that close to him since we are so far apart in age. I'm honestly not sure what my parents were thinking having a baby at their ages. They seem more like Sam's grandparents than his parents.

Apparently Dad found some special seeds. It's all he could talk about lately. One of them gives off this cool fruit that keeps you warm. The other one creeps me out though. The fruit has skulls on it!

Betty is still going steady with Arthur. The two of them are so cute together that it makes me wanna puke. I wish I could've found a girlfriend at prom. Dad says I have plenty of time to be dating girls, but he's old. 

Thomas is a teenager like me now. He's pretty cool, but he takes after Dad a lot. He loves being outside, loves going fishing. I just don't get it at all. Dad should just let him inherit everything; it would make more sense. But Dad says I'm the one who has to carry on the family name. That's stupid. Just because I was born first? Who came up with these rules? 

Mom is an elder now. She doesn't let it slow her down. She still has time for all of us somehow. I don't know how she does it. How am I supposed to do what my parents did? Raise and support a family with barely anything to their names? I hate to admit it, but what they've done is pretty impressive. I'm not sure I can live up to their example.