Old Man Hugh

Hugh had a birthday. He got old. He has gray hair and looks weird. 😂 

Big Moves

Big news! The day before her birthday, Marissa moved in with me! Juanita came over and we celebrated Marissa's birthday in our new place. I got us a nice big house so there's plenty of room for Marissa and her future siblings. She loves the house and her room and is settling in very well. She's nervous about starting high school, but excited too.

I also asked Hugh to move in with me. I missed living with him and it's nice to have another adult around the house who isn't paid to be here. Don't get me wrong, the maid is great, but it's just not the same. Besides, if I start talking with her, she forgets to work and still charges me at the end of the day.

I considered asking Juanita to move in too, but something is holding me back. I don't know, maybe I'm just not ready for that commitment yet.

New Phase in Life

Graduation was awesome. I was so happy to see all my family and friends in the audience when I walked across that stage to get my diploma!

Afterwards, Hugh threw TWO parties for me! The first one for my friends right after the graduation ceremony and the second, which was the next day, for our family. He made me wait until the second party to give me my gift, but it's a brand new car so it was worth the wait! It was an amazing weekend!

Today I got the keys for a nice big house I bought in Brindleton Bay. I'm still on the fence about Juanita and I, but no matter what happens with us, I want to make sure there's plenty of room for Marissa to run and play when she comes to stay with me. 

Maybe adulting isn't so bad after all.

Done!

I did it! I won't lie, it wasn't easy, but I got it done!

Tomorrow is graduation and I don't know when, but Hugh is definitely planning a graduation party. After all that's been going on I'm looking forward to a day of relaxing and cutting loose!

A Secret and A Bombshell

I've been seeing Juanita Murakami off and on since high school and just recently it's gotten a lot more serious so I proposed to her just the night before last. She said yes and we celebrated with a private romantic date. Yesterday, she hits me with a bomb and tells me that not only does she have a little girl, but also that I'm the little girl's dad! Needless to say, I was shocked. I couldn't understand why she never told me. This child is in grade school so it's not like she was just born last week! Juanita said that at first she was worried that I would think she was trying to trap me because of my family's money. Then, just as she was feeling confident enough to tell me, I had broken up with her and we didn't see each other again until after Marissa was born. I feel terrible about my timing. I didn't even have good reason other than I wanted more freedom. I'm angry, too. Regardless of her reasons, I feel like I had the right to know sooner.

One of the worst parts of all this is that I only found out because Marissa snuck Juanita's phone and called me saying, "Dad, will you come see me today?" I thought it was some sort of goofy prank until Juanita took the phone. I had them both come over so I could meet Marissa and talk with Juanita. 

After keeping such a huge secret for that long and the way I had to find out (was Juanita ever going to tell me??) I'm having doubts about the proposal. That's a lot of shadiness going on about big things. I do want the chance to get to know my daughter and spend time with her though. 

Two Down, One to Go

I aced the second semester! Not a single B this time! 

Hugh said if I do as well with this last semester that he's going to throw me a big graduation party! I know he's planning on surprising me with a gift too because he's been hinting, but he won't tell me what it is!

Just Call Me Ace

Ok so there's one B, but that's still close enough to be called Ace, right? 😂

This semester seems like it might be harder, but I'm buckling down already and I feel more aces coming!

Adulting is Hard

Hugh called me early this morning to let me know that our sister Haley died last night. I don't know what happened, she wasn't that old so there must've been some reason for it other than old age. With starting classes at a university, I was already missing my parents and now my sister is gone too. I'm so busy with classes and studying I haven't even been able to see Hugh since I moved closer to campus and I miss him, too. At least I have a cool roommate. She and I have hit it off really well and have become good friends.

My classes aren't bad and I'm doing well. I should be getting grades soon, but I'm not nervous about that because I've been keeping up with everything other than a term paper I just realized today that I need to write. It won't be a problem though because I'm starting on that now and should be able to get the rough draft done tonight.

Being on my own, I'm extra grateful for the family money Hugh and I have inherited. I knew I was lucky and never felt like I took the money for granted (even though it's over a million), but having to take care of all the expenses on my own sure has opened my eyes to how much everything costs and how much it all takes. I understand more now why Hugh wanted me to come here. I'm lucky to have him looking out for me. I hope he knows how much I appreciate him.

Decisions Decisions

Hugo's decided that since I've had my birthday the journal is up to me now. You probably already know this, but I'm Brenden Okada. The youngest of the Okadas.

Hugo's also decided that going to a university would be a good idea for me. I've decided that he's right. I've applied for scholarships, but haven't heard back yet. I should soon though, I think. Now I just have to decide which university to apply to and which classes to take, if I'll stay on campus, get a place off campus, or just stay home. I'm learning toward not staying home. Hugo said he'd stay here while I'm gone and I'm looking forward to meeting new people. Especially all the cute college girls!

Meanwhile, we're just sort of hanging out killing time waiting to hear back about the scholarships. I'm enjoying the freedom and not having to worry about homework now that I'm done with high school. I'd like to spend some time working out to lose some of this weight before I start school, but we don't have the space for workout equipment or even working out in front of the TV and the weather has been absolutely freezing for a week now so I can't even go out for a run!

Busy Week and Big Plans

We have Winterfest coming up in just a couple days and the next day is Brenden's birthday. He's doing so well in school I've been trying to talk him into thinking about enrolling in college. I think it'd be a good idea for him. He's spoiled though and thinks there's no point in it since we have enough money that he wouldn't need to work. Hopefully he'll come to his senses. 

I got a gift in the mail and I don't even know who it's from. It's a camera and a nice one, too. It's exciting to get surprises. I played around with it a little and found out that it has a timer so I took a picture of Brenden and I. Clearly I need more practice because we missed the timer completely, but it was fun to mess with. Maybe I'll learn more about it and take up a new hobby.

Yet Another...

It's always one step forward and two steps back. Just after we moved to Windenburg, before we even slept there for the first night, Grim Reaper came for Arabella. I thought maybe she had choked on her dinner, but the doctors said she died from laughter. We still have no idea what she was laughing about. She was alone in the room. Perhaps one of the voices in her head? We'll never know. 

It's just Brenden and me now.

R.I.P. Crazy little sister. I will mourn you forever.

...or at least for 23 hours.

Progress

Now that some time has passed, I'm happy to write that we're all doing much better. I'm now a legal adult, Arabella and Brenden are teenagers as of today (Happy birthday to them!) and seem to be happy. Arabella parties a bit too much for my taste, but it hasn't effected her schoolwork and she hasn't broken curfew so I don't say much. She seems to have even been able to make friends which is a relief, but she still talks to herself from time to time which is concerning.

Brenden still wants to be an actor. Maybe he's not going to outgrow that like I thought he would. He was the lead in the school play. I'm looking into signing him up for afterschool acting lessons. I think he'd enjoy that, it'd be a nice surprise for him. He does have a lot of girlfriends, which is fine as long as he remembers to be safe. We had "the talk" so I'm counting on him to be responsible. The last thing I need is another kid to take care of. 

I'm considering moving us to another town. The people here are too pushy and intrusive. Twice just this past week people have just walked right into the house. I thought I'd locked the doors, but obviously I was wrong. Maybe we'll do that this weekend. I don't want to move in the middle of a school week. 

Another Death in the Family

On Friday, the day before Spookfest, Richard died. The doctors said he had a heart attack because of all the stress and his unusually high blood pressure for someone his age. I think he was just too mean. It's just me and the little ones now. There's no chance of me moving out on my own any time soon.

Sometimes I wonder if our family is cursed.

Just Me

Ok so my name's Hugh Okada. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with this journal, but not long before my mom died just a couple weeks ago she asked me to start a journal for the family so I figured I'd better get on it.

I don't even know what I'm going to write about, but I guess I should start with who I am in case anyone ever actually reads this. I'll be 18 in exactly a week and I'm already in charge of three kids. It's not be easy, they really don't want to listen to me much, but they don't really have much choice. The kids are Richard, Arabella, and Brenden. Richard isn't really a "kid" kid, he's a teen and just a little younger than me. Arabella and Brenden are twins and are very much still kids. Annoying, too. They're ok though, I guess. Sometimes they're funny and even a little cute. 

Richard is mean. Like, really super mean. He's always causing trouble and thinks it's funny when one of the little ones cry or get upset. He's an ass, but thankfully I won't have to deal with him much longer. I was told that when Richard is 18 I can move out and leave him in charge, but I'm not sure I'll do that because he's so mean to the little ones. No one likes him, really. Not even kids at school. Mom asked me to be nice to him though and try to learn how to get along so I'm doing that for her. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and he'll learn to be nice too now that we're stuck doing everything on our own.

Arabella is weird. Like, crazy weird. She gets picked on and bullied a lot at school because of it and we worry about her sometimes because we've all heard her talking to herself and not really making any sense. Dad always said that she should see a shrink, but Mom wouldn't even listen. She just said that Arabella's fine, she just has good imagination. That doesn't really explain why she changes into a winter coat and snow boots to go swimming in July, but whatever. Not my call. Actually, maybe now it is my call. I guess I should look into that.

Brenden wants to be an actor. He's always putting on silly little plays and puppet shows, things like that. He even used his acting skills to get me out of trouble once when I skipped school and mom found out. Brenden told her that he saw me at school that day and made up a little story about what we did. Brenden's actually pretty ok when he's not barging into my room or messing with my stuff.

My favorite thing to do is play sports. Basketball is my favorite and I was on our school's team, but I had to quit when Mom died. I don't have the time for it any more because I have to help the little ones with their homework and school stuff and take care of the house and bills and things. Thankfully, Mom and Dad left us enough of an inheritance that I don't have to try to get a job on top of everything else.

Dad's been gone for a while now and we still miss him, but we've all pretty much learned to deal with that. With Mom gone now too though things are a lot harder. Everyone's still really sad and I can hear Arabella crying in her room and talking to someone about it. I don't know if she's talking to Brenden or herself so I guess I should go find out. I need to make sure they're getting ready for school anyway.

I'll write more when I can.