Chapter 4

"I'm home!" I shouted as I closed the door behind me. It was still a habit for me to say I was home, having my sister or big brother greet me if they were downstairs. But this time, the house was empty.

I took off my shoes and neatly placed them to the side. 'Maybe I should clean the house, I thought to myself. I slipped off my backpack, placing it by the front door, and started cleaning.

I started by putting away and washing dishes in the kitchen, folding the laundry, to resetting the couch and blankets. I finally started sweeping the whole house to finish off with the chores today. By the time I was mid-way done, mom came home.

"Welcome home." I looked at her and smiled. She placed her shoes on the opposite side of mine before walking into the living room, which I was sweeping. She looked at me sweeping before she collapsed onto the couch. She let out a big relieved sigh as she made herself comfortable.

"Don't leave your backpack downstairs. Also, hurry up with the sweeping, you should've been done before I got home." She said stoically, not even batting an eye at me.

"O-oh, sorry." That was all I managed to say, gripping the handle of the broom tightly. This was the first time she ever said anything like that to me before. I picked up the pace and finished sweeping. I then picked up my backpack and went upstairs to start on my homework.

It was about half an hour later before I heard my mom come upstairs. She was mumbling something to herself before she came into my room.

"You're not even finished with your schoolwork yet?" She said irritated. "Besides that, do a better job sweeping next time, I know I didn't teach you to half-ass chores." I heard her let out a 'tch' before leaving my room.

I sighed. She never nitpicked before. What was wrong with my sweeping? She always told me I was doing a good job before. I turned off the light to my desk before packing up my homework. I got out some comfy clothes from my wardrobe before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

I undressed and turned on the shower. I dipped in my hand once or twice to make sure it wasn't too hot. When I got in I felt my body relax under the warm droplets of water fall onto my skin.

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After my relaxing and warm shower, I patted down my damp hair before leaving the bathroom. I went downstairs, hoping dinner was already done. My mom was already eating her meal, so I sat and started eating mine.

It was quiet between us for the first five minutes. Then my mom spoke up.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I had a rough day today and ended taking it out on you. Thank you for cleaning the house today."

"It's..ok." I paused. "I'm glad you're much more relaxed now." I smiled. She smiled at me back and we continued eating. We eventually finished dinner, mom washing the dishes, and I clean the table. We hit the sack after that.

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"Don't eat the chicken salads they serve for lunch, the chicken is hard as hell and the vegetables taste bitter," Asaru complained.

We were walking to school as we do normally. Asaru and I having our fun conversations to pass the time on our way. We reached school and parted ways as usual. I saw Yuza in the hallway with Lily and some other girls chatting away. She looked like she was enjoying herself. She noticed me walking up to her and looked at me, I waved. But she just looked back to the other girls and continued chatting like I wasn't even there.

'What was that about?' I walked off to the first period on my own that day.

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"Is something on your mind? You always look out of it when you're thinking." Asaru asked as we were walking home.

"Nothing gets pass you, huh?" I giggled a bit. "But you're not wrong."

"Spill the beans, we still have a good ten minutes before we make it home."

I sighed. "My mom has been acting differently. She was depressed when Felix died, but after the divorce…she seems a lot more irritated when she comes home. Nitpicking at stuff I'm doing."

"Damn, sounds frustrating. Do you wanna come chill at my place then? Catch a break?" He offered as he looked at me.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I can't completely blame her, a lot of life-changing stuff has been happening." I sighed again.

"Alrighty then, tell me if you change your mind though." He smiled. I nodded my head yes in response before returning a smile.

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When I came through the front door I saw my mom was on the phone with someone. But it seems as soon as I was about to head up to my room she was finished with her call.

"Your sister was able to get into the college she wanted. I'm so proud of her." She smiled.

"Oh that's good-" I was cut off by my mom.

"Why can't you do something worth wild like that?" She asked. "You got a 3.6 GPA by the end of the school year, didn't you? Freshman year and a 3.6 GPA. Your brother and sister had a 3.8 and higher in freshman year." Her tone slowly changed from happy to irritated.

"How are you going to get into a good college like your siblings if you start low on the easiest year?"

"I-I'll try to study more…I'll raise my grades this school year." I stuttered.

"Good." That was all she said before she shooed me upstairs.

I slipped off my backpack and got to work. I finished my homework and spent the rest of my free time going over notes.

Then I repeated the same schedule I always do, shower, eat, then finally sleep.

It seemed harder and harder to please mom these days. I shrugged it off and did my best to go to sleep.