Family

It was afternoon by the time Elena was woken up. Her brother jumped onto her bed excitedly and began gently rocking her shoulders.

Elena's eyes slowly opened. She was a little grumpy about being woken up, but she knew it wasn't easy for a young boy to restrain himself.

Feeling a bit weary from the midday nap, she took her time propping herself up with a pillow, before grinning broadly at Billy.

"Hey Billy! Can't believe you weren't here when I got home. Don't love your sister that much anymore, huh?"

Billy, who didn't realise he was being teased, immediately started squealing in denial.

"No Ellie, I was out playing. Mum said she'd come get me before you got home. So it's her fault. I love my big sister the most!"

As he stopped, his lips had formed a cute pout. Elena couldn't help but think it was absolutely adorable.

"Haha, okay okay. But you shouldn't blame mum like that. No one likes people who always blame others."

Billy's eyes widened and he nodded in an attempt to look profound, but with his chubby cheeks wobbling, it came off more cute than anything.

Elena yawned and stretched out her shoulders, before placing her hand on her little brother's head. She felt like a walk would help wake her up properly.

"You wanna take a walk with me to the shops, little bro?"

He grinned widely and immediately hopped off the bed.

"I'll go put my shoes back on."

He ran away on his little legs, giving Elena some time to get up.

She felt very sluggish, but she managed to change out of her uniform, into jeans and a T-shirt, with some sneakers.

As she was tying her shoelaces, her mum popped her head into the room.

"Billy said you're going shopping?"

Without waiting for a response she walked over and continued, "Please get everything on this list while you're there."

"And here's the money." She added, passing a couple of notes over to Elena.

Elena was shocked. She shot a quizzical look at her mum.

Her mum smiled widely.

"I've started working as a cleaner at the 9-11. With that on top of the benefits, we can get a few treats."

Elena smiled gently at her. Her mother had done various small jobs over the years to try bring in extra income, but she had found the work too difficult on top of looking after her husband and their children. Most jobs hadn't lasted very long.

Elena stood up.

"I better go say hi to Dad properly. I only ran in for a hug when I got back."

"Well. Billy just learned to tie his own shoelaces, so he'll probably take a while. You've got time."

Her mum winked at her, before leaving.

Elena followed her out and walked across to the only other bedroom in the house - her parents.

Her dad had gotten a work injury when she was very young. He had lost part of his leg, up to the middle of his shin, and had sustained a back injury, which made moving around very painful.

Unfortunately, the company was only fined a small amount for insufficient safety protocols. He was given a compensation package, but it was not enough to cover the long term costs of his treatments, and he was unable to find work due to his disability.

At least he was awarded disability benefits from the government. It wasn't much, but it kept us all going.

"Hey Dad! Sorry, I was so tired when I got back, I basically landed on the bed and died."

When Elena walked in, her Dad looked up from his book and smiled. She made her way over to him and sat on the large armrest of his chair.

"I'm about to go out to the shops with Billy though."

He laughed quietly. Elena felt her heart settling comfortably. Her dad's laugh was always so soft and warm.

"How's school been, pumpkin?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with affection.

"Mm. It's been ok."

Elena's eyes wandered the ceiling as she thought about the past few weeks since she'd last been home.

"Decorating the hall was pretty fun. Should I show you some pictures?"

"Yes, let's see them then."

She fished her phone out of her pocket and opened up her gallery.

"Check it out."

He took her phone and with a serious expression, paged through all the photos.

"Oh. Wow! You all worked very hard. Looks great!"

They chatted for a time - about the Leavers Dance, as well as other small happenings - until Billy ran in excitedly.

"Ellie look!"

Elena looked over. He had sat himself on the ground in the middle of the room and she could see one set of his shoelaces were still undone.

"I practiced first, but I wanna show you."

His brow was furrowed in extreme concentration as Elena and her dad patiently watched him tie his other set of laces. Half way through he had realised he had forgotten to do the first knot, and so he undid his work, and started again.

He looked up triumphantly when it was done.

Elena and her dad burst into applause. Billy smiled so widely, all you could see beyond his little teeth was a mass of cheek and dimples.

"I'm done. So let's go!"

He shot up off the floor and ran over to Elena. He grabbed her hand and started pulling.

"Alright, alright. Cya later Dad"

"See you later pumpkin, and remember to behave, Billy! Don't give your sister any trouble."

With that, they were out the door, and on the way to the shops, Elena in tow.

While they walked, she asked her brother about his primary school and his friends. It seemed he had a lot to say, so Elena mostly let him do the talking, only occasionally chiming in to ask more questions.

****

The trip was refreshing, and Elena felt much better by the time they returned. It was getting to late afternoon by the time they were back, and so they were met with a very concerned mother at the door.

Their mum sighed in relief but didn't say anything.

"Thank you my dears, I'll take that off you."

She grabbed the bags from Elena's hands.

"Billy, you go bath now. Elena can help me in the kitchen."

Billy nodded obediantly and scurried off again after peeling off his shoes.

Elena followed her mum to the kitchen, and both of them began preparing supper.

After a period of comfortable silence, Elena's mum piped up.

"So, now that all the boys are occupied, do you want to continue our conversation from earlier?"

Elena peached and kept her eyes on the cutting board in front of her. She knew exactly which conversation her mum was referring to. She had half hoped her mum would forget about it.

"Oh ho ho ho." Her mum teased. Even with her head down, it seems her mum had caught onto her expression.

"Yeaah."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't tease. I'm just happy. You've always been so focused on school and tennis and things, I wanted you have more fun as well."

Elena looked up questioningly.

"Fun?"

"Of course! Dating is fun! You get to meet new people, get to know them, go on dates."

"Feel your heart beat faster." She added knowingly.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about actually." Elena said.

It was embarassing, but her mum was the only person she felt comfortable talking about these things with.

She paused before launching into a long explanation, "So there's this guy at school. I don't think it's anything like I like him or anything, but he's really good looking, and we talked a bit and I... Um"

Her mum stayed quiet and motioned in encouragement for her to continue.

"Well, he seems nice. I guess." She finished weakly.

Her mum smiled. If Elena wasn't mistaken, she looked a tiny bit deflated.

"That's great honey! And do you think you want to get to know him better? If you do, you should bring him over to visit!"

Elena didn't think that was the greatest idea. She pursed her lips, and answered in a small voice.

"I don't think so mum. I just wanted to tell someone. I'm really busy with school, and uni applications need to be done soon. Plus... You know the type of people who go to my school."

Her mother's eyes widened for a short moment before her expression turned to normal. She seemed hesitant compared to her earlier exhuberance. Elena felt guilty for some reason and returned to cutting vegetables.

"Honey. At your age, it doesn't need to be some grand commitment. Like I said earlier - it's ok to to have a little fun. Y'know?"

"I know what you're saying, mum. I just don't want to."

Due to the finality in her voice, her mum dropped the subject of dating. She wasn't going to let her off completely though.

"Fine, I understand. But you said he was good looking? Soo?"

Elena thought back to her interactions with Alex.

"Um. He's really tall. He's got dark hair."

"Oooo, so El likes the tall, dark and handsome types then."

Elena's blush deepened, but she continued. It felt nice to talk about it. Embrassing, but like something was being lifted from her chest.

"He's got these really really dark blue eyes. Like if you didn't look for long, you might think they were brown or black or something."

"And yeah. He seems nice." She repeated. She decided not to mention his poor reputation.

Her mum sighed happily. It seemed she was content with this much.

"If you won't bring him here, next time we're at the school, you'll need to point him out to me."

From the dreamy tone to her voice, it sounded like her mum was more interested in Alex than Elena was. Elena felt bad though - her mum had had very little contact with her school friends. None of them visited, so the most she would see of them was a parent's evening here and there.

"Don't read too much into it, okay? We aren't even friends or anything. I thought so last night, but maybe it was just a passing feeling or something."

"Of course, of course."

She didn't sound convinced but assented all the same. Shortly after her mum's words, the egg timer pinged and Elena's mum busied herself with the food.

****

The family of four enjoyed a hearty meal together, chatting and laughing as they caught up all the stories they hadn't shared already.

After supper, Elena showered and then read her brother a bedtime story. He was getting a bit old for them, but it was something Elena had always done with him, so he seemed to like continuing with it as she wasn't around very much.

After Billy had fallen asleep, Elena climbed down the bunk bed stairs, and quietly settled herself at the desk to study. She needed to be very quiet, as Billy and her shared the room, and she didn't want to wake him.

After feeling like she'd made a good start on her summer projects, she closed everything down and made her way to bed.

When she lay down, she thought to her conversation with her mum. She felt much better now compared to before. She reckoned it was just that - he was just the first guy she'd noticed. But it was probably mostly his looks.

She was sure whatever the feeling was, it would pass soon and she could continue with her goal to do well at school, attend a great university, and hopefully make lots of money.

Yes. Even if dating was fun, so were a lot of other things she did.

With that thought, she rolled over and fell asleep, her mind set.