| Angry Mother Alert |

BEEP….

BEEP….

I groaned. I hate that alarm with a burning passion.

BEEP

I sighed in my pillow, searching blindly for the snooze button. Failing miserably.

BEEP...

"SHUTT UPPP!" I yell, flinging my eyelids open. I yanked the alarm clock that was on my

nightstand into the air and yeeted it across my room. I sighed in relief when it stopped beeping.

I rolled onto my stomach again pulling the covers over my body.

"LANCE!!" I heard my mom yell. I practically growled. I just wanted to sleep. AHH.

I dug my face into my pillow, forgetting the reason why she was annoying me. I ignored her

calls.

My door slammed open. I jumped at the sound of my mother's harsh heavy breathing. "Get up!" She snapped.

I groaned, digging my head under the pillow. "What am I going to do with you!" She yelled. I groaned rolling off my stomach and sitting on my butt. Her eyes were wide and angry as she looked over my messy room.

I glanced nervously at my very angry mother. My room was littered with trash and food. And my mother looked at me with a mixture of disgust and rage, since she especially asked me to clean my room last night, so she wouldn't be left with a mess when I left for my summer job.

She walked stiffly towards me. Her handshaking with the spatula she had in her hand, that was still dripping with egg yoke she had been scrambling for me. Her eyes squinted at me. I glanced nervously at my hands.

Your dang right I was still afraid of my mom, she was scary especially when she was mad.

She was wearing her normal PJs with her messy brown hair thrown up in a messy bun with flyaways in her face. Her face was red and I winced as she licked her lips like she usually did when she was furious.

I had to always deal with men trying to flirt with her because she still looked like she was in her twenties even though she was thirty-eight. But of course, she always denied them looking away from them and always asking me. "Is dad done with his call yet?" Then the strangers would usually walk away scratching the back of their necks, ears burning with embarrassment without saying another word.

I internally chuckled at the memory.

If only I did have a real father, I think to myself sadly. My dad left us when I was a child, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him. He left my mom high and dry with nothing but a few dollars in their bank account. Since then, my mother has slaved overnight shifts and jobs just to feed me and make the rent.

"Mom!" I exclaim, trying to wiggle my way out of this one. "The eggs!" I say hoping she left them on the stove. Her eyes widened for a second then she squinted them back at me.

"We are going to talk about this!" She exclaims. "Get up and get ready, or else you're gonna be fired on your first day!" She stomped out of the room and I quickly got up remembering that I had to get to work, so I could get my orientation done at the cruise ship.

We didn't have enough money to pay for my college tuition so I had to pick up a summer job on a cruise probably waiting for rich people. I was kind of happy about it anyway, not the part where we are not financially stable. But the part of going on a cruise away from my life problems. But what I mean by that is I mean, Brent.

I scrambled to the conjoined bathroom connected to my mother's bedroom, taking a quick shower, feeling the warm liquid run down my body. I wrapped a towel around my waist going through my bathroom jours to find my razor. I got the shaving cream and started shaving the slight stubble I had on my face. I studied myself still having traces of shaving cream on my face.

People always said I was very handsome but I still don't think I'm that handsome. My jet black hair was damp and tousled hanging over my forehead from when I ruffled my hair trying to get the moisture out. I was tan from many years of soccer, I once hoped I would get a scholarship, but I guess I wasn't that good. I had freckles littered on my face and vibrant green eyes. I had a lean body, but not as muscular as I wanted it to be. No matter how much I went to the gym, I never gained that much muscle and had more of a tall lean build. I was eighteen right out of high school and going right into a job for tuition for Florida Atlantic University, I had good enough grades, just not the money. I walked out of the bathroom feeling water droplets still on my exposed chest and body, opening my small closet. I grabbed a pair of shorts with a t-shirt. I grabbed my duffle bag off my bed that was filled with random clothes I'd shoved in last night.

I walked out of my tiny room and into our little two-bedroom apartment. My mom and I live in a small apartment in Florida, with Brent. I'm not really sure why she is still with Brent, maybe because he helps a tiny bit with the bill, although my mom does ninety percent of the rent.

I walked over to a very hungover Brent who was holding his head in disdain on the grease-stained furniture we called our couch.

"Hey, Brent!" I say purposely being loud. He practically growled at me with his pudgy face in mine as he gripped my shirt collar.

"Shut up!" He snapped, releasing me, putting his head in his hands again. I smirked at him as he mumbled a list of profanities, laying back on the couch shirtless with his beer belly exposed. Brent is what you call a disappointment. He only works a while when he gets low on drinking and gambling money. He is forty-five, a bit taller than me, his hair a greasy mess long and overgrown. When he's not working he usually stinks the whole house up with weed, plays cards with his friends, and gets drunk.

"Drunk," I mumble to myself as I walk to the kitchen that is only a foot away.

"What?" I hear my mother say as I enter our tiny kitchen, still in her pj's.

"Nothing," I say hugging her. My mother pointed to her cheek. I rolled my eyes and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you! Is it that hard to show your mother affection, Lance." She said almost shoving a plate of eggs to my chest. I sat on our minuscule corner kitchen table and wolfed down the eggs.

"BABE!" I frowned in disgust. I hated it when Brent called her babe.

"Yes, honey?" My mom is trying not to sound annoyed.

"Do we have any aspirin? My head is pounding!" He yelled. My mom went to the junk jour and put aspirin on the counter.

"Yeah! Come get it!" She yelled back, I could hear Brent groan in the living room. It smiled faintly. gulping down my water I got up carrying my duffle bag over my shoulder. I heard Brent shuffle behind me.

"Good. You're finally leaving." He mumbled.

"Yeah. I was getting sick of the smell of you BO." I shot back. Hugging my mom and turning back to Brent. "You do anything to her, I will kill you," I say coldly before hugging my mother one more time. I look behind me to see Brent gulping water down while taking a couple of aspirins. He was going to kill himself on how many aspirins he was taking. I smiled faintly at the thought.

"Love you, honey! Make sure you call!" My mother said smiling widely.

I smiled back, walking backward to the front door. "Cya drunk," I say happily hearing Brent growl behind me as I walked quickly down the small hallway.

I walked towards the danky elevator and pressed the lobby once I was inside. I was on the ninth floor and I didn't feel like going down the stairs, so I decided to risk the elevator. I heard the elevator groan and I could hear the strain from my weight. I glanced nervously at the floor, this elevator gave me the creeps!

Ding!

My head snapped up when I heard the elevator door open. I walked through the dark lobby. I was free, well, for at least a summer anyways. I walked through the lobby doors, looking down at my watch on my wrist, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head!

I was going to miss my bus!

No. no. no.

I started sprinting towards the bus station.