MWB CHAPTER 1: Thea's Life

"Partying, dating, skipping class... I heard that's what you've been doing while your Mom and I were gone." Dad said calmly, but I could tell that he wasn't impressed

They just came back from yet again another business trip, and this is the topic the that he decided to talk about in our dinner.

Seriously. Not that I care anyways.

"If you keep this up Thea, then we'll have to give you a punishment." He continued his talking while cutting his rare steak, not even giving me a look. "Especially that your grades are not looking good."

"Understood." I answered robotically

The dinner then became quiet. I was just having a dinner with my parents, with my family. But it was so damn suffocating.

To escape the suffocation, I didn't finish my meal and dropped my utensils.

"I'm full." I said and wiped my mouth with a napkin. I could see from my peripheral view that Mom is looking at me with a hint worry, but I ignored it. "I'll go ahead, excuse me."

I didn't bother waiting for their response and stood up. I badly want to end this suffocating feeling so I walked to my room and locked myself in it.

I dropped my body to my bed and let out a sigh. I hate this house. I can't even call it a home because no one feels like a family.

Man, I can't wait to go to school and spend time with my best friend. As someone who mostly skip classes, I look forward to going to school. It's the only place where I can goof around and just be me. The only place where I can be happy.

Now let me tell you, my best friend and I aren't that bad. Yes, we skip classes. But we make sure to not flunk any subject. That's why even though we skip classes, we stay in school. We only skip classes because they're boring. But if we know that something important will happen in a class, then no skipping.

My train of thoughts came to a halt when someone knocked at my door.

"Thea?" It was Mom

I then stood up and opened the door for her.

"Can I come in?" She asked with a faint smile

I just nodded and let her enter my room. I then closed the door while she sat on the edge of my bed.

"I hope you understand why your Dad is like that." She said

Once again, I just nodded.

"He wants the best for you. You know that, right?" She continued and ask

"Yes, Mom. I get it. Is that all?" My patience was running out

I think it's pretty obvious that I don't want to talk about the topic on hand.

"I'm just checking on my daughter." She answered. "Is there something you wanna talk about?"

"Nothing at all." With you, that is

"Okay, I'll go ahead then." She stood up and I opened the door for her. "I love you."

"I love you too."

And she finally left.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate Mom for caring for me. But at the end of the day, she can't do anything about it. She will always follow Dad's words as she always have, and she wants me to do the same.

Maybe I wouldn't have been the delinquent I am today if they just spent more time with me. Childish thinking, I know. But that's what I feel.

Dad is a business minded person, and very much workaholic. I've never once felt his care for me. His priority is always his business, and Mom always take his side.

That leaves me feeling alone. No, I know really am alone in this family. Wait, is this even a family?

I just chuckled bitterly at the sad thought and closed my eyes with an empty feeling.

---

I was excitedly hopping my way to my room and saw Theo. I could only feel excitement when I'm about to see my best friend. And yes, Theo is that best friend. We also claim ourselves to be twins because of our similar names, Theo and Thea. Unfortunately for us, our family situation is also similar

"Hey Twin, what's up?" He greeted and waited for me to catch up with him. "I heard your folks came back, nothing bad happened?"

I shook my head and laughed at his question. "I mean, the usual happened. It's not that bad, I guess."

"It's not that bad because you're used to it. Which is bad." He said and we just laughed at it together

When we reached our room, we dropped our bags in our seats and scanned the room.

"What do you think? Skip or stay?" I asked him

"Well, what are you feeling?"

I smiled. "Definitely skip."

"Thought so."

We walked out of the room even though we just got there. It's still early, not much students and professors are here yet.

"Where do you wanna chill? Rooftop, garden, cafeteria, library, gym, or court?" I asked as we were just walking around

"Court sounds good to me. Then maybe we can play some basketball?" He suggested

"Sure, just go easy on me." I chuckled

When we reached the basketball court, the basketball club members were playing. Probably a morning practice.

So Theo and I decided to just seat on a bench outside the court while waiting for classes to start, so that the we can finally have the court for ourselves.

"Say, Twin.." I called out to him

"Hmm?" He hummed and looked at me

"Have your parents ever punished you?" I asked randomly and I could tell from his reaction that he wasn't expecting it. "Well, Dad was talking last night as if he's about to punish me or something, so I just wondered."

"Ahh.." He nodded in understanding. "Well yeah, they have. They didn't give me any allowance for a whole week."

"Oh, you mean that one week when you kept borrowing money from me?" I laughed while remembering the memory

He chuckled shyly. "Yeah.. I paid you back twice as much though!"

"Still, you look so embarrassed while asking if you could borrow some of my money!" I cackled

"Because it was embarrassing!" He defended and just chuckled. "I never had to borrow before so, jeez."

I kept on laughing at his misery, until I realized that the same could happen to me. I mean, what else can Dad do?

"Hey, you'll let me borrow if I get the same punishment, right?"

"No." He answered. I was about to react, when he continued, "I'll just share you my money so that you won't need to borrow."

I smiled genuinely.

As long as I have Theo, I'm not alone.