Petrichor

Ryan

             I pressed my head against the car window and sighed. I had barely gotten any sleep last night because I had stayed up working on my book draft. I've always loved reading books, but it wasn't until I met the author of my favorite ones that I considered writing one myself. So far I was only a few pages in. The exposition, characterization, and narrative; I was struggling to bind them all together to make something meaningful. It was hard writing about things I've never done before, how to describe them, to really bring them to life...

"Ryan, honey. We're in front of your school," my mom said, jolting me back to reality. "You wanna, maybe get out?"

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were pretty happy getting rid of me for the day, mother." I replied in a deadpan tone, reaching for the car handle.

She chuckled. "Are you kidding? I wish this place was residential sometimes. I need my me time."

"Bye, mom." I say with a smile still on my face as I stepped out of the car.

I watched until she disappeared around the corner. We always joked like that in the mornings but sometimes I wonder if she actually meant some of it. She always seems so exhausted. I sigh again and turn toward the school building. 

Who knows, maybe my life will stop being so utterly boring and devoid of meaning today, I think to myself as I walk through the doors. Or maybe hell would freeze over, that was just as likely. I sigh as I walk through the halls of the 'tight-knit' community of academic and athletic excellence that was Briarwood High.

                                                                       -----

             After four hours of class, the bell finally chimes to signify the start of lunch. I grab my bag and exit the Biology Lab, where I'd just had the honor of demonstrating how to dissect a rabbit and show its entrails. I used to have a bunny just like that, but he died a few years back. My mom and I had held a funeral for him. And by funeral I mean we put him in an old shoebox and buried him under a tree in my backyard. Still a lot better than being cut open by teenagers and discarded almost immediately after I guess.  

I sit down at my usual lunch table with my tray of food. I don't eat though, I just stare at it for what seems like forever. I wondered what my mom was doing right then. Was she also eating lunch, or just staring at it like I was. I had found eviction notices in our mail last Tuesday. Usually my mom always made sure to pick up all the mail herself as soon as it arrived. Now I wonder if that was because she hadn't wanted me to look through them.

I had never really thought about us having money problems until it was staring me right in the face. It was then I realized how much she had to carry on her shoulders, how much-

"Earth to Ryan. Dude, are you asleep? You've been glaring at that salad like it killed your mom." 

It was my best, or more like only, friend. Allen. He had sat down while I was spaced out.

"What? Oh, no I was just thinking," I reply absentmindedly, placing my unused fork down. I didn't have an appetite.