the love in writing

chapter one:

Callie sat at her desk, stressed, staring at the paper with multiple unsolved math problems, she'd placed the paper there not even two hours ago, and still, had yet to get anything done. She had to get to work, but her brain just wasn't working with her. when did it ever? She sighed, leaning back into her chair, she yanked at her short black hair, hoping that would help make her brain turn, but it brought only pain.

She winced at the small sting that she received from pulling her hair and rolled her eyes, rolling the hem of her white sleeved shirt between her fingers, she bit her lip, trying hard to think of an answer to the first problem, but no luck yet. Callie didn't know how she'd be able to write being stressed like this, this wasn't like writer's block, where you could just take a break and come back whenever you felt like it.

No, this was a test, and needed done immediately, since it was due in, oh, two days. After sitting there for another ten minutes, she banged her small hand on her desk roughly, scoffing, she got up from her desk chair and headed down the hall to get something to eat from the kitchen.

If stressful thinking didn't help get her an answer, food certainly would. She walked into the kitchen, her covered feet almost slipping on the recently mopped floor.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed, placing her hand on the refrigerator quickly to keep herself from slipping again, She wiped the make-believe sweat off of her forehead and let out a breath of relief.

"Phew, that was close." She mumbled, turning her body to the fridge door, and opening it to grab a water, and then a leftover subway sandwich from last night. She held the things in her hand as she walked over to one of the cabinets to grab a plate, the sandwich had paper wrapping, yes, but the crumbs from the sandwich were sneaky, and would fall on the floor in a heartbeat, hence why the young female grabbed a plate.

She placed the sandwich on the plate, opened the wrapping, and took the sandwich out of it, setting it on the plate. She took a bite, humming at the taste. She then struggled to take the cap off of her water bottle, veins very clearly showing up on her forehead for a minute before she finally got it off.

"What do they do to these water bottles? Glue the caps on?" She questioned, taking a sip of the cold beverage and sighing in content at how good everything tasted at the moment.

Once she finished her sandwich, she threw the trash away and then started on dishes, half of the plates still having food on them. she rolled her eyes in annoyance, hadn't anyone heard of throwing food they aren't going to finish, away? Instead of putting the food in the sink and risking clogging it?

She loved her family, but they just didn't use their brains sometimes, she emptied the nasty, wet food into the overfilled trash bag, and washed the rest of the dishes, once done, she wiped down the stove, counters, table, then pulled the trash bag out of the can and tied it.

She then carried it to the big trash can outside, she hurried out of the house, struggling to hold the heavy bag over her shoulder. She opened up the lid to the huge trash can and flipped it, It's nasty scent following afterward, the flies surrounding her instantly.

She threw the trash bag into the can quickly, then looked around, eyeing her surroundings. The sky was beautiful tonight, dark black, but the stars shined brighter tonight than they ever did, the moon was at it's full glory, lighting up her pale face, she smiled, closing her eyes for a second contently, she fluttered her eyes open again, to stare at the sky once more.

"Wow," she spoke softly, she always felt so calm when the sky looked like this, alive, even, but even then, it still wasn't good enough in her mind to keep her attention. she blinked repeatedly when an even brighter light entered her vision, her father's headlights to his car as he parked.

Callie sighed to herself, 'here we go,' she thought, her parents had just returned from the hospital, her mother had just gave birth to her third child, a girl, Cassidy.

Callie loved kids, absolutely adored them, but she couldn't handle when they cried, it'd drive her mind up the wall and make her go crazy when they did so. She also didn't like how stinky they could be, she'd changed multiple baby's diapers before, and wasn't impressed.

Her mother, Sadie, stepped out of the car, grinning from eye to eye at her eldest daughter.

"She's finally here!" She exclaimed happily, rushing to the right car door and opening it to get the baby out.

Her father, Kevin, got out next, smiling softly at Callie, he looked exhausted, it didn't surprise her. her parents had been gone for almost two days, and had gotten no sleep at all since the night before Sadie went into labor. And even then, they only got a few hours.

Next out of the car was Richie, her eight year old little brother, he got out of the car, grinning, he had stayed with their grandmother, Mel, down the road while their parent's were away.

originally, Callie was supposed to babysit richie, but because of all the school work she'd been doing these past few days, it would have been too much for her, so Mel took Richie to make it easier on her. Which, Callie was thankful for.

Sadie held the baby tightly, bringing her over to Callie. Cassidy was asleep, softly breathing, her chest going up and down at a normal pace.

She was beautiful.

"Do you want to hold her?" Sadie asked, holding out her arms an inch, bringing the baby slightly closer to Callie.

Callie shook her head, softly smiling.

"I'd better not tonight, too stressed and tired, besides, I think it's best if we all went to bed, if you handed her to me she'd probably wake up and be up for hours"

"You're right, sweetheart, absolutely right, we'd all better get in bed, it's so late" Sadie kissed Callie's head, Richie yawned loudly, and tiredly, apparently he hadn't been able to sleep well at Mel's, worried for his mama the whole time, but now that they were all together, he could get some sleep, and so could they.

As soon as the sound came out of the young boys mouth, Callie and her parents laughed, Sadie gripped her son's hand, softly smiling.

"It's definitely time for bed for you, sweetheart, let's get going"

"Bedtime story?"

"Not tonight, honey, everyone is too tired, okay? How about tomorrow night?"

"Okay!" He replied excitedly, pulling Sadie towards the door, she squeaked, stopping in her tracks.

"Not yet, love, let me give Cassidy to dad first," Sadie handed Kevin Cassidy, and then wrapped her arms around him, picking him up, he instantly wrapped his small arms around his mother, smiling to himself. he missed his mother, and he knew he'd have to give up alot of time with her for his little sister, but he was okay with that, as long as he still got some attention, he knew he'd be okay.

Callie smiled at her family, it wasn't everyday they were all lovey-dovey, they mostly stuck to their normal schedule and made family time dinner time, but now they had a new addition to the family, and things needed to change, new schedule's created, and taken seriously.

And Callie, just like richie, could live with that.