Stress Relief

Pressure

"Chase you are risking your football career!" He winced, hands linked with one another over the breakfast table just next to the kitchen.

His mom had just got home from work right as he was about to get changed, Diego waiting up in his bedroom when he'd been called down. She looked somewhere between anxious and angry, and he couldn't tell which one it was.

"Honey," his dad tried from his spot next to him, having already talked to him about his grades and knowing full well he had homecoming to go to.

"No, Marcus, he's going to get in trouble with his coach, and he's going to lose his scholarship chances." She stressed, arm crossed beneath her chest, still in her office clothes. "He's losing focus in his class, he'll be kicked off of the team if he doesn't get his grades up!"

"Mom," she raised her hand, giving him a stern look, and he deflated.

"Please, sweetheart, you have got to get your Calculus grade up." She reiterated.

"He might need a tutor," his father added, but his mom shut him down quickly.

"If he relies on someone else to help him all the time, he won't be able to help himself." Elijah helped him, and he could do a quiz by himself thanks to him, so he knew that wasn't true. But it didn't make him feel any less pathetic for needing help to get through the class.

His dad frowned. "He's already working on his grades, they're getting better." He looked up at him, feeling his throat close up when his mom looked at her husband with hesitation, like she wasn't sure she believed that.

"He should be studying, not going to some school party." She stated nervously, and he felt his heart drop.

His father's voice was stern as he spoke. "He's been working hard for weeks now, let him relax with his friends tonight." Chase looked up feeling his eyes start to water, his leg having been bouncing for the past ten minutes.

Her frown tightened. "I just wish you would've told me what he was doing." Of course she did, so she could monitor how he was doing in school, because she was almost never home and always needing to drive hours away to her reel-estate job. Never able to spend time with her son, but being sure to save at least one day a month to go out with his father.

His dad sighed, looking over to him, pushing his glasses up on his nose before setting a hand on his shoulder. "Go get ready for homecoming, have fun with your friends tonight." He nodded to the stairs.

"He needs to be studying Marcus-"

"Lilian, enough." She quieted, eyes widening, no doubt noticing her son's tear filled eyes. She sighed, finally, letting it go and nodded to him, dismissing him from the table. He's never gotten up from a chair quicker in his life.

He rushed towards the steps, hurrying up the stairs. When he got to his room, Diego looked up from his phone and his face fell. "You okay?"

He crossed his arms and wiped his tears. "No."

Diego put his phone down and stood up, and Chase walked over to be pulled into his best friend's arms. His eyes stung so badly, he wanted to cry so badly, but he didn't want to look like a mess before homecoming. Diego's hand rubbed up and down his upper back and it helped a little, but it didn't lessen how heavy his shoulders were, or how much of a disappointment he felt he was in that moment.

"You need a minute?" Diego asked softly.

"No, I'm fine." He said with a broken voice.

Diego chuckled. "You're not. You know you're not."

He swallowed, squeezing him. "I just wish she was proud of me, man..." The tears began to fall down his cheeks, and his breath was ragged as he tried to inhale. "I-it's never enough for her. Nothing's ever enough for her,"