Choices We Make

Home

As I walked home I began to plan out the rest of my day. I made up my mind to eat first, check on Tye, then shower, then rest for tomorrow. I wasn't too excited about that plan though. Unlike other students, going home wasn't something I particularly looked forward to. My father was always away on business and my brother, Tye, hates me for some odd reason. If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't go home at all. My mom has always been there for me whenever I needed it, and she can be tough when it is required too. She's your typical 5'0 Filipino mom. My dad came from Italy and met my mom at the airport. She was assigned his guide and since that day, they've been together. A year after I was born, my father started to go on several business trips for his company. I haven't seen him much, but he's always been nice to me. As for Tye, he's two years older than me and is 5'11. I've always looked up to him literally and metaphorically, but ever since we were kids he's hated me. No matter what I do to please him he doesn't thank me and ignores whatever I did. Now for me. I was a 5'9 regular highschool teen, just doing my best to get by. I always tried to be nice to those around me and please everyone. I even tried to help people when they were in need. Many of my elementary friends including Michelle called me "the nicest guy they've ever known". A lot of the girls called me cute too, but I never believed them. I was always up for learning something new, and at the time I was learning cooking I was also learning how to skate. I was my graduating year's valedictorian and on honor role. But regardless of my experiences, I never found anyone that close to me aside from the obvious person, Michelle.

As I entered the house I looked at the shoes that were there. All of us usually wear the same shoes, so whenever someone is out I can tell. However, today no one was out. I took off my shoes and said "I'm home" and awaited a response. A few moments later I heard my mom say "welcome home" from the kitchen.

"Ouu, something smells good." I said as I entered the kitchen. "what're you cooking?"

"Just some meat, it'll be ready in about 10 minutes." She said. "Go get ready, by the time you're done it should be done."

"Kaaayy" I said. As I was saying that I was headed up towards my room. I passed by Tye's room and took a quick peek to see what he was doing. All he was doing was lying down listening to music. There are many times that I wonder if we're really even brothers, but then I see some similarities between us and that feeling goes away. I continued to walk into my room. When I opened the door I saw the horror that was my room. Clothes were scattered all over the floor, one of my blankets was on the floor and my bed was completely messed up. Usually I wake up early enough to fix my room before leaving for school, but now that I was late that didn't happen. As I took in the situation I realized what I had to do. It was very sad, but I had to clean my room before dinner. After 5 minutes of cleaning and dusting, my room was finally clean. It may not have been completely clean, but it looked presentable. After cleaning my room I decided to take a quick shower to pass some time. I set up some music and took my shower. Once I left and got ready for bed, my mom called me and Tye down for dinner.

"Just put it in the fridge, I'll eat it later." I heard Tye call from his room.

"Okay dear." My mom said in response. Tye never ate dinner as a family unless my father was home. He didn't want to upset him by being mean to me or displaying his hatred towards me. Most of the dinner was quiet. Both me and mom were tired after our long day. The silence was interrupted by my mother asking if I was late to school.

"Yea I was, but the teacher was nice enough to let me being late pass." I said

"Oh really? Well, that was nice of her." She said "How was your first day?"

"It was okay, I made two new friends."

"That's good honey, is Theo still in your school?"

"Yea he is, and he's doing well."

The conversation kept going like that until i finished eating. I placed my dishes in the sink and headed up towards my room. As I went up, i passed by Tye as he was on his way down. I smiled at him, but he didn't stop to say anything. It was as if I was just a ghost to him. It was always like that whenever we passed each other, but I always had hope that he would somehow stop hating me. Once I finished brushing my teeth, I went to bed and checked out my phone.

Usually at this time I would listen to music and close my eyes until I fell asleep, but today was different. When I turned on my phone I saw that I had two new friend requests on Facebook. One from Rosemary, and one from Lilly. Obviously I accepted it, but I didn't message them right away. All I wanted to do at the time was lay down and just fall asleep. As I was about to close my eyes I heard my phone ring. I was reluctant to check out what happened, but I checked anyway. I was surprised to see that Lilly messaged me on Facebook. All she said was "Hey". It would be mean to ignore it, even though I was dead tired. I responded back to her saying "Hey" back. This conversation started around 9 o'clock. To my surprise, I was having so much fun talking to her about random stuff, that I ended up staying up until 1. I didn't want our conversation to stop, but I so tired I thought I would pass out. I told her that I had to sleep, we said good night and we stopped talking. From that point on, all I could think about was Lilly, Rose, and just how my first day was one of the best ever. Even with my music on, my whole focus was on those three things. I just hoped that I wouldn't be late again tomorrow.