No Matter What (Jaspar AU)

5. Hiding

Caspar Lee
My walk home from school that day was just as boring as the one I took to school. I walked slowly and on my own; grateful to have some space for myself, so I took a long time to get home.

I wandered up to our white front door and opened it slowly, hoping to be able to sneak off up to my room without a big conversation about my first day of school. But my hopes were thrashed rather quickly, as my mum came running up to me at the door.

"Hey love, how was school?" She asked. I could see the hope in her eyes that told me she wanted my reply to be a positive one. I shrugged.
"It was alright." I told her.
"What happened?" She asked. She looked really worried.
"It was nothing in particular. I made loads of friends." I replied.
"I'm sensing that there's a but to that sentence." She said, looking at me questioningly.
I sighed.
"I guess there is."
"What is it honey?" She asked. She smiled at me as if she thought it would be comforting.
"There's just this kid I sit next to in a lesson who isn't that nice." I told her. I was lying, but not completely. It wasn't that Joe wasn't nice, it was just that things with him and my new friends were complicated.

"Well you make sure you tell someone if he's ever horrible to you." She said, patting me on the shoulder like I was 5. My mum always got like this when I talk about rude or unkind people. She would start getting worried that I'm being bullied and constantly ask me if they had done anything to me that I didn't like. She treated me like I was a little kid sometimes and I didn't like it very much.

"He's not that bad mum, it's ok." I told her. I then took off my shoes and was about to walk up the stairs when she stopped me.
"Come on love, don't walk off. I want to talk to you about your day." She said sadly.
"I'm sorry mum, but I'm really tired. Maybe later?" I suggested. She always let me go when I told her I was tired. That was as long as I postponed the conversation. If I refused completely, I would be stuck downstairs almost all night. That was something I didn't want.

She reluctantly let me go and I walked up the stairs and threw myself face down onto my bed, without taking off my coat or bag. Was it bad that I had figured out ways of getting out of speaking to my mum? I didn't think so. I knew that I would have to speak to her later. I sat up on my bed and removed my bag and coat, throwing them on the floor. I pulled my phone from my pocket and started scrolling through Twitter. Then Facebook. Then Instagram. And then I watched all my friends' snapchat stories. I was still friends with a load of my South African friends on all of my social medias and it was hard to see them happy in a country I was no longer living in. But it passed the time, in which I had nothing else to do.

After scrolling through every post I possibly could and flicking between the games aa and Happy Wheels for about 2 hours, I heard the front door open and close, letting me know that me sister was home from work. I heard the muffled conversation of Theo and my mum and then footsteps up the stairs. Theo went into her own room for a few minutes before walking down the corridor to mine. She burst in without knocking, as she usually did.

"Hey little brother! How was your first day at big school?" She said sarcastically. She wore a beaming smile, which I found unusual considering the fact that she left the house at 7 this morning and it was almost 5 in the evening.
"Not now Theo, I'm kinda tired. I'll talk later." I said, using the same stupid excuse I used on my mum.
"Don't give me that bullshit! You've been using that on mum for years. I'm not stupid you know." She said laughing.
"Actually I wasn't aware." I said, mocking her over enthusiastic tone.
"Oh hardy har har." She said. She pinched my cheeks before walking to my door.
"Oh and Cas?" She said turning around.
"Yeah?" I said.
"Dinner's in an hour." She told me.