Fat Chance

Bombshell

Each class throughout the day seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, I was back on the bus heading home again. 

The warmth from the morning had disappeared, but Danny's absence had not, so I could still at least enjoy that. 

I put my iPod library on shuffle and leaned back into my seat. My thoughts instantly drifted toward Stella, but I forced myself to steer clear of that subject, as well as the topic of Wyatt.

Nothing was stopping me about thinking of Ms. Mortiello though. I, as well as most of the staff and students, was very worried about her. She hadn't been to or contacted the school in almost a week, which was very unlike her, but would be totally justifiable if her brother hadn't gotten better. 

I missed her. I missed how much I used to enjoy Pottery before it became nothing more than a glorified study hall, our projects left unworked on. It depressed me to walk into her classroom and see the old, grouchy substitute who had taken her place. 

My whole life pretty much sucked at this point. I have a crush on my straight best friend, my favorite teacher has disappeared, I was striving to satisfy a person who was only real through me, and my little brother barely even knew me. 

You can sit here and tell me that my life isn't as bad as kids in Africa's, but common, give me a break.

Finally, the bus pulled up to my stop and opened the doors to let us out. I don't even remember the walk home, that's how zoned out I was. 

When I got home, I found the house empty, which was pretty common nowadays. Everyone had things to do, work to get done, LIVES to live, except for me. 

Typical.

Like for most insanely obese human beings, the kitchen was my first stop. I pulled open the fridge and grabbed a carton of wildberry juice, along with a whole package of string cheese and three huge sticks of beef jerky. Since no one was home, I decided to sit in the living room and eat my snacks.

I lay down on the couch and turned on the TV. I casted a video from the YouTube app up onto the TV screen, so I could eat my string cheese while also watching Onision. Everybody wins. 

I had already finished all my snacks, the entire carton of juice and roughly 20 YouTube videos when the front door swung open. 

My mom walked into the living room, Alex on her hip. I paused the Youtube video from my iPod and turned to look towards her.

My mother was not a necessarily beautiful woman. She has blonde hair and brown eyes that both look very plain. Her name is Lana, but she wasn't born with it. She won't tell me or my father (and she probably won't tell Alex when he's older either) but I guess it must have been something pretty laughable since she makes references towards it all the time. 

Sometimes I honestly can't even believe I'm related to any of my "family."

She glanced toward me disapprovingly and grabbed Alex's hand. "Go on and change into your play clothes, honey. I'll make you some KoolAid."

Alex smiled. "Okay, Mommy." He ran to his bedroom, my old room, and shut the door. 

Almost instantly, my mother turned around and snarled at me. "What the hell Quinn?!?!" she said while trying to be both quiet and loud. "I thought I told you, Living Room is off limits after school on weekdays. Some of us like relaxing too."

I laughed. "And you can't relax when I'm up here? Is that it?"

I could see my mother getting angrier. Her face was starting to light up red like Christmas lights.