ASTRAY

2

On my way home from school, I enjoy the fresh breeze of spring. It's my favorite season. It's like I'm being given a glimpse of what summer will be like in a week when I get to escape the jail cell of school. As I walk toward the little blue house that I call home on the edge of a cul-de-sac, my eyes locked with my mother's blue eyes, her wavy blonde hair blowing in the wind. My mom was mad today. Mad isn't even a word to describe that look on her face; she was furious. Mrs. McNally must have called to tell my mom what trouble I had caused in her classroom.

"You know what you did," she says when I step on the front porch. That's true, I did know and I feel really bad about it.

"I'm really sorry." I say, and it was true. I might not be able to go to the trip to Italy, she looks really upset. That's when she smirked a little.

"Come here, kid," she said reaching out for a hug "I can't be mad at you for more than five minutes, Charlie. I just love you too much." This is a trait that I love in my mom, though I do get my phone taken away for the night. She normally shows me a lot of understanding towards things at school. She also struggled a lot in math. The only thing I was worried about was Olivia. Hopefully she did not get in trouble too.

I walk into our house, I get a welcoming greeting from my dog Otis. He's a golden retriever and I love him more than anything else in the world. I couldn't imagine my life without him. He sleeps in my room every night. On the couch is our cat, Piper. Her life consists of meowing for food and biting my hand when I pet her. Our house is not too small, but definitely not huge. It's a three bedroom house almost big enough to fit our family. The master is where my Mom and Dad sleep. My older sister Ava sleeps in the room upstairs. My younger brother Austin, who is five, is upstairs too. His room is usually covered in toys and you can never walk across it. My room is downstairs - it's very creepy down there. I can hear the floorboard squeaking when someone walks around. I look at Austin playing in the living room with his legos that he adores. I remember all the homework and head down to my room.

On my way down the stairs I step on something sharp, piercing my left foot.

"Ouch, Austin! Your Lego!" I say holding my throbbing foot.

"It's not my fault that you stepped in my Lego. I'm building a castle, don't you see? Watch out next time!" 

Rolling my eyes I look back and Austin sticks out his tongue. I giggle. I remember how that used to be an insult. When I go downstairs I jump into my bed and crack open my book. I answer a few questions for my Language Arts assignment and lay my head down a little. I remember the permission slip that I have to get signed and I don't want to forget. As I make my way back upstairs I take the slip out of my backpack and hand it to my mother.

"Hey mom," I say while she is having a snack of carrots, hummus, and chips with Austin, "Could you sign this for me?" I look back over and Austin is sticking his tongue out at me again. He is grabbing handfuls of chips, but hasn't touched the carrots.

"Yeah sure," she says snapping a carrot between her teeth. I grab a carrot because it is one of my favorite snacks. I dip it in the hummus and pop it in my mouth. "What's the permission slip for?"

When I finish the mouthful of carrot I say, "The trip to Italy. I got picked!" I grab the some chips off the counter.

"Oh my goodness, Honey, that's great!" she responds happily.

"So, can I go?" I ask, taking another chip from the bag. To be honest I'm a little scared about the next words that are about to come out of her mouth. I did just cheat on the homework, and I know how she feels about cheating. This isn't the first time I have been busted for such an act. I look at my mom, and she looks as if she is making a really tough decision.

"I'll ask your father," she says crunching another carrot in her mouth.

Hi guys, hope you like the new chapter! I like this one a lot more than the last chapter. I'm trying to put more effort into the chapters and taking several days on them instead of like two days. I'm going to try to update once a week, fingers crossed lol!

~Regal