It's a Love-Hate Relationship

Five

It's 1 A.M and this is totally unedited, but I hope you like it! Thanks for reading!

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Everyone in life spends all of their time working towards something. Whether they succeed in their efforts or crash, burn, and fail miserably, the end result is the same:

What do I do now?

Okay, so I hadn't reached a turning point in my life. I hadn't failed to reach a goal, or successfully accomplished one. Really, nothing significant had happened at all. Yet, that same question was still racing through my mind. I knew what I should do, and that was to go back home. I couldn't keep ignoring all of the problems in my life.

After coming to that dreadful conclusion, I trudged my way back to my house, which was shockingly a shorter distance than I had previously thought. Once I reached the front door with faded paint, I heaved a sigh of resignation before turning the handle and shoving it open. The moment I walked into the house, I was terrified I would be attacked with questions, but I was met with silence. Rather than searching anyone out, I took the opportunity to rush upstairs to my room. I wasn't really ready to confront my problems yet, and what really sounded good to me was a good gaming session and sleep.

I kicked off my shoes and changed into more comfortable clothes, a t-shirt and sweatpants, before gliding over to my crappy old computer. The idea of this sweet relaxation made me feel giddy as I pressed the button to turn on the machine. While I waited for it to turn on, I turned on my phone and messaged S.

Natilus:

You down to play?

I only had to wait a few seconds before I saw him typing his response.

Scolecite:

I wish I could, but I have to help my mom pick paint or some shit.

Although I could feel a frown slip onto my face at the response, I force myself to remain positive in my response.

Natilus:

Okay, well pick pink for me!

Scolecite:

Will do

A sigh escaped me as I opened up the game. I decided to play alone anyway.

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School dragged by the next day. Each class felt like an eternity, and I genuinely didn't even think I was getting anything from any of it. I'd spent hours that should have been used to sleep, gaming. The familiar exhaustion of that choice was somehow even more suffocating than it normally seemed to be. Each class, I could barely resist the weight pressing down on my eyelids. All of it was somehow made worse by the screeching voices of teenage girls behind me and the occasional casual conversation that darted between S and I.

I think I feel a headache coming on.

Finally, the shrill yet gleeful sound of the last bell of the day filled the air. Everyone in the classroom was so eager to leave that by the time I finished packing up, the only other person left in the room was my teacher. Once I'd packed all of my notebooks, I gave a quick nod to her and exited the room, only to run straight into a short, curvy redhead who seemed to be quite impatient.

"Natalie! What took you so long?" Jessica asked irritably.

"I was just packing up my stuff..." I muttered back to her as we both began heading down the hallway.

She rolled her eyes at me as she linked her arm with mine and led me down the hallway to my locker. "You need to start packing up before class ends like every other normal student."