Entangled and Locked Out

1. Dad's Birthday

"Breakfast!", a voice calls from the kitchen. Eli simply tries to bury herself deeper into her soft warm bed.

"Breakfast! Now!", she hears more sternly this time. She pulls herself out of the sheets and gets out of bed even though her limbs feel ten times heavier. As she steps into the kitchen, she has to squint her eyes. Since when is it so bright in the morning?

"Goodmorning", she says into the room. She walks out of the hall and sits next to her father, Walter, who has a big plate of eggs and veggie bacon (her mom's newest experiment) in the shape of the number fifty. Her little brother, also Walter but mostly goes by Junior, also has the veggie bacon but seems a bit more hesitant to eat it. "Happy birthday dad", she says and smiles.

"So how does it feel to be old?", Junior asks dad with an amused smile.

"How does it feel to be a smart-ass?", dad retorts. Eli snickers and looks at her mom who has the same look on her face. "Eat your veggie bacon", dad orders.

"How'd you sleep?", mom asks.

"Better yet, when did you go to sleep", Junior slyly remarks. Eli gives him a stern look, to signal that he should keep his mouth shut.

She turns back towards her mom, and answers, "Good, I just thought the great thing about a gap year was that I could sleep until noon". Eli has just graduated from the local high school, J. P. Wynne High School, where Junior still goes and at the moment.

"It is nice sleeping until noon, but do you know what's even better?", dad asks his daughter.

She shakes her head and exhales, "No dad, what's better?". She already knows how this conversation is gonna go, but she knows it's better to just play along.

"Working hard", dad answers. Mom chuckles a bit and Eli scoffs at him and takes a bite of her toast. "I'm serious. To come home to a loving family after a hard day's work is incredible, it helps you appreciate things more. Plus you might earn a bit for the college fund".

Her whole body deflates and she thinks about her answer.

"We know, we know, how you feel about going to college, but just give it a thought".

She makes them believe that she doesn't want to go to college because it's better that way instead of them knowing the truth. She really wants to go to college, but a good one is far too expensive for her. In truth Eli has been working a few jobs around town, all either paying too little or with a pervert for a boss. To take out a student loan and drown in debt for the rest of her life isn't a thing she really wants. But to dig into the "college fund", knowing about her parents' financial situation, would be incredibly selfish.

She reaches for the juice and mumbles, "Yeah, maybe".

"What are you guys doing at school today?", she asks, to prevent her dad from asking her about her future plans. Junior simply shrugs mumbles something about a test. But her dad starts to go on about a long explanation about some chemicals and reactions and stuff, so she sorta spaces out. Chemistry was never what she was interested in, she loves to do math much more and IT. She only got A's in those subjects all senior year, with the exception of a B+ here and there. Maybe she'll work with computers, even though it's a male-dominated field, but she wants to do something she loves. "Exciting", she says as her dad finishes his speech.

"Actually, sweetie, I was thinking you could come with us today", dad says.

"Why? I don't go there anymore".

"Well, Carmen Molina's assistant got let go, and she's looking for someone new. I told her, you might be interested", dad says and looking at Eli hopefully.