Teenage Antichrist Book Two: A Journey of a Brother's Hatred 1990 - 1991

Chapter Forty-Six: Parental Pressures

By Saturday morning Michelle was no closer to finishing her assignment to her parents' impossibly high standards. She was too stressed that she couldn't even tell if she was doing good work or not. When she got home from school the previous day she stayed glued at her desk and the same thing applied for the next day. She was concentrating very hard when she heard someone knocking on her door and she hated the interruption to her concentration.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's your mother," Mrs. Slater replied. "Can I come in?"

Michelle didn't want anyone to come in as she just wanted to get her assignment done but she knew better than to argue with her.

"Yeah," she said.

Mrs. Slater opened the door and was proud to see her daughter seated at her desk.

"It's time for your music lesson," she said. "Do you still want to go?"

Michelle knew her mother well enough to know when she was being set up. So she turned around to face her.

"No, I don't want to go," she said. "I want to get this assignment perfect,"

Mrs. Slater smiled at her with pride but Michelle hated that smile as it represented another restriction in her freedoms. She wanted to go to her singing lesson as she couldn't stand her boring assignment.

"That's very sensible of you," Mrs. Slater said. "I'll let Ms. Mathis know you won't be coming,"

Mrs. Slater turned around to walk out. Once she started walking out Michelle quickly gave her mother the finger with her right hand behind her back. Once she was satisfied that she had gotten away with it she turned around and returned to her assignment. Mrs. Slater suspected she wasn't happy but knew it was all for the best. Once she was in the kitchen she picked up the phone and dialed Ms. Mathis' number. It was answered after two rings.

"Hello," Ms. Mathis said.

"Hello, this is Mrs. Slater," Mrs. Slater said. "I'm just calling to let you know that Michelle won't be coming in today as she has a very important assignment to work on,"

"Well, that's a shame. Your daughter is showing a lot of improvement,"

Hearing Ms. Mathis say that made her felt a little guilty but she knew she had to be firm when it came to her daughter's future, even though she was clearly miserable.

*****

Throughout the day Michelle became more and more depressed. All she wanted was to have the perfect assignment written. John could write perfect assignments without breaking a sweat and she hated that she wasn't as smart as she was. So an hour before dinner she thought it would be a great idea to go to his room and get his opinion. John was sitting at his desk working on his own assignment when she stood at the doorway and knocked on his door. He looked up and was annoyed to see his little sister standing there.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" John asked. "What do you want?"

Michelle held up her assignment undeterred by his bad mood.

"I was just wondering if you could read my assignment," she said. "I'd like to know if I could improve it in any way,"

John couldn't believe her nerve and decided to let her have it.

"What part of 'Can't you see I'm busy?' did you not get?" he asked. "Piss off!"

"But John-" was all she got to say.

"Piss off!" he shouted interrupting.

Michelle turned around and ran back to her room. As John returned his attention to his schoolwork he felt relieved that she was gone.