Ongoing Cycle

7

     A slap across her cheek had winded the air out of her, knocking her down to the floor of her bedroom. Tears sprung out to the corner of [Y/N]'s [e/c] eyes due to the shock and fear she felt from the pain. She bit down her inner cheek to keep herself from crying out and the irony taste of blood filled her mouth. Standing before her was her mother, her eyes full of rage that she had not seen in a while. The hand that had inflicted pain on her just a moment ago fell to the woman's side. A few feet behind stood her father, his face just as cold as her mother's.

     Of course. Of course they knew she had gone to the party. She should've known better. They were her parents....they were the people who controlled and watched her every move ever since she was a child. Their eyes always shackling onto her, leering and waiting until the day she failed. Anything that did not satisfy them would unleash utter hell in their household. And hell had decided to visit them today.

     "You disgraceful child. Have you not learned a single, damn thing?! How dare you lie and dishonor us like that?!" her mother seethed.

     She kept her mouth shut and kept silent, for she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would immediately regret it. Nothing she could say would change her parents' minds. They were always right; she was always wrong.

     Even though she was a straight A student, even though she almost always stayed home everyday after school, even though she was just trying to be a good friend, it was never enough for them. They focused on the bad, and ignored the good.

     "Did you not remember what we had said about parties?!" her father jumped in.

     "Terrible excuse for a daughter," said her mother. "We allowed you the privilege to go to Miku's house, but you had ruined our trust."

     What trust? Her parents had never trusted her to begin with. They probably had installed a tracker onto her phone and that was how they knew she went to the party. Yet they thought that was them being trustful?

     "Get your act together and from now on, we better not see you fooling around, you hear me?" her mother snapped at her. With that, her parents stepped away from her and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

     She raised her head and finally allowed her tears to roll down her cheeks. Why was she trying so hard if nothing was ever going to satisfy them? The salty tears swept through her face and the slapped cheek stung even more.

     Peering through the strands of her messy hair, she caught sight of the finished homework on her desk. Never more than now had she felt the urge to go over there to tear the papers into shreds and then scream at the world. If only she was brave enough to go against her parents. If only she didn't care what her damn parents thought of her. If only she could stop yearning for their love: for their proud faces.

     She let out a shuddering breath and pushed herself up from the floor. Stroking her fingers against her eyes, she went to dry them. Her parents expected her to be perfect again tomorrow. If they were to see her puffy eyes the next morning, they would be furious.

     Turning the lights off in the room, she stumbled into her bed and tried to go to sleep.

     Since Halloween was finally over, the classroom felt...dead. The walls stripped from the Halloween decorations, it all went bare. Not only that, but the students were all tired or bored, probably from staying up late yesterday or because the holiday spirit had left them.

     Nobody was excited for Thanksgiving....especially [Y/N], for what would she be grateful for? For her controlling parents?

     A hand waved in front of her and she snapped out of her daze to see that the hand belonged to Miku. "Earth to [Y/N]."

     "Sorry," she mumbled, doodling a random flower in her notebook.

     "You seem out of it," her friend pointed out. "Are you okay?"

     She knew if she told Miku of what had happened yesterday then she would feel worse. Her friend would think that it was her fault for her parents' actions when really it was [Y/N] to be blamed. She should've known the consequences from the start.

     She nodded. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just tired from staying up late last night."

     The bell rang and the students got up from their desks and began filing out of the classroom. It was time for lunch, so Miku and [Y/N] headed towards the center of the school, where the lunchroom was located. As they got into the busy, large room that was filled of roaming kids holding trays and lunch bags, she stopped mid-track in her steps.

     Somehow she had instantly spotted them...but there they were. In the midst of the crowd of students stood Kuro and Aoi talking to each other. The brown haired girl in the glasses was shyly glancing up at him and playing with her fingers. Then there was Kuro, looking bored while not even concealing it. What a conceited asshole....

     That wasn't what was making her angry though. It was the fact that Aoi was talking to him perfectly fine. What the hell was the point to have her be the stupid messenger between the two then?!

     Her best friend turned to her in confusion. "Why are you stop—" She noticed where [Y/N] was looking at and raised her eyebrows. "Oh shit," she murmured.

     "Oh shit is right," she growled, glaring at the former couple. "I need to have a talk with them. They're both pissing me off again."

     "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Miku asked, looking concerned.

     She nodded at her friend. She had already been in a bad mood since yesterday, so if she couldn't release her anger on her parents, then what's the next best plan? Releasing her anger on idiotic players and stupid, shy girls.