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ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
FEBRUARY 10, MONDAY

TOBIAS WACH

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"You want to get some breakfast?"

I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when I received that message from Isabel.

"Sure."

I spat out the toothpaste and then rinsed my mouth out before I walked out of the bathroom. My mom was sitting on the couch blowing over her coffee with her eyes closed.

She was trying to calm herself because Cass and Mikey were upstairs arguing once again.

"Hey, mom." I sat next to her on the couch and her eyes shot open.

"Tobias! You startled me!"

I chuckled. "I'm sorry."

She sighed and then smiled. "It's okay." She ruffled my hair. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I said as I started to fix my hair that she tried to ruin. "I got up early for once so I was able to actually look good."

"Why did you get up so early? Couldn't sleep?"

"Yea."

My mom placed her mug down on the table and turned more towards me. "Is something the matter?"

Yes. There was something wrong with me. I couldn't stop thinking about how I ruined my chance with Brandon by telling him I had the wrong number. I was afraid that he wasn't going to talk to me anymore.

If he didn't, I wouldn't have blamed him because if I was him and someone I gave my number to didn't text me, I would've assumed they didn't want anything to do with me.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

I hated thinking like that.

"No. I'm okay. Just couldn't."

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

I nodded and she smiled and I smiled and then we hugged. I loved how my mom smelled of coffee and mint. I loved her warm hugs that always made me feel better. I never wanted to let her go.

"Mikey! I'm going to tell Priscilla that you don't wash your balls!"

"And I'm going to tell Phineas that you're burning and itching!"

Cass screamed and then she banged on the door. Of course, they had to ruin the moment.

My mom gave me one last smile before she got up from the couch. She tied her robe tightly around her waist and then slipped her slippers on. She proceeded with her approach to the basements stairs and the next thing I knew, she was screaming.

I didn't blame her, but I also didn't want to listen to her yelling. I didn't like when my mom was angry.

"Are you ready? I'm outside."

Isabel had great timing.

"Yes! I'm coming!"

I got up from the couch and made my way out. It was surprisingly not that cold out so I didn't bother with putting on my hood. Even if it was, I wasn't going to put my hood on because my hair was looking nice for once. Maybe if it was windy, I would've thrown my hood on but it wasn't windy which was why it wasn't so cold out. The sun was also out which helped.

"Hey!" Isabel greeted as soon as I opened the door.

"Hello, weirdo. Why are you so happy?" I closed the door and buckled up my seatbelt.