What We Lost In The Winter

Chapter 12 (Part 2)

“Becca! Come be with the family!” I hear my dad shout. I say bye to Teagan (my parents hate having me on my phone during family time) and run upstairs. Mom, Dad, and Lily sit on the couch watching the latest episode of DWTS where a really good dancer dances with some celebrity and then gets judged by people who may or may not dance. I don’t know.

“Did you finish your homework?” is my greeting.

“Yeah,” I reply to whichever parent it was that asked me.

“That’s good,” my mom smiles.

“So, what incredibly exciting thing has happened on this show that I so devastatingly missed?” I ask. Let’s be honest, I’m not at all devastated I missed most of the show.

Mom goes off to talk about how two people did this incredible dance to some beautiful song and it was so perfect and the costumes were to die for and the judges hated it but it was the most heart-touching thing she’d ever watched. I’m sorry. I’m not interested. I watch the show with my parents and sister and pretend I find it as enticing as they do because that’s what you have to do in families.

By the time the episode’s over, it’s 9:30. Mom tells me and Lily to go downstairs and get ready for bed. By ten, I’m sitting on my bed in pajamas. Although it’s not even late, I’m exhausted. All I want to do is crawl under my blankets and sleep. Instead, I open my book, The 5th Wave, by Richard Yancey. I allow myself to get swept away into the world of aliens and plagues and apocalypses and romances. A knock on my bedroom door pulls me out of my trance.

Guess who's back! This past month, I've written most of WWLITW. I'm going to be posting one chapter a day until I finish it.  

Question of the Chapter: Should Becca be excited for her second day back in school, or was her first day too good to be true?