Bears Know Best

Chapter 2: Settling In

THE NEXT MORNING, I was woken up by the light streaming in through the window. I stretched out on the bed and gathered the covers up to my neck and looked around. The purple didn't bother me as much as it should have. For some reason it felt comforting and I kind of liked the color. I would of course have to repaint the room though, as no self-respecting boy would ever have a room that looked like this.

I looked over to the dressing table at my 13" MacBook Air where my iPhone was plugged into it to charge. I could see it was already almost eleven in the morning. 'I'm not surprised I slept twelve hours,' I remarked to myself. I went into the closet and grabbed the first t-shirt I found, a purple Aeropostale shirt that Mom had sent me for Christmas. I grabbed a pair of shorts, some underwear and socks, and headed across the hallway to my bathroom.

Mom had made a point in setting my stuff up in the bathroom as much as we could before I went to bed last night. I was grateful since that allowed me to hop straight into the shower. I felt like I had washed away years of grime when I finished, only then remembering that I still had the residue of Sprite on me when I went to bed. 'What a flight...' I said to myself. I had trouble believing the whole thing had even happened.

That was until I made it downstairs, my hair still wet, and saw the headline on The Plain Dealer talked about the suspect being pulled off of the plane. He was being charged with a couple felonies related to the incident. No mention was made of me thankfully! Mom chose that moment to come in through the front door with a pile of groceries. "Do you need help?" I asked.

"If you wouldn't mind," she answered.

I walked out to her Escape and grabbed as many bags as my small frame could carry and set them on the kitchen counter. She grabbed the third and final load herself.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she asked timidly. I suspected she was nervous about offending me.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Do you have any cereal?"

She listed a dozen types, and it became obvious that she had stocked up with everything, since she didn't know what I would want. I picked a sugary one that sounded good and sat down on a bar stool next to the tall breakfast counter. My phone was on the counter next to me with a social media app open. I had a couple hundred 'friends,' on the app, but I couldn't help but acknowledge none of them were really friends. 'Maybe that can change,' I thought silently to myself.

All of the sudden I jumped! "What are you doing?" escaped from my mouth before my heart rate went down.

"Don't you normally brush your hair out each morning after you shower?" Mom asked while running her fingers through my wet hair.

I nodded my head, "I didn't feel like it this morning..."

"I don't mind if you want to have your hair long, but you do need to take care of it," she told me before disappearing upstairs. I was in mid-bite of a spoon of cereal when I felt her come back behind me, and grab onto my head, while taking a tentative stroke through my hair with a brush. I thought about complaining, but three strokes later I was purring.

"That feels really good," I told her.

She laughed lightly, and said, "Don't get used to it." After another minute or so she said, "You have a lot of split ends down here, when was the last time you had it cut?"

I tensed up at that word. I refused to let it get cut! "A year ago...?" I said tentatively. "I don't want it any shorter," I told her adamantly.

"I'm not saying chop it off sweetie," as she popped her head forward to where I could see her face. She smiled to try and disarm the look on my face, "You have to at least trim the split ends every now and then."