I reach up, pushing my hair out of my eyes. I'm reminded of how badly I need a haircut when my hair immediately falls back into my eyes. Giving up, I turn my attention back to the computer in front of me. Microsoft Word is open and there are two lines of text on the screen; the start of an essay that is due tomorrow morning. I can't focus on the assignment any longer though, so I close my laptop.
It's a cold fall day, and the leaves are just starting to turn. The sun is shining, but I know that it's cold out. When I got home from school a few hours ago, the wind was bitterly cold, even as warm as the sun was. I stare out of the window for a few minutes, my thoughts focusing on nothing in particular. The sun is starting to set when my mother calls my name from the kitchen.
"Alec, dinner's almost ready. Can you come set the table?"
"Sure, Mom," I reply, setting my phone on the table and heading downstairs.
The stairs creak, alerting the whole house of my movements. I can hear Isabelle and Max yelling at each other in the game room, a normal occurrence in my house. I slip silently into the kitchen, grabbing the silverware before walking into the dining room. The table is already covered in a simple white cloth, left over from last night's meal. I lay out the silver for six place settings before turning to the hulking cabinet in the corner of the room that holds our cups and plates.
It only takes me about five minutes to set the table, and once I have I find my mother in the kitchen. She's hovering over the stove, stirring a steaming pot of something. Her black hair, now streaked with grey, is pulled into a loose ponytail, and she's wearing a burgundy sweater and dark jeans.
"Mom, do you need my help with anything else?"
She looks up, smiling at me.
"No, I think I'm good dear. Did you set enough places? Jace won't be home until tomorrow, but your father is having a friend over for dinner."
"Yes, I did. Do you want me to get Izzy and Max?"
"If you don't mind. I hope they'll stop fighting long enough to have a decent meal."
I smile at her, heading back up the stairs to find Isabelle and Max. When I open the door they are standing in front of the TV, Isabelle brandishing a Playstation controller like a knife. When I walk in, they both fall silent, glaring accusingly at me.
"What?" Max snaps at me.
"Dinner's almost ready. Dad's having a friend over, so Mom wants you two to behave."
Isabelle throws the controller onto the couch, hitting Max as she brings her hand back up. He cries out, but she shoots him a glare and he shuts up. I walk out of the door, and I can hear them following me.
Dinner is awkward, and I swear that Izzy and Max are on the verge of breaking out into a fistfight at any moment. Dad's friend is someone from the college where he works, a professor of civil engineering or something. The whole meal is a little tense, as if my parents are trying very hard to impress someone that they don't really like. As soon as the meal is over they instruct the three of us to clean up the dishes.
As soon as I close the door behind me, I hear the muttering of a tense conversation. Izzy and I share a glance, and Max immediately knows something up.
"What? What is it?"
"I'm sure it's nothing, Max," I say, shooting Isabelle a look.
"He's right, Max. Don't worry about it."
"Okay," Max says, sighing.
"Max, do you have homework?" I ask, looking accusingly at him.
"Yes," Max says.
"Is it done?"
"No, it's not."
"Well," Isabelle cuts in, "you should go get it done."
"Fine," Max says, stomping out of the kitchen.
Izzy and I start stacking dishes in the sink, putting some of them in the dishwasher and starting to wash the rest by hand.
"What do you think they're talking about?"
"I don't know, Alec."
"I wonder if it has anything to do with Dad's job?"
"I'm sure it does. Remember how they were talking about the job cuts at his work?"
"Yeah…" I trail off, "Izzy, you don't think?"
"I don't know, I hope not."
We stand in silence, finishing the dishes. My mind is churning, and I don't notice the first time that Izzy says my name.
"Alec," she says, hitting me on the arm with a dishtowel.
"Uh, yeah?"
"I asked how your classes are."
"Oh, they're good, I guess."
"You guess? How's coding?"
"It's fascinating, I guess, just not very engaging. The teacher sucks."
"I'm sorry, who is it?"
"Maning."
"Oh," she frowns, "I had him for finance last year. He really is awful. I hope the class isn't that bad…"
"It won't be bad, I think. I just hope that we get to do a lot on individual work."
"You probably will, that's how my finance course was."
We talk about our schedules until we're done with the dishes, then we walk out of the kitchen together. We both head upstairs, walking to the game room. From halfway down the hall, we can hear the sound of one of Max's games. We look at each other, sharing a look.
"I'm not dealing with it," I sigh.
"Me either. Leave him?"
"Sure. I don't care enough."
We head our separate ways, Izzy to her room at one end of the hall, me to my room at the other. When I enter my room, I pull off my sweater, putting on a cotton tee shirt. I also switch my jeans for a pair of running shorts and put on my earbuds. As I'm lacing up my sneakers I glance out the window, noting that the wind has stopped blowing. As an afterthought, I grab a hoodies from the back of my chair.
When I get outside, I immediately notice how much the temperature has dropped. When I got home from school, it certainly wasn't warm, but now it's only a few degrees above freezing. I hit play on my running playlist before starting to run. After only a few minutes the cold I felt before I gone, replaced with a pleasant warmth. After thirty minutes I return to my house, my legs burning. I pull out my earbuds, noticing that my dad's car is no longer in the driveway.
It's rare that my dad leaves the house after he gets home, so I'm immediately on high alert. I hesitantly open the door, stepping into the living room. The house is silent, and that's the first thing that's weird. Our house is never silent, between my mom and Isabelle's music and Max and Izzy fighting. I walk toward the kitchen, but before I open the door Isabelle appears at the top of the stairs.
"Alec. Come here."
I cock my head in confusion, turning toward Izzy, "Why?"
"Because shit went down."
I quickly jog up the stairs, meeting Isabelle. She wrinkles her nose, stepping away from me.
"Go shower, you stink. Then we can talk."
"Okay."
I grab a change of clothes from my room before heading to the bathroom where I shower in nearly record time. Once I'm dressed, I towel off my hair and walk to Izzy's room. She's sitting on a beanbag, her head in her hands. She barely looks up when I come in, so I take a seat beside her.