I decided to walk home after school rather than waiting for one of my parents to drive me. Driving would mean having to listen to my Dad going on about Rachel and Finn constantly, as if we weren't going to hear about all of their 'amazing' achievements again over dinner. My parents also had to pick my younger sister up, which meant that walking only took slightly longer than the whole car journey would've done. Sure I still had to walk for half an hour, but it also meant that I could wash the slushy out of my hair and start on my homework without anyone bothering me.
It wasn't long before both my parents arrived home with my younger sister in tow. In normal circumstances I would've gone downstairs to say hello, but not today. Today I was in hard core math mode, not to mention I was still annoyed about having to stay in tonight. I finished a problem, double checked that my door was closed, and then moved straight on to another. There was no way I was coming out any earlier than was absolutely necessary. Of course, some people had other ideas.
I was so focused on the question that I was doing that I didn't even notice the sound of my door slowly creaking open. In fact, I didn't realise anyone was there at all until I heard a voice suddenly exclaim,
"Nicky!"
I almost jumped out of my seat at the sudden noise, and then rolled my eyes as I realised that it was just my younger sister coming to bother me. A lot of people find the age gap between me and Emily quite strange. I'm 16, and she's just about to turn 9. For some reason my parents had a lot of trouble having another kid after I was born. They tried for ages, and were just about to give up when suddenly Emily came along. So I guess she's like some sort of miracle or something.
"Hi Emily," I sighed, instantly looking back down at my work, "I'm working, okay? I'll speak to you later."
"But we didn't even know that you were up here!" Emily insisted, for some reason not understanding me asking her to go away.
"Well, like I said. I'm working," I repeated.
"Wait, hang on..." she said quickly, before running out of my room again. I paused for a moment, waiting to see if she was going to come back, and then when she didn't I stood up and closed my door after her. Which was pointless, of course; I'd hardly even started on my problem again before Emily opened the door and stuck her head into my room again.
"Daddy says you have to come downstairs," she said seriously.
"Well... I'm working," I said, once again. Honestly, you'd think I wasn't even speaking English or something.
"But Daddy said that you have to!" Of course, I'd forgotten that for an eight year old a parent's word was like the goddamn law.
"Fine, fine. I'm coming," I gave in. I made a big deal out of dropping my pen and closing my book, as if the sarcastic edge to my response hadn't been enough.
Emily grinned and ran downstairs, shouting, "He's coming!" I on the other hand took my time walking across the landing, and stopping at the top of the stairs as I saw Dad stop at the bottom.
"Ah, there you are," Dad said, smiling up at me, "I didn't think you were in. Why didn't you come downstairs?"
"I was working," I muttered, stopping halfway down the stairs and pushing my hands into my pockets.
Dad sighed, who knows why. "Okay. Well, get changed. Rachel and Finn will be here soon."
"Get changed into what?"
"Just... something nicer," Dad replied, already sounding exasperated. Good, hopefully that meant that he would leave me alone soon. "We're having guests around; it would be nice if you wore something other than a hoodie."
"Whatever," I replied quietly, already turning around to walk back into my room. I half expected him to follow me, he didn't though.
I quickly changed into a blue button down shirt and settled straight into the math. Now, you might think that I was going a bit crazy with the amount of work I was doing, but this was a really, really important competition coming up.
Not only was I just really competitive, and really wanted to win, but there were also college scholarships up for grabs, and a chance to go on to compete at the State championships, where there would be yet more scholarships and the opportunity to go to Nationals, for a free trip to DC! And yet more scholarships...
Most people would probably think I was crazy for working so hard for scholarships now, although I was mainly studying hard just because I wanted to win. But I'd already won a grant from a company in a middle school competition, which promised to pay a small part of my college tuition. For me, math competitions were almost like having a summer job, but where I only get the money when I start college. Which I guess sucks a bit. But so, you'd think my parents would be encouraging me in all these competitions; if I kept doing well there was a chance I could get a free ride through college. Alas, no. They always complained that I spent too much time studying, and constantly moaned at me to go and do something else, and I couldn't remember the last time Dad had ever come to a competition. Admittedly, there wasn't always that much to see, but I couldn't remember him even coming to an awards ceremony! Something about glee always seems to pop up...
I managed to get about another 15 minutes of studying in before someone knocked on my door again. I sighed loudly, throwing myself back into my chair and waiting for whoever it was to just barge in. Nobody came though, and a minute later there was another knock. It was pretty obvious who was there; Mom is the only person who ever seems to give me any privacy around here.
"Come in," I called out, flicking shut my text book, figuring it was probably time for dinner or something. Mom opened the door, slipped inside and closed it very, very gently. I wish her respect for my privacy would rub off on everyone else...
"Are you okay Nicholas?" she asked suddenly, making me frown.
"Yes... I'm fine Mom, why?"
"You uh, you had a shower earlier. You don't normally shower after school..."
This threw me completely off guard, how the hell did she know that?! My confusion must have been obvious, because she quickly added. "You, forgot to uh, clean up, afterwards..."
"Oh Mom, I'm so sorry," I said, quickly jumping up to my feet and shaking my head at myself. How could I be so stupid?! Not only had I given myself away, but I also hated doing anything that upset Mom, and any sort of mess would definitely upset her. "I'll go sort it out now..."
I walked straight past her and into the family bathroom, mainly just trying not to give her a chance to ask me any more questions. She followed me into the bathroom though, standing at the edge of the door as I started to clean up after myself; wiping the condensation off of the wall and putting all my bottles back in their proper place. Luckily there weren't any remnants of slushy left from me washing it out my hair, and so I thought I'd gotten away with it, until...
"I saw your sweater in the laundry too. It had slushy on it," Mom stated simply.
Damn. I turned away, closing my eyes tightly as I tried to think of some excuse. "Yeah, I had an accident at lunch. I'm sorry, I can clean it myself."
"Nicholas..." Mom sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder, slowly turning me round to face her, "I know it's hard, but you can talk me about this..."
I paused, diverting my eyes down towards the ground, "I'm fine Mom, please..."
"If you could just tell me who they are, who keeps doing this to you…" she said quietly.
"Then we'd have an exact repeat of middle school, wouldn't we?! Just… just leave me alone Mom, I don't want to talk about it!" I exclaimed, finally looking up to meet her eye. She sighed again dropping her hand from my shoulder and silently walking out of the room.
"Idiot!" I said to myself quietly, as I heard the door to my parents' bedroom click shut. I hadn't meant to lose my cool like that, and I certainly hadn't meant to make Mom upset. She was the only one who I really felt I could talk to.
I chucked down the sponge that I'd been using to wipe down the sides of the shower and put my hands on my head. Suddenly the door to my parents room and opened and slammed shut. I span round to see my Dad towering in the door way, hands firmly placed on his hips.
"What are you doing?!" He demanded.
"I'm cleaning the shower for Mom..."
"Well you should have done it earlier! You know how much this sort of thing can upset her."
"Dad, I've already spoken to Mom about this..."
"Yes, and now she's very upset! You know, not everything is all about you Nicholas. First complaining about having to come to dinner with us, and now this! "
"What? Dad..."
I was interrupted by the doorbell ringing downstairs, and Emily cheerily calling out, "I'll get it!" Dad stayed silent, listening just long enough to hear Rachel's voice, before reaching behind him and closing the bathroom door.
"I don't want to hear it Nicholas and I won't have you upsetting your Mother like this; your whole attitude has been terrible recently."
"But..."
"Enough," Dad glared at me, "I'll deal with you later. Right now, I need you to go downstairs and behave."
I opened my mouth to protest, but it was obvious that that was pretty useless; Dad only responded with a bigger glare as he opened the door behind him. I simply shook my head, pushing past him and storming down the stairs.
