"When I tell you to have something ready for me to eat when I get home, don't add something that'll make me heave!"

Hard, crunchy knuckles slammed themselves against Dren's right cheek, sending him flying through what used to be the table where they ate. "Auugh!" Dren cried in pain. Trying to find everything in his power to stand up, Kish was also both trying to gently grasp the side of his face, not wanting to injure more than it already was.

His dad threw the fork to the side of the room. "Now clean up this mess, and replace it. Make the next one you build a lot nicer, and no more corn in my meals! Got it, boy!" After grabbing a drink for his drunk self, he went straight to the door, and out he goes to the barn.

"Nngh." Still holding his cheek, hoping that nothing broke, even though it felt like sharp, shooting agony. 'I just got back from the doc's. Now what? If I go back, I know he'll suspect. I already had to come up with an excuse for my dad on how I got these bandages.'

Wincing through, he picked up all the wooden pieces and moved the two broken halves of the table to outside of the house. The axe was close by, so he chopped it all up to make firewood. Going back inside, he cleaned off the floor from the scraps of food, broken plates, and bent utensils.

Dren flinched. "Looks like I'm making a visit to the ice shack." Dren picked up a ragged duffel bag with tiny holes in it, and slung it around him. While walking towards town, he felt around in his pocket, and halfway pulled out a dollar, and he felt a coin too. "Maybe when I'm there, I can get something to help."

Renee bit down on a chunk of celery and chugged down some milk. She wiped her mouth off her arm flesh, and went to the bottom of the ladder to their room. "Zoey, let's go, already! We're gonna be late!"

Once Zoey got down the ladder, she didn't look too happy herself. "Why are you in such a hurry to get to school? It's fifteen minutes earlier than when we usually head out."

Renee grabbed her sister by the sleeve and trudged out the door with all books in her other hand. "I told Dren I was going to meet him before school starts to study with him a little more. Now let's move!"

Zoey got herself free from Renee's grasp. "Will you calm down? I mean, what's with you? We didn't even have breakfast t yet. And I didn't even have time to put up my hair. I don't like having it down." She touched her hair as she said it.

Renee rolled her eyes. "Nothing's wrong with me. If you still have your penny that u found on the way back home a couple days ago, you can just stop by the mercantile by lunch. And as long as you brushed it, people won't care if you have your hair down or not."

Zoey looked at her sister with a feeling inside of her. "Are you on your thing again?"

She hesitated to answer, but with the uncomfortable look on her face, it was pretty much anyone could guess.

Zoey looked down at her feet. "I don't even know what it's like to have one. I still haven't popped yet. " She touched her chest with both hands.

"Trust me, once you get them, then comes what I'm feeling every month. It's not exactly fun, Zoey." Renee said through gritted teeth, her pace even faster now.

Zoey had no problem keeping up. "I saw you eating that green stuff. I thought u hated it like I did." She wrinkled her nose.

She lightly blushed. "Ma said that if you eat healthier, you can get bigger." She touched her own chest.

Zoey made a small O with her mouth. "I'm the one who needs to grow here!" She dropped her arms. "And what makes you think Dren will show up early to school? He barely comes as it is."

Halfway into town, Renee replied, "If he knows what's good for him, he'll come. Besides, I don't think anyone is really stupid enough to want people to think that they're completely stupid. Especially when we have folks like ours, we don't have a choice but to go to school." Renee smiled down at her sister.

Zoey smiled back and was laughing a little. "Yeah, I guess so. But I still don't know about him."

Renee was playfully glaring at her sister now. "Zoey….."

Zoey gave in. "Okay okay."

Carrying a block of ice around wouldn't be easy for anyone. But for Dren, it's what he's sued to lifting almost as much as his max. Before he could go home, after skipping school for the day, he needed to stop at the mercantile.

He entered with a bell behind him. "Hello?"

Mr. Oleson turned around from stocking shelves with canned goods. "Good afternoon, Dren. What can I do for ya?"

As Dren walked up to the counter, Mr. Oleson got a better look at his bruises that Dren badly covered with a patch. "Dren, what happened to you? Are you all right?"

He waved it off. "Fine. I was helping someone build a shed, and he accidentally hit me with a plank when he turned to ask me a question. Just an accident."

Mr. Oleson gave a sympathetic smile. "Well, get better soon. And lay off the job until you do son. Now what can I get you?"

He put the dollar on the counter. "One pack of cigarettes for my old man. Oh, and a couple of peppermint sticks if you could."

Once the money was in the register, Mr. Oleson handed him a bag, then looked down at his. "Mind if I ask what's your bag? It looks awfully heavy."

Dren shrugged with his other shoulder. "I'm bringing some ice back to my place. Thought we could use it."

"Ah. Well, be careful on your way home. I'll see you sometime, Dren." Mr. Oleson waved as he left the store.

"Yeah." Dren signaled as he closed the door behind him.

Ten minutes later, with no one around, he got behind a tree and lit a cigarette up once one was grabbed out of the pack. When still inhaling, he thought, 'Too bad these can't make me feel good for the rest of my life. Too bad I have to go back to the home I have.' He puffed out.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!"

Dren surprised, coughed from inhaling midair. He looked and saw Renee and Zoey. Renee had her hands on her hips, while Zoey had her arms crossed, both looking a little shocked and really peeved.

He smirked. "Well well well. What do I have here? Two good looking girls. One who has my eye, and one who always has her head in a book and a total brain. Decisions, decisions."

Renee marched right up to him, snatched the cigarette from his hand, and stomped on it to put the smoke out. "What do you think you're doing? You can't smoke. And I also wanna know why you didn't show up before or during school. I was supposed to tutor you again."

Dren got up and shook the dirt off the back of his pants. "Aw, lighten up. What I do with my lungs is none of anyone's business. And second, I was having a bad day, so I needed to go somewhere and cool off. You don't think anyone wants me to come to school in a bad mood, do you?"

Zoey came up beside Renee, and on the other side of Dren. She tried to touch his patch before he flinched from fear of pain it would cause. "What happened this time?"

Dren backed away from them both, almost tripping over himself and dropping the duffel. "Nothing. Was just working on a project and I accidentally got hit by some wood another person was carrying. Don't worry or nag about ti."

She still looked worried though. Renee, on the other hand, wanted nothing of it. "All I have to say is this. Next time we have to meet up, actually SHOW!" He stumbled back a little more when she got in his face.

Sometime later when Dren got home, he unloaded the ice at the back of the barn, and grabbed an ice pick. He kept stabbing at the ice until it broke off a big enough chunk to satisfy him. Taking the piece of ice inside with him in his bare hands, he searched for a rag, and wrapped it around the ice, then ently put to the side of his face where the patch was. "Aah, this feels better. Hope it stays like that when it melts."

He went to see if his dad was in his room and there he was: lying on his bed with wine bottles surrounding him. One on each side of the bed to be exact.

Dren sighed, and just went straight to the stove. "Better make something, before his highness wakes up." Sarcastically said of course. But truth be told, Dren was truly afraid of his own dad, not to mention angry. Who wouldn't be though, right?