Broken Hearts and Insecurity

When I got home, both Mom and Dad were away. Dad was still at work, but Mom I didn’t have a clue to where she was. I threw my bag down in the front hall as I made my way through to the living room and slumped myself down on the couch. I sighed happily to myself. This had turned out to be a better day that I could have possibly imagined. Okay, so the first part of the day sucked, but the second part had been great. Mike was one of the funniest guys I had ever met. In the history lesson, he had kept throwing small paper balls at Mrs. Winson, of which most landed in her hair and she didn’t even notice. In psychics, which fortunately he also was taking, he had constantly been coming with funny remarks about what the teacher, Mr. Longburrow, was saying. At the end of the day, he had even given me his phone number. I took that as a sign that we were friends, right? Or at least on our way to becoming friends. That made me the happiest I had been since we had moved here.

When Mom came home, I was sitting upstairs in my room, absent-mindedly trying to do some homework on the bed while stroking my cat Pumpkin. Don’t even ask about the name, I was very little when I named her.

“Lilly?” Mom called. I jumped to my feet and thundered down the stairs.

“Right here, Mom.” I walked out into the hall where she was stood, with her blonde hair tightened in a pony tail. She glanced over her shoulder at me as she hung up her coat. “Where have you been?”

“Job interviews”, she replied and turned to look at me fully.

“Any luck?”

“A few of them are looking rather good, they said they’d call.” She made her way into the kitchen as I followed. “Sooo… how was your first day at school?” she asked excitedly.

“Pretty shitty-”

“Oh no, really? It’ll get better, I promise honey. You just need to be patient-“

“-at first”, I continued with a small smile. “But then I met this guy, Mike-“

“Oh, I knew that you would make new friends. Was he any cute?”

“Mom please”, I said with a laugh. My Mom could be so dorky at times, but that’s why I loved her. “He’s my friend, and he’s really nice. He actually made my whole day.”

“That’s wonderful honey. I’m so glad that you’re getting settled in.” She gave me a huge hug before pulling away and smiling at me, her hands still resting on my shoulders. “Everything’s going to work out. I know you don’t like that we moved here, but wait and see. Maybe it’ll be the best thing that ever happened to you.” I returned the smile as she let me go. She went over to the fridge. “Have you eaten anything?”

“Yeah, I ate the leftover pizza.” I told her. I stood in the door frame for a minute, watching my Mom fiddling around in the kitchen before I shot a glance at the clock on the wall. Seven thirty.

“I have to head back upstairs, I already got a ton of homework.”

“You do that honey.” I rushed back to the stairs and up to my room, where Pumpkin was still lying in the exact same position I had left her in. I looked down at the book full of numbers and calculations in my knee, and tried to solve a few of them. I quickly figured out however, that it was absolutely no use. I put it back in my bag. What harm could it do to leave it? Not to brag, but I was pretty smart. I wouldn’t fail high school because of some undone homework. I patted Pumpkin while thinking the day over once again, and I stopped in my thoughts when I reached the part when we walked back to school. I wondered where this friend of Mike had been. To be completely honest, I was a bit curious about this joint selling, school skipping friend of his. Where was he today anyway? Mike hadn’t wanted to tell me, so maybe it was something serious. Or maybe he just didn’t want to officially tell me that his friend was skipping classes, although it was a bit obvious. I wouldn’t ask about it though, he clearly didn’t want to tell me. It wasn’t like it really was a big deal or anything. I yawned and continued stroking Pumpkin, who was now purring delightfully beside me. Her orangey fur was soft underneath my fingers. I let out yet another yawn as I got up, earning a small glare from Pumpkin for not continuing petting her. I smiled apologetically at her before I went to the bathroom and got myself ready for bed.

After having said good night to Mom and Dad, who was now home from work, I slipped into my pajama shorts and a top. I cuddled up in my bed and sighed as I felt how warm and cozy it was. I could hear Pumpkin start purring again as I lazily started stroking her. I just remember thinking that maybe tomorrow I would get to meet Mike’s mystery friend, and before I knew it, I was sleeping like a baby.