Crazy World

Dinner is Ruined

Andrew

I was in my room situated in our small apartment, laying on my bed, fidgeting with a rubic's cube. My mind was completely blank, maybe because I didn't want to think much about today's events.

I didn't want to remember Parker's sobbing face, it was too painful. I started thinking about random things, all at once, which suddenly made me realise that I hadn't done my homework. I sat up and went to my table, after picking out all the books and copies which were needed. When you're supposedly a good student, the teachers will probably forgive you for not completing your work a few times, but since I needed some work, I decided to finish it.

"Lets see, trignometry... sin square theta plus cos square theta equals one..." I mumbled some formulas to myself while solving a few problems before my mother called.

"Andrew, come have dinner! Its getting late, honey." Came her voice from the dining room. I got up and left my homework incomplete on the table.

I went towards the dining table and sighed as I saw my older sister sitting there, just prodding her food with spoon in one hand, and using her phone with the other. I took a seat next to my mother as she beamed at me. Her tired eyes sparkled as she looked around her family.

"How are you, Andrew? You haven't talked much since you came home." She said. My sister let out a fed-up grunting sound but I ignored her.

"I'm alright mom, don't worry. If you have to worry, you might as well worry about this one over here..." I said turning my head towards my sister.

She finally looked up from her phone and looked at us in anger, "I come home once a month for dinner and all you're gonna do is stare at me while I mind my own business?"

"Exactly Amy, you come home once a month and you're gonna spend that time on your phone?" My mom argued, "your brother's best friend just left, why don't you ask him how he is?"

"I don't remember anyone asking me when Rachel left." Amy spat.

"Who's Rachel?" I asked.

"See?!"

"Amy, Rachel and you were friends for two weeks before she returned to her house." My mother said, calmly.

Amy stared at us with wide eyes and muttered under her breath, "this is why I hate coming here."

I looked at my mother who looked just as upset as she looked every other time Amy said this. I turned towards my sister, "Amy, please. Just let us have dinner like a normal family for once."

"There is nothing normal about this family, Andrew. I'm not hungry. You can have my food, I'm leaving." Amy got up.

"Amy-" my mother began.

"Have dinner with your perfect boy, mother."

So that pretty much ruined my dinner. Amy stormed away and I didn't stop her. Secretly, I was kind of glad because I was not on good terms with my sister and she hated me. My mother tried her best to bring us together, convincing Amy to come home once a month, but something would always go wrong. I didn't know why Amy didn't like me, she had been mean to me ever since I opened my eyes. She never really explained, nor did I ask. I didn't want to now what was that thing inside me which made my own sister loath me. Although I figured she didn't like the fact that I got good grades while she was suspended from her school for not performing well, but that never seemed enough.

Mom and I had our dinner in silence, no one touched Amy's plate.

"Mom, don't worry about Amy. She's just..." I tried to think of words to explain why my sister was the way she was but failed. My mom took my hand and spoke softly.

"Promise me Andrew, you will never give up on your sister. No matter what, she's your family. She's the only one who will be around after I-"

"Mom! Hey, hey... I'm never giving up on Amy but you have to stop talking like that." I said, looking at the strongest women I knew, "and she knows we're her family too, she will never go far."

***

"Sleep, Andrew. Go to sleep already. Dang." Adrien cried at the phone just as he picked up my call.

"Were you sleeping? Sorry to disturb-"

"What? No, do I look like someone who sleeps at ten thirty?" he asked.

"Its eleven-thirty right now." I informed.

"Oh. Then do I look like someone who knows how to read a clock?"

I laughed, "What were you doing?"

"Watching a documentary on sloths- the most boring animals in the history of humanity... animality, whatever. My dad and I placed a bet about who could watch this longer without sleeping, and my old man does not wanna lose."

"Sounds fun. Did you know it takes a sloth thirty days to digest a leaf?" I said.

"Andrew, do you want me to lose?"

Adrien and I kept talking for a while, much to his father's dismay (he said Adrien was cheating because he had a friend on line to keep him awake. He was not pleased when Adrien replied with "not my fault you don't have friends, father.").

After talking to him, I felt better. I was not good at making friends but I guess there was something about Adrien Brooke's personality which would make almost everyone want to be his friend. Plus, he was proving to be a pretty good friend until now. He made me feel better about everything. He knew there was some sort of issue between my sister and me, but he didn't know how serious it was.

After hanging up, I lay on my bed, thinking about the airport. After Parker had left, I thought I was alone, but I realised I was not. I had friends, Adrien, Madison, Ariana... Anne. Anne was my friend, and the thought suddenly lifted my spirits. I remembered what she had told me about some people never leaving even after leaving.

I found myself smiling suddenly. When we were in the park, I was trying so hard not to stare at her, but she was just so effortlessly amazing. Looking at her in the faint sunlight, I understood the difference between beautiful and pretty. When she was sitting behind me on my motorcycle, I was scared that I might cause an accident. I was sweating. Madison's suspicious eyes didn't help me, nor did Ariana's judge-y stare. I was not trying to make a move, I just felt like I should do anything to cause her convenience. People might generally think that out of Ariana, Madison and Anne, Ariana was the pretty one and Madison was the brainy one, but that wasn't true. In my eyes, Anne was beautiful and smart, and I have reasons to believe that I have looked into her more deeply than anyone else.

Anne's eyes were as beautiful as blue sapphires, her short dark honey blonde hair was enough to drive me crazy, her smile made me happier than I ever thought I could be, and her natural pink lips- Got too far didn't I? A bit poetic too, I guess. But you get the idea. The girl I had these deep feelings for was now back to being my friend. How did I feel about that? Quite good, actually. It was better than being her "acquaintance".

I was thinking about Anne with the rubic's cube in my hand again. When I kept it beside my bed right before sleeping, I realised I had somehow solved it.

I closed my eyes and smiled. Yeah, I had lost something today, but I was pretty grateful for what was left behind with me. I valued that and would protect this small world of mine with everything I had.

***

Hey hey! I also just realised that I forgot to add anything about Anne's features too so I added a lil somethin somethin here lmao, hope you liked it! And, I don't really have any questions right now so I'm open to your suggestions! Ask away, lovely people!