What I like about you

12

"Alright! Great job today Ladies! Try outs are after Thanksgiving break, so be ready! Alright, break it out." Coach yells, throwing up his hand in the air as we all mimic the same.

We break out in our usual chant.

"Lady Dogs on three! One! Two! Three! Lady Dogs!" And we all walk to the locker room, grabbing our things and leaving.

The thought of tryouts makes me nervous and excited all at the same time.

I see my moms car parked right next to the field gates. I open the door and quickly hop in, smiling at my mom as she just sits on her phone.

"Hey, mom."

No answer.
She takes the car out of park and stars backing up out of the parking lot, driving away towards the house.

"So, tryouts are after Thanksgiving break. Which is only a few weeks away." I chirp, watching her scroll through her phone and look up at the road.

No answer.

"And I made a hundred on my test in pre cal."

Still, no answer.

"I also skipped class to smoke pot with the stoners." I lie, seeing if she is actually listening.

No reaction.
She doesn't even acknowledge that I'm speaking to her.

I slump in my seat, crossing my arms and huffing out.

We get to the house, my sister's bus arriving at the same time we do. The little brown haired girl skips off the bus and towards the front door where mom is unlocking it.

"Guess what Mommy!!" Bailey squeals.

No answer.

"I got a star in reading!" She jumps up and down. Mom completely ignores her, walking straight inside and leaving the door open.

"She's not going to listen to you Bails." I say with annoyance towards our mother.

We both walk inside, the door softly shutting behind us. I walk to my room, chucking my bags on the floor as I fall face first on my bed. Kicking my feet up to nudge my shoes off.

"Danny!" My mom's voices call out from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I yell back.

No answer.

"Mom!" I call once more.

Still no answer.

I hate when she does that.

I get up, huffing out as I walk to where my mom stands in the kitchen.

"Yes, ma'am?" I watch her open the fridge door and peer inside.

"What happened to the left over spaghetti?" She asks, still searching the fridge.

"Bailey ate it for dinner last night, remember?"

"But, I wanted it." She all but whines.

"Well, you told her to eat it." I cross my arms.

"I guess we have nothing to eat then." She dramatically sighs, shutting the fridge and turning towards me.

"You could make dinner."

"Why do I have to do it? I don't feel good." She complains, exhaling loudly through her mouth.

"Did you forget that you're the mother?"

"I'm laying down. Find something to eat." She saunters to her room, shutting the door and once again ignoring her responsibility of taking care of us.