Cherish

“Mom! I’m home!” My forehead creases in confusion when I notice that mom’s sitting at the table, in the same position she’s been the last several days whenever she sits at the counter or table. Head buried in her hands, like she’s worried or freaking out about something.

Her head lifts up, and she gives me a soft smile that doesn’t match the sadness in her eyes. “Hey, birthday girl. How was school?”

I bite my lip, debating on if I should bring up the fact that something’s obviously bothering her or not. “School was school,” I finally say with a shrug. “Adam and I broke up,” I admit softly.

“Good,” she says in a no nonsense tone.

I gape. “What? You loved Adam.”

She chuckles softly. “Not really, honey. I just dealt with him because he was your choice. I didn’t really like the boy. He doesn't deserve you, anyway. What happened?”

“Things have been strained between us for a while, I’ve just been burying my head in the sand, I guess. Not wanting to see the truth or something. I don’t know. Then there’s the Gloria situation–” I cut myself off, not wanting to go into it all again and shake my head. “Nevermind. It’s not important.”

She watches me for a moment before nodding her head. “Anything exciting happen at school today?”

I purse my lips as I think about it. “Not really. Oh, there are some new students that all the girls at school are going absolutely crazy about.”

“New students?”

I toss my bag on the table and cut my eyes to her, studying her expression. Though she looks interested, there’s something in her eyes that’s scaring me. Adding the look in her eyes to the way that her voice hitched a little when she asked about the new students, isn’t giving me a good feeling.

“Uh, yeah. Three guys just started at school today. There’s something . . . off about them, I guess is the best way to say it,” I admit thoughtfully.

I pull my homework out of my backpack and plop myself down on the chair beside my mom, so I can work on it.

“Hmm,” she hums quietly. “I’ll let you get to your homework, honey. Don’t make any plans with your friends tonight. We’re having cake after dinner.”

“It’s chocolate cake, right?” I call after her as she leaves the room.

She laughs. “Of course it is. I’d never do something as stupid as not get your favorite kind of cake for your birthday.”

* * *

“Cherish,” Ella’s soft voice breaks through my sleep, and I grumble incoherently. She chuckles. “Mom sent me to wake you up, Cher. She said she didn’t want you to be late to school again today and to ask if you could take me to school.”

“Go away,” I moan, gripping my blanket tight and pulling it over my head.

“Cherish, come on. I need you to take me to school early today.”

I peek out from the blanket and glare at her through my barely open eyes. “Why the hell do you need to go to school early?” I ask, my glare slipping into an incredulous expression.

She laughs. “Because I have an art project due, and I was hoping that you could help me with it.” She bats her eyes at me innocently. “Please?”

I groan. “God, you’re evil. You know that, don’t you?”

She swats at my arm. “Just get up, please. I really need this finished before school starts.”

“Fine. Go away, so I can get ready.”

Ella leaves my room, and I slowly pull myself out of bed and hop in the shower. Throwing on a pair of black skinny jeans and a red shirt before putting my hair up in a messy bun, I take a look at myself in the mirror and call it good. I don’t have the energy to worry about my appearance today. Stupid english paper kept me up half the night. The other half of the night while I was actually sleeping I’ve been having all kinds of weird-ass dreams.

Weird dreams on top of an english paper does not equal to having a great amount of sleep.

Dragging myself into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee I look at the time and groan. Too early. Turning to Ella after starting the coffee I glare at her. "Why are we going to school an hour early?"

"I told you, I need help with my art project. You're the artsy one in this family. I don't have a creative bone in my body, but you do," she explains after taking a bite of her cereal.

"But a whole hour?" A shifty expression flits across her face. "You haven't even started it yet, have you?"

She shrugs, taking another bite. "Um, no. I haven't."

I snort a laugh while pouring myself a bowl of cereal. "I thought I was bad at procrastinating. You, little sister, take it to a whole new level of insane."

"Did you finish the english assignment then?"

"Like two hours ago," I admit with a disgruntled sigh.

Ella chuckles. "How long did you work on it for? When did you start it?"

"After dinner last night. Worked on the damn thing all fucking night."

We finish eating and take care of our bowls before grabbing our bags. Walking outside I tilt my head at the empty parking spot where dad's car usually is at this time. Usually, our parents leave for work after we’ve already left for school.

"Where's dad? Isn't it a little early for him to go to work?" I ask while pulling my keys out of my bag.

"They got into another fight this morning. It was a bad one. Really bad," she whispers.

I frown and decide that I'm going to try talking to them tonight or tomorrow to get to the bottom of all the fighting. This shit's getting to both of us, and it can't be good for them either.

"Mom went back to bed after telling me to wake you to take me to school. She was crying and said she just couldn't do it today."

I bite my lip as we get in my car and start leaving the driveway. "Did you happen to catch what it was about?"

She hesitates. I peek at her before turning my gaze back to the road.

"What?"

"What they were arguing about you. Dad said something about not signing up for this. Whatever this is, I don't know, but he sounded really frustrated."

My stomach churns as I pull into the school parking lot. "Maybe he's referring to prom?" I say in a half-assed attempt to guess what could be going on.

Ella gives me a shaky smile. "Yeah, maybe."

"You don't think that's it either do you?" I ask softly, turning the car off.

Ella gets out of the car and waits for me to exit as well before speaking again. "No, I don't think that's it. I honestly have no idea what it is. I just know that this is so unlike them that it's honestly scaring me, Cher."

I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her into my side as we walk. "I know. I'm worried too."

"What are we going to do?"

"We're going to figure out what the hell their problem is and fix it," I say with a confidence I don't feel.

"And if the problem is you?" she says carefully, asking the question that I didn't want to ask.

I exhale a deep breath, ignoring the nausea that question caused. "If the problem is me, then I'll see if I can stay with Zoe or Lucy until I can get a job and get my own place. That way they won't have to worry about dealing with me."

"Cherish-"

"No, it's fine, Ella. I don't want mom and dad to separate because of me, it wouldn't be right."

"Neither is the way dad's acting."

I shrug, feeling incredibly helpless. "I don't know, El. We'll figure it out, yeah?"

"Alright.”