As the janitor drove away with Aaron still in the car, Brytni wondered weather or not she wanted to go inside. She decided not to let her mother worry any more than she already was. Her hand rested on the door knob for a few moments. She took a deep breath and opened it.

Her mother laid asleep in her bathrobe on the sofa, the phonebook opened across her lap. Brytni sighed and softly closed the door behind her. She tried to make as little sound as possible as she climbed the stairs to her room; but it was difficult because of how wet her clothes were. When she got to her domain, she let another sigh of relief. She quickly changed into her pajamas and brushed through her hair, pinning it up into a high bun.

It was 7:30am, meaning that her mother would wake up shortly. She grabbed all her wet clothes and threw them into her bathtub. Her mother couldn’t find out what had happened or she would flip.

Movement sounded downstairs, her mother finally waking. Brytni took a deep breath and slowly walked back downstairs.

“Good morning, Peanut.” Her mother said to her, looking through the phonebook.

“Morning, Pewee.” Brytni said to her mother, walking into the kitchen.

“How late did you stay at the courts?”

Brytni bit her lip and opened up the refrigerator, trying to buy her some time.

“Umm…not too late…”

She took out some left overs and stuffed it into the microwave.

“Hmm? And how late would that be?” her mother continued.

“Umm…I’m not exactly sure…”

“Is that right?” her mother stood up and walked into the kitchen, setting the phonebook on the counter.

“Well, while you were out having fun, I was finding you a basketball camp to go to during the summer.”

Brytni frowned, taking the food out of the microwave and setting it out on the table.

“Pewee, I already told you that I don’t want to go to some stupid camp. I can make my own friends.”

“Then why don’t you prove it to me and bring some home sometime?”

Brytni took her fork and played with whatever it was that in front of her, not being that hungry for food.

“No answer, huh?” Pewee said, leaning up against the wall.

Brytni frowned and bit her lip again.

“A matter-of-fact, Pewee,” Brytni started, sticking a piece of food into her mouth to distract herself, “I made a friend last night.”

Pewee looked surprised, but smiled.

“Oh?”

Brytni quickly nodded, her face warming up a little.

“Yeah…he was at the courts, too and-“

“He?”

Brytni bit her tongue, knowing that she had said the wrong thing. Her mother had been one of the most popular girls in school, meaning that she was beautiful. She had married young and had Brytni, her husband leaving not too far afterwards. After that, she had tried to do everything in her power to make Brytni the best, but Brytni didn’t want that. Her mother was truly her best-friend, even though they argued sometimes and didn’t agree on everything. Her mother was what she had always wanted to be and Brytni was everything her mother had never been. So when Brytni said that she had a new friend and he was a boy, her mother would be more than anxious to meet him.

“What’s his name? When do I get to meet him? Is he cute? Wait! You were alone with a boy? What happened?! Did he touch you? Tell me! Tell me! Tell me, Peanut!”

Brytni rolled her eyes, decided that a few little white lies wouldn’t kill her mother.

“Um…Aaron. Never. Yeah…Nothing…No…”

Pewee danced around the kitchen, as if she were a little kid.

“So when did you say I get to meet him?”

“Never.”

Pewee stopped dancing and frowned. She went down on her knees and stared Brytni in the eyes.

“And why not?”

Brytni continued eating, unaffected by her mother’s behavior.

“Because you would scare him off.”

She smiled and stuck out her tongue. Pewee laughed and stood up.

“Well, if I promise not to scare him, will I be able to meet him?”

Brytni shrugged, running out of ideas.

Pewee jumped up and down, giving Brytni a big hug before doing another little dance.

“Yay!”

Brytni rolled her eyes and stood up to rinse her plate.

“I love you, Peanut!”

“I love you too, Pewee.”

Aaron watched the janitor drive away in his car, afraid of what his father would say when he went inside. He took a deep breath, cracked his knuckles, and slowly went in. The small apartment was dark and dirty, like any man’s house would be. There were a few bear bottles here and there, the T.V. was left on, a few soccer balls and footballs were left on the couches, and an empty bottle was thrown on the floor. He picked it up and screwed the lid back on before throwing his own bag to the floor.

“Pop?”

No answer.

“Mikey?”

No answer.

“Ross?”

No answer.

“Connor?”

No answer.

He licked his lips and made his way to the back of the apartment to his room. He wasn’t sure of what to make of Mickey, who was asleep on his bed with his leg riding up the wall and his blankets all on the floor.

Aaron lived with a family of five. His boldest brother, Mikey, was a 19 year old high school drop-out with a job at the gas station; Ross was 10 years old and had been experimenting with every type of sport there was; and Connor was a 2 year old with an attitude like no other. His father had been re-assigned to work here and had picked up another job so that he could pay for Aaron’s basketball funds which meant that he was only home on Saturdays and on Weekday mornings. His mother had passed away after Connor was born, leaving his father to raise the boys. Because of his absence, Mikey was usually in charge and when he was working, Aaron was the father.

Aaron rolled his eyes and went back into the hallway, not wanting to disturb his brother. In the next room, Connor and Ross were asleep in their bed, their toys scattered around the floor and the window taped shut.

There were only two rooms in the apartment: one for Aaron and Mickey and one for Ross and Connor. Their father slept on couch or in the floor of one of the rooms.

He walked into the small kitchen and dug around for some cereal to eat. It was almost 8:00 so his father was due home sometime soon.

‘How will I break this down for him?’ he thought to himself.

“Pop,” he said to himself, “I…got stranded at the school gym last night and there just so happened to be someone there with me and she was-“

“She?”

Aaron quickly turned around to face Mikey, who was leaned up against the counter with nothing but his boxers on.

‘Crap…’ Aaron thought.

“You stayed the night at your school with a girl?”

Aaron turned back around and continued to eat his cereal.

Mikey grinned and took the seat next to his brother.

“Was she hot?”

Aaron continued to ignore him, not wanting him to get the pleasure that he was wanted. The front door opened and Pop walked in, his eyes tired and grey from a full night’s work.

“Mornin’ Mikey. Mornin’ Aaron.”

“Mornin’ Pop.” They both said in unison.

“Hey Pop, guess what Aaron did last night?”

Aaron threw his brother an evil glare.

Pop set down his things and watched his sons form behind the counter.

“What?”

Mikey pointed a finger at Aaron.

“He stayed at his school’s gym with a girl. He’s just barely getting back home now.”

Pop raised his eyebrow and shook his head.

“Aaron?”

He looked up and gave a small smile.

“Yeah, Pop?”

“I thought I taught you better than that?”

Aaron rolled his eyes.

“Nothing happened…”

Pop walked into the living room and laid on the couch, closing his eyes shut tight.

“OK then…When do I get to meet her?”

Mikey grinned and took a bite of Aaron’s cereal.

“Yeah, I wanna meet her, too.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Whatever you say, Pop…”

Pop smiled and nodded his head.

“OK then…Wake me up at 3:00pm, will you Mikey?”

Mikey nodded and took another bite of Aaron’s cereal.

“Sure.”

He grabbed Aaron by the shirt collar and pulled him back to their room, shutting the door behind them. He sat on the bed and stared at his brother.

“So…What really happened? Was she hot?”

Aaron rolled his eyes and took off his dirty shirt to find something clean to wear.

“Brytni and I didn’t do anything…too dangerous…”

Mikey laughed and fell backwards on the bed.

“Brytni, huh? Sounds hot to me…”

Aaron turned back at his brother and shook his head.

“Yeah…Sure…She was hot ok?”

Mikey smiled and nodded his head.

“Now tell me about it so that I can imagine that I did it so I can get pass another weekend.”

Aaron laughed and threw his bother a shirt of his own.

“Well…We almost…and then…the shower…and then…yeah…”

He stuck out his tongue and opened the door again.

Mikey sat back up and continuously nodded his head.

“That’s all you’re going to tell me!? Aaron, I love you!”

“I love you too, Mikey.”

He closed the door behind him and went to wake up Ross and Connor.