The day passed a complete blur of noise, confusion and lots of getting lost. And I’m not even talking about me. Shorty was like a wild party on legs and for the time being, Valium. It was awesome! insert smiley face here We parted at the school gates with a promise to meet in the same place tomorrow before registration, something told me he wouldn’t show up on time. “I don’t like structure. But only when it involves getting out of bed on time” He told me with one of his trademark cheeky grins. It didn’t matter, I’d wait for him anyway.

I wandered down my driveway wearing a grin similar to Shorty’s except that mine was silly instead of cheeky. Then I heard the smashing of glass and it disappeared like it had never existed in the first place. I tentatively opened the front door and watched as a plate whizzed above my head and shattered on the concrete outside. I didn’t even duck or attempt to move out the way. You know when soldiers get used to the sound of bombs and gunshots so much that they don’t flinch when they hear them? Well I’m the soldier, the plates are grenades and my mom is the enemy. I closed the door and walked into the kitchen, the monster that was my only remaining parent staggering and ranting behind me. I ignored her and opened the cupboard. No food. Wishful thinking. I interrupted her tirade about me being a waste of space or something.

“At least I’m not too useless to go shopping.”

She slapped me. I expected it. Why didn’t I stop her? Hit her back? She might be a useless bitch but she’s still my mom. And if I stopped her she’d only hit me harder next time. She slapped me again. It hurt this time, Her long nails had raked my cheek on impact. I felt the blood staining my fringe and trickling down my neck. Great, just when I was running out of makeup. I rolled my eyes and got out two cans of soup. It was all we had and it was broccoli. Yuck. Still I couldn’t go to the store now.

“Make me dinner Fagboy”

I sighed. “And less of your insolence” She added. I poured the soup into a pot and watched as it started to bubble. When it was ready I got out two bowls and put one full of steaming hot soup in front of her at the table. Two minutes later it flew past my head and splattered and shattered against the tiled wall above the cooker. I kept eating. When I’d finished I put my bowl in the sink and wandered upstairs to do my homework.

Lying on my bed with my Latin book open in front of me I stared ahead. I love Latin, taking a sentence apart, translating it and putting it back together…I love it. It’s like a strange puzzle and you get a good feeling when the sentence makes sense. I’m a geek I know. Anyway, today I couldn’t see the verbs I was trying to translate, all I could see was a cheeky grin and deep blue eyes. I gazed into the purple abyss that was my bedroom ceiling and grinned, remembering the excited hug he gave me at the end of the day. I closed my eyes and let myself drift from daydreams into nightmares…