My ceilings bleared out as I laid spread out across my bed. My head's drawers were hanging open and the thoughts I had tied back all day came streaming and hit me as strongly as boulders would. I wasn't quite sure why I allowed him fill my mind this much. Mike Everson was a weird size to swallow. His mind a mystery to me. In the few years I had known of him, he would almost never utter a word, so when he did earlier, I -of course- overanalyzed it completely until I had torn it down part after part.

     I'm still pretty damn confused.

     Even though Maya and I hung out and she went on a talking stream, my mind could only focus on Mike and his handsome features. The way the sun played with the beautiful color in his eyes. His muscles were art. They moved perfectly underneath his shirt and his words molded into destructive perfectness when he spoke.

     Abruptly, I sat. Blinking a few times my mind finally registered what was happening.

     I was fantasizing about Mike. Mike fucking Everson!

     "Darling, the food is ready." My mom's voice pulled me out of whatever was happening with my brain at the moment. I forced myself out of bed with a sigh. I wasn't really to face the picture perfect family sitting down there. The way every back was straight and every smile were so uptight made my stomach turn.

     I wasn't ready for the criticisms my mom would throw at me as she would turn the conversation towards a fault I'd made.

     I made my way downstairs and into the living room. The food was nicely placed in the middle of the table. My dad was already pouring meat upon his plate and my brother was quick behind. My mom sat and smiled at both at them. Love shone in her eyes as her dream played out before her.

     My dad's eyes found me first. "Debbie," he said. "Come and sit down. It tastes delicious today. I think the cooking curse your mom is taking is paying off." He winked in moms direction as I moved to sit down by my brother. His lips were bathed in sauce and his fork was digging into his food with force.

     "I met Maya today," my mom began and I mentally prepared myself for what was coming. Maya wasn't known to keep her mouth shut, not even towards my mom. I sank into my chair and crossed my arms. "She kept talking about this party with a male friend. I didn't catch his name."

"Jacob. That's his name. And I'm not going to that party, so you don't have anything to worry about." My hair fell down to cover my face and I reached in to take some food.

"Well, that's definitely nice to hear. I was afraid I would have to deal with another one of your grumpy hangovers." Mom smiled at me, however, the bitterness in her voice was not to avoid.

And I lost it.

"What's your problem? I'm in high school. Being social means everything and I am old enough to take care of myself, thank you. And please don't be such a fake and just say upright how angry and disappointed you are in your reckless daughter. Not everyone can be like you, mom. Try taking that into consideration the next time you give me that tone."

I stood from my chair, the fork banging against the plate.

     "I'm your mother! I have every right to react the way I do. You're underaged and definitely not ready to take care of yourself. You're still a child. So sit down and praise yourself lucky that I'm not grounding you."

     "Fuck you," I spat, roaring up the stairs and into my room before she had any chance of replying.

     I knew it was too much, but my temper got the best of me and look at me now.

I threw myself upon my bed and let my limps rest. Anger boiled in my system. I wasn't good at handling my feelings, so when they got out, they got out.

I groaned into my pillow, letting the last of my frustrations sink into the silky material. My hand unconsciously reached over to my bedside table and searched for my notes. Doing something productive was better than laying here and feeling bad for myself.

My hand roamed around the smooth surface for some time without any luck. I pulled my face into a questioning frown. That was weird. I always put it on my bedside table when arriving home. It was a habit.

Lifting my body from the sheets I turned towards the bedside table and just as I'd feared, my freaking notebook was freaking fucking gone. Shit.

     Maybe I forget it in the car or maybe Maya has them? Probably not. Shit, this wasn't good. My notes was the only thing making sure I didn't fail my math test. I needed to study those damn weird as hell numbers.

     I bolted up from the bed and sprinted over my floor to my bag there tilted up against the wall. I poured the content out on the floor, searching through the mess of pencils, random pieces of paper, candy wrapper and a book or two. No notes.

     "Fuck," I muttered to myself, sitting down on my bed, staring at the mess.

     The faint sound of the door bell rang out. I crunched my nose. "I got it!" mom yelled out.

     I stepped out of my room and made my way towards the stairs there led directly down to the front door. Mom was peeking through the peephole before she opened the door wide.

     "How can I help you?" she asked, shielding the visitor with her own body.

     I descended down the stairs. My curiosity was killing me. However, I got my answer when the stranger opened his mouth. "I'm here to see Debbie." In shock, I slipped on one step and glided down the last steps on my ass. My shriek caused unwanted attention.

     My mom briefly turned to glance at me, her eyes rolling slightly seeing me sitting on the floor by the end of the stairs. "She's right here. Come in." My mom moved to let Mike inside.

     He only needed to take on step inside before our eyes met. My cheeks heated up. "Hey," I said, trying to smooth out the situation. I failed.

     Mike was as stone faced as always. He slightly waved with a notebook in his hand. "You dropped this today."

     I smiled, getting off the floor. I brushed down my clothes, staying relatively far away from Mike and my mother, who stood behind him with a question mark as a face.

     "Uhm, thanks." At least now I knew what happened to my notes.

     Mike looked around the foyer, throwing the notebook towards me. I frantically tried to catch it, however, only managed to embarrass myself even further by hitting myself in the head. "Auch"

     However, Mike didn't seem to notice. He was already out the door again, only briefly stopped by my mom. "Do you want to stay for dessert. I'm sure Debbie would like one of her friends to join us. We always seem to bore her." My mom laughed at her own comment, looking at Mike.

     Oh no she didn't. "Mom!" I widened my eyes, running over to her. I starred into her eyes, trying to communicate my embarrassment. Mike and I wasn't friends. He was for some reason only dropping of my notes.

     Mike shook his head proceeding to the door, "Thanks for the offer, but I need to get back home. Bye." Mike trailed down the three steps and onto our delicate stone path.

     I gazed after him, only just noticing my mom staring at me with crossed arms. "Please escort him to his car. Don't be rude."

     I clutched my notes closer to my chest. "I'm pretty sure he can walk to his damn car himself. And besides, we are not friends." I smiled, however, it never reached my eyes. I looked out the door again, watching him as he made his way to the street.

     My mom clasped her hands down on my shoulders. "Friend or not. You own him a more grateful thanks. Now, follow him to his car." My mom shoved me out the door and for the second time today, I fell down the stairs. fucking great.

     I rubbed my buttock, getting up from the ground. Mike had stopped and was glancing over his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Well, I was at least grateful for his lack of mean remarks.

     I sighed with one last look at my mother before I bounced over to Mike, trying my best to seem friendly and... you know... social?

     Mike shook his head lightly, letting me trail behind him until we reached his car. It was parked right outside our gate. I awkwardly watched him open one car door and waiting for me to say something before he entered.

     "Uhm." My face heated up. "Thanks again. You know, for the notebook." I waved the notes, eyeing him for a reaction of any kind. He was once again stone faced. He didn't let a single emotion slip. He didn't say anything either. He simply watched me stand there and make a fool of myself.

     "Well, Uhm, I-I shouldn't keep you here. See you at school?" I bit my lip, taking a simple step back from him, trying to get as close to the gate as possible so I don't have to run that far when returning to the house.

     Mike shook his head. Entering his car, however, right before he shut the door close, he opened his mouth. "You should stay away from stairs."

     I widened my eyes, choking on my spit. Through his front window I watched him smirk as he drove past me and down the road. That was so freaking embarrassing! Like how could I be this unlucky?

The walk back to the house was a walk of pure shame. I slouched and let my arms hang loosely by my side. Mom was waiting at the door, her face one filled with curiosity while anger slowly crept onto mine. Basically this was her fault. She invited him in and forced me to follow him to his car.

I walked right past her without giving her as much as a glance, nevertheless, I heard her footsteps trailing after me. I sighed, strolling towards the stairs.

"You know, it's okay to have a boyfriend at your age. You don't have to hide it from me or your father. We where actually both dating at your age." I stopped, drawing my brows towards each other. What did she just say?

"He's not my boyfriend," I told her with a stern voice and turned to look at her. She was basically glowing. A smile was evident on her face.

"As a teenager in this modern day society I understand your need to hide these scary changes in your life from your parents, however, you don't have to."

     I gasped, raising an eyebrow. "What the heck are you talking about?" I clutched the notes closer to my chest, using them to keep calm as much as possible.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it right now. I understand that we both feel some tension from dinner, which we will be discussing another time. Nevertheless, right now I just want you to know that you can discuss the changes in your life with me. I am your mother after all." She offered the smallest of smiles as her eyes soften ever so slightly.

I turned my back towards her, glancing up at the end of the stairs. I sighed, letting my head fall. "I know," I mumbled and began climbing the stairs, not looking back.

     My feet felt heavy as I made my way to my room. I knew my mum only meant well, but sometimes I just didn't need her to care that much. I simply wanted to be able to have my secrets and have my own private life. Was that too much to ask?

     I threw my bum into my desk chair and spun my body towards the desk. My notes slammed down on the white surface and I happily turned through the pages, skimming through the content to catch up on everything.

     I turned a page and a word written in ink blue popped out. I didn't write with blue ink. I rolled my eyes. There was written one simple word beside one of my equations. Wrong, it said. I shook my head. "That bastard."