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CHERYL AND Ron had gone to meet Ron's Grandma in Miami (they lived twenty miles away from there, in a relatively large town) leaving Noel at home alone with his mother in what felt like eons.
Noel was sitting at the dining table with his homework spread across like peacock feathers, the bright sunshine was peeking through the blinds, tampering with his eyesight every few seconds. His mom hovered by the door of the dining room, attempting to go in, but then reversing and walking by again. Noel felt agitated at his mom's movements, that he wasn't really in the mood to revise homeostasis again.
"Mom?" Noel called out apprehensively. He put his pen down and shot a wan smile at her. Noel's mom walked into the dining room firmly, pulling out a chair next to him, before wringing her hands through her dark hair.
"Are you okay Noel?"
"Er...yeah."
"Are you sure? You don't look okay." Kim took the opportunity to scrutinize her son's appearance, his face had never been this bad before, the pimples having doubled in size and his skin was discoloured and scarred. There was a defeated look in his eyes that Noel never used to have, it made Kim upset. "Please, I'm your mother, you can talk to me. What's bothering you?"
So many things were bothering Noel at the moment, his skin (not unusual) Ron (just his presence in general) his erratic and blunt daughter (who never seized to stop running her mouth) and his general lack of self esteem. Whatever was left of it had most definitely run out. He felt as if he was controlling a robot of a body, wake up, eat, go to sleep, repeat. Noel wanted to get out, boy did he want out, but he didn't know how.
"I-I don't know. I just don't want it to bother me anymore."
Kim looked at Noel carefully, she knew he wasn't going to tell her everything that was going on, but she didn't want to see him hurting. "Then don't let it." She placed a light kiss by Noel's cheek before rubbing circles into his back slowly before retreating out of the room, her lips curled into a light smile.
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It was Monday morning, meaning that school was today. If there was one thing Noel was certain of is that he was not ready to go back to school. He had pulled out his black hoodie with the stocky white letters branded on the front, but for some reason, he didn't want to wear it.
