Hiding My Heart

Chapter 32

I was ready for the beat down today. I ended up waking up earlier than I normally would on a school day. And since Brayden didn't know I was going to skip school, again, I had to act like it was any other day. 

Getting dressed and pulled my hair in a pony I go downstairs where my brother is cooking me breakfast. I breathe in deep, eggs and pancakes. Moaning at the smell I sit at the table, watching him cook. 

"What's the occasion?" I ask after a minute of silence when he places some pancakes in front of me. 

He shrugs. "I got a really good score on my midterm. So good actually that it bumped my grade up a whole letter." He states proudly. "I decided to have a mini celebration before I head off to work and you go to school." He says grinning at me. 

"Oh Brayden! That's so good, I'm so proud of you big brother!" I practically shout in excitement.  

Brayden wasn't the best in Science and he has been freaking out of this exam for some time now. Since his schooling is coming to a close the online classes have been getting tougher and tougher. He's been studying for this exam as soon as the semester started. 

"Thank you, thank you." He teases bowing slightly as I make a sound like a crowd cheering. 

I laugh and start eating the delicious pancakes. "These are heaven." I groan out as he digs into his plate also. 

"Thanks, it's been a while since I've cooked them." He says. 

My siblings and I all know how to cook, very well actually. When you have a dead beat father who just up and left and a mother who drowns in alcohol every day you have to learn how to survive. And food is very essential for survival, we taught ourselves how to cook, Natalie knew how to cook a little, but that was only mac and cheese. And after having mac and cheese for breakfast lunch and dinner you tend to get sick of it. So we taught ourselves, it got easier as we got older, we can thank Janice for that. Even though Janice never gave us her recipes she hosted a cooking class a few years ago, in which all three of us attended. 

"Well they are amazing." I say finishing up the plate. 

"Do you need me to drop you off; you may be a few minutes early." Brayden says picking up his finished plate and mine, putting them in the sink. "You can do these when you get home." He adds grinning at me. We have this rule at the house, whoever cooked doesn't have to clean. And since he cooked it looks like the dishes are mine this morning. 

"No, Sasha is coming to pick me up." I say standing up.  

"Oh, alright, will you be fine by yourself until then? I have to open shop." He says. 

I roll my eyes and nod my head. "I'm not a baby, it's not like I'm going to burn the house down or anything. I'll be fine." I assure him. "Those classes have been paying off." I add trying to look bada_s but by his expression I failed, horribly. 

"Alright million dollar baby," He teases and goes to ruffle my hair but I sidestep him with a scowl of my own.  

"Ha. Ha." I say following him out the door. "I might have to go into work later after school, so either you're cooking tonight or we order out." I say as he walks to the car. 

"I guess it depends on how lazy I feel after work, be safe." He says and climbs into the car. 

I stay on the porch and watch him drive away. Soon it's just me and the rustling of the wind. The weather was a lot warmer than I had been before. It was still chilly, but at least it wasn't snowing. You could actually leave the house without your coat on anymore. 

Going back inside I decide to clean up a little bit until Sasha gets here. So humming to myself I cleaned up the living room, do the dishes and clean up the small mess that Brayden had made while he cooked. I was just about to tackle my room when I heard a honk outside, Sasha was here. Putting the dirty clothes in my hands into the basket I leave my room and hurry outside, closing and locking the door behind me.