Boarding School; Halsey

1.4

"Karma! Come make your dinner!"

i shuffled down the steps to the kitchen to see my mother putting the finishing touches on the meal. I'm the only one in my house who's vegetarian, so i was always forced to make my own meals.

"I'm not hungry."

"come on, we haven't seen you since you left for school. eat dinner with us."

"alright, fine," i sighed, admitting defeat.

i quickly made myself something to eat before joining my family at the table for dinner. my mom always insisted we eat dinner as a family, but since my dad left things hadn't been the same. Maybe that's why she seems to be even more insistent now than before, she's trying to force things to be the same.

"Tristan should be home any minute, don't start without him," my mother insisted.

shortly after, I heard the front door shut. His face lit up when he saw me. My brother and i had always been close. we're close in age, so he was pretty much mu best friend growing up.

"hey little sis," he said, giving me a tight hug. "how's boarding school?"

"awful," i rolled my eyes at the thought. "how's college?"

"awful," he said rolling his eyes as to copy me.

i shook my head and chuckled. my mom cleared her throat, drawing the attention back to her. my mom had always been like that, the attention always had to be on her.

"So, shall we eat?"

i nodded, taking a bite out of my veggie dog as my brother took a seat. my mother cleared her throat again, this time a bit more aggressively.

"Karma, have you been gone so long you've forgotten your manors?"

"i guess so," i shrugged, not knowing what she was going on about.

"your brother was barely in his seat before you started stuffing your face. besides, you forgot to say grace."

i rolled my eyes. my mom knew i wasn't religious, but that didn't stop her from pushing religion on me every chance she got. I guess it's not her fault, she was raised incredibly christian. both her mom and dad worked at a church, her following in their footsteps. she teaches sunday school at a local church.

"mom, you know I'm atheist," i sighed, reminding her for the thousandth time that she wasn't going to be able to force me into her religion.

"come on now, grab your brothers hand," she demanded passive-aggressively, ignoring everything i just said.

my brother gave me a sympathetic look as i reached for his hand. my mother said a quick prayer before she finally let me eat.

my brother talked for a bit about how amazing college is and how much he loves all of his professors. i was the first to finish eating, so i took care of my dishes and began walking up the stares. i made it about two steps before my mom demanded i come back down and spend some quality time with her and my brother.

"so, how's school, karma?" she looked at me expectantly.

"horrible," i said with a sarcastic smile.  "i don't know why you had to put me in that stupid school.

she sighed dramatically. "you and i both know why i had to put you in that prestigious, highly rated school."

"whatever," i sighed, knowing i'd lose the argument if i continued.

after dinner, i helped my mom with the dishes before going to my room. it felt nice to sit in a bed that wasn't a hundred years old. i checked my phone to see that some old "friends" had heard i was back in town and wanted to see me. i rolled my eyes at the thought. maybe if everyone in that town wasn't an overdramatic, popularity-obsessed, two-faced bitch, i'd consider seeing one of them. i opened my messages to text ashley, but before i could type anything, i heard a knock at my door.

"come in."

my door opened to show my brother standing there with a smirk on his face.

"what?" i chuckled at his expression.

he said nothing, just held up a bag filled with a substance that resembled oregano.

"mom's home, stupid," i shook my head at his idiocy.

"let's go on the roof then," he suggested.

i weighed my options for a split second before agreeing and opening my window to climb out. there was a ledge just outside my window that was just under the roof, making it easy to climb up to the roof.

the sun was just setting, making for a perfect roof-sitting view. Tristan rolled us both a blunt as we sat.

"so give me the details on boarding school. are there any hot girls?" he asked as he handed me a blunt along with a lighter.

"there's this one girl, Ashley, but i think i really fucked things up with her," i said as i lit the blunt before handing him back the lighter.

"how'd you do that?"

"well, i made friends with her, found out she had a girlfriend, got jealous, went off on her, gave her a bloody nose, and outed her to her dad," i explained shortly.

Tristan laughed hysterically, causing him to cough up a storm.

"it's not funny asshole," i yelled playfully, slapping his arm. "i really liked her, and now i have no chance."

"oh come on, you can fix things. you always find a way to make things right."

"yeah? i couldn't make things right with dad."

"come on, don't bring dad into this. he's an asshole. he fucked us over," his tone switched from light and playful to solum. he got quiet for a second before speaking again. "if you want to fix things with this girl, talk to her, and make things up to her."

"yeah, you're right, I'll try."

we finished smoking and i returned to my bedroom. i texted ashley telling her that i missed her, and asked her to talk to me if she got the chance. tired from the long day i'd had, i decided to go to sleep.