The Art World

Chapter 3

"Yeah," I lied.

"Funny, I don't see any worksheets or textbooks, Michaela." Alexandra saw through me and could always pick my lies apart, even when I was almost able to convince my parents to believe one of my lies. She also was a tattle tale, which was why I did not trust her with information I wanted secret from Mom and Dad.

"Well, I had to look something up on the computer." I tried to save myself.

"I never knew you did research on social media websites." Alexandra arched an eyebrow, scrutinizing the very depths of my soul.

"I was messaging a friend for help." I said.

"That's not research then." She looked at me like I was stupid. "If you're going to lie to me, at least be consistent. Or don't lie at all, stop wasting your time, and do your homework."

"Got it, boss," I said.

"Mom, Dad, and Austin will be home soon," she said, "so start your homework."

She left my room with the door ajar. I was irritated that she failed to shut it, groaning as I stood up to close the door. They all know that I preferred my door shut, but they all left it open whenever they left my room. I pulled out my math textbook to work on my math homework first because I struggled the most with math and wanted the harder subjects done first. The equations were so confusing that I ended up sighing and uttering a "Screw it" under my breath. I closed the book, intending to get back to it later and instead working on my history homework. The worksheet was so complicated that I wanted to tear it to shreds. I mentally cursed out Ms. Ashburn for failing to give us the notes we needed to answer the questions. My English homework simply wanted an analysis on Shakespeare, who was one of the most difficult, frustrating authors to understand. Alexandra, however, disagreed with me and believed that Shakespeare's literature was relatively simple to dissect and suggested that I lacked appreciation for finer, classic literature.

I heard the distant, familiar sound of the front door swinging open and my parents' voices. Alexandra put her scrubs on, getting ready for work. She made herself a quick, small dinner for her break later this evening. I heard her telling my parents she was off to work and saying goodbye to Austin.

"Be careful, Alex," Austin said, remembering what he and my parents discussed earlier that morning.

"Haha, okay, I will." I heard the smile in Alexandra's voice.

She was so much nicer to Austin than she was to me, and she often took him places to bond with him; she lacked interest in bonding with me, but I was fine with it because I preferred to be alone and in my room. She was into different things than I was and I could not relate to her all that well. Although I loved her because she was my sister, I did not care to talk with her because all she wanted to talk about was what I should be doing to prepare for the future, what I was doing wrong -- which was basically everything -- and how I could be doing it right, and career choices. Although she was sociable, she was secretly as introverted as I was, but she was better at hiding it and being around people. I, unlike her, was a socially awkward creature. Alexandra usually kept to herself unless somebody convinced her to come out of her shell.

Austin was shy, but he was generally conditioned in occupational therapy to learn how to socialize and to talk to people. He was prompted to speak about how he felt, even if he did not form complete sentences. He had typical little boy interests, such as super heroes, and I would talk to him about them sometimes and encourage him to draw pictures. I never forced my own interests upon him, however I wanted someone to somehow relate to. Even though he drew pictures and liked some of the movies I liked, I still could not relate well to him. I felt bad for shutting myself off from my siblings, but I was a loner who seeked escape from reality.