Brendon wakes up to his mom shaking him again. He opens his eyes up to the blinding light of the curtain as he pops up, his mom leaving the room.
He sighs and reaches over for his phone, realizing it's on full brightness as he gets blinded. He rolls his eyes and stands up, walking into his bathroom and staring at himself in the mirror.
Too skinny. Too square. Not muscular enough. He lets out a sigh, running his hand through his hair and grabbing a dirty shirt. He takes off his pajama one and slides the dirty one on, still staring at himself in the mirror.
His mother taps him on his shoulder, holding the hearing aids. He nods as his mother slides them on. He blinks a couple times and looks at her with a smile.
"Thanks. I promise I'll learn how to get them on soon." He grabs a glob of hair gel and puts it in his hair, running it through a few times.
"Alright. I'll go make breakfast now." She smiles, heading out of he bathroom and to the kitchen.
Brendon closes his eyes and leans back on the wall, his self-confidence plummeting. He sits on the ground and admires the wood of the counters. His phone buzzes and he grabs it off the counter, realizing it's nothing and setting it by himself.
"Alright, you gotta get ready." Brendon whispers to himself. He then stands and smiles at himself in the mirror, walking out into his bedroom.
He grabs a pair of jeans and takes off his pajama pants. Sliding on the pair of jeans, he looks over at the baseball cap on his dresser. He puts it on backwards and grabs a pair of socks, hopping downstairs while he puts them on.
"Hey!" He says to his dad, who's reading the newspaper as usual. He sits down and puts a pancake on his plate.
"How was your sleep last night?" His father says, folding up the newspaper.
"Good." Brendon smiles and cuts into his pancake, putting a square into his mouth.
"Well that's nice. What are you doing in class today?" His dad puts a couple pancakes on his own plate.
"No clue, to be honest." Brendon chuckles, having another bite of the delicious blueberry pancakes.
"Fair enough." His dad chuckling. "Are we having him go to speech therapy?"
"Oh yeah. I'm doing that today."
"Is it just to get used to your own voice?" His father asks curiously.
"Yeah. And figure out what different tones mean and just get used to daily talking and stuff." Brendon sips on his orange juice.
"Have you made any friends?"
"Yep. Melanie, Josh, Frank, Patrick, and Ashley." He leans back.
"Well they all seem like good natured people. They should come over sometime."
"Oh yeah, I'm going over to Melanie's for dinner with the others." Brendon notifies his dad, sitting up straight.
"Oh. Well I hope it's a good experience." His dad finished up his pancakes, standing. "Well, now I have to head to work. I'll see you tomorrow, son. I love you, honey." He grabs his briefcase and walks over to Brendon's mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you, too. Brendon, we should get going, too." She smiles and grabs the keys, gesturing for him to follow.
"Cool." Brendon stands and grabs his backpack, throwing it over his shoulder while following his mother to the van. He hops into the van and sets his backpack on the car floor, letting out a sigh.
"You alright?" His mother asks worriedly, starting up the car.
"Yep. Just tired." Brendon smiles and looks over as she pulls out of the driveway. He takes a deep breath and looks out the window again, already dreading school even thought it's only the second day.