Snow Day

My alarm goes off, jolting me awake. I can feel how much of a mess my hair is, it feels like there are still pencils in it from when those girls stuck an entire pack in it. Then Alina pulled them all out for me… Fuck why does she have to be with that idiot? It's obvious that he's cheating on her as well, I wonder if she knows and is just denying it.

I roll over and look out my window, the snow is really coming down. "Maybe it's a snow day today," I mumble to myself as I grab my phone. The screen lights up, showing Alina and I smiling the night that we celebrated my milestone. I stare at it, trying to ignore the wave of sadness going up in me. Unlocking my phone to my home screen of Eren Yeager from Attack On Titan, I go to Google and search up if school is cancelled today. Crossing my fingers as I wait for the results to load.

I jump up from my bed once I see that school is cancelled and cheer, "Fuck yes!"

Keita runs over to my room and peeks his head into my door, "Schools cancelled?" He asks with anticipation.

I nod as I leap into my computer chair, "Yep!"

"Fuck yes!" He shouts and sprints back to his room. His bed squeaks and judging by the sound of silence immediately after, he went straight back to sleep.

I turn back to my computer, put on my headphones and immediately start playing music while loading up Call of Duty. I'll be able to stream twice today as well, I bet my followers will be so excited! What should I stream today? I should definitely stream two different games, that'll help me find a larger range of people. Alina taught me that. I shake my head, trying to get the thought of her out of my mind.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 finishes loading up and I join a multiplayer match. Thinking to myself as I wait for the game to begin. Maybe I should start doing animations? I'm pretty decent at drawing, though Alina is way better than me. But maybe some people will find my stories interesting or maybe even just enjoy my art style. Although I'll definitely get a lot of hate if I were to try something new, I already get hate both online and in person with just gaming alone. But maybe people will also really like it. Maybe they'll find it relatable and eventually become huge fans of me. After all, I've got a lot of stories, though a majority of them involve Alina. But I can hold off on those stories until Alina and I are friends again, which I hope won't be much longer.

I play Call of Duty for a good few hours and decide to take a break for lunch. Closing down the game, I exit my room and head upstairs where I see Afia watching some twitch streams and scrolling through her phone.

"Did mom and dad already head off to work?" I ask her as I open up the fridge and scan through what to make myself. Maybe I should just have some Doritos or something, I don't feel like making anything.

"Yeah," She mumbles, not looking away from her phone. "You going to stream yet?"

I shut the fridge door and waddle over to the cabinet, pulling out a family sized Dorito bag. "Yeah, I'm going to stream twice today." I answer, shoving a handful of chips into my mouth. "I've also been thinking about starting to do animations too." Another point that motivates me to start doing animations pops into my head- people also tend to enjoy looking at animated stories more than just watching someone sit on a bed and tell a story.

Afia hums a little, "Maybe work on your drawing a bit more then." She suggests. "I mean, you're good, but I wouldn't say good enough to share it online."

I give her a little salute as I descend back down the stairs, "Thanks for the tips."

"No prob," She calls after me, I can still tell that she hasn't looked away from her phone, even though I can't see her anymore.

Getting back into my room and setting the big bag of chips down I start to set up my stream. I'm going to stream some Grand Theft Auto, and something that can help me put in a lot of energy. Like Call of Duty, but I don't feel like playing that right now.

"Keita!" I shout, I don't know if he's awake or not but I'm just going to assume that he is. "What games should I stream?"

With a distant muffle he says, "2K and Borderlands!"

"I'm definitely not playing 2K," I muffle to myself. I never win and I barely even know how to play. GTA and Borderlands it is then. I turn on my stream and begin greeting everyone, only two people join instantly, it should take a few minutes before I start getting more of a small crowd. "Good morning everyone! Well, I mean, good afternoon I guess."

After about two hours of streaming GTA, I finally say goodbye to all of my viewers and also tell them that I'll be streaming again in a few hours.

Keita perches outside my door, "Not as much today, huh?"

I take off my headphones, set them on the stand and turn to him. "Yeah, I don't know what's up. Maybe some people are playing games on the snow day more than just watching them."

"Well at least you got some followers," He shrugs. It seems like he wants to say something else.

"What's up?" I ask, giving him my undivided attention.

He sighs, "I think that you may have been getting less views because you and Alina have been hanging out less. You know how people feel about her."

"Are you saying that people only watch me because I'm friends with her?" I ask with an offended tone.

"Don't tell me you didn't see the comment asking what happened between you and Alina," He says with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah I saw it, I just chose to not acknowledge it," I spin back to my computer and look through my stats for the stream. It's true, ever since Alina and I haven't been seen together all the time, my views started going down. Do people really only watch me because of Alina? Do I even have any actual fans or are they only here to support Alina's friends?

Keita exhales loudly, "How are things going on with her and the fuck boy?"

"I saw her crying yesterday, her face was puffy and everything," I answer, staring at the ground with a sad look on my face. "But she was with one of Zack's friends and the friend wouldn't let me even talk to her." I slowly peer back up to my brother who looks like he is about to yell, "I think he did something to her but I never got the chance to get an answer."

"So they're still together?" He asks with a furious tone, and moves around like he's about to knock someone's head in.

I nod, trying to ignore his behaviour, "Yeah, it's pissing me off as well."

"Sure it is," Keita snaps at me with an inflamed glare. Then he sprints up the steps and before I even get out of my room, he's already out the door.

Afia comes over to me once I get up the stairs, "What's up with him?"

"I don't know," I shake my head. "He asked if Alina and Zack were still together and I said yeah."

"Is that all?" Afia asks with a look of disbelief, like she doubts that that would be enough to make him act like this.

"Well I also mentioned that she was crying and I think it was because of Zack," I shrug, then freeze in place, suddenly realizing what just happened.

Afia face palms, "He's probably heading over to her place right now." She walks over to the door and puts her shoes on. "Put on your shoes, we're going to Alina's place."