Skeptic

You know that feeling when you really want to do something, you have the motivation to pursue it, but then you have zero inspiration. That is literally my biggest pet peeve. It's like my mind is an indecisive child. The only problem is there's no disciplining it. Believe me, I've tried.

Okay so this was how everything was supposed to go: leave Theo's house after eating, work on writing assignment, and then work on it even more in the morning. And you see how that worked out. Only one of those three is going to plan, and it is currently in motion. Or it would be if I could freaking write. This is quite literally the worst possible moment to have a writers block. I have ideas–too many of them. Now I have to deal with the consequences of having a wide mind span.

At this very moment I'm sitting on my bed pondering what exactly I want to write. At the moment I'm torn between a modern story or a period time story. I honestly love period time books, but something about modernizing it calls to me. I'm so torn. Not to mention I have to pick a theme and format. Mrs. Penelope told us to write what we desired. Apparently she wanted to get a look of the inside of our minds. I've always been a book nerd, and I absolutely love writing, so I was stoked. Until now of course.

I groaned as I close my laptop shut. Letting my upper body fall back into the plush pillows at the head of my bed, I sigh over-dramatically. "Why?! Out of all the times to get writers block. Why me?!" I whine as I drag both of my hands down my face.

"Hey if you're going to die in there, can you at least do it quietly?" I hear someone knock at my door and by there voice I know exactly who it is.

"Just come in!" I yell annoyed by the interruption. Exhaling deeply I mumbled as he walked in my room. "It's not like you're interrupting my meltdown or anything."

"Okay," he closes the door behind him before continuing. "Why are you dying? You could have woke up mom."

I sit up instantaneously at his statement. "She's not up already?" I ask with furrowed eyebrows.

Shaking his head Austin takes a seat on my bed next to me with one leg on the bed and the other planted on the floor. "Nope," he reply's with and exaggerated popping 'p'. "She should be tired from how much she yelled last night. I'll be surprised if she hasn't lost her voice."

She was yelling? That's new and really different. Mom never yells, and whenever dad would start to she would tell him to calm down. She never wanted the neighbors to hear.

"That doesn't make any sense– what the hell did dad do?" I ask, shifting to sit crisscross applesauce in front of him.

Biting the inside of his cheek Austin's eyes flicker to his fiddling fingers. "I only heard a little bit

but–," he stops for a second, leaving in suspense.

"But what!" I ask in a loud whisper, smacking his bicep to get his attention. Rubbing where I hit he whined at me. "Well I wouldn't have hit you if you'd just tell me what happened." I retorted back honestly.

"Fine–god you're so abusive. Mom got angry cause he came home late, and I heard her mention something," he sighs and lowers his voice as he continues. "I swear I heard her say something about dad cheating."My eyes grow wide, and I'm taken back. For a second I actually stopped working. It was like I malfunctioned.

My parents have fought a lot. Just like any other marriage now a days, but never, and I mean ever, has anything like this come up. Sure they'll fight about money or plans that we may have, but they've always gone back to the white picket fence loving, perfect Barbie and Ken couple in the morning. Hell before this morning I would have said that my mother would never yell loud enough for even a mouse in the house to hear.

"Do you think it's true?" I ask in a whisper, secretly in desperation for some type of different conclusion.

Austin's eyebrows furrow and his eyes squint slightly. "Do you?"

I exhale deeply before opening my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Shrugging I try again and I manage to get out a few words. "I don't know, dad had been busier lately–" My phone buzzes on the bed, stopping me mid sentence. When I pick it up to look at the contact I can't say I'm surprised. Theo really does always come in the worst and best possible moments. I glance back at Austin seeing him already shaking his head, gesturing for me to pick it up. When I do I immediately say, "Theo this better be good."

Austin gets up from the bed, and I watch as he walks toward the door. I felt bad for picking up the phone, but I couldn't have this conversation right now. We had to go to school any minute.

"Joey!"

Shaking my head vigorously I snap out of my thoughts. "What? Sorry, I zoned out."

"I said I'm outside. Let's go." Theo says prolonging the last few words dramatically.

Expression filled with confusion I remove the phone from my ear to check the screen as I say, "What the hell are you talking about I have fifteen min–oh shit!" I whisper yell after seeing the time. It was time to go alright. I was late, so late. "Be there in a sec. Whatever you do don't you dare press that damn door bell!" I warn before hanging up, frantically grabbing clothes and putting on a bit of mascara. That would have to be good enough.

I shove my laptop into my backpack while sliding on my shoes. After almost tripping when I walked out my room I rush to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth quickly. I have never been this fast in my life. I mean I swear I would give sonic a run for his money. When I made it down the stairs I saw my brother also rushing about with his stuff.

"So you just couldn't tell me we had two minutes till we had to leave?" I ask with slight irritation, putting my hair up in a ponytail. I don't know what else to do with it at this point.

"I wasn't looking at the time because I had to make sure you didn't wake up mom with your breakdown." He snaps back with the same stress and annoyance. Even with that he has the decency to toss me a muffin from the large basket that still rested on the counter.

"You know mom's going to–,"

"Just eat the freaking muffin." He grabs his bag, throwing it on his back. "I'll tell her I ate it. Jason has food, so I'll just eat whatever he picked up." Passing by me I follow him out the door, giving him a small thank you.

When he opens the door Theo is there with a charming smile, no doubt ready to patronize me, but once he sees it's my brother his smile falls. I inwardly scoff at his expression as I see Austin pat his chest roughly in a normal football greeting. Honestly he didn't have to hit him that hard. Poor Theo looked like he was in pain. Another car pulls up in front of our driveway and Austin gets in. He always gets a ride with Jason, one of the many gorillas.

"So what the hell happened to you this morning?" Theo asks practically shining with curiosity. He slings his arm over my shoulders playfully, as he does almost every morning to try and cheer me up.

My jaw clenched and I shake my head, walking faster to his car. His arm fell back to his side as I passed him. "Too much." I mumbled, still in disbelief of what came up. When I make it to the car I go to open the door, but when I do a hand stops it from opening all the way. I turn my head to give him a small glare of disapproval. Tim's hand leaves the door after seeing my expression and both arms go up in innocence.

"Hey I'm not the bad guy. I'm on your side. What did she do this time?" Theo asks, assuming that I'm angry about something my mother said. "Is it because you actually took a muffin? I swear to god if she seriously shamed you for taking a damn muffin–,"

"No, no she didn't, she's not even–," I sigh as I shake my head. "Just get in the car so I can tell you." I said looking around to make sure no one had already heard me.

His head tilts slightly and one of his brows raise in suspicion, but he complies. Once he starts walking around to the other side of the car I get in, shutting the door behind me. When he gets in he's actually quiet for once, and he doesn't even try to put on his music. After cranking up the car, and starts to drive, he simply waits for me to talk. There were several times where my mind was screaming at me to keep it to myself, but I just couldn't. I thought I was going to explode.Looking down at my hands I push back my cuticles from nerves. Then finally off of whim I blurt it out.

"I think my dad is cheating on my mom."