First Day Back

NATE'S POV

"You don't have to start today," my mother tells me while sitting in her Traverse. "We can try again in another week. There's no rush."

"No, I don't want to get more behind."

I can tell she is nervous by the way she is chomping her gum. I can imagine her knuckles stressing white as she grips the steering wheel.

My mother laughs softly. "You're the smartest kid in this school, Natty. There's no way you could fall behind. Plus," she rubs my back affectionately, "I did a pretty good job on my end last year."

I roll my eyes behind the dark framed glasses I have taken a liking to since Trent gifted them to me for my birthday last year which I spent in the hospital. "Now you look like Zac Efron in one of those chick films," my friend had said with what I imagined was a strutt and a model turn around my hospital bed. The raybans may look cliche, but it bothers me when people can see my eyes and I can't see theirs.

"I would say I was more of the teacher and you the student," I joke