I drove quietly while Kiara continued to pretend to be asleep. I wanted to say something to her but, over the years of knowing her, I knew she wouldn't want to talk at the moment. The radio created background noise as I took the route to Kiara's and my secret place. While I wanted to respect Kiara's decision to stay silent, I couldn't add another thing for us to avoid on our list. If there is one thing I learned from my parents, it would be that communication is a driver of relationships. "I told Zoa to raincheck on the shopping trip. I hope you don't mind me doing so,'' I said after a few more minutes of silence. It was up to me to take the leap. As expected, Kiara did not say anything. ''Mindy told me she saw you crying. What's that about?'' I tried a different angle. Once again, she kept quiet. Her silence did nothing but, irritate me. Kiara knew I knew she wasn't sleeping and still she decided that ignoring me was the best option. ''Could you please stop ignoring me? It'

''Go get them, best friend,'' I said, ''I'm proud of you," I slowly left the school car park, occasionally looking back to see Kiki waving at me. She was so cute. Even though her cuteness could make the sun seem brighter, my mood was slowly going down because I had to go to my mum's house today. Before my dad met and married my step mum, Kristen, we lived close to my mum. Or perhaps she lived close to us. My mum has her own home in many countries but, she chose to live way too close to her ex-husband. Her many houses were the same homes she would either make us run away to or leave me there for hours while she went out. If she didn't do that, she would randomly pop up at our old house, and I knew that her actions bothered my dad; he never said anything about it to me. Since she would show up whenever she wanted to, I saw her at least four times a week. That was during the days when she wasn't off somewhere doing god knows what. When my dad became official with Kristen, she still sh

The second my door clicked shut, I reached for my phone. My thumb hovered over my third emergency contact. She's in practice, I shouldn't bother her. I leaned my head against my bed, only to end up in an insanely uncomfortable position so I slumped down so my neck didn't feel like it was seconds away from breaking. I huffed and dropped my hand. I really wanted to tell her about all of this; I knew she would have supported my behaviour, unlike my so-called stepmother. Should I send her a text? No, I wanted to talk about it.  With nothing else to do, for the time being, I stared at the ceiling. I never noticed how high it was. It appeared like a waste of materials if you asked me. My stomach loudly complained to me, disrupting the quietness in my room. "Ok, time to eat," I said to no one in particular and pushed myself off the floor. I quietly opened the door. Noting the silence, I cautiously walked out of my room till I got to the top of t

I stared dead ahead, arms crossed and back straight. This wasn't my usual seat but a certain someone was occupying the space. ''Um Zack hey, whatcha doing here?'' Kiara asked as she came to stand in front of him. ''I saw on his story that you were having a party, so I decided to come over since my invitation seemed to have gotten lost,'' I huffed. I knew I was acting spoilt. I was acting really spoilt but I couldn't help it. With everything that happened today, like the drama with my mother, having this stranger in Kiara's house late at night was not the twist I needed. ''There isn't and, there won't be a party. Sorry to disappoint but you can go home now,'' she said with a shrug. She wanted me to leave; she was practically pushing me out the door. Why? All I wanted to do while I was with my mum was to go home and see her there. Since I knew she wasn't going to be there, I came to find her and now she wants me to leave. I looked at her with furrowed brows, ''Why do you wan

I listened a bit more, and the noise persisted. There were no sounds of shattering glasses or broken furniture. Were they the quiet kind of burglars? I contemplated whether or not I should wake up Kiara. If I were being robbed, I would want to know. On the other hand, Kiki has had it hard enough, so perhaps she didn't want to know. Ignorance is bliss and all that. Plus, I didn't want her getting in the way and ending up in the hospital. I also had the option of going down there myself. Yes, that seemed like the best option. I slowly unwrapped myself from Kiara's suction grip and crept downstairs. I peeked around the corner and, thankfully, did not encounter a burglar. The sight before me, however, wasn't any less shocking. It was a man gliding around the kitchen with ease. He was humming and dancing as he mixed ingredients in a bowl. He also made a mess of flour and eggshells on the counter, so he was no Masterchef, that's for sure. I wish I could see his face, I wanted to see the