Ever since my mom finally brought her new car, she's been crazy about. Sometimes I think she loves it more than she loves us. I grabbed the oversized handle with my sleeve so as not to fingerprint her freshly polish car. She had just gone to the carwash. You could tell. It reeked of cherry scented wax from Turtle Wax.I sat down into the khaki heated seat. Immediately, I felt relieved. I shut the door behind me and felt the cold breeze behind me stifle. I was enveloped by the heat steaming itself onto my face from the vents. I held out my hands to the them. Ah, it felt so good against my numb fingers.

"How was school?"

"As good as it ever will be," I turned to her and smiled. I saw she was still wearing her work clothes. I wondered if she had to take off early to come and get me. I hoped she hadn't. I didn't want her to lose any of her pay. She is barely making money to begin with. To be quite frank, I feel kind of bad for her. It's, like, if I didn't go to this private school, how much money could we be saving every year?

My mom is a single mom. She did a lot of the raising by herself. Well, my grandma did help a lot, too. There are four of us - Bailey is the oldest, then me, then Erika, and last is her twin Taylor. Don't get me wrong: my dad DID help my mom. But when their divorce came along when I was about 10, he just, kind of left. He deserted my mom. I guess it was probably easier for her to get over what he did to her. Did I forget to mention the reason for their separation? Oh yeah. He cheated on her. And not even with someone classy. This woman lived in our house after my mom and us all packed our things and moved out. That woman, Debbie I believe her name was, made me sick. Along with her children, Sarah and Kiley. But their relationship didn't last long. I was so happy that day she left. She's been gone for a few years now. But I wasn't too excited because I know my dad. He's not the type to stay single for long. A new woman came quickly it seemed like. To my surprise, she never left. Recently, they became engaged to be married. I guess I'm happy. But it just pisses me off, ya know? I don't want some random woman who knows nothing about me other than the knowledge she's gained from face value. She doesn't know me or how I am. She knows nothing about my personal life. Then again, neither do my parents. I just don't want this woman, Carrie, to think she can parent me. It's annoying.

"How was work?" I asked slowly.

"As good as it ever will be," she turned and winked at me.

The car ride was silent for a while. For some reason, I really hate the sound of silence. Especially when I'm around people. It makes me feel so incredibly uncomfortable. My whole body posture screams awkward. I don't know what to do with my hands or legs. I think too much. I probably look so dumb.

"So got any plans tonight?" she asked nudging me gently.

"Well I've got a huge map project for Western Civ due Tuesday, so I'll probably just work on that," I said

"Maybe you should hang out with Alexa or Bridget or someone. What are they doing tonight?"

"Eh, I don't really feel like doing anything tonight mom," I mumbled as I stared at the clouds through her thickly tinted windows. Gosh do I miss doing that. I miss laying out of the grass and feeling all the prickly blades itching my skin. I miss feeling the hot beams of the sun burning my pale cheeks. Me and Alexa would lay out on my lawn for hours just looking at the clouds and using our imaginations. We never stopped laughing with each other. We would take hundreds and hundreds of funny pictures. We'd swim in my pools from the yellow sunrise to the pinkish sunset. When we weren't swimming, we were jumping on her trampoline. Sometimes we went bike riding for ice cream at a nearby Ben and Jerry's. I'd always get cookies and cream. She'd get strawberry. I remember once Alexa was riding so fast with her ice cream in hand that the top scoop flew off her ice cream and right onto her. We literally almost peed our pants laughing. Gosh did she look dumb. I giggled just thinking about it. We were inseparable. I remember alternating houses. Three-day sleepover at my house, then on to a three-day sleepover at her house. When did that stop? But I already knew the answer to that: the day boys started to notice her boobs and other assets.

My mom just nodded her head in disapproval. Her face said it all: Why do you do this to me? Her bright green eyes practically begged me to be normal and go out like other kids. Why didn't anyone understand me?

Our little car continued trotting toward home at a steady pace. As we passed all the little white, pink, and yellow houses of our small neighborhood, I felt engulfed by the beauty of life. It's, like, a person never notices how beautiful that white blanket of snow falls upon the barren trees. No one ever notices how radiant those budding pink flowers look in the simmering summer sunlight. No one cares to look up at the stars sparkling up in the dark night sky. Before I knew it, I was again put face-to-face with the scenery of my own home. It was a little gray two-story townhouse. We had big white windows. We planted little almond flowers all along the sides of our front steps. My mom is a very symbolic person. That's why she chose those flowers. They symbolize hope and promise. Two big key factors in my life and I suppose the rest of my family.

"Well hon I have to leave for UPS now," my mom said abruptly. "I'll probably be back a little after midnight. Call me if you decide to hangout with Alexa or any one else."

I nodded.

"Oh," she turned back around, "and don't forget about your make-up lesson tomorrow!"

"I won't," I replied almost too excitedly. "I've been practicing all week."

"You're getting really amaz-"

"Mom. Stop. I'm not nearly as good as everyone else out there."

"Give yourself some credit Aria. Why are you so difficult sometimes?"

"Mom, I've barely been taking them for a year and a half. Most people take them their whole life. I'm just getting good at the basics. I have a lot t-"

"Whatever Aria. You're so great at it. You know how I and everyone else who has h-"

"I'll see you after work mom," I said walking away. I didn't want to listen to her anymore. She's a mom. She's supposed to say that I'm good at everything I do.

"Love you."

I smiled and blew her a kiss. I didn't notice but my hand also brought its way up from my waist and was waving goodbye to her. I was really hoping she'd drop the subject or forget what we were talking about later. Knowing my mom though? She wouldn't. She'd come right home after work and pick right back up on it. I don't know why she was so stuck on this. It was all said she been talking about the past few weeks, or maybe it was months. I could only pray. Or fake sleep...