• "Are you kidding me?" I shouted, ignoring the stares it got me. The mall was not a good place to have a conversation with your mom about divorce. I stood and threw my iced tea away. I knew something was up when she said that we needed to get a few things from the mall. We never went to the mall. I hate it. Period. End of story. I stormed out of the mall and walked down the sidewalk. It was the middle of June. My brithrday was four days away. My parents had filed for divorce yesterday. Nobody bothered telling me anything any more. I heard my mother screaming after me, pleading me to come back. Forget it. I sprinted towards the stoplight and didn't stop, although the "don't walk" sign was bright red. I walked anyway.

    As soon as I was safe in our house, I went to my parents room and shut the door, locking it. I heard a car pull into the driveway, a door slam, and then the door burst open. I dug around under the bed until I found a stack of books. They each weighed at least a pound, an ambulance on the front. Nobody knew what I did when I locked myself in here. But the truth was, I locked myself in to study. I would be graduating in a year or two, and as soon as I was done here I was going to med school. I was going to become a Medic. I don't care who protested. I just knew it was what I wanted to do. I opened a book and began to study the texts. This chapter was on respitory failure and what to do.

    A few hours later I came out of the room and walked down the stairs. Nobody was home except for my brothers, my twin that was asleep and my little brother. No doubt mom was out with her friends. Dad was driving home from work. He may have stopped off for a beer. I didn't know. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get them to stop nasty habits they had. Mom smoked, and if dad was in the mood, he'd start slammin' down beers l.ike the world was going to run out the next day. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I felt like screaming and crying, but I couldn't do that. Not now anyway. I heard footsteps upstairs. My little brother was playing with his Transformers. I didn't cry for my brother's sake. He knew nothing, and neither did my twin. I would have to keep it a secret from them. I'd tell the youngest that mommy had a job confrence to go to. That she had to stay in a house so she was closer to the meeting. I'd have to say that we were gunna live with daddy because the house mommy was staying in didn't allow children. I'd come clean with my twin in a few hours, when we were in our room watching Iron Man or something like we normally did before we passed out for the night.

    I didn't say anything and walked up to the youngest's room, sitting on his bed. He looked at me and smiled a bright smile. One that he always had. One that would do nothing but fade as soon as he figured it out: Mommy and daddy didn't want anything to do with each other anymore. That we were going to try and live with daddy, stay as strong as we could. I sighed and looked at the floor. I didn't let any tears fall. But I felt them at the brim of my eye. "Sissy, is mommy or daddy home?" He said, looking at me, Optimus Prime in hand. "Uh, no, buddy. Daddy just left work and mommy... is working still." I said. My straight face fooled him. At least for now. I couldn't hold them back anymore. The tears spilled and I walked out, telling him I was going to make dinner. He would never know that I cried that night. Nobody would. I'd keep on my cold, heartless shell like always.