ZARA

Zara comes home for the mid semester break. She lets herself into the quiet house quietly. Her mother is probably out gambling and her father out at a bar getting drunk. Malcolm is at school.

She dumps her stuff in her room and heads to the kitchen to cook some food. Malcolm will be home soon.

She thinks of Jay as she starts chopping up the onions and tomatoes. She likes his dimple. She likes his chest. She likes his hair. She likes his smell. She like his eyes. She likes him. But she doesn't. She is not sure.

She thinks about Laura and Michael splitting up. Even though she has her differences with Michael, she still feels pretty bad for him. But she feels even worse for Laura.

As soon as she finishes the cooking, the door opens and in walks her mother.

"Oh, it's you," her mother says when she sees her.

"In the flesh," Zara replies, thinking of Jay, when he had said it.

"Don't run your mouth at me, you," Zara's mother spits out and turns around, leaving Zara standing in the kitchen, all by herself.

Malcolm comes home ten minutes later. He's a senior in high school, and him and Zara are pretty close. They hug and catch up for a bit. Zara conveniently doesn't tell him about her drunken tendancies.

Then, an hour later, the door opens again, and Zara's blood runs cold. She runs for cover to her bedroom. Her father is home.