Dedicated to sandydragon1 for reviewing this book, check out her book Beastly Little Boy it's one of my favorites

    When I finally arrived home from school the next day, I find my sister sitting on the counter with her legs crossed and a pint of cookie dough ice cream in her lap. A clean spoon lies on the counter next to her sticky hand. I smile at her messy yellow shirt and stained pink skirt.

"You know it's too early for ice-cream, Anna, you should wait until after dinner."

"It's never too early for ice-cream." She refutes with a toothy grin.

Anna jumps off the counter and walks over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. I sigh as a small smile creeps on my face.

"Where were you? I haven't seen you since you walked home yesterday." I ask her.

"Mama wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, ok." I smile and smooth her hair back like I always do.

"How was school? I still can't believe you're in seventh grade, it feels like just yesterday I was helping you pick out an outfit for your first day of fourth."

She gives me a little frown.

"Mom didn't want me to go." I twirl a strand of her hair around my finger.

"Oh,"

After a moment of silence, I continue.

"Well that's ok, school stinks anyways."

I pull away from her.

"You better go clean up. I'm exhausted, I think I'll go take a nap."

"Love you, Alyssa."

"Love you too, Anna."

I kiss her cheek and pull away from the embrace, heading back to our room to sleep.

I glance around the room and grimace at the mess before I move to my desk and start tidying up the counter space. I keep my distance from the twin bed on the other side of my room and proceed to shove a couple of glass water bottles out of the middle of the floor and under my bed, a habit I've had since I was a kid.

Out of sight, out of mind.

"Somethings never change, do they?" I hear my mom ask from behind me. I swing my head around to look at her. She nods towards the bed where the bottles were now hidden underneath.

"I guess not."

She chuckles softly as if she doesn't want to disturb the heavy air that's fallen over the room.

"I came to ask you what you want for dinner."

I shrug and start to gather up a few pieces of trash off the faded white carpet to busy myself.

I knew she was still there, I could hear her shuffle every now and then, but she remained silent. I stand back up with a handful of food wrappers and scrunched up papers to see my mom wasn't even looking at me anymore. Instead, she was staring blankly at a photo hanging on the light pink wall next to the door.

"I know we've had a lot of family pictures taken, but I think this one's my favorite."

"Me too."

We took the picture four years ago. My mom, in her favorite pink blouse and jeans, has her arms wrapped around a younger version of my older sister Amy, her red hair is its usual bird's nest and she's wearing a green dress that seems to float around her. My blonde hair is lying straight down my back, almost identical to my mom's and Anna's, and I wore a black superhero shirt and a simple pair of blue jeans as I gripped my older sister's hand. Anna is clinging to my leg, her adorable yellow shirt rumbled and her pink skirt flowing to the side. All four pairs of blue eyes twinkle with happiness.

"I'm goin' to throw this away."

Without taking her eyes off the picture my mom gives me a meek nod. I walk to the kitchen, desperate to get away from the thick tension surrounding that room.

As I'm throwing away my wrappers in the trash can, I notice the kitchen is empty again with nothing but the clean spoon lying on the countertop. I end up putting the spoon away myself before trudging back to my room for a much-needed nap.