Amelia wants me to stay a few more days with her. I'm sorry dear, I really am. Maria's voicemail played as I walked through the hallway.

I had two calls this morning. One from Claire, informing me that she won't be needing me today and the other one from Maria. She won't be coming back until next week and this was the second voicemail where she apologized for not coming back sooner.

Funny how she cares about us but our own mother doesn't.

It's been a few days since Maria went to Cincinnati and to be honest, I was messed up without her. But luckily, Sasha stepped up and declared she'll take care of the boys until Maria's back. She and Zack took turns staying with them. And Noel and Theo? They love to have Zack around them.

And mom?

She's oblivious to everything around us. Sometimes I wonder if she even remembers us. And this time, I'm actually happy that she doesn't come often. She was getting more and more aggressive, partly because what Zack said had an effect on me.

I spent nights thinking about what I've done and what I should've done. But at last, I decided that if enabling is what I'm doing then I should put a stop to it. And I started by refusing to keep money in my home.

But that had cost me. I had to take two days off from work to stay at home and make sure she didn't scream at her sons. But it went well. After shouting at me for a minute, she stormed out when I said I'm not giving money for her to buy medication anymore. I told her I'll buy it myself and I made sure to chip in the fact that she isn't taking them anyway.

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts before stepping into the classroom. But a tap on my shoulder got my attention.

"Zack? Hey," I looked at those light brown eyes and smiled in confusion. "You're early."

"Yep, Sasha wanted to-" He pointed towards the library."-take some books and work?"

I nodded. I do remember her saying something about the library.

"Classes won't be starting for the next twenty minutes and I just thought we could..." He trailed off, looking at me, "Only if you are free."

"Yeah, sure."

And that's how we ended up in the cafeteria. He offered a granola bar to me with a smirk.

"I know your default response is no thanks but here you go. I'm having one, so you might as well give me some company here."

It was somewhat true. My go-to response to any help is to politely refuse. I do accept if they insist, but yeah...

My smile faltered when I looked around. There were only a few people inside and most of them were minding their own business except for one girl. A girl who's sitting a few tables away from us and is staring at me. More like through me.

It's not exactly friendliness or curiosity in her face. It's something sort of...I don't know what it is but I'll be lying if I say it didn't affect me.

Did I unknowingly do something to her? Oh, no. I didn't, did I? Well, there's no other reason for her to stare at me like I'm a ghost, so...

"How're boys doing?"

"They're perfectly fine." I smiled, looking at him.

Zack was slowly becoming their role model, and that was hard to handle.

I found them fighting last week. It was quite a scene to see Noel with a raised hand and glare, and Theo with a remote in his hands, aiming at Noel like it's a sword.

"Noel pulled my leg and made me fall."

"That's called tackling, you monkey!"

Was the answers I got when I asked what the hell was happening. And when I asked who taught him that, Noel's answer was predictable.

"Zack showed me how to do it."

I mean, of course. Who else? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Zack to be with them.

"You, Mr Smith, are a bad influence on them."

"No way," He put his phone on silent when it started ringing."What did they do?"

"Noel saw Theo fighting yesterday, at school."

"I knew he'd be a hero." He smiled triumphantly like a successful coach.

"He's barely five." I reminded him and he just smiled.

"True heroes are born, my lady. What was the fight for?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. He kept saying that the other kid started it. "He did say that the other kid threatened him before leaving."

"Wow." He started laughing. "Five-year-olds are dope nowadays. What was the threat?"

"That today, he'll bring his friends along with him."

"Nah, my guy will be ready for them."

Ah, the confidence.

"He threatened back, actually."

"See, that's what I'm talking about." He tapped on the table, excited and proud.

I vividly remember what Theo said,

"What did you say, Theo?"

"That I'll bring my Noel and my big brother and we will teach him a lesson." Theo punched the air in triumph.

"Okay, mister. As far as I know, I am the eldest and I clearly don't remember having a long-lost brother."

"Oh no, Ivy. Zack! I know Zack will beat them like a hero."

But I'm not going to say that to him and build up his ego.

"You are spoiling them." I smiled with a nod.

"Not at all. When little Tylers tries to bully them, they'll know what to do."

I hope they do. I hope they don't let the bullies walk all over them as their sister did.

With a smile, I looked at him but my eyes found the girl instead. A second later, her eyes found mine and I looked away immediately.

"Who're you looking at?" Zack took a full turn in his seat and the girl smiled at him.

Oh, so maybe she was looking at him. Phew.

"You know Natalie?" He turned to me with a tiny smile and raised an eyebrow. "Or is it Angie?"

"Uh...who?" I asked him again. I've never even seen those faces before.

"That one with blue crop top and shorts?" He explained. 

How the hell could he see her shorts?

"Yeah, but I don't know her." I admitted. There's no point in saying that I thought she stared at me.

It was stupid anyway.

But before he could even process the answer, Sasha was there.

"You could've said you guys would be here." She sat down with a frown and he shrugged.

"I didn't plan to. I just saw her and thought, why not?"

"Oh?" She gave him a look and shook her head. "Bryan was looking for you, by the way."

"Why?" He raised an eyebrow and she did the same.

"How would I know?"

He stood up with a sigh aimed at her and dragged his bag along with him. When he turned and was about to leave, Sasha called him.

"What?" He asked and Sasha winked at me.

"You sure you don't want eskimo kisses before you leave?"

He let out a groan, closing his eyes.

"You-" He pointed at Sasha and gulped down whatever curse he was planning. "That was one time! Will you ever stop saying it out loud? Jesus! "

With that he stomped out, leaving us laughing.

What a great start to a day.

Sadly, it didn't last long because I did happen to meet Tyler and when I did, a groan escaped me.

It's been a couple of days since he last found solace in annoying me with snarky remarks. Not that I miss it.

"So, how's everything going?" He asked me with his charming as well as annoying smirk.

"Good." Since you were busy went unsaid and I continued to walk.

"I have something to say to you." He casually added, walking along with me as if we do this every day. Like we have normal conversations all the time.

Though I didn't stop walking, I took a peek at him to see he was right beside me, eyes on his phone.

"Right. I wanted to say that you can leave at eight o'clock." He mumbled and that made me alert.

"What?"

"Your job. From today, you can leave at eight."

I was stunned. I stopped abruptly and stared at him.

He's going to fire me, isn't he?

"We've got a new someone to work. A cousin of my friend and he'll be working from eight until we close. So you can leave early."

Oh. That's okay, I think. Unless there's a pay cut. But it's not a good idea to ask Tyler that because the next thing I'll know will be him threatening me with that.

"Thanks." I wanted to smile for the sake of being polite, but I couldn't. Because half of me was expecting him to start laughing and say it was a joke.

"Welcome, dear." He winked and left.

What's happening to me?

No, what's happening to him?

And as predicted, that was the response from Sasha as well.

"Wow, that's great. Finally, he's-" Sasha stopped and smirked at me.

"What?"

"I think you're right. Something has definitely hit his head and you know what it is? He hasn't bothered you much since he undressed you, right?"

"Shut up." I looked around to see if someone heard it. "That sounds like an entirely different scenario when you say it like that."

And Sasha had Sophie to back her up. I didn't say it to Sasha of course. Wouldn't want her to think she's right.

That night, when I got home, Noel and Theo were asleep on the couch with a movie on. The smile on my face died quickly when I heard a noise.

"Ivy,"

I stood frozen in my place. It's been a while she called me Ivy.

It's been a while she called me anything.

I was expecting her to ask money or something of that sort. That's what she usually does. But when I turned to look at her, I only saw her pale as a ghost face and her trembling lips.

"Be- be careful when you return from the school." She stumbled a few steps towards me. "Come home fast, don't go anywhere."

She wasn't sober. That much I could tell. Her breath reeked of alcohol but she wasn't on the verge of passing out yet. I guess this is the best version of her that I can get.

"I have to work. I'll be home by nine." Eight, if what Tyler said was right.

She nodded again, eyes fixed on the wall. From what I could see, she was buried in her deep thoughts. A second later, she went back into her room, closing the door. But not before I saw her glistening eyes.

What was the emotion in her eyes? Was it regret? Remorse, maybe?

I know she'll be back to her own world soon. That she'll go back to ignoring us. But I can't help but feel a little hope that maybe, just maybe, she   will change. That maybe, we'll get our old caring mother back.

With that broken hope, I brought a blanket down, tucked them in and slept on the sofa chair right next to them.

***********

I know, nothing's special in this chapter 😁 but I think the story must have some days without any drama, like original lives.

Thank you for reading 🥰
Lots of love

Be happy, Be safe❤️