"Hey Jace," I told my brother as I shut the door behind me.

He didn't look up from his iPod, and I sighed. Talking to him was a waste of air. Sometimes I wish he'd talk for hours on end about Legos like he used to when he was younger. Now all he does it play on that stupid thing.

I took my bag upstairs and set it on my bed. I sighed and plugged in my phone to my speaker. Melanie Martinez began to play, and I felt the tension melt away in my body. Her lyrics spoke to my soul, and the catchy tunes always put a smile on my face.

I had gotten swamped with homework today, so I began to work on it before Johnathan came home. He had baseball practice tonight, and I'd have to have him completely ready by the time Mom got home for her to take him. I had about thirty minutes to work, so I might as well get started.

I was knee deep in trig homework when my phone went off. Thinking it was Caitlyn, I picked it up to see I had a new text message. My eyebrows knit together when I saw that it was from an unknown number.

It read, "I bet you're studying right now."

Frowning, I replied. "Who is this?"

"Who do you think."

"God?"

"You're funny. You have a class with me."

"That narrows it down so well." I sassed. This was idiotic. I hated mind games like this.

"I would've hoped I had left a lasting impression, hot stuff."

Grayson.

I groaned out loud, and ran a hand down my face. "How did you get my number?"

"I have friends in high places."

"Did you have Ethan look at Ms. Smith's notebook while she wasn't looking in class today?"

"Yep."

"Figures."

Curse the woman for not hiding sensitive information like this. I only gave her my number so we could talk about upcoming shows and transportation. My number shouldn't be something for douche canoes to get ahold of.

I heard the front door open and close, meaning Johnathan was home.

My phone went off again and I saw I had another message from Grayson. "Since you say you're not prude, you should prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything to you."

"Then I'll always call you a prude and I won't stop picking on you."

"You think that that'd effect me? You're delusional. Nice try, but I won't be doing anything for you but help with ceramics."

"Aw come on. I just want an ass pic."

"No way. Never."

"I bet you don't even take those type of photos. The most scandalous photo picture you've ever taken was you showing your ankles."

I gritted my teeth. "Just because I don't show off everything I have doesn't mean I'm a nun. I like to leave people guessing. And again, you don't know what I do in my spare time."

"Do you take nudes?"

"Maybe. But I would never send them out. That's just stupid."

"Prove it."

"Fuck off."

"I need a picture for that."

I groaned and set my phone off to the side. He was such a pervert. How could he just assume I would send him something like that? He was pretty, but he was also kind of stupid. Common sense deficient is what I liked to call it.

Suddenly I heard the front door slam open and slam shut, and loud footsteps marching up the stairs. I checked the time and saw that it was 5 o'clock. I felt the blood drain from my face. Shit.

I barely had time to sit up just as my door swung open, an angry Mom filling the doorway. Her green eyes were livid, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Her brown hair was tied up into a messy bun, that was barely staying in due to the stress of the work day.

I froze in fear. My heart hammered and my stomach sunk to my feet, and my palms got clammy. I had forgotten to get Johnathan ready for practice.

"Really? I get home to see you doing nothing, while I have to rush around now and get your brother ready," she snapped.

I tried to speak past the lump that had grown in my throat. "I was doing homework, Mom."

"Sure you were," she shot back, and left my room. I heard her grumble "have to do everything in this house" under her breath as she headed to her room. I heard the door slam shut, and I quickly headed down stairs to get him ready.

"Johnathan, let's get ready," I called to him.

"No!" He shouted back.

"Come on Johnathan. You don't want to be late to practice, do you?"

"I'm not going to practice," he pouted, his freckled face frowning.

I rolled my eyes. "It won't take that long. The sooner you get done, the sooner you can get back on your iPod."

"No!" He screamed, and his blue eyes became pink as he began to cry.

I froze. Sure enough, a door swung open upstairs and down came Mom, stomping on every step. She rounded the corner and immediately locked eyes on us. Her face turned red, and she stomped towards me.

"Don't even bother now. You obviously don't care about anything in this house anymore, so just go back to drawing upstairs, like you always do," she commanded.

My heart throbbed. I hung my head and walked back to my room.

"Get dressed right now, Johnathan. Or I'll shatter your iPod," she snarled before heading into the kitchen. He began to cry more intensely now, but I heard the swishing of fabric as he got dressed.

Meanwhile a clatter came from the kitchen. I heard Mom swear, and then I heard the footsteps again. Suddenly my head shot to the side, and pain blossomed on the side of my head. I turned to look at what had hit me, and saw a water bottle rolling on the floor. I looked back up at my mom to see her giving me a furious look.

"You didn't even make his water bottle. Unbelievable," she muttered, before picking up the bottle and heading back to the kitchen.

My heart broke a little. I hated seeing her like this, because I knew what would happen a few minutes later. She'd come into my room and show me some video on Facebook she'd think I'd like and act like nothing ever happened. It was confusing, because I never knew what side of her I would get. She was a ticking time bomb, and I didn't know how to diffuse her.

I flopped back onto my bed, and almost immediately my phone dinged. I groaned and looked at it. It was another text from Grayson. I rolled my eyes and read it.

It said, "I'm going to do something stupid tomorrow."

Truly not caring about how badly my words hurt, if they hurt at all, I typed a response.

"When don't you?" I plugged my phone in, and shut off the lights before crawling back into bed and falling asleep.