Max opened his eyes and groaned. He looked at his alarm clock and read the time: 7:56 A.M. Max frowned and looked to the other side of his room, where he hung his calendar. He smiled as he looked at it. One week before school ends. The Infinite suffering Max has to call school will be over in one week. He wasn’t really ecstatic about going to school today, since he had the “Healing With Goals” class for half a day. Then again, he never was ecstatic to go in the first place. He groaned once more, then sat up and looked around his mess he calls a room. It wasn’t much, really. Just a couple posters on the wall of his favorite band, a drawer, a lamp, and a queen-sized bed. He got up, and walked towards the bathroom to freshen up before breakfast. On the way there, he retched at a pile of dirty clothes. A few minutes later… Max pulled on his usual red T-shirt, and walked out of his room and glided down the stairs. He reached the bottom of the stair and looked into the living room, where he could see through into the kitchen. His eyes locked on the dinner table, where his step-dad, Dave, sat, drinking his coffee. Max groaned. Great. I thought I could at least enjoy a cup of coffee by myself. Max ran his hand through his hair and walked into the bright white and green colored kitchen. He was greeted by his step-father, sitting at the dinner table, drinking his usual cup of coffee. Morning, Dave.” Max said, walking over to the coffee maker. “Morning, Max,” he responded. “Where’s Mom?” Max asked, opening the cabinets around the coffee machine, searching for the coffee grinds. “She’s already at work. You should be getting ready to go to school. We’re out of grinds too, by the way.” Dave yawned, taking another sip of his coffee. Max shut the cabinet and began looking for the packets of hot chocolate. “We’re out of those, too.” Dave said, chuckling. Max spun around. “Is there anything in this kitchen that we’re not out of?” he asked. Dave looked over his glasses. “Water.” he said, then went back to drinking his coffee. Max groaned. This day is just going to keep getting better. He walked over to the stove and grabbed a bottle of water and sat down with him.
“I guess I’ll be heading to the store to grab a bunch of stuff on my way back from school.” Max said, cracking open the water. Dave didn’t say anything. “You alright, Dave?” Max asked, taking a sip. Dave sighed and set down his cup of coffee. “Max, I know your mother is getting on to you about slacking in school.” Max chuckled, then closed his bottle. “Who doesn’t? She tells almost everyone.” Dave exhaled, then continued. “You need to stop it, Max. Otherwise they're going to kick you out. Do you really want that to happen, Max?” Dave raised his voice a little, trying to sound serious. Max fell silent. “Dave, you need to understand, I have no purpose. I’m nobody here in this world. I have no dream, so let me be… me.” Dave stared at him in disbelief. “You really believe that, don’t you?” he said, now starting to get angry. “Anything you do, and I mean anything, contributes to everything. Don’t let anyone tell you that. Hell, don’t tell yourself that.” Max blinked slowly, then got up from the table. “ Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta get ready for school, Dave. Thanks for the talk. I’ll think about what you said.” Dave went to say something, but Max had already left out the front door. Max opened his car door, putting his key into ignition. Just as he is about to hop into the car, Dave flings open the front door. “Why do this to yourself, Max?! You have a life! A story of your own to write! Just listen to us!” he yelled out, but Max had already jumped into the car and was already speeding off to school. Dave sighed in anger. “Boy’s a handful…” <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
