The sky was rumbling, covering his ears with the sound of its impending downpour. “No minecraft when we get home, you’ve gotta get your homework done first, understood?”
The boy nodded, not lifting his blank brown gaze to check if his father had seen his nonverbal response. “Francis, do you hear me? I’m not going to tell you again, now turn my phone off and listen to me”, his father demanded from the front seat as they pulled into the driveway.
“Ok ok I heard you I’m sorry,” Francis blurted out once the threat of the screen in front of him being taken away was voiced, though he still didn’t remove his gaze from the game. He stayed put even after the car stopped movie, only slipping out of the red cab once he had saved his game, reluctantly giving the device back to his dad and dragging his backpack into the house behind him. Upon entering the house, he got a glimpse into the kitchen, spotting his ever elusive older sister. Ever since she had started high school he saw less and less of her, four years later he was lucky if he saw her once a day. Though, he couldn’t quite blame her; his father never had a fondness for her as he did him. His sister didn’t let his father forget she knew she wasn’t the favorite, taking any chance she could to go visit her own father on the weekends. Francis dumped the contents of his bag on the dining room table, requesting a pencil from his mother who had just barely beat them home and was struggling to make a quick meal for the three of them (his sister rarely ate with them unless forced, she was quite self-reliant). He didn’t like doing his homework, it was much less entertaining than playing on the computer. “Need some help?” his sister interrupted his negative thoughts, leaning against the table and glancing him over, clearly judging his clothing choice of orange shorts, a red shirt, tennis shoes, and almost knee high socks. He didn’t really care much about his appearance, but his sister was constantly hounding him on that fact that his nails were always way too long and that he should floss his teeth more often. He didn’t quite understand why she cared about any of that, he kept his blonde hair brushed and took a shower every other day or so. It wasn’t like he had any interest in girls yet, that would come in his teens, and until then, he really didn’t see the importance of clothes colors clashing or socks that crept up almost to his knees due to his quite short stature.
“Uh yeah I guess so”, Francis glanced up at her while replying, she had never tolerated being treated like he did his parents. Plus, doing homework with Casey wasn’t always that bad, she was quite helpful and didn’t end up yelling at him like his father or mother out of frustration.
“Well, first off, you are doing this completely wrong. This number should’ve gone here and…”
Francis zoned out after a few seconds of Casey’s teachings, his mind finding it more important to think about the next structure he would build in minecraft or how to beat this one guy that had destroyed his buildings at least five times. These defeats in the game always lead to angry outbursts and a whiney tone, which got him in trouble with everyone in the house, as no one appreciated listening to a still high pitched tone of a boy whinging about how everything was just so bad for him. They all had their worries and struggles of his own, and once his sister headed off to college this summer, quite a few of those struggles would be placed solely on him and he’d begin to understand why she spent so much time locked in her room.