PEERING INTO the large ornate mirror, Noel stared fervently through the cracks, his face displayed in seven different scattered images, but each showed the same one - large pus filled spots ranging from his forehead all the way down to his chin. To top it all off his face was bright red and painful and on some days (particularly the bad ones) it hurt to talk.
Noel turned away from the mirror angrily and without thinking he dived head first into his power rangers pillow, curling his fingers against the duvet as he moaned out in frustration.
"Noel?"
His mom pushed open the door to his room, a large mug of hot chocolate placed in her hands as she sat on his bed.
Noel grimaced at the mug - that was the bad news mug. When his favorite bike had been smashed into pieces, or when he had to move schools in the middle of the year, or when his Dad left seven years ago, his mom would come into his room with a mug of steaming hot chocolate and everything would be okay, no matter what.
He took a glance at his mom, her night black hair was scraped into her usual tight ponytail and her lips painted raspberry red. Noel's mom, Kim, was Japanese making Noel half, yet the feature that separated Noel from his mom the most was his eyes, a mix between blue and green, which Kim secretly envied and hated as they were the exact same color as Noel's father.
"What is it mom?"
"Well, y-you know Ron?"
"Yeah, your boyfriend."
"He's moving in."
Noel stared straight into his mother's eyes, before casting his gaze up to the ceiling. He met Ron a few times, he was a nice guy, but what was so nice about him was whenever his mom would come back from a date with him, she'd be glowing. Her face would be flushed and her eyes would light up and she'd be floating around the house singing and smiling and it made Noel happy. Really, really happy.
So with this, he shot his mom the most sincere smile he could muster. "That's really good. I'm happy for you."
His mom smiled at him, but made no effort to offer him the mug and leave the room. "There's more."