Please Don't Tell My Parents - Espresseleine Highschool Au

♡Chapter 10♡

Mother swiftly slapped Espresso across the face again. "Pathetic," She snarled, clutching Espresso's test. "Your grades are getting worse."

Espresso stayed silent as he looked down in shame.

"Your father and I have spent countless hours and money on making sure you're the best of the best. Making sure your future is bright. And what do you do to repay us?" She leaned down, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look up at her. "You fail."

"I-I'm trying," He whispered.

"No. You're not."

She let go of him and he touched where she had grabbed him. It hurt.

Espresso's eyes trailed back up to hers. "But I got a 100 on my quiz a few days ago."

"You could have gotten a 101." Mother crossed her arms as he stared down at him.

"Nobody else in my class got a grade past 90 except for me. I had the highest score."

"You just got lucky."

A broken sob escaped his mouth as he hugged his body, trying not to cry. "I studied for hours for that quiz, Mother," He insisted. "I really, really did."

"That has nothing to do with this test right here. Stop trying to change the subject." She held it up, showing him the 85 again. The ugly, pathetic 85. "I don't think you understand how disappointed I am to see you fail like this, Espresso. It hurts me more than it hurts you. I want you to succeed, really, I do, but you're making it so damn difficult for me to help you."

Espresso didn't say anything.

"I don't know what's distracting you, but whatever it is, you need to fix it. You're bringing shame upon the whole family. It's truly pathetic."

Espresso knew that it was Madeleine who was distracting him. Tears stung the backs of his eyes as he tried not to cry. He was so tired of never being enough for his parents.

"Espresso, what's wrong with you?"

Mother's words cut and stabbed like knives straight through his heart. Maybe Mother was right. Maybe he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.

"Why can't you just be a good son?"

A tear rolled down his cheeks as he sniffled. "I-I..." He choked out through broken sobs. "I don't know."

She sighed in annoyance. "God, you make my life so goddamn miserable. I'm going out. Your father is still out drinking. I'll be back later." Mother stepped past him and left, slamming the door.

Espresso stood in the living room, allowing the tears to fall down his face. Why did he have to be so pathetic? He was letting Madeleine distract him from his grades. That wasn't okay.

But he was so tired of never being enough for his parents. He always tried, he really did. But it felt like his best would never be enough.

Maybe he just needed to try a little harder. Study a little more. He had to prove to his parents that he wasn't an idiot after all.

—

Latte stepped into the house, yawning. She was out at a friend's house all day. She glanced at the clock. 12:30 pm. "I'm home!" She called out. A quick glance around told her that neither of her parents was home. She went upstairs.

She stepped into the bedroom to see Espresso sitting at his desk, surrounded by textbooks, notes, scattered papers, and coffee cups. A sigh escaped her lips.

Espresso glanced up at her.

"You look exhausted."

"Shut up," He muttered angrily as he turned back to his notes, quickly jotting something down.

She stepped up to him, glancing at his papers. His handwriting was neat and his notes were organized. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Better than fine," He said quickly, showing her all his notes. Papers and flash cards filled with words from top to bottom.

Latte raised her eyebrows at the sight of all the papers. "Woah. You've been studying hard."

"I've decided that I can't and won't let anything distract me from my grades," Espresso said. He smiled a tired smile as he nodded confidently at his work. "Things will go back to normal."

"Normal..?"

"Normal. Like before I met Madeleine," He simply said, pushing up his glasses. "He has only brought me problems. Mother and Father hit me more, my grades were going down, I was getting distracted... But it'll be okay now."

Latte simply stared at him. "But only a few days ago, you were blushing and telling me how much you loved him."

Espresso took a deep breath. "Grades should come first. They always should. I was a weak fool to forget that." He flipped to a page in one of his textbooks, copying a paragraph into his notes. "I decided that I no longer like Madeleine. Besides, if I try hard enough, Mother and Father will finally love me. I'm sure of it."

"You can't just turn crushes off like that."

Espresso glared at her.

Latte stopped talking.

"I should be the best. I have to be the best. I may have forgotten that for a week or two, but I've gotten back on track."

Latte sighed as she plopped down on the lower bunk of the bed, crossing her legs. "But the school year is almost over. Nobody will care if you take a little break. Everyone else will."

"I don't want to be everyone else. I want to be better than everyone else."

It was clear Espresso had decided on this. Once he was devoted to studying, you couldn't drag him away kicking and screaming. She shrugged. "Alright. Well, I'm going to bed. What about you?"

He said nothing.

Latte nodded. "Please take a break at some point. It's okay to let yourself rest. Don't burn yourself out." She climbed back up to her bunk and closed her eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.

Espresso rolled his eyes at her words. He couldn't take a break. Not now. He needed to study until his parents were proud of him.