Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 29-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Twenty Nine

—

"And you're standing on the edge, face up;
'Cause you're a natural"
Natural | Imagine Dragons

—

Jason
[Sunday, January 21st, 2012]

Music pounds obnoxiously in my bedroom as I try to drag myself through my dumb math homework for the night. Through the music, I hear a tapping noise — someone at my door?

"Yeah?" I call out. Dad cracks my door open and pokes his head through, taking a moment to glance around my room that still has some moving boxes piled in the corner.

"Remember those guests that I told you were coming for dinner tonight?"

"Yeah," I say again.

"Well, they're gonna be here in a half an hour, so try to clean yourself and your room up a bit." Saying no more, he slides out of my room and swiftly closes my door behind him.

"Wait, who is gonna be in my room?" I yell after him. It's too late; he's gone.

Rolling my eyes, I gladly pack up my homework and shove it back into my backpack. I then do my best to pile up the moving boxes in my closet, afterwards pulling the comforter up to cover my bed and make it look relatively presentable. I grab a clean shirt and some jeans to change into, and mess with my hair until it meets my standards.

I give my bedroom a last scan before padding downstairs to talk to Dad.

"Dad?" He pops out from the living room, looking nicer than he normally does. "Who is coming over? You're being weird."

"It's a couple people who I'm very excited for you to meet. It's very important," he walks briskly into the kitchen; I follow. "Is your room clean?"

"Yeah."

He nods, and proceeds to busy himself around the kitchen.

"Wait, you're going to cook?"

"Just tacos," he responds. I throw my hands in the air while he isn't looking, driven mad by the fact that I'm not getting any real answers. But, apparently he does see me, because he follows up with "what, you don't want tacos?"

"Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"

"You know, your brother didn't ask this many questions when I told him to clean up."

"Joey probably wasn't even aware of his surroundings. Was he playing video games?"

Hesitating, Dad replies.

"... Yeah."

"Then he's clueless."

Exasperated, he rushes around the kitchen to get the ground beef cooking and everything prepared to serve up. While he does this, the doorbell rings. His face flushes with panic as he turns to me.