Lessons Learned

You stared at the picture you had kept off of your wall, the flimsy thing was in between your thumb and pointer finger as you stared down at it. The one of mom and dad. You always felt wrong keeping her down and away from the rest of the photos. Mom deserved to be up there with them all too, you decided. You put it up with all the other photos, when suddenly, your phone rang. You scrambled to go pick it up, pressing the accept button when you saw Dad's name.

"Heyyy, dad- what's up?" You hummed.

"I just wanted to know how you were doing. We all miss you here. How's school? The dorms?"

"Mm, well.." You paused for a moment, thinking it over as you tried to think of the right thing to say to this. "They're going really well, I haven't had much of anything bad happen." You fibbed.

You heard an exhausted sigh on your father's end. "Is there anything you need to talk about, Sanddune? You know I'm open to talk with you." You bit your lip.

"Dad, It's nothing serious, just a stupid fight with another student I know.." You muttered. Dad made a noise.

"Please don't tell me you're being hurt!" You shook your head at his assumption, even though he couldn't see you.

"Dad, Dad- of course not! Besides, you would've gotten a call from the school, because I would've got him back right away!" You laughed lightly at his grunt.

"You worry so much, try to take it easy. You need a rest, go do something fun for yourself! Isami is old enough to be home alone now, right? Please, dad. For your sake." You pleaded. You knew he probably wouldn't listen, but you were serious. He worked so hard for you and Isami, he should rest and relax for once. And even if it was a topic redirection..it was true.

"You know work isn't very flexible for me right now.." You sighed, and fell back onto your bed, dejected.

"Pretend to be sick, I dunno! You just need to go out more. Make a friend..maybe go see our old neighbors if they still live around. I just want you to be okay, dad." There was silence for a moment, and you clenched your shoulders as you waited for an answer.

"Alright, fine. I'll try to work something out for myself." He chuckled, and you cheered.

"I knew you'd come around! I love you, dad."

"I love you too, Sanddune." You hung up, grinning to yourself.

Everything was going good right now. You had convinced dad to take some time for himself, and you were doing pretty well in class academically. It's been a handful of weeks since you first transferred, so there wasn't much to report. Except for Shinsou, he was part of your problem. It's like your demeanor changed when you were around him.

Yeesh, whatever. It was Shinsou.

"Knock Knock~!" A cheery voice came from outside your door. Already knowing who it was, you rushed to open the door and let her in. You tackled her in a hug as soon as she was in sight.

"Everest, let a girl breath!" She patted your back. You pulled away, grinning ear to ear.

"My bad, my bad. Why're you here so early?" Mina tugged at your arm, nodding down the hallway.

"C'mon! Remember, Aizawa wanted us all to meet for class early today. Did you already forget?" She snickered. Your eyes widened, and you scrambled back inside your room to frantically grab your uniform.

"I forgot! Mina, why didn't you text me before-" You tugged on your uniform piece by piece, not even bothering to shut the door behind you.

"Everest, I thought you remembered yourself-" She laughed.