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know.
    “And how is school going?” I asked, turning away from the horror movie playing on TV.
    He shrugged one shoulder, nonchalant. “Not you, too. It’s good. Everything’s under control.”
    I wanted to know more about my brother’s life. “And girls? Have you found anyone special?”
    “You sound like Mom, or Grandma. Special, what’s that?” He shook his head and continued, “I have a girl-friend, does that count?”
    “Friends with benefits don’t count, Ry.” I rolled my eyes.
    “Well, that’s exactly what we are and it’s fine.” He finally changed channels. We kept talking about his life for a couple of hours. I never had this relationship with Ryan, as close friends.

    On Friday night, my house—or the house I was living in—turned into a nightclub. I would have been okay with it if anyone had told me, but I guess they’d all forgotten.
    “Hi, sunshine.” A guy approached me in the kitchen, holding a paper cup in one hand and resting the other on the counter. “Name’s Teo. What’s yours?” He leaned closer and I stepped back, wondering if I wanted to engage in conversation with this stranger.
    “It’s none of your business.” Keith’s angry voice sounded from the kitchen door. Teo backed off and went back to the living room.
    “This is my house, too, now. You could’ve at least warned me about this party.” I crossed my arms, trying not to flinch when Keith brushed against my arm when he stepped forward to get a bottle from the shelf.
    “It wasn’t my idea,” he said, shrugging. “But you should get used to it: this happens every Friday.” He turned with a smirk on his face. “And Saturday, and every other damn day we want. And no, this is not your house. You might be playing house with my brother, but this is not your house.” He leaned forward until we were almost touching.
    “Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?” I had to scream over the music when someone opened the kitchen door.
    Keith opened his mouth to answer, but he glanced over my shoulder and closed his mouth. He stepped back and replaced his angry face with his usual smirk. “You should take care of your girlfriend, little brother, or someone might steal her from you.” He disappeared through the crowd. Was he talking about Teo, or was there some other meaning?
    “It was just a guy introducing himself.” I shrugged. Cody smiled, took my hand, and pulled me to the living room to introduce me to some people.
    I felt so disconnected. This wasn’t the Cody I knew: it was a new Cody, who was thrilled with all of this college social life. Maybe it was me—maybe I hadn’t grown up, yet. I missed my parents, my sister, and my friends from high school.
    Was this empty feeling that something had changed and would never be the same what growing up was supposed to feel like? I supposed the next time I’d feel like this would be when I graduated from college. I just hoped it wouldn’t be sooner.

T he next day, the house was almost as it had been the day I arrived, and I felt anger boiling inside me. I had asked them to respect me, but what I wanted and what I’d gotten were two very different things. I had to clean the kitchen counter just so I could look at something clean while I ate my cereal. I gave up when I realized I couldn’t avoid the smell of alcohol, so I went to the garden to sit on the back porch.
    I could work on the garden today, after convincing my brother and Cody to clean up the house. I didn’t even bother thinking about Keith: he would be pleased to just cross his arms and smirk at me. I was getting angrier by the second. It was noon and no one else had woken up, yet.

    I picked up Cody’s car keys and left a note in the kitchen: the first place they would go the minute they woke up.
    “Went to town. Clean up the house, please. Jane.”
    I got lost a couple of times before arriving at the supermarket. I bought some groceries, which didn’t include frozen meals or