Live Your Life

"Gbadaa ebe a gawa ulo akwukwo, Kasi!"

That was Emily's cue to stop looking at her reflection and get her butt to the kitchen for breakfast. Emily's father never called her Emily. He was a Nigerian man to the core and insisted she went by her native name, Kasi, short for Chimkasiuto. Emily didn't understand a word he uttered but whenever he spoke her native language, Igbo, she knew it was serious.

Her dad had been trying to teach her and her younger brother, Lucas, also know to her father as Chidu, their language but they were never interested and he was always angry at that fact. Their mother on the other hand wanted nothing to do with her native dialect. She was born and bred in Seattle before she married their father and moved to a small town in Canada to raise them. She was always against him teaching them, saying it was unimportant and they'll never use it in the real world. That was the ongoing argument between them and it was best to leave the room whenever it started.

"Luke!"

She heard her mother shout and she knew she was up next. She grapped her things and rushed downstairs towards the living room almost colliding with her brother.

"Watch where you're going, Em." He said hitting her with a crutch. "Ouch! Mean." He grinned at her before walking towards the kitchen. She tried not to frown at his limp and looked away. It was new year, she had to get over it.

Her father was sitted in the dining area, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and his phone in the other, dressed in his usual work attire while her mother was behind him, hands around his neck as she leaned in to see what he was doing on his phone.

"Good morning parents," She greeted, and one stern look from her father was enough for her to clear her throat and try again, "Ututu oma daddy, ututu oma, mummy."

Her father nodded in approval, an amusing green on his face. "Ututu oma nwam nwanyi," Her mother smiled at the both of them, "Good morning, my dearest daughter" she said with a teasing grin at her husband, who rolled his eyes.

Her parents were always quite the pair. Mr. Kevin Francis, her father had relocated to the US when he was just 18 on a scholarship, he studied hard and when he graduated, he landed a job almost immediately with a top firm in Seattle where he met her mother, Mrs. Patricia Francis. It was fate that they were both from the same tribe seeing as her dad's parents were so strict about his wife's culture. They were not too happy when they found out she couldn't speak their language very well but had validated the marriage nontheless. Eight years after they had Emily they had to move to a small town in Canada because her dad was moved to manage a new branch in the town, and a few years later, here they were now.

"Hurry up so I can drop you two at school." Her mother chastised, while standing up straight, her hands hovering over her phone screen while she typed. "Uh, mummy aren't we a little bit old for you to be driving us? I mean we can always take a bus," Luke objected, shoving cereal into his mouth.

"You know how I feel about public transportation, Luke." It genuinely freaked Emily out being surrounded by a bunch of people in a moving vehicle. "Then don't you think it's time to get your license?" Her father said slowly, knowing it was a tricky subject. He sipped his coffee while waiting for a reply but there was none.

Only silence, and heavy breathing.

"I mean, you're old enough to get your permit and in a few months—"

"I don't want my license, dad." Emily tried to keep her voice leveled. It was the best she could do to avoid crying or yelling, both of which her dad tried to avoid.

"Kasi, you can't keep living in the—" Patricia carefully slid her hands around her husband's shoulders, her signal for Drop it, Kevin. "Just hear me out, Kasi—"

"I can't get my driver's license, atleast not yet."

"But—"

"Kevin. We talked about this," Her mother said softly. "Don't pressurize her, okay?" Her voice was almost a whisper. He sighed and went back to his newspaperand coffee.

Emily flashed her mother a small smile, as if to say thank you before heading to the kitchen for breakfast.

Mornings in the Lorenzo household was always quiet. Mostly because Mr. Lorenzo was always out of the house by 6am, and Mrs. Lorenzo was always traveling for work. Their son, Noah was never really the loud type. He barely liked his presence to be noticed but it was hard to do that when your parents were basically the stars of the town. Sometimes, Noah wished he lived in a big rowdy city like New York or something. A place where no one actually knew the person next to them, unlike the town where he resided. It was hard and nearly impossible to not know the person next to you on the bus, or the family directly opposite you in a restaurant, or the person in front of you in a check out line, and he hated it.

All his life he wished people would leave him alone. Would not wave at him in the cinema, or ask him what's up at the mall, and sometimes it was like that for him, he had learnt to perfectly blend in with the society. Avoid being noticed at all cost because he hated the reason he was being noticed, it was mostly "Hey, aren't you Lorenzo's kid? Your dad's a great man. Must be nice having a role model like him,", "Your parents are so rich, you're so lucky,", "Isn't it cool having a mom who gets to travel around the world?" The last one really pissed him off the most. He hated it. He wished he had a mom who was always around so he could talk to her, so he could explain what was going on his life, and how he always felt, but all he got was voicemail recordings and 'sorry I can't come home tonight, hun. Love you,' texts.

He took in a deep breath.

Today was not the day to feel worried for himself.

It was the first day of school and he needed to focus. A year of perfect attendance and A+ tests, he needed to mentally prepare for extra curriculum, and college applications. It was the first day of senior year and he needed to be on his A game. He remembered the words his father said to him the night before, "It's the year to shape your dreams, Noah. Everything you've done falls down to this moment, don't mess it up."

He tried not to yell at those words, "... don't mess it up.", as if he always messed things up, as if he never did his best. But his father was right. This was it. The big year, where all his hardwork fell into place.

The year he gets accepted into Yale. Hopefully.

"Hey, girl!" Emily grinned at her best friend, Gina and jumped into her arms.

"Hey, G. How was your summer?" Gina groaned.

"Don't get me started on the worst months of my entire life!" Emily tried to hide her grin, Gina was always a tad bit dramatic and over complicated everything. "Everything okay at your grandmother's house?"

"No! Can you believe that my Uncle Jim brought his kids? His little demons! And I am not joking. I had to deal with an obnoxious fourteen year old who treated me like I was her slave, a twelve year old who pranked me every chance he got, I'm still removing peanut butter from my hair! twin five year olds who enjoy running around in their underwear, and his four months old baby, Lily. Granted, she was cute but she cries at 3am! Three in the freaking morning! Who does that?" She narrated, "Um, a baby?" She groaned running her hands over her face dramatically. "I didn't get sleep for days, Em. I'm serious. This is the last time I've ever gong to visit my grandmother for the summer."

Emily pouted, "But you love Grandma GG,"

"I know, I know... it's just terrifying spending another two months with those terror kids." Emily laughed.

"Hey, babe," Emily internally groaned but from the look Gina gave her it was possible she groaned out loud. "Hey, Adam!" Gina leaned in and gave her boyfriend of eleven months a quick kiss.

Eleven months of pure bliss for Gina.

Eleven months of extreme torture for Emily.

"Oh, hey Emily. Didn't see you there,"

"Yeah, and I wish I didn't see you there either," Gina hit her arm lightly as if to say "behave!" That was very hard to do seeing as she hated Adam with every bone in her body.

"Don't you think it's weird to wish you were blind?" Adam asked, a lazy smirk on his face as Gina leaned into him.

"As long as I don't have to look at the horror you call a face, I may consider it,"

His smrik dropped and he looked away, annoyed. Point one for Emily! She thought.

"So I'll pick you up after school?" Adam asked looking at a dreamy eyed Gina. Emily rolled her eyes, what was there to like about the 6ft pile of garbage standing in front of her? "Yeah. Can't wait." Adam kissed Gina one more time, shot Emily an annoyed look and left.

"Can't you just be nice to him for one second?"

"Hey! I told you I didn't like him from the beginning! This is your fault y'know?" Emily looked away from her best friend and focused on removing her books from her locker.

"Oh really, and how is that?"

"You know, your bad taste," she looked away before Gina could process what she said and started sprinting down the hall.

"Yeah you better run, Chimkasiuto!"

Emily stopped in abruptly, as everyone in the hallway stared at her, yeah, weird middle name, move on people! She thought before turning to a smug looking Gina and flipping her off. Gina smirked and blew her a kiss.

"Ew! Keep those deadly things for Adam!"

She turned back around only to bump into someone's chest and flying onto the cold tile.