The morning has returned once more as usual. Jack knew he wasn't a morning person but when you're scheduled to clean all the rooms and cook morning breakfast, you ought to know you're a robot with an alarm, especially when your cousins were around. For the past 3 weeks, he had to wake up before his usual time as his cousins would bring a hurricane inside their rented home every night before going to bed. Not just that, they sometimes bring girls for the whole night. It was so hard for him to bear them.

So, he was glad as they were going to leave today.

Crossing his fingers, he muttered. "Thanks heaven for this day. Just do one last favor. When they get off their bus, make sure to run over another bus or car. No, no! I don't want them dead. But few factures will work fine. At least they won't bother me for a year." He smiled at the invisible force and pulled out a black plastic bag and began cleaning the hall and kitchen which was packed with wrappers of chips, waffles, cupcake box, beer bottle. Clothes were scattered upon the couch, half of them were hanging to the ground.

The havoc of today was created more than any other day they had messed. The reason was that his father had not returned last night. He had an extra shift at a departmental store and most importantly, having him last night meant only trouble than cleaning the kitchen. Because his father would scream at top of his lungs even for minor mistakes. He would punish him, and sometimes slap him in the face. That is why he hated his father more than his cousins and they never had a stable and happy life.

But the worst phase started when he beat his fellow classmate, Danny Branwell to pulp for hitting on his girlfriend. Jack got expelled for two weeks but his father was the one who actually paid the price.

Jack was not aware at that time that his father works for Danny's father. Upon realizing that it was Jack, his employee's son who tried to strangle his son, he demoted Mr. McCollum to the lowest designation. Since then Jack and his father have a strained relationship. They no longer talk like father and son. The only conversation was made when petty issues needed to be looked for. Jack's mother had left his father long before they could expect a second child. Her mother called his father 'a horrible husband' before leaving and divorcing him. His custody was taken by Mr. McCollum when he was just a kid and his mother married another man. Jack has wished if were given a chance, he would probably choose his mother. But before he was able to take a decision for himself, his mother had two children with her new husband and she was no longer that much comfortable to let Jack stay with her permanently. They still have contacts and every time he meets his mother, she would apologize in different ways for abandoning him for the sake of her other children. He wanted to yell at her but composed himself. Moreover, his half brother and sister weren't as bad as his cousins. They were neither very nice nor very bad to him. But of all the things considered, his life was the most miserable one. So he can't bear another fight with his father if he came to know about the one nightstand. And to stop this news reach his ears, he was ready to do whatever his cousins demand him to do.

Jack stuffed the plastic bag into the dustbin and trotted to his room. After banging for the seventh time, one of the cousins, Ronnie emerged and opened the door.

"What?" He groaned and scratched his head and said between a yawn, "Wyy donn youuu leemmmsleeeeppp."

Jack rolled his eyes. "I need to use the bathroom so I can get ready for school."

Ronnie yawned again, blowing the stinking breath on Jack and left the door open and fell on the bed next to his brother. Earlier Jack use to share his room with them whenever they came but after they knew about the landlady, he was thrown out of the room. The only time he could enter is to use the bathroom (as there was only one) or to change clothes or grab his books.

Fuckers. He cursed mentally and slumped into the bathroom. After taking a shower, he pulled his T-shirt and jeans. It was time to cook breakfast for those fuckers and himself. After checking for one last time in the mirror, he shouted at his cousins. "Wake up, the sun has risen!"

The other cousin, Jimmy who was almost woken up by the noise caused by Jack when he was taking shower and getting ready, snarled like his brother, "And what do you want us to do? Photosynthesis?"

Laughed the other, Ronnie.

"You asked me to wake you up in the morning, didn't you?" Jack replied with another eye roll, "you have to take the bus early. Aren't you two planning to go back?"

Ronnie who was now sitting up on the bed scratched his head once more, "you must celebrating about it."

I'll celebrate after you both suffer from permanent Amnesia, so you won't remember me, at all. Good riddance then only.

Jimmy got up from his bed, glanced himself at the mirror and wiped his face, not from the tissue but Jack's shirt which was hanging in hook by the mirror, "stop staring and cook us breakfast." He snapped at Jack who was gritting his teeth. Wasn't make him do their laundry enough that now they were messing up with his washed clothes. Jack thought and swore to use that shirt to wipe the kitchen.

With a sneer, he sprinted back to the kitchen. He took the pancake floor in a big bowl and mix the other ingredients. When it was time to mix a pinch of salt, he stopped abruptly to think for a moment. He then grinned widely and opened the lid and emptied the whole salt into the mix. For a moment he thought to add croton seeds powder but then shrugged the thought away.

"Give'em hell!" And with that, he cooked pancakes for them and left the home with his bag. He was sure when Ronnie and Jimmy would eat that, they're gonna puke it and he wouldn't mind cleaning the kitchen. Finally able to avenge (even if it was a little) he was happy. He imagined what sort of name they would call him while going back to their home.

He walked merrily on the road to his school. The walk was ten to twelve minutes and Shirley's home falls at midway. And when he told her about it, she laughed.

"You should have used croton. I bet they will be sitting in the loo for the whole day."

"That thought crossed my mind. But it has its own disadvantages. They will probably stay more in that case but I just want them gone."

"Don't you think they will try to get back at you for this."

"I think I don't care right now. I'm just enjoying it. And moreover, I'll make sure they don't come back for at least the next six months. Dad is taking an extra shift and it's my junior year. Aren't we suppose to be responsible now?"

"How much more responsible you want to become, Jack? You cook at home, Clean your house, help your father in delivering stuff from home to home, then study hard enough to score well. Plus you fuck with precautions. What else do you need to become more responsible?"

Jack chuckled but then said seriously. "I just need to get the hell away from that house and the only thing that can get me out is my GPA because I suck at football."

"See, however, fucked up you are, we believe you are going to achieve more than any of us. Even Scott is losing his shit since her sister got married."

"It's because now he has to deal with his father alone but he told me Mr. Grayson is laying low for a while. Don't know what got into him. Didn't even yelled at him for scoring 19th rank."

"I think his father never hated him. It was always his sister. He never liked Miranda. Scott doubt's his father is an anti-feminist. Never wanted a girl in his family." Shirley sighed in disgust. Then her phone began to chime with notification bells.

"Why do father suck in keeping their children happy?" Jack said while Shirley digs her hand into the pocket of her jeans and pull out her phone. Suddenly a Ducati bike squealed in front of them.

They both eyed at the person. A muscular teenage boy was sitting on him. He was wearing a tight T-shirt, and it was to tight that Shirley wanted to ask if he asked for size 15 instead of 45. Her eyes now flickered at the set of hands which were clutching the guy's body. She instantly knew who it was.

The girl sitting behind that guy was Missy Carroway, her neighbor's daughter, and student of their rival school, Brussels High, and the person she hated more than anyone in the world.