Next day, classes were alright. Not so boring or entertaining as usual. But all I could think the whole time was how would I say it to mom.

"Home?" Sasha asked, starting the engine.

"Yeah."

"So you aren't going to work?"

"I don't know, I have this feeling that I'm fired." I sighed, thinking about it. Tyler is still a baby who runs to his dad, so I'm sure he'll describe everything to him and will get rid of me.

It's only Jake, Marissa and the good salary I'll miss.

"He was trying to do something to you today, wasn't he? I saw him waiting for a chance." She said.

Oh, let him. I don't care if he pours drink all over me again.

"Anyway I'll come back after my little project with Camy or you could come to my house." Her face brightened at the idea and she convinced me into saying a yes.

"So, I'll be back in a couple of hours." Sasha said, waving at me before she drove off.

I opened the door to find Theo and Noel both having a pillow fight. Since pillows meant no harm to anyone, I joined it too and at last, we ended up tickling Theo.

"I'm hungry!" He managed to say in between giggles and we finally gave up, just so we could grab a sandwich. And right when Theo started stuffing it into his mouth, we heard the doorbell.

"I'll get the door." I said to Noel when he struggled to swallow it fast. I frowned at the time though, it's been only half an hour and Sasha's back?

I opened the door, just to be surprised. There she is, our mother.

Wow, she'll be here within a day if it's about money, but won't take a look at her kids for weeks. I hate her priorities.

"Why don't you two go upstairs and finish it? And maybe play the video game after that." I called out to boys before letting her in and they nodded grabbing the sandwiches.

"Don't come down until I call you," I said to Noel and he nodded. Once they left, I opened the door completely for her and she looked at me,

"Hey,"

Hey? She wants to say hey after hitting my brothers?

"Get in," I said, eyeing her purse. And when she did, I looked at her bloodshot eyes, crossing my arms.

"You said you have cash with you." She stated. Directly to the point. Not even a 'how are you?'

"Well, yeah. I always have cash with me. I'm so damn rich." I said, biting back the tears and she narrowed her eyes.

"Are you playing with me?" She asked and I nodded, taking her purse which she placed on the table. "Wait, what are you doing? Give it back."

She raised her voice trying to reach out to me, but luckily I got the thing I've been searching for. I pulled out the key from her purse, her only access to this house.

"Why are you- hey, give me that!" She said, extending her palm as if I'm gonna place the keys in it.

"No, I won't. Listen, I don't want you to come home again. You can do whatever you want, but don't come home and hurt my brothers, okay?" I yelled at her and she frowned.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not hurting anyone. Just give me the damn key and money and I'll be out!"

She's still after that money, isn't she?

"No. I'm not gonna give you either of it. What's your problem mom?" I can see that she's not too drunk or fully sober either. So I guess she'll understand what I'm saying.

"What is my problem? What's yours?"

"Mine? It's simple. It's just that I don't have my dad with me and my mother doesn't care about her three children." I felt the hot tears burning my eyes.

"I lost my husband! I lost everything! Don't you dare speak about problems to me." She spat the words out which hit me like a bullet.

"It's not only you who lost everything, we lost our dad too. Have you ever thought about that? You didn't even give me a chance to cry, you just left all the responsibilities on me." I knew I was yelling but at the same time, my voice was trembling. "You just started doing what you thought would be the best for you. How come you didn't think about us? We lost our dad, didn't we? I was sixteen and Noel was seven!"

She could've hugged Noel, make him feel good. But she didn't, she chose alcohol over us.

"And you're saying you lost everything. You sure did, mom. I know we never spoke about your parents, I know you're not in good terms with dad's parents either. I know he was the only person you had. But you had us! And you didn't even care to think about it. You just left us like some lifeless dolls." I took a breath, wiping my tears and then looked at her emotionless face.

"What about me? What about Noel? We lost our dad and we lost you too. We lost everything just like you. But what do you care? You just became a selfish woman who thought depending on drinks and drugs would make you feel better."

"It does! It does feel better." She yelled back. "I don't want to talk about anything relating to the past."

"Then don't come home, don't ask me for money. Because this home, me, Noel and Theo are part of your past. And right now, I'm happy you don't want it back. I've been coping with you because I was stupid. I won't let you hit them again. You can leave."

"I didn't hit anyone! How many times do I have to say," she said, hands in the air and I was surprised.

What the hell has she been taking?

"Don't believe it. I still don't want you here."

"You can't say that. It's my home too." She raised her eyebrows, like stating a valid argument.

Technically, it's only hers. But I'm glad she doesn't know about it.

"Not anymore, unless you want me to file a complaint about you and your drug addict buddies." I said. That's it. That's my last resort.

"How do you-" she gaped at me and then shook her head. "You won't. They'll kill you if you did that, you understand? You can't do it."

"You traded me, didn't you? What's worse than that?" I spat out the thing I've been dying to ask her.

"I told you! I told you to be careful."

"That's the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard. Anyway, I've told everything I want. Now, please leave."

"You can't say that to me." She said, gritting her teeth and for a moment, it looked like she was about to hit me with something. "I'm your mother, don't speak like that."

"You should be ashamed to say that. After all this, you dare to say that? A mother never leaves her children like this, a mother never..." I controlled myself from yelling at her. It was useless, she wouldn't care. "Please leave."

"Fine." She huffed at last. "You might have found some source to money and this is all a part of it, isn't it? I know you'll come back when that is over." She said with immense hate as if I was the one who abandoned her.

Why does everyone say that? First Tyler said I'd go back to him once I think. Now it's her.

"Who the hell are you? Go away!" I heard her yell outside and a wave of anxiousness burst in me.

Was she yelling to Sasha?

I went after her and saw Zack, watching her get into a car.

"Woah." He mumbled rubbing his shoulder.

I guess she pushed him hard.

He turned to get in and was surprised to see me standing there."Oh hey, mom's friend?" He asked getting in and I followed him.

"Nope, mom."

"Oh," he stopped walking and slowly turned to me. "Sorry, I didn't recognize her."

Why would he? She hasn't made an appearance in front of anyone nor we have a photo of hers. The only ones in which she is, are carefully kept in my cupboard. I don't want her to break those photos, in which the five of us were happiest of all.

"Everything good?"

"Kind of, I asked her not to come for her need. Not to come at all." I said, sighing and he nodded.

"By that shove, I guess she was mad at you for that?"

"Yeah, she yelled a lot. I did too."

"That's... great. Not that you yelled at your mom or that she yelled at you. I mean, the great thing is you asked her not to come home. Oh shit, that came out all wrong. That's not what I meant," he sighed, shaking his head and I smiled.

"It's okay, I get it."

It's great how he managed to make me smile with his awkward talks, even after a life-changing argument with my mom.

"No, what I meant is, it's great that you're standing up, you know? You're doing the right things. You just needed a push, I guess." He shrugged.

"Thanks. That makes me feel like stupid in the past and good at the moment." I smiled and he chuckled.

"That you were." He said and before my mind could register what he said, he looked around with a frown. "Where's my boys?"

"Room. Noel!" I shouted and when they came down he asked us to get in the car.

"I can't wait to see uncle Alex!" Theo exclaimed and Zack rolled his eyes.

"He's my biggest competition ever." He mumbled and I let out a chuckle.

"What? You think chances are that I'll lose to him?" He raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Oh, not chances. I'm sure you will."

"That is not at all a pleasant thing to hear." He said to Theo and Noel, who were laughing. And for the rest of the ride, they both tried hard to make him feel better.

"Welcome home," Scarlett hugged me and took Theo in her arms. "Oh, it's been weeks since I saw these muffins."

"I love muffins," Alex said while playing poker with Sasha. "Time to stop this and start this," he wiggled his eyebrows, pointing to a brand new Lego set.

While they started serious planning on what to build and how to, I joined Sasha on the couch. But after a few minutes of talking about random things, Alex and Scarlett took a seat next to me and smiled.

"Evelyn, we need to talk about something, don't you think?" Scarlett asked and Zack gave me a slow nod, a hint.

Yep, it's about my mom.

"What are you going to do?" Alex asked me and I was silent. I didn't know what to do. So, I just said about what I did today.

"Oh, sweetie, you did right. That's the only thing you can do." Scarlett said, taking my hands.

"Have you thought about legal ways? It was child abuse and if you think she's still a threat to you kids, that'd be okay." Alex said.

I've never seen him this serious before. Not even when that drunk man came after me, but I think that's because nobody else knew my mom's involvement. Everyone thought he was just a pervert who happened to be her friend.

"You mean, to get her arrested?" Sasha asked and I thought about it.

"Yes, what she did is against the law. Plus, we don't know if she's taking some serious narcotic stuff. So chances are fairly good. But the thing we need to focus is about custody of boys." Alex said.

That was the thing which kept me troubling for the first couple of years. I was afraid to talk, I was afraid I'll spill something and everyone will know our mother is an alcoholic. I was worried if someone would file a complaint, I'll lose my brothers.

"She's nineteen, so we're good. But there's a lot of legal procedures and other things we've to do." Alex looked at me and smiled confidently, "Nothing that we can't pull off."

I'm happy that I have choices now, something I didn't have in these few years.

"Sometimes, I think that's better. But even after what she's done, I still remember how good she was. How she used to cook for us, take us out, play with Theo," I trailed off.

She was a great mother, a great friend. All those times, she used to smile, laugh and love us...

"Oh honey," Scarlett hugged me tight, kissing my head and it felt good. It felt great.

I struggled a bit to wipe my tears before looking at her. I didn't want to cry, but I saw her eyes filling with tears.

"It's okay, we won't. I just wanted to know if that's what you wanted." Alex said, smiling and I smiled back at him.

"I know, I shouldn't be kind to her or anything but I can't help it. And I feel pathetic." I admitted.

"You're not pathetic, come on. You're one strong, cool kid, aren't you?" Alex smiled and Zack nodded like a little kid.

"But I can't let her do anything again."

"I know. We could try getting her into a rehab. Maybe you'll get back a good mom," he looked at me expectantly but I sighed.

"I've tried. Me and Maria, we've tried to talk her into it. But she just won't listen," I looked down, feeling defeated.

"Oh dear, just leave it to me. Trust me, I'll get her into rehab and if anyone comes asking for money, give me a call." He smiled, draping an arm over my shoulder, his eyes asking me the silent question.

He didn't need to ask, I did trust him.

"Now, aren't you going to work?" Alex asked, in the same way Sasha asked yesterday and that made me smile.

"I don't think I can, I'm pretty sure I messed up that." I said, looking at Jake's text I received about an hour ago,

What happened? Bloody Jones is shouting your name. Did you kick his ass too? I thought it was only Tyler.

Yeah, pretty sure.

"For good reason, though." Zack called out.

"Oh, you're fired?" Scarlett frowned and I shrugged.

"So you lost your job and you'll be out of money soon." Alex nodded, thinking.

"No, I'll be fine. I still have tutoring, babysitting and bookstore on the weekends." I smiled.

"Hmm, I know you're a very proud baby girl and that you won't take money from me," he said, making me smile again. "But I can get you a job. Will that be okay?"

With widened eyes, I looked at him.
"You don't have to do that,"

"Oh, see. Pride." He shook his head at Scarlett and then smiled. "But I will, anyway."

"Thank you," I said, my smile faltering a bit with emotion.

"You don't thank us, silly." Scarlett nudged, staring me down and went to boys.

"I have a couple of choices but if you want something like your last job, wait for a week. My friend is building a restaurant and they'll need people." Alex continued.

Thankful, won't be enough to describe my feeling.

"You'll need three, dad. We've two more people who are too good to work at Tyler's place." Zack casually said, throwing a block at Sasha.

And when Alex replied with a thumbs up, I was so damn happy. Not only I'm getting another job with a great payment, but I'm also getting Jake and Marissa as well!

So, when everyone else was busy in dinner preparation and Lego, I linked my hands with Zack's and pulled him aside.

"What? Got a secret to tell?" He dipped his head down, cupping his ears and I smiled before pressing my lips onto his.

"Woah, what made you so brave?" He whispered with wide eyes as I leaned back.

"You got Jake and Marissa a job, thanks." I smiled, looking at his surprised face.

"Oh, I should convince dad to hire more people then." He mumbled, smiling and slid his hand to the back of my neck, pulling me into another kiss. He brushed off the hair from my cheek as he deepened the kiss, his tongue finding mine.

Although we've kissed many times, each time, it feels as if someone had put a magical spell on us.

"As much as I like to continue this project," he smirked, pointing between us, "I'm sure either a five-year-old or a fifty-year-old is gonna find us." He said the last part loud enough for Alex to hear and I heard a loud groan.

"I'm not fifty!" Alex growled from the hall and I smiled widely.

Now, I have hope. Strong hope that everything will be fine.

*************************

Everything's gonna be fine! Feels like if Evelyn had Alex long ago, the problems would have been solved easily.

We all have someone who solves every problem in a snap, right? Maybe Zack and his family were what Evelyn needed.

Thanks for reading everyone, lots of love to you.❤️❤️