Milo enters his house, placing his bookbag on the floor next to it. He walks further into the hallway towards the kitchen, where he sees his mom, Elise, cooking dinner. She turns around when she sees her son go into the fridge.
Elise: Hi, Milo! Dinner should be ready in a half an hour.
Milo: *uninterested* -kay.
Milo grabs a drink from the fridge and closes the door. Before he iss able to leave the kitchen, his mother calls out for him.
Elise: Milo?
Milo turns around to face his mom.
Elise: Can you please set up the dinner table?
Milo: It’s only you, me, and dad.
Elise: The table still needs to be set.
Milo: *annoyed* Mom, I–
Elise: Milo, please just set the table for dinner.
Milo huffs and walks into the dining room, taking the dinner plates from the cabinets. He carelessly plates three dishes at one side of the table, followed by the utensils and napkins. Shortly after, the front door opens again; this time Milo’s dad, Montrel, walks down the hallway and into the kitchen. Milo hears his parents greet each other in the kitchen. He turns around and sees his father walk into the dining room.
Montrel: Hi, Milo–
Montrel walks past Milo and into another room inside of the house. Milo rolls his eyes, continuing to set the table for dinner.
…
Elise: Did you have practice after school, hun?
The family is now sitting at the table where Milo set up the dishes; Milo’s parents sit on one side of the table, while Milo sat at the end of it. Milo looks up from his food and at his mother.
Milo: Uhm, yeah. I had to stay after class to rehearse for a bit after school.
Elise: Is there going to be a performance any time soon?
Milo: *annoyed* You’re usually too busy to come to my shows…
Montrel: *stern* Milo.
Milo rolls his eyes and plays with the food on his dinner plate. Elise continues to eat and talk.
Elise: Well you’re always telling us about your shows too late; we sometimes can’t work around our schedule–
Milo: *in hush* You mean never…
Montrel: Milo!
Milo looks up from his pate and at his father.
Milo: *annoyed* What?
Montrel: Your attitude tonight is uncalled for.
Milo: I just want to eat dinner without answering 21 questions about my day.
Elise: We’re just asking you how your day was–
Milo gets up from his seat and takes his dinner plate.
Milo: I’m not hungry anymore.
Milo walks out of the dining room and into the kitchen. Without even throwing out the food that is left on his plate, he just puts the entire thing in the sink and walks down the hallway. He enters a door into a small room, his room. He turns on the light in his room before laying down on his bed. He looks up toward the ceiling before shutting his eyes tight. He quickly gets up from his bed and walks to the computer desk and sits in the chair. Before Milo can log onto the internet to instant message his friends, there is a knock on the door. Milo looks up to see that it’s his mother standing there.
Elise: Milo?
Milo: *annoyed* Yeah, mom?
Elise walks into the room without Milo giving her the okay. She sits at the end of Milo’s bed, facing him.
Elise: I was going to discuss this with you at the dinner table, but I’m here to tell you that next weekend, your father and I have an event to attend in Chicago. I already spoke to Mrs. Castro about you staying over Jennifer’s house for the weekend.
Milo: Can’t I just stay here by myself?
Elise: You need to be supervised, Milo.
Milo: I just turned 15, mom–
Elise: And you’re still too young to stay here by yourself.
Milo sucks his teeth and turns around to face his computer screen again. He doesn’t even bother looking at his mother while he talks to her.
Milo: Whatever, mom. You make decisions for me without me even knowing or asking me if it’s okay.
Elise gets up from the bed and begins to walk towards the bedroom door to exit.
Elise: I know what’s best for you, Milo. Remember to pack your weekend bag before Friday!
Elise exits Milo’s room. Milo finally signs into the internet and sees who’s currently online. He sees Jennifer’s screen name, peppertea, online. He hovers over her screen name with his mouse to read her away message:
peppertea: xX ~1 fak3 friend can do mor3 damage than 5 enemi3sz~ Xx
Milo rolls his eyes and decides to log off the internet.
Letters From Liz. 