I woke up to the sound of knocking on my door about an hour before my alarm went off. I rolled out of bed, jostling my blankets off myself. I staggered to my door, hastily opening it only to see my mother. I found this unusual for her, having been distent from others since my older sister Luara's death eleven months prior.

"What's wrong, mom?"

She looked me up and down, then said coldly. "why aren't you ready for school yet."

I rubbed my eyes, then looked at her confused as I still had two hours before I had to leave for school, and I never needed more than thirty minutes to get ready.

" what do you mean? I still have a few hours before I have to leave for school."

She crossed her arms and looked at me disappointed. "Laura was always up at this time and ready for the day. Maybe you should try to be a bit more like her."

Before I could get a word in, she walked away, retreating into her room. It wasn't the first time my mother had did something like this. Since I was born, people have told me to be more like Luara.

Laura had always been the perfect child for as long as I could remember. She was athletic, beautiful, popular, and always brought home good grades, but I was the exact opposite. I'm a shut-in who doesn't like to socialize much and never cared for my grades.

I shrugged off the incident and returned to my room. I began getting ready for the day since I was already awake.

I threw on a white tee-shirt, a pair of black shorts, and a thin dark gray overcoat before I tied my hair up into a ponytail with a small braid running through it.

After getting dressed, I made my way to the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. Upon entering the living room, I saw my mother sitting on the couch with Clayton.

Clayton was my sister's boyfriend for three years. He has always been close to my family, even after my sister's death. Clayton had been coming over every other week since Lauras' death to check up on us for some reason. Similar to Laura, Clayton was very popular around town. He was the mayor's son, top of his class, and star of the football team.

I stood there silent for a couple of seconds, surprised he was here this early in the morning. Upon seeing me, Clayton smiled and waved at me.

" Morning Quinn, I wasn't expecting to see you this visit cause of how early it is."

I swiftly made my way to the kitchen that overlooked the living room.

"Oh, I had a few papers do today, so I got up early to finish them." I knew if I told the truth, my mother would deny it. She would hate it if I made her look bad in front of her precise Clayton, and I didn't want to deal with her drama so early in the morning.