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vacation. It was always something. I was so sick of the constant arguing and bickering that my parents had been doing. But for them to be arguing when they knew doggone well that I was having friends over, well, that was just too much. They had finally crossed the line this time.
    I wanted to go knock on the door and give them a piece of my mind, but I knew all that would do was end the fight for now. Then, once me and my friends were close to falling asleep, they’d start right back up. I just wanted to vanish into thin air, especially when Jasmine looked at me and said, “Are your parents gonna be okay?”
    Camille and Angel looked at each other funny, then they looked at me like they felt all sorry for me.
    That’s when I knew I couldn’t take it anymore. Without answering Jasmine’s question, I reached up and used my fist to bang on the wall. “Would y’all cut it out!” I screamed.
    There was immediate silence. I envisioned the look on my parents’ faces. But I was just grateful that the bickering had stopped.
    “Yeah, they can get stupid sometimes. Let’s just try and ignore ’em,” I suggested.
    Angel grabbed a fistful of popcorn and started stuffing her mouth as Camille and Jasmine jumped up and started dancing to the new Omarion song. We were interrupted a few minutes later by the sound of the doorbell ringing several times.
    I jumped up and headed to the door. My mother almost knocked me down as she rushed past me. She flew across the marble-floored foyer and swung the front door wide open.
    “I’m so glad you guys are here. He’s right in the office,” my mother sobbed as she pointed toward my father’s office.
    I thought I was going to die as I watched one police officer come into our home and the other stand at the door, trying to calm my mother down.
    “Are you okay?” he asked.
    “No, I’m not,” my mother snapped.
    “Did he hit you?” the officer asked.
    “No, of course he didn’t. I just called you all to make him get out,” my mother cried.
    The officer sighed, then motioned for my mother to have a seat on the living room sofa.
    “Wow. Your mother called the cops on your dad?” Camille whispered. I didn’t even realize she and the other girls had come up behind me.
    I was too outdone. My parents had never embarrassed me as much as they had that very moment.
    The cops didn’t arrest my father, but they did ask him to leave. Right after they left, my mother locked herself in her bedroom. I told everyone to move upstairs to my bedroom, where I plopped down on my bed, grabbed a pillow, and pulled it close to my chest. “I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t know why my parents flipped out like that,” I said.
    “I just can’t believe the cops made your dad leave,” Jasmine said.
    I shook my head and sighed. “He probably left on his own. I’m sure he’s gonna go get a room somewhere until she calms down. I told you guys my mother is nothing but a drama queen. Y’all don’t see how she flips out sometimes, especially on my dad. I feel sorry for him. Actually, I feel sorry for her, too. Every since we put my sister away, my mother has turned into someone I don’t know.”
    I felt myself tearing up as I thought about Sharon. She was in a place called Memorial Greens, which specializes in autistic children. Sharon was four years older than me, and it had crushed my mother to have to put her in that place ten years ago, but the family just couldn’t handle her anymore. I think my mom blamed herself for Sharon being the way she was. In fact, when we put Sharon in that hospital is when everything just seemed to go downhill for my family. The sad part was, we didn’t even go visit her that much. My mother said it was too depressing, and my father was always too busy.
    Camille got up from the chair and came over to where I was sitting.
    “I had no idea,” Camille said. “I guess I just thought your life was perfect, or at least very close to being perfect. I mean, you guys are