This is Life Now.

"Hey Dad, can I go over to Mackenzie's for a little while to study?"

"Why do you need to be with a friend to study? Study by yourself, Kaitlynn."

"We were going to go over a Shakespeare play, verbally, together," I said, hoping that he'd let me out of this house, just for tonight, for an hour...

"No, end of discussion Kaitlynn," Dad said, looking at the paper, not looking up for a second.

Without another word I walked down the hall to my room.

"What do you think you're doing?" My dad called behind me.

"Going to my room, to study...alone."

"Well I'm afraid that'll have to wait, you have to clean those pans first, I'm not good at that."

"Sure, dad," I said, and I walked to the kitchen. I made a disgusted look when I saw the sink. The pans had crust all inside them and you couldn't clean them with the one thing my dad had bought because I had to stay after school one night to make up a test, crappy hand wash, the one thing she asked him to get, he didn't get the correct thing.

This is how life was now, I worked as a waitress at Ben's Diner for over a year now, before and after school, all day on weekends. Dad never looked for a job, didn't help around the house, didn't even buy groceries, ever. He hadn't started this until after mom died. She died in a car accident, 4 years back. Ever since then, Dad hasn't tried to move on with his life at all, and I was stuck taking care of me and him. I miss my mother terribly, she was the only one that I could talk to and be myself around. Sure, I have friends at school but I can never see them out of school. I've never been to a football game, dance, or even a pep rally.

I'm sixteen, and I have my permit, but my dad's Nissan doesn't work very well, so I'm stuck walking to school, and riding a bus to work, every day of my life. We barely have enough money to get by. The only cash flow we get is from me, and tips do add up, but to get a car that'd take a lot of money.

I needed something to get through to him, I can't live like this anymore.