God, it was hot. It wasn’t July anymore and it was still a hundred degrees during the day. I laid on my bed with the blankets pushed away from me as far as possible. I pushed my hair out from under my neck, with it spread out above my head. The ceiling fan and the AC were doing their best to keep me cool. I stared at the ceiling. As I watched the rotation of the fan, I wondered if Irene had finished her assignments.

Suddenly, Irene came to mind. I hadn’t heard from her in a few days and I was worried. School was going to start in two days. I already finished my work, did she finish her’s?

Irene was known to pull all nighters and it was bad. Her mother got worried a few years back and ended up taking her the doctor. Despite both her mother’s and doctor’s worries, Irene still continued to push herself to her limits. 

I rolled over to grab my phone. I looked for her number and called.

It took about four rings before she picked up.

“Hello…” Her voice sounded groggy and harsh. Just as I suspected she had pulled an or maybe a few all nighters.

“When did you go to sleep last night?”

There was a pause. “I don’t knoow,” she mumbled through the phone. Oh no.

“Stupid, you must have pulled another all-nighter. Did you just wake up? Have you eaten at all yet? Is your mom home-”

“Heeeyyy,” … whined. “You’re not my mom.”

“Well when things like this happen, I practically am.” I jumped up out of concern, getting ready to head to her house. For as long as I had known Irene, her parents were surprisingly absent from her life. I often ended up taking care of Irene during the summer. Her parents aren't bad people, don’t get me wrong; they were just figureheads to a certain extent. 

I huffed impatiently. “You know just as much as I do that you can’t be doing this. It’s bad for your health. Irene. You can’t keep doing this.”

Irene moaned unhappily through the phone.  

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll be there soon.”

I heard a moan come from the other line. 

We both lived in the neighborhoods closest to the school but opposite ends. My end being the more average side, Irene’s being the more affluent side, with mansions and giant driveways.  But, it wasn’t too bad of a walk. There was sort of break between the areas; it was the park that I had first met Irene in.

As I walked past it, I remembered the times that I had there. Birthday parties, playdates, late night walks. I stopped just to take it all in. The trees were still green, the grass short. The playground smack dab in the middle of the park. From where I was standing, you could see the real divide it served in the neighborhood. The houses on the left were more or less dainty-er than the ones on the right. Mercedes and porsches, stamped driveways and beautiful front lawn landscapes on the right, while mini-vans and older model cars on the left with a green or yellow lawn. I sighed. The normalcy in this picture was no surprise.

I began walking again and reached Irene’s house in 20 minutes. Her house was white two story, with “chocolate” brown accents, as her dad called it. I found the spare key in the flower pots by the door and let myself in. No way would Irene open the door. As I walked inside, it was completely quiet besides my footsteps. Of course, she probably fell asleep. What an idiot.

I walked upstairs to her room. When I opened the door, I found exactly what I expected. It was dark, her laptop being the source of light. Papers all over the floor, her desk, and her bed, along with pencils, highlighters, and various colored pens. 

Irene was in the middle of the mess, which spread from her bed to the left to the legs of her desk on the opposite side of her room. With her back to the mess, she was lying horizontally on the floor. She had fit herself in the small space between the edge of her bed and the beginnings on the mess.

I sighed and mumbled under my breath as I made my way to her. 

“!” I exclaimed as I stepped on a pen hidden under the papers. God that hurt. As I lifted my leg to get a look at my foot, Irene started to move awake. She turned to look at me with sleepy, confused eyes. But in the end, gave me a cute smile. 

“Morning, ,” as I set my foot down, “you should really clean up in here. You are a mess, ."

She stared back at me. Her eyes turned into accusatory crescents. “Watch your language.” As she started to get up, I made my way to her desk chair. 

“Irene! Watch out!”  

Irene jumped and squealed. I laughed so hard. 
“YAAAA,” she yelled as she stomped her foot. That sure woke her up. She looked cute when she was mad.

"Anyway, did you finish your work?"

"Mostly," she grumbled, "I just have to proofread the English paper again and finalize the edits I made last night."

"God you're really tried. Are you ready for Monday though?"

Irene huffed, letting out sigh of defeat, and ran her hand down her face. 

"Hehehe. I'll go make some breakfast." 

When I headed downstairs, I noticed things I didn't notice before. There were bags in every other room and some of the furniture was gone. Were they getting new furniture? They weren't known to make new changes. Especially when it was this close to the school year. As I walked into the kitchen, I decided to let it go. For now.

So what would I make for breakfast? Scratch that- lunch. Never mind I'll just make waffles. Finding things wasn't hard; Irene's house was like my second home. 

Half and hour later I had finished cooking and Irene came downstairs. She had taken a shower, her hair was wet and she looked more awake. 

"Hope you're hungry. I made a lot." I sat down across the table from her. Waffles were her favorite. As she took the first bite, she smiled. 

"They're delicious. Thank you."

"No problem." Should I ask her about the furniture? Some of the pictures were gone too. Do I ask?

"Are your parents renovating the house again? Seems weird, right before school." AHHHH WHY. DID. I. ASK. 

As nosy as I am, I was worried. Making changes wasn't like her parents.

Irene hesitated before she answered me. She scraped a bit at her food and wouldn't look up at me."Um yeah. My dad wanted to change the house a bit."

"Oh. Right before school though?" WENDY STOP BEING AN IDIOT.

"He's not really busy right now."

After that, the mood changed. Irene didn't act like she normally did around me. We moved to the living room after eating to watch a movie. But I couldn't focus. The house felt emptier than normal. Something was wrong. Irene wasn't acting like she normally did. She was quiet, well I mean, more than normal. We didn't talk and ended up just communicating through nods and soft hmm's. 

I couldn't focus during the movie. It was a crappy movie that I knew Irene liked. Irene's eyes were glued to the screen but I could tell she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were glazed over and she was biting her nails. It was her nervous habit. 

With my eyes on the screen, I pretended to be interested in the movie and pushed her hand away from . Irene jumped a little, which in turn startled me bit. I snapped my head to look at her. When we made eye contact, she looked as startled as I did. 

 Both of us snorted a bit by the sudden eye contact. Finally a mood break. 

"Thanks." She turned her head back to the movie. But the mood went back to the cold and lonely one it was before.

I stayed there until the end of the movie but couldn't focus on it. As I walked home, I thought about what I saw at Irene's house.

Whatever was happening bothered me. Irene. Something was wrong. But I didn't want to ask.