Shuffling inside, Tao took his shoes off by the door after kicking it shut. Stretching a bit, he looked around the entrance hall, trying to see who else was home from what shoes were by the door and other clues.

“Is that you Tao?” a voice called from the kitchen.

“Yeah Mom, it’s me,” he replied, immediately heading towards the kitchen.

Sitting at the table, his mother looked up at him and smiled, her green eyes crinkling at the corners. She got up to wrap him in a hug, “How was school?”

“It was fine, y’know,” Tao replied, shrugging and giving a half-smile when the hug ended, “school.”

“School is school,” his mother agreed, going about the kitchen and pulling out a mug, “and thankfully, you’re almost done with at least the public school aspect. Tea?”

“Thankfully, and yes please,” came the easy reply as Tao made his way to the table where his mother was, sitting down with a sigh.

He listened as the electric kettle was and as his mother shuffled around the kitchen, pulling out tea bags and other things. They were all familiar noises, things that he knew, so Tao let his mind wander for a bit. Not enough to be out of it, but enough for him to feel a little more relaxed.

“School is school”. As vague as those three words were, they explained what it was like to be in school perfectly. Especially if you and the person you were talking to both agreed that they did not particularly enjoy school.

It’s a lot, school is a lot to put it plainly. Most people can tell you that, but there’s a difference between remembering it and actually living it. Time marches on, and with it comes changes to the schooling system and even social life. From what Tao had been told by his mom, school had changed since she had been in it. There was nothing wrong with that, really there wasn’t, and Tao knew that whenever she talked about that stuff or tried to give him advice that she was just doing her best to help him. And he was grateful, truly he was. He was grateful for her and so many other things. But sometimes, it was frustrating to talk about the things bugging him.

There was a generational gap, a technology gap, and even an ethnic gap between them. They both struggled in school, but the differences in the times and circumstances of when they each faced the academic and social hurdles of school made it a bit hard for them to really understand each other. And it , but that was just how it was.

He could still talk to her about some things that frustrated him, about the academic pressures he felt being dumped on him and a small amount of the social struggles he faced. But in the end, neither she nor his father could really get what he meant. His siblings could relate a bit better, but even then, it never got quite to the point where he felt like he could talk to them and not at least partially feel like he was screaming into a void.

None of it was their faults. Again, that was just how it was.
“-Tao,” his mother’s voice jolted him back to reality, blinking as he refocused, apparently having drifted off even though that wasn’t his intention.

“I’m sorry, what was that Mom?” Tao asked, picking up the mug in front of him and giving a quick thanks before he took a sip. Chamomile, a personal favorite of his.

“It wasn’t anything important, I was just wondering if you had any more work to do for school,” his mom said with a smile, but Tao couldn’t miss the slight look of concern in her eyes before it quickly disappeared.

“, I didn’t mean to make her worry,” Tao thought, his face not betraying any of his mental berating as he answered her question, “Nah, not really. With seniors graduating, they don’t really give us too much stuff near the end of the year. It’s all mainly just college stuff and graduation practice.”

“So, boring stuff then?” she asked, her tone joking which made Tao feel more at ease, but he still felt tense.

“Yeah, boring stuff,” he agreed, taking another drink of tea, “What’s for dinner?”

“Hodge-podge, we have plenty of leftovers from the past few nights,” she said,

“Your brother finishes work late tonight so he’s on his own.”

“What about Meri?” Tao asked, his constantly busy older sister being a face he recently was seeing less and less of.

“She’s going out with a friend tonight,” came the reply, Tao’s mom standing up as she grabbed her mug, “I need to call Rose, she left a message asking about something earlier and I haven’t gotten back to her on that yet.”

Giving a n