I'm sitting on the couch contemplating

The 30 minutes I have to myself when I get home from school is always my moment of solace in the day. Sitting on the couch in the living room allows me some peace and quiet to think about things. I feel like the past year at school I have kind of been going through the motions. I don't really care about my classes and I have no clue what I am going to do when I graduate in a few months. I feel like I am in a rut. At least right now I have some quiet until mom comes home.

Mom is a professor at the nearby university and I think the perfect way to describe her is a beautiful rose with very very sharp thorns. I think anyone could see she is pretty and at times she can be warm and sweet, but she is also very strict and demanding. If you asked her students to grade her they probably would say that she is that strict no nonsense professor who won't tolerate any BS and holds her students to a high standard, but at the same time if they ever had a major issue like a grandparent passing away her maternal side would show and she would tell them to take as much time as they needed to deal with it. At home, mom is clearly the person in charge. I can tell that dad is a beat down man exhausted by his wife and his life and is just going through the motions without putting up much of a fight anymore.

It really is a shame though. Back when I was younger I really got to see mom's kind and caring side. We loved spending time together and were very close. As time has gone on though I feel like our relationship is more and more strained. Now I mostly see that strict and controlling woman who is only ever yelling at me for doing something wrong.

"MATTHEW! Just what is this?!"

Speaking of the devil...

Turning around I see my mother standing there with one hand on her hip and the other holding up my latest report card clearly upset. "Huh? Uh, that's a report card? What about it?" I got off the couch and went to her to see what was wrong.

"Your grade for Health and Phys. Ed," Mom continued on scolding me now with both hands on her hips, "YOU GOT A D!"

_I got a D? _I wasn't expecting that.

"Huh?" I felt anxious trying to explain my grade. I could feel myself sweating and needed to pull on my shirt collar. "Well... but... those subjects don't even matter for college exams anyway!" I didn't know what else to say. I know I did well in every other course and being a short scrawny guy gym class would never be my forte and who actually cares about my health class.

It is intimidating going up against mom when she is mad. Even there I was looking up at mom who already was almost a foot tall than me without those black high heels she was wearing. It didn't help she really had that angry professor/librarian look with the dark grey skirt and white blouse with the librarian glasses and her blonde hair done up in a French twist that completes the package. She looks part strict professor with almost a hint of dominatrix in there.

"That is NO excuse, Matthew! I expect you to be doing better!"

I couldn't even look mom in the face. I was so frustrated I just stared down at the ground. It felt like nothing I did was ever good enough.

Mom just continued on. "Even if you don't need to do well in health class to get into college it doesn't matter. Do you even know anything about sex? Do you even have interest in women?! I don't want you to end up as some pervert who commits some sex crime later in life because you don't know any better!"

This is fucking ridiculous...

I started getting mad. Enough is enough. Mom can yell at me all she wants because I didn't perfectly clean the room or take out the trash after dinner. Calling me some future pervert all because I got a D in Sex Ed is not fair. I couldn't hold in my anger anymore and I clenched my fists and turned around and went to my bedroom. "THIS IS STUPID! I got A's on everything else, you should not be complaining!"

As I opened my bedroom door I could hear mom behind me. "Hey! We're not don talk-"

I slammed my bedroom door.