Loving Cousin

"No biggie," he replied. He barely glanced at me before looking back at his tablet. "Have a good day at school."

"I'll be back around four." After he nodded, I grabbed my heavy coat and headed out the door, glad that he hadn't made it awkward.

The walk to the bus stop was cold, but the sunlight felt good on my face. I had to jog the last block, because I could see the bus approaching and wished, for the millionth time that I could afford a car. While I waited for the door to open, I dug out my bus pass and showed it to the driver when I entered. The heater blew warm air as I made my way to an empty row. I left my backpack on the aisle seat to prevent some creep sitting next to me. The other regulars nodded at me and I smiled back while I dug out my headphones, put my phone on a random playlist and then organized my backpack for the day. I was looking forward to losing myself in my school routine for a few hours.

When I arrived at home, I was still irritated, but I'd come to the conclu