Chapter Text
On the car ride home Bobby stared out the car window and clenched his fists. Gabi occasionally tried to ask him what happened, how his day had gone, but it elicited no response from Bobby. His chest felt heavy, as if it was hard to breathe. He felt a little bit embarrassed, he felt he had been dramatic, why did he react like that? Why was he always so stressed out? Why was he so upset? He didn’t know, half the time he couldn’t even describe his own emotion or understand why he was feeling a way. He didn’t know what he would say to his mom even if he could, his mouth felt glued shut. They arrived back home and went inside; Elena was still at school and Sam was at the office.
“Robertico, can we go talk in your room?” Gabi asked softly. She put a hand on her son’s shoulder. Bobby slowly pulled away from her and shrugged but walked to his room. He laid back on his bed and grabbed his tennis ball and started throwing it in the air. “So, do you feel like talking yet?” Gabi asked. He shook his head. “Bobby I want to help, but I can’t if you don’t tell me what’s going on,” she said with concern on her face. Bobby frowned, “I don’t need help.” Gabi looked at him, “Mijo, maybe you don’t but I think you’ve been stressed about something. We can talk when you feel like it, just let me know if you need anything, alright.” Bobby nodded. Gabi smiled sadly down at her son and left his room.
Gabi called Sam, “Hey Sam, I’m on my way back to the office.” “Sounds good, what happened with Bobby?” Sam replied over the phone. “Well, I’m not exactly sure, he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. I think something has been stressing him out. Can you keep an eye on him and tell me if he says anything to you?” Gabi asked. “Of course, Gab,” Sam replied. Gabi smiled, feeling relief that she and her kids had Sam as support, “I’ll see you soon.”
Bobby spent the rest of the day in his room, at dinner Elena took food to his room, at bedtime Sam said goodnight to him. The next morning Bobby got ready for school. Yesterday had been stressful but today was a new day, he thought. He went to brush his teeth and found Elena was also in the bathroom.
“Hey Bobby,” Elena said with a large smile on her face. She seemed pretty excited.
“What are you smiling about?” Bobby asked her.
“Well, Sasha, Melissa, Jessica, Emilio and I are coming up with some really great ideas to improve the school. It might not seem like a big deal, but the issue we’re working on right now is: “What do you do if you’ve already finished all your homework?” Do you know how many times I’ve just had to sit at my seat doing nothing because my teachers don’t have any extra work for me to do?!” Elena exclaimed.
Bobby chuckled, “Well not all of us get our homework done early Elena, I think that’s mostly a /you/ problem.”
Elena shook her head, “No Bobby think about it, even if it isn’t super common, there’s still times when people finish their homework early, and then are subjected to boredom! So that means it's still an important issue to make a plan so that doesn’t happen.” She put her hands on her hips.
“Well yeah I guess you’re right there are sometimes when that happens,” Bobby nodded. “But I don’t think that’s the biggest issue students are concerned about,” Bobby said with a doubtful look on his face.
“Well, that’s not the only thing we are working on! I can tell you all about our other-”
Bobby cut her off, “No, no, I’m okay, I really gotta get ready for school so,” he said, trying to get out of the conversation.
Elena clicked her tongue as if saying “Tsk, Tsk,” and shook her head, “I bet you’ll hear all about our plans once everyone realizes how great they are.” She smiled, “But, I’ll leave you to brush your teeth.” Elena finished and left the bathroom.
After eating breakfast Elena and Bobby started putting their backpacks on, when Gabi interrupted them.
“Hey Sam, could you take Elena to school so me and Bobby can talk?” Gabi asked. Bobby looked to his mom in confusion, what did they need to talk about?
“Sure, let’s go Elena,” Sam said, “See you later Bobby.” Bobby nodded his head at Sam as a goodbye. Once Elena and Sam had left, Bobby looked at his mom.
“Ma, what’s going on? I’m gonna be late for school,” Bobby said in confusion.
"I think you need to see a psychiatrist."