Sympathy: Little White Lies
an excerpt

“What about JC Penney? You’ve always liked that place, right? Or maybe TJ Maxx?” My mom asked hurriedly, obviously worried about me. Like I cared. She’d figured a shopping spree would do me some good; I had a different opinion however.
“Mom,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. I was obviously trying to get her to leave me alone, but my mom seemed so oblivious to such things. I was honestly sick of her attempts to make everything “better”. My mom didn’t realize it wasn’t working – it was only irritating me.
My mom sighed before frowning sadly at me. “Jennifer – it’s not that I – you’ll need the new clothes…School is starting back up again and you’ll want new clothes.”
“No, I won’t. And I don’t,” I replied dryly, “Mom, I’m going back to school after taking a…break. It’s not like it’s the first day or anything.” I lowered my voice as my mother and I walked down the block the mall was on, me still not looking at my mom. “Besides, clothes can’t replace my brother.”
My mom swallowed the lump in her throat and abruptly turned around and started heading home. Without missing a beat, I turned to follow her. The walk home was completely silent after that and I think my mom realized that I wasn’t going to make this easy for her. I realized that I’d just have to show her how hard this had to be.