The New Boy

Chapter three

After class, Jake and I walked back to his house. It's a two story house and it's old. He leads me into his house. There are boxes everywhere, I'm guess that's from where they just moved here. He shuts the door.

"Hey!" someone yells from the other room. He walk into the room that the voice came from and there is a boy sitting on the couch. He looks at Jake then at me.

"This is my twelve year old little brother Gavin." he says to me and Gavin sort of stares at me. "This is Jamie." he says and I lightly wave at him. Gavin slowly waves at me and he keeps staring. I look up at Jake and he laughs. Jake lightly takes my hand and leads me into what I'm guessing is his room. He shuts the door and looks at me. "Sorry about him, he's kind of... well let's put it this way. Every girl anyone takes into our house, he falls in love with." he says and sits on the bed.

"It's fine." I say and lean against the wall, smiling a little.

"Sorry my house is kind of shitty and gross," he says and I shake my head.

"Mines way worse." I say and he looks at me. I sigh a little and he doesn't keep talking about it.

"What do we have to do for this project?" he asks, changing the topic. I set my stuff down and open my book bag. I pull out the binder and sit down on the floor.

I start to read off things it says.

"Done." he says.

"What?" I ask and put down the paper, looking at him. He shuffles through papers and pulls out three of them.

"I have it right here." he says and hands it to me. I look through it, I look at the rubric then at the sheet. Everything matches up.

"Well damn, that was fast." I say and smile. "I didn't really read it anyway." I say and he nods. Someone knocks on the door. I'm figuring it's Gavin again.

"Go away Gavin," he says and a girl opens the door. She looks about our age. She shuts the door and looks at Jake.

"I need help," she says and sits next to him, handing him a paper.

"Ask Gavin," he says and hands to back to her.

"He said no," she says and hands it back. He looks at it and sighs.

"I've already been through seventh grade, I don't want to do it again," he says and looks at me. She looks over at me too and smiles. "Jamie this is Gemma, Gavin's twin." he says and I lightly wave.

"How old are you?" she asks and looks at me.

"How old do you think I am?" I ask.

"I think I've seen you in my grade, so I'm guessing twelve or thirteen," she says and Jake laughs a bit but turns it into a fake cough.

"Do I really look twelve?" I ask and look at both of them. Jake shrugs and shakes his head.

"Yeah," Gemma says and I smile. I shake my head and she looks at me confused.

"I'm seventeen." I say and her mouth drops a little but not that much.

"Dang." she says and Jake looks at me. She looks back at Jake and hits his arm. "But help me." she asks and he looks at it.

"Solving two-step equations." he reads and shakes his head.

"The teacher wants me to know it." she says and Jake looks at me.

"Do you know this?" he asks and I shake my head. "Isn't Gavin doing the exact same thing?" he asks and she nods.

"Yeah but he's all mad at me because I didn't buy him anything when I went to the mall after I got paid." she says and he sighs.

"Look it up," he says and she gasps and points at him.

"Oh yeah," she says and stands up. I notice that she is already taller than me but not close to Jake. She walks out and waves at me as she does.

"Do you have any other brothers or sisters?" I ask and he nods.

"I have a five year old brother and he is somewhere around here." he says and I nod.

"You're the oldest huh?" I ask and he smiles, nodding.

"My dads never really around so I'm pretty much like a dad to them. He's always working. We all work with him too, everyone but Anthony." he says and I nod.

"Where do you guys work?" I ask and sit up a little more, leaning against the wall.

"It's an iron working company. I work with my dad which is actually working with the iron and making things. Gavin and Gemma just do whatever he says which is usually with the papers and things. Anthony runs around inside usually." he says and I nod.

"What if I wanted to work there?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"I wouldn't let you." he says and I look at him.

"Why not?" I ask and he looks back. He brushes his hair back with his hand.

"Its really dangerous," he says.

"Well I could work in the office place or something?" I ask and he shakes his head again.

"We don't really have an 'office'. Or office is our house." he says and I nod. I know eventually I'm going to have to get a job somewhere.

"Do you know anywhere that would take me?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"I'm new here." he says and I nod. "Do you really need a job that bad?" he asks and I sigh. I nod.

"I'm running out of money, I barley have food." I say and he keeps looking at me.

"Don't your parents pay for anything?" he asks and I bite my lip a little. I know I can't tell him yet, I will when I trust him a little more. I'm not suppose to be living alone until I'm eighteen, my parents left a few months ago, when I was sixteen.

"Yeah," I say and lie. He narrows his eyes at me, I have a feeling he knows I'm lying but he brushes it off.

"So what about you?" he says and I look at him. Before I can answer his phone rings. He looks at it and sighs, answering it. "Yeah?" he asks and I can hear the voice through the phone.

"I need you down here." the voice says.

"For what?" he asks and leans against the wall that next to his bed.

"I can't lift this shit alone." he says and Jake sighs.

"I'll be there I guess." Jake says and I look at him. He hangs up and looks at me.

"I have to go help my dad, do you want a ride home?" he asks and I nod.

"Sure, I mean if you want." I say and he slowly stands up. I do the same and grab my stuff. He opens the door and I walk behind him down the hallway. He opens the front door for me and I walk out.

"I have to go help dad! Keep an eye on Anthony!" he says and waits for an answer.

"Okay!" Gemma yells and he shuts the door. He leads me out to a light grey truck that is sitting outside of their house. He opens the unlocked door and I get in on the other side. He opens the console and grabs the keys. He starts the car and looks at me.

"Where am I going?" he asks and I give him the directions. He nods and starts to drive. It's a silent car ride and he eventually pulls up at my house. He looks at me and gives me a gentle smile.

"Bye and thanks." I say and open the door.

"Anytime," he says and lightly waves I wave back and jump out, the truck being really high up. I walk inside and dig for my keys in my pocket. I pull them out and unlock the door.