Dance With Me (Rich Kids, Book One)

Five: Torrential Downpour

Randy

"Hello?" Devin answered, a laugh laced through his voice.

"I think my brother is here," I replied into the phone. "He wasn't supposed to come home for another week. If he finds me I swear I'm dead."

"What? Why? I thought your brother liked you."

"He used to. Then he found a- um, he found something of mine and threatened to tell Mom and Dad. The...thing isn't really supported in my family. If he told Mom and Dad I think they would've kicked me out."

"Oh. Wow. Well, what's the thing?" He asked.

"I can't say."

"Why not? You know I'll never judge you."

"I just can't, okay?" I snapped.

"Okay. Well, what do you want me to do? Because I can't really help if I don't know what the issue is."

"You don't need to do anything. I'm just scared that I'm not going to have a home within the next few days. I tried to call Knox but he didn't answer. I don't know what to do. Mom and Dad are seriously going to murder me if they find out."

"Did you get rid of whatever it was?"

"No. I have it hidden in the one wing of the house no one ever goes to in the room that we never use. I'm in that room right now. Maybe that way Thomas won't find me. I don't think I'm supposed to be afraid of someone younger than me," I grumbled.

"Why is he with your grandparents again?"

"He was acting out and Mom and Dad couldn't handle him anymore."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that. Well, I hope everything goes okay. Why did he only get there now, though? It's almost midnight," Dev said.

"It's a six hour drive from here to my grandparent's house. They probably left after they ate dinner. And yes, Grandpa and Grandma are here, also. Isn't that lovely?" I grimaced.

"Extremely."

"Ha. Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go try to stuff this thing into a box in here somewhere, I doubt they'll find it if I do that. Bye, thanks for picking up."

"No problem, man. See you tomorrow." And with that, he hung up.

I sighed, sitting up from the corner I was hiding in. Why the hell are my grandparents still awake at midnight? Are they sleeping here? Fuck. I put it in the useless room none of us go in so that I didn't need to throw it out and I could come back in and look at it without my family knowing. I threw the magazine under some old clothes of mine in a box and snuck out of the room.

Then, I made my way down the staircase. Keep going, you've got this. Just say hello and goodnight and go upstairs again.

I stood in the hallway to the kitchen where I could hear my grandma telling Mom a story and Grandpa explaining how he's teaching Thomas how to use power tools. Oh yeah, totally teach the kid that threw all of the living room furniture out the window how to use a table saw. That'll go great. What are the chances anger issues run in the family? Because we got me a punching bag for a reason.

"Hello," I blurted, walking into the kitchen.

"Oh, hello Randall! Oh my goodness, you've gotten so big!" Grandma replied, rushing over to hug me.

"Nice to see you again, Grandma." I hugged her back. "Grandpa, how have you been?"

"Oh, the same. Sleep, wake up, eat, read the newspaper, eat again, watch TV, have supper, repeat. The normal. How are your grades?" Grandpa answered.