Avril Byers has always been different to her twin brother Jonathan. He's into cameras, she's into guitar. He's into The Rolling Stones, she's into The Beatles. He's into Nancy , she's into Steve.
'It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.'
"God, Hawkins is such a shit hole." I complained to Raquel, my best friend, as we sat under a bridge smoking. We both made eye contact and bursted out laughing at each other for no apparent reason.
"What time is it?" She got up and offered me a hand to help me, which I gratefully took. "Later than it needs to be" I smiled lazily at her before stomping on my cigarette to put it out.
We walked through the wet streets with linked arms and sang Beatles songs all the way to Raquel's turn off. "Get home safe" she told me as we hugged saying goodbye. "I will, don't worry. » I smiled leaning back from the hug and continuing on my journey after shouting a quick "sleep well!"
I listed to one of my favorite songs ever 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go' by The Clash on my Walkman which I saved money up from my summer job at the pool to buy. Jonathan introduced me to real music when we were younger and our parents fought a lot. Will, Jonathan and I would blast music to drown out their shouting. If it wasn't for him, Will and I would probably have shit music taste and probably the wrong knowledge about our parents.
I turned down my music after my long walk and tiptoed through our excuse for a house, hoping not to wake anyone up. I finally made it to my messy bedroom and slowly crept into my bed which had way too many blankets on, and slowly fell asleep.
★
"Got them!" I heard my mom, Joyce, tell Jonathan holding up some keys as I walked into the kitchen in my outfit of the day which consisted of a red top, light washed jeans and my black doc martins.
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"Morning" I smiled lazily as I watched Jonathan cook breakfast while my mum went around frantically as always. "Morning sweetie. Where were you last night? Never mind I will see you tonight and we can talk about it then" my mum gave me a kiss on the cheek along with a hug then went over to say something around the same to Jonathan.
I sat down on the kitchen tables matching wooden chair that was definitely old enough to break anytime soon. "Where's Will?" She asked just before leaving, looking expectantly at both of us. "Probably asleep" I shrugged, taking out a clean blue bowl and pouring in cereal. "I didn't get him up yet" Jonathan replied to our mum with a apologetic look on his face.
"Guys, you have to make sure he's up!" She made dramatic hand gestures as she scowled us. "Mom, I'm making breakfast." My twin replied, looking over his shoulder at mom. "Yeah, and I'm eating it." I held up my bowl of cereal to my mom to which she just shook her head at.
She ran down the hallway to get him up, muttering to herself. Jonathan and I quietly burst out in laughed at our moms hysterics. Soon after, she came back through the corridor with a worried look on her face. "He came home last night, right?"
"He's not in his room?" Jonathan replied in unison with me, turning around to look at our mum. "Did he come home last night or not?" She put on her serious face which signaled that it was time for me to quiet down. The last thing I need before school is for my mum to find out I didn't get home til 3 O'Clock in the morning last night.
"I don't know." Jonathan replied while setting his plate down with the bacon he was cooking on them opposite me. "You don't know?" She looked down at me for backup but I just kept my head down and continued eating.
"No. I-I got home late. I was working." Jonathan stammered. If Jonathan was any other kid our age, it would sound like he was making a excuse for doing something wrong like going to a party late at night. But with Jonathan, this is never the case. "You were working?"
"Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash." Another reason why Jonathan isn't like most people our age : he is super responsible. I am as well. It's just the way we were raised. Taking turns in distracting Will and each other from our parents fighting all the time when we were younger, really does shape a person.
"Jonathan, we've talking about this." My mum whined from over my shoulder. I think she feels bad for him. He's sometimes more of a parent to Will than she is. "I know, I know." My twin replied looking away from our mom and scratching his neck. He does this often when he's either embarrassed, anxious, nervous, or worried. It's a big tell.
"You cant take shifts when I'm working!" My mom continued to complain. I hate when she's likes this. She's been like this a lot lately. And it sucks even more cause when she gets stressed, it tends to rub off on me as-well. "Mom, It's not a big deal. Look, he was at the Wheelers all day." Jonathan tried to reassure our stressed mum.
"Yeah, he probably fell asleep playing d and d and is still in that basement right now." I backed him up in trying to calm her, while I was also trying to fit as much cereal on my spoon as possible. "I cant believe both of you" she sighed but soon made her way to our house phone to ring the Wheelers.
Will wasn't at the Wheelers.
★
I walked to school with my Walkman playing one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs 'Wish You Were Here' which helped in drowning out the chaos around me. Karen Wheelers friend group all going on speed walks together, college drop outs smoking drugs underneath a tree in the park, middle schoolers rushing to make it to school on time which reminds me of Will. I thought about going to check the middle school to see if he went there early like my mum said. But I decided against that when I saw the sign for middle school and remembered that middle schoolers go to middle school. I think the only middle schoolers that I don't find annoying are like Will, Dustin, Lucas and Mike. On a good day of course.
Honestly, I don't hate school. I mean that as well. I really don't. I like school because it keeps me occupied. It takes my mind off overthinking. This is why I hate holidays from school. It leaves me alone with just myself and my thoughts. I have friends of course and all, but realistically I spend the majority of my time alone with my thoughts. And my thoughts are the worst to be alone with.
I have a lot of friends in school. Most people say hi to me or smile at me in the hallway which always makes me happy for some reason. I eat lunch with my friends since middle school : Steve, Carol, Tommy and Raquel. I'm closest with Steve because we both have one thing in common than no one else we know could relate to. Shit dads.
