Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 24 - The Hold Down

"There's been a lot of chat about our crazy young wildcard entrants. Ari Gibson, Bodhi Mercer, what's the vibe? Dream come true?" the interviewer holds the microphone up to Ari, who stutters as he looks into the camera.

"Wait, so people are watching this like, right now?" he says slowly.

"Yes, we're live." the interviewer smiles awkwardly, holding the mic up to Ari again.

"Well that was embarrassing." Marlon says, picking up the TV remote to change channels, but you get there before him.

Marlon's been sulking for the last two days after he didn't get the wildcard spot. Bodhi ended up beating Poppy too, which, you can't lie, was a little unexpected, after her sponsor ended up getting her a second chance.

You've been watching the 360 live online, so you saw Ari win the men's finals and take the wildcard spot.

"I wanna watch it, Mars." you say, gripping the remote tightly so he can't steal it. Your mum suddenly enters the room as Marlon leaves, and you take the opportunity. "Y'know, what would be even better would be if I could actually go down and watch?" you say cautiously, knowing your mum is listening.

"Absolutely not." she replies bluntly, not even looking up as she takes a seat on the couch opposite and pulling out a book to read. 

"Please. The real 360 is actually starting today, not just the trials, and I wanna see Bodhi and Ari!"

"Y/n, I said no. That means no." she says bluntly.

You huff and push yourself off the couch,  stomping to the door as you make your way up to your room. You know why your mum is being protective of you - you're still not completely okay from the other day; bruises and scrapes are still littered across your arms and your leg is still in the process of healing. But you know that your mum is being unreasonable.

On the way to your room, your brother stops you on the stairs, talking in a hushed voice as he occasionally glances towards the living room where your mum is still watching the TV. "I was gonna go down to the 360 later on, wanna tag along?"

"Why would you let me come?" you whisper. "What do you want?" Marlon rarely does anything nice for you, and if he does it's because it either benefits himself some way or another, or he wants something in return.

"Because I'm being a generous and caring big brother, Y/n. And don't tell me you don't want to come because I just heard you in there practically begging mum..."

"Yeah, yeah. I want to go. But Bells Beach is pretty far, how are you going to get there without a car?" you ask sceptically.

"There's a bus in five minutes down the road. I'd say let's cycle there but you can't at the moment. Leave that crap music you listen to playing in your room so mum'll think you're in there. She still hasn't figured it out that I always do that."

Your mind flicks back to the night Summer arrived, when you crept past Marlon's room to go to Poppy's place. He was playing music then too, which you didn't think anything of until you saw him later at the party. As you head upstairs, you wonder how many of the times Marlon's been playing music he's actually been in his room.

You flick on the switch to your speaker, put on your playlist and grab a hoodie from your wardrobe. 

The sound is loud enough to be heard slightly from downstairs, and you hope it masks the creaks of the flooring as you sneak out the front door, before quickening your pace to catch up with Marlon at the bottom of the driveway.

"You took your time." he says, and you scowl, wondering how you could have been any quicker, but you keep your mouth shut, remembering your brother is allowed out of the house and you're not.