Anonymous

Chapter Three

Monday morning came too soon for Zander. Between having been in charge of dinner for the night, homework he had seriously procrastinated on, and his conversation with Noah, he felt like he had barely gotten any sleep. He silenced the screeching of his alarm clock and groggily slid out of bed, pulling on a t-shirt as he walked to the kitchen.

His mother was already up, her graying brown hair up in a messy bun, strands hanging loose in the back and around her face. She blew a wisp of gray away from her cheek as she bent low to get a pan from the cupboard next to the oven. Mrs. Meloni barely looked up when her son walked in, after having five kids she had a kind of sixth sense when it came to her children. Her children referred to it as the eyes in the back of her head while she simply called it intuition. Her husband, on the other hand, said it was just plain scary; she seemed to know when her kids were sick even before they complained of any symptoms.

"Morning, Ma," Zander mumbled, hopping onto the counter. He grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and took a bite while his mom whisked five eggs together in a mixing bowl. She was adding various spices to it when she stopped and looked over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes at her youngest child. Mrs. Meloni grabbed for the newspaper she was reading before starting on breakfast and rolled it up, swatting at Zander's legs with it.

"Get. Off. My. Counter." She threatened, hitting his legs with each word. Zander just laughed, but jumped off anyway; he'd rather not have to face his mother's wrath so early in the morning, especially when his head ached with his lack of rest. Mrs. Meloni set down the newspaper with an exasperated sigh and resumed her cooking as if nothing had happened. Zander moved to the dining table, smiling when he saw the coffee mug that was set out for him, just like every other morning. Gratefully, he took a sip of the black liquid. His mother was never one with much to say, unless you messed with her kitchen. She was old, in her fifties, and the mother of five. Zander was the youngest but his older sister, Mariana, was living with them until she finished her sophomore year of community college. His other siblings, Lenah, Joseph, and Marcus, lived on their own. Both his brothers had wives and children while his oldest sister roomed with a coworker, happily living the single life. Every one of them, with the exception of Joseph (whose hair was lighter even than their mother's toffee colored hair), shared their father's signature black hair. Their skin had a way of soaking up the sun's rays, gracing them each with naturally bronzed skin, all thanks to their southern Italian heritage. Zander followed in the footsteps of his mother who had an average height of 5'7".

As Zander sat at the old dining table, his mind drifted to his conversation with Noah. They knew each other prior to their run-in at The Lounge; they had multiple classes together freshman and sophomore year, but had never really carried out a conversation. After Zander had explained his idea for them to start a band, Noah had slipped into the small sound studio, closing the door behind her. She told him she had the same idea, almost, she just didn't want the publicity of being in a band, so maybe they could just make music together? In the moment, it had sounded like a rejection to Zander, but when she offered him her phone number saying she would think about it, he was surprised. To him, being in a band had always been a fantasy; he never thought it would actually come true, and he never went out of his way to make it happen. Music was his life, and so long as he could play his guitar, he would be happy. However, when he found Noah's CD in The Lounge that day, he was curious and listened to it. Here was a girl who played basketball for fun with a bunch of guys, was on the school's varsity dance team, and managed to keep her grades in the 4.0 GPA range, how could she possibly have time to devote to music as well? But, as he listened to her tracks, his heart had sunk; she was good.

Now, it didn't upset him that she was good, it upset him because, maybe, possibly, he had been quick to judge her. He knew she was a great dancer, more often than not, as he walked by their practices, his eyes had traveled to her specifically. He also knew she enjoyed it; the big smile on her face while she pirouetted a dizzying number of times said it all, but he always kind of thought she was in it for the attention. She hadn't exactly been a person anyone knew before she made it onto the team. And then there was the basketball. Obviously she did that for the attention too, why else would some girl who probably spent weekends shopping dare to spend hot days out in the sun, other than to get a nice tan that is? She was just trying to stand out, be different. No doubt she was a social climber. Listening to her music had changed his preconceptions of her. She sang about how it felt to be alone even when you aren't completely by yourself, how doing one thing can forever change you, but mostly she sang about judgments, not about her, but everything in life from high school to family to dreams and wishes. When Zander listened to her music, he pictured a girl who sits back and watches the world as it passes by, noticing feelings and words that others don't usually give the time of day. That picture in his head was so different from the girl in real life that he couldn't help but feel bad, mostly because a part of him still wanted to write her off as just another materialistic girl. Then he wouldn't have to question himself for so severely jumping to conclusions.

"How late were you up?" his mother scolded, standing in front of him, one hand on her hip while the other expertly balanced the plate that held his breakfast. Zander jerked his head up, instantly aware that he had dozed off at the table. He shot his mom an apologetic look, but she just huffed as she set his plate down and made her way back to the kitchen. His mouth watered at the eggs and sausage on his plate, the smell alone waking him up more than his alarm clock had. His mom returned with two more plates, setting one down next to Zander and taking hers to the opposite end of the table. As if on cue, his sister floated in from the kitchen, a graceful blur of floral prints and black hair. Zander noted that she must have come upstairs while he was dozing off over his coffee.

"Staying up late again, are we?" she teased, knowing she had no place to make this comment; after all, she had spent many nights studying into the morning only to get a full on, silent lecture from their mom by way of glaring. In their house, there was a strict lights out time of 11:30pm, set by their father who worked early shifts and had trouble getting to sleep. Mariana breezed pasted him to her chair. When she sat down she whispered, "Who was the girl you were talking to all night?" Zander glared at her as she smirked at him, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"It's not like that," he hissed, wishing more than anything that his sister would shut up. Their parents were conservative people and if they even caught wind of Mariana's teasing, they would ground him, whether or not the innuendo was true.

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure it sounded like you were trying to hide something from mom and dad..." She nudged his calf with her foot. Zander's heart started beating faster, not out of fear, but of anger. His sister dared mock him in front of their parents, about their parents, like she had something over him. At least he kept her little secret quiet and didn't constantly hold it over her. He glared at her as he finished off the rest of his breakfast and drink before standing up. He leant down towards her, putting his mouth near her ear.

"And I'm pretty sure it sounded like you and your boyfriend had something to tell mom, or did I hear that wrong?" he asked, sweetly. His heart constricted a bit at the flustered expression on her face, but at the same time, he felt more in control. Family came first to him, always, but that didn't mean he was constantly going to put up with Mariana's manipulative ways.

Author's Note:

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long. My family and I are in the middle of putting our house on the market and moving, plus I just recently went to college orientation, so I've been busy. However, I should be posting another chapter up here in a few days (possibly tomorrow, but I'm not promising anything) and then again on Friday. This chapter and the next will be a good introduction to a few key characters and then it will be getting into the good stuff, like the band actually together and writing music and stuff. So that will be fun! I cannot tell you how excited I am to finally get there, I have a lot planned for these characters.

So, what do you think of Mariana? At first when I was planning, I didn't plan on her having such a huge place in this story, but her character just kind of wrote itself. I have a few things up my sleeve for here, but for now, what do you think her big secret is? What is Zanders? His will be revealed pretty soon, and it's not much of a secret other than from his parents.

Anyways, thanks for bearing with me! I hope you enjoyed this! Vote/Comment and I'll see you very soon indeed. :)

Belen