The Troubles of Growing Up

Chapter 1

It all started with my friend Andrew. My best friend had been so for thirteen years. He was my only friend. The only person who accepted me. He was like a brother to me. He spent most of his time with me when I was making my music. I do it to calm down after my sister starts yelling at me for doing something, or even doing nothing. Which is pretty much all the time. Usually we sat in my room trying to make music together. My brother Preston always helped. "You need to get a better attack on the sound" "Adjust the pitch here, it needs to be a tad bit higher" and sometimes he says things that don't make sense to me. But hey, when he helps it somehow sounds better. It's really not that difficult to figure it out. He went to college for  a degree in music but he dropped out after about a year. Andrew always started asking me questions about school and how my grades were and it was always the same.
"Depends on if you're talking about my social issues or my grades" I always had kind of an aggressive response. He always apologizes even though I'm not angry. I feel really bad every time someone says sorry about trying to interact with me. Nobody talks to me because i'm different. Not different like I have mental issues but different like I have a different sense of humor. Andrew and I met when we were kids and I moved into my new house. He came over while I was outside with our dog Riley. At the time she was a healthy 7 month old German Shepherd. I had always wanted one because of my old neighbor. They had one but they couldn't do anything with him because they were getting too old. They were always happy to have me play with him. I always had fun with him because he was very playful and he seemed to like me. Nowadays Riley only cares about me, if anyone else tries to tell her to do something, even Andrew, she either growls at them or just doesn't listen. Well, almost everyone. Almost. When I go to school, i'm always the quiet kid in the back. I get my work done flawlessly and on time, when I care to do it. I have never missed a day of school in my life. I sit by myself at lunch unless Andrew is with me. I don't really like most of the girls at school. You can classify them all in three groups, the "better than everyone" girls, the "I don't care about anything" girls, and the... well the preppy girls who sit talking about how rich their families are. I hate those girls. You may say that hate is a strong word but if you meet these girls you will see just how disgraceful they are. As I was sitting in lunch one day Andrew came and sat down.
"You know Charlotte?" He asked.
"Which one?" I responded.
"Charlotte Hope. That popular girl with the super bright blonde hair."
"Yeah what about her?"
"My friend is going to the dance with her and i'm going to be with her and her friends all night. You should come, it'll be fun."
Now I hate dancing. I'm terrible at it.
"I would love to" Oh my god why did I say that?
"Alright bro it's gonna be the time of your life. You'll see just you wait."
"Yeah."
He got up and left as I said that. I sat there for the entire lunch period thinking why I would say that. Charlotte is the most popular girl in the school and Andrew is best friends with the seniors football team quarterback. Charlotte is the head cheerleader and she is honestly one of the sweetest girls in the world. Her delicate curves could send shivers down anyone's spine. I'm pretty sure that she would talk to me if she knew me better. But she stays around the other popular girls all times of the day. I am a very awkward and quiet kid for a reason. I never have anything to say to people because I never have anything to talk about. Honestly I spend most of my time at home watching YouTube or making music. There’s not very many people who try to bother me. which is good. For the most part. The next day my uncle showed up with my cousin. She was different. She actually talked to me about important things. Her name was Lesley. She always tried to make me feel better about myself. I never really listened to her but she tried anyway. Usually at gatherings she spent most of her time talking to Paige or Preston. She always asked me how I was doing and if anything was going on in my life she sat down and spent some time with me. Most of the time she could tell if I was lying when I said that I was fine. I always responded the same way whether or not there was something going on. Somehow she could tell the difference. That day she came into my room.
“Hey kiddo!” she said. I didn't hear her because I was working on my music. I was completely unaware of the fact that anyone had come over. She creeped in behind me and started looking over my shoulder. I didn't notice her. She unplugged my headphones just as I hit play on the section I had just finished. It started playing through the computer speakers. I was so happy it wasn't loud. It took me a minute to realize that the headphones were unplugged and I paused the music. I was startled when she set her chin on my shoulder.  I turned to look at her. She put her arms around my shoulders and smiled at me. I smiled back and took my headphones off before plugging them back in.
“Hey kiddo.” she repeated.
“HI Lesley.” I replied.
“Whatcha workin on?”
“A new song.”
“How’s school?” She asked as usual.
“You tell me.” I smiled at her. She looked back with smile.
“I would say socially it's the same as always. And grade wise it's getting worse.” she smiled. “How did I do?”
“Spot on like always.”
She smiled. She knew me better than most of my family. She was always right about everything we talked about. Honestly I actually enjoyed her company. When she was around it was like I was talking to Andrew. Speaking of Andrew he was in the living room talking to my uncle Jak. He was a computer tech manager at the local bank. He was a lot of fun. He liked most of the same things as I did. He liked racing, he liked music, he liked nature and he liked hanging out with me. He bought me my computer, he got me a pickup truck and he also got me exclusive Dale Earnhardt Jr merchandise when he went to the Ford Ecoboost 400 at Homestead Motor Speedway. That was the Nascar sprint cup championship race. The final race of the season. He had it signed after the race and even talked to Jeff Gordon. Andrew sat there talking to him for a good hour and a half before he came in my room interrupting my conversation with Lesley. The door opened. We looked at him and stopped laughing. We were telling jokes. I don't know how but we were.
“Hey. How are you guys doing?” he said.
“Just fine.” Lesley replied with kind of an aggressive tone. That was new. She was always very kind to Andrew. We looked at her with surprise. She kept faking a smile, sitting there.
“Lesley? Are you alright?” I asked.
“Yeah, just great.” She stood up and slowly walked towards me while staring at Andrew. She went behind me and put her arms around me resting her head on my shoulder. I was getting really freaked out at this point. Then she kissed my head. I was done.
“Uncle Jak?!?” I shouted. I felt Lesley’s arms move off of my body and she crossed them in front of her chest. Jak came in.
“What's going on?” he asked.
“Nothing.” Lesley replied.
“She's being weird.” I said.
“How am I being weird??” Lesley boasted.
“You’re being aggressive towards Andrew.” I told her.
“How?” she asked.
“You gave him an aggressive tone when he came in and you started to seem like you were jealous of him in relation to me.” I answered
“What do you mean, jealous in relation to you?” Jak asked. Lesley gave a curious look. She seemed genuinely confused.
I described to Jak what happened. He stood there listening. After I had finished he looked at Lesley.
“Really?. He’s your cousin. Not your new boyfriend.” he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the room. When he got to the living room my mom asked “Jak, what's going on?”
He asked me to come out. I did. I told my family what had happened. My mom didn't seem surprised. Neither did my dad or Preston. Paige was shocked though. She probably was thinking how anyone could want to act like that towards me. Anyways, Jak kept hold of her. “Say goodbye Lesley, it's the last time you’re going to see him.” She looked at me and smiled. Suddenly she punched Jak in the gut. She ran to me and kissed me, hard. I tried to push her away but she held me so tight that I couldn't breathe. She was making out with me. Jak took a minute to get her off me and when he did, she was smiling even brighter. “Later kiddo.” Jak dragged her out of the house. I stood there shocked and petrified. All I could think about was her tongue inside my mouth. Churning mine.  I turned around, walked to the bathroom, and threw up. Andrew was with me. Like always, he was there for me. Until now, that day has never been talked about. Jak still comes over to our house. He watches Nascar with me and Andrew. He comes over every sunday at 11:30am. The Nascar season hadn’t started yet but he still came over anyways. Because there was no Nascar to watch, we played it. Andrew brought his Xbox and we sat there taking turns or one of us would do a full race, and watch the replay together. I was about to do a full Daytona 500 when the doorbell rang. My step dad, Chris, answered the door. A strange man stood there, he looked tough, like he had been in the military for several years.
“Hey there how can I help you?”
My mom walked into the living room. She dropped the bowl of food she was holding and started to cry. She walked over to the door and she looked at the man. She stood there staring at him. He was smiling at her.
”I’m home.” he said as he opened his arms to her. She walked into his arms and held him. I was so confused. I got up and walked over to my step dad who stood there smiling and looking sad. I didn't know what was going on so I stood there. My uncle stood up. He looked astonished. The man came in and looked at me smiling. Paige came in. She stared at him in disbelief. I had no idea what was happening.
“Miss me?” he said arms open smiling. Paige just stood there. Staring at him.
“Well, you obviously aren't happy to see me.” he put his arms down. My mom looked at me and said
“Josh, do you know who this is?”
“Nope.” I replied confidently. She looked at me and smiled.
“This is also Josh. Your father.”