The Beat Of His Drums

Chapter 6

Ghaust and I walked through the front door, not expecting to be tackled to the floor. We clatter onto the floor with an unexpected, unidentified third person on top of us, holding us in a tight bear hug. "My two favorite twin cousins! Eh." When we realized who it was, we screamed out and hugged him back harder than he was hugging us. We were so happy to see him after all this time, we didn't even care at this point that we had just almost cracked our heads open. Before I could even pull away, we were wrestling on the floor with each other, just like we did when we were little. I had Oscar in a headlock in my elbows while he had trapped Ghaust in between his legs. He reached up and scruffled my hair, making a rats nest on top of my head. When our parents and aunt heard the ruckus, they ran into the room, only to be laughing at us a moment later. We all stood up, hugging each other one more time. "Glad to see you three still rough house like that when you are together, eh." My aunt gleemed. "Aunt Vivi!" I exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "My you've grown just as much as Oscar has." She stated. "Well we are only a week apart, that kind of justifies it." Ghaust said, pulling me away so he could hug her. "That doesn't mean shit and you know it." She chuckled. "So Vivi and Oscar will be spending the night until their items are delivered to their house, ok you two?" My mom said, taking a sip from her coffee. "Of course, I told Oscar you guys would be perfectly okay with it." She rolled her eyes at me, "well I actually suggested it to Vivi so I don't want to here it." My father wrapped his arm around my mom, "wait a minute, you knew they were coming?" He asked me. "Yeah, Oscar told me this morning." I sounded all too delighted, but I really was. "Also, I want you two to show Oscar around the school tomorrow. It'll be his first day and I don't want him feeling out of place." My mother said. "Oh Jaqi, don't worry he's a grown boy he can handle himself." My aunt chided. "No no, they are family, it wouldn't be right for them to force him to fend for himself." She argued. "Hun, you worry too much." She said back. "You are my little sister, I have to worry about you and your son." My aunt rolled her eyes at her. "So Vivi will be sleeping in Lyric's room on her spare bed. Ghaust, Oscar will be sleeping in your room, are you ok with that?" My Dad said firmly. "Yes Dad, see I told you that futon was a good idea." He grinned victoriously, to which my father just shook his head. "Well, I have homework to do, I'll be in my room!" I said, climbing the stairs. "Wait a minute, we haven't seen each other in years and you ditch me for homework?" Oscar whined. "Well you can help me if you'd like." I sneered. He immidiatly turned to Ghaust, "what are you doing, pal?" He was clearly trying to avoid helping me with homework, to which I just giggled. "You can come with me to hang out with Luke at the arcade. You'll be able to meet him, then you'll only have to worry about meeting Emily, Akatski and Tony tomorrow." He explained. "Sure," Oscar said before turning to me, "aren't I going to meet your friends tomorrow as well Siren?" I laughed, "my friends are Akatski, Luke, Tony and Emily." His head turned to Ghaust, then me, then back to Ghaust, "wait you guys share friends?" He sounded confused. "Yeah we do." Ghaust replied. "Are those all your friends?" He asked. "Well most of the people in our school are assholes so we don't associate with them, but Siren made a recent friend who also seems to have a thing for her." He winked at me. Oscar looked back at me, "you actually gonna accept this one's affection this time or are you going to avoid him like you do to every other guy that comes on to you?" He asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, "we shall see." I said running to my room. I slid my bag off my back, onto the bed. I plopped down next to it, crossing my legs, and pulled my binder out. "Trig homework. Yuck." I muttered to myself. Just as I was about to answer the first question, my phone vibrated. I unlocked the screen and clicked on my messages.

Jack: hey Siren, what's good?

Me: just about to start my trig homework, you?

Jack: standing outside your house, waiting for you to let me in. XD

I hesitated for a moment, staring at my phone. Completely stunned.

Me: what? Are you serious....

Jack: well now, technically no. Ghaust just let me in. Now I'm standing in your living room. It's very nice by the way.

I set my phone down on the bed, swinging my legs over the edge. I slowly openning the door and ran down the steps. There he was. Standing in my living room. Looking at a family photo. Ghaust and I were only ten, I was holding Lyric in my arms with a smile on my face. I fumbled for words, before they finally came out, "Jack?" He turned and waved at me. "How the hell did you know where I lived?" He chuckled, "Emily gave me your address after science. It's weird, I didn't even ask, she just gave me a piece of paper that said 'Siren's address' and right below was the address. At first I was going to decline, thinking you'd feel it was a little stalkerish but then I was like fuck it, why the hell not. And well, here I am!" I rolled my eyes, "and Ghaust just voluntarily let you in?" He nodded, before saying, "yeah. He opened the door and walked out with a boy I've never seen before, asked what I was doing and said you were in your room, and just let me in. Then he left. By the way, who was that guy?" I sighed. I'm so going to kill Ghaust and Emily tomorrow. "That's my cousin Oscar. He just moved here from Quebec. He's going to be in our school now." He laughed "oh, well he seems like a delightful character." I nodded, "yeah, well since you are here, you might as well come up stairs." He followed me to my room, where I closed my door. "Yo, I like your room. Nice band posters." he said moving to the wall my bed was pressed against. That wall was covered in band posters. "And you have alot of drawing and paintings, did you do all these?" He said referring to the rest of my walls, and ceiling. Every inch was covered by my art projects and various drawings and paintings I've done during my free time. "Yeppers. Every one." I replied. He whistled in amazement, the way a man whistles standing on top of a large cliff. "That's incredible!" I giggled "thanks." He plopped onto my bed, "so I have trig homework, and I know you do because we are in the same class-" I cut him off, "and I also just told you." He rolled his eyes, "yeah, yeah, anyway, why don't we work on it together." I sat next to him, pulling my binder onto my lap, "why not."

Before we got to the final question I asked something that was on my mind all day, "so why do you like me?" His face turned a bright red, "I don't, I mean I like you as a friend, you are just-" I cut him off again, "don't pull that crap, I heard you say it in the band room, and after seventh period Emily told me your whole conversation with Trent." His blushing intensified, "sh-she heard th-that?" I nodded. He sighed, looking down at his packet, "well I just think you are a cool person. You are cute, and you are funny, your nice, and I don't really know, I just really like you and I have for a long time." I wanted more answers so I pressed on, "since middle school?" He stuttered, not making eye contact with me, "n-no....y-yeah...since middle school..." I sighed, pulling his head up to force him to look at me, "what happened in middle school." He pulled away, and started piling his things in his bookbag, "I'm sorry, I have to go. Mom's probably wondering where I am." As he got up, I stood in front of him, "no, I want to...no...I need to know." He walked around me, "It's not important!" I grabbed his arm, but he was quick to yank away. "WHY ARE YOU HIDING THIS FROM ME!?" I screamed out, frustrated at the way he was acting. I ran for the door, blocking him from leaving, "tell me!" I shouted, his face was now red. Not from blushing, but from anger, "WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE SO MUCH!? YOU DIDN'T CARE THEN SO WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU CARE NOW! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU EVER FELT THE SAME WAY ABOUT ME ANYWAY! IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER THAT'S YOUR GODDAMN PROBLEM." I stared at him in shock. Then I saw something I didn't expect, his eyes looked glossy, and red. It was as if he was ready to start crying. His voice shook as he spoke, "I'm sorry...I have to go..." he shoved passed me. I just stood there totally shocked, and a little...hurt. I don't know why but it felt like my heart had just snapped. But why did it feel like that? And why won't he tell me? What's so bad that I can't even remember? So many questions raced through my head but I had no answers. The front door slammed shut and I slid to the floor. I leaned against the door frame with my knees held close to my body. I just sat there, staring at nothing, for what may have been hours. Unmoving. Just still. Just staring.