Nobody's Business (BOOK ONE)

Chapter 9

Lots of shouting wakes Sevyn out of her sleep. She quickly sits up and listens as the muffled shouts echo through the house. Her clock is flashing 3:40 am and her eyes feel tight around the corners from waking up before she's ready. She listens closer and she can still hear the harsh shouts coming from downstairs.

She climbs out her bed with irritation and stomps across the floor to the door. Flinging it open she stands in her doorway and listens to the shouts sounding through the house. "This has nothing to do with money Jared and you know it!" Sevyn hears her mother yell.

"Then what are you stressing for Christine? I swear you're always jumping to conclusions!" Jared snaps bak at his wife. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stop lying to me. Where is all this money coming from all of a sudden?" Christine yells back.

"What money!?" Jared roars, his voice nearly shaking the walls. Sevyn flinches from his voice, the harshness of his tone sending fear into her bones. She slowly walks forward to peek at her parents over the railing. Before she can get very far, she steps on a creaky floorboard that emits a loud groan.

"The m----" Christine is suddenly cut off by the creak upstairs. Both adults pause and look at each other, listening closely for any signs that their yelling match woke up their kids. Upstairs, Sevyn shrinks backwards away from the stairs and walks backwards silently towards her bedroom. She doesn't make it very far before she bumps into some behind her. She spins around to face Malcolm.

"You scared me!" She snaps placing a palm over her racing heart.

"Go to bed." Malcolm tells her, stretching his arms in the air and yawning.

Sevyn glances back at the stairs, "You didn't hear all the yelling going on?"

"Yeah but it doesn't concern us. Go to sleep." He tells her.

"But---"

"I know Sevyn I know," Malcolm gives her a hard look, the one he uses when Ty usually takes his stuff without asking him first. "Just go to bed. Do you really think they want us listening to their fight?"

Sevyn thinks it over. Her parents are always fussing at Sevyn and her brothers when they eavesdrop on their conversations and try to settle their disputes. It's one of her mothers biggest pet peeves too. "It's not my fault they were so loud." Sevyn retorts instead of admitting that her brother was right. She looks up at his tired eyes, "What are you doing up anyway."

"I'm going to pee, nosey." He replies, pushing past her and walking into the bathroom. He turns and looks at her again, "Now go back to bed." He says before shutting the door in her face. Sevyn glares at the door for a moment before she hears footsteps on the stairs. Remembering what Malcolm said, Sevyn turns and races down the hallway into her room and shuts the door gently. She climbs into her bed, pulling the sheet around her and snuggling into her pillow.

Her fathers angry voice echoes in her head and worry settles into the pick of her stomach. She's never heard her father shout at her mother like that before. When ever they argue they're usually locked up in their room whispering to eachother. This time her father sounded like his favorite football team just lost the Superbowl. It scared her to think about him raising his voice like that at her mother. It scared her even more when Malcolm acted like it didn't matter at all.

Sevyn has always thought she was so lucky to have such loving parents who have been married for twenty-six years now and stand by eachother's side through thick and thin. Corey's mother run away to live with a drug dealer and started doing drugs, abandoning her husband and eleven year old son. Then there's Monica's parents who are super strict on her. Always wanting her to dress a certain way, only talk in spanish around them, listen to spanish music and date a puerto rican boy. They don't approve of her being a lesbian but there's nothing they can do about it so they just ignore the fact that she'll probably never bring home a cute puerto rican boy and have a big family with him. At least Sevyn's parents would accept her and her brothers no matter what their sexual orienataion is. As long as their making smart decisions and being treated right then they could be dating an ailen from space.

After about twenty minutes of being lost in thought, Sevyn feels her self drifting off to sleep. She tries to fight it, wanting to think about the reason that are causing her parents to scream at eachother like that. But from what she's seen they've been acting just as they always do. Sleep finally captures Sevyn and her thoughs slip away.



The next time Sevyn wakes up it's 11:30 am and the sun is shining in her eyes. She takes fifteenn minutes to check out the gossip on the twitter and like new pictures on Instagram before finally getting up. She brushes her teeth and goes downstairs in search of something to eat. She goes passes through the living room to find that it's empty and so is the kitchen. She opens the fridge for some food, searching for a note on the fridge from one her parents to see if they went anywhere. She doesn't find anything except old baby pictures and appointment reminder.

Sevyn puts some Eggo waffles into the toaster before going back upstairs. She peeks into her parents room to find it empty which is strange because they usually sleep in on Sundays. The next places she searches is Malcolm's bedroom. She bangs on the door and after a moment it finally opens. "Damn, you knocking like you the cops or something."

"Where's mommy and dad?" She asks, pushing her way into his room and sitting down on the bed.

"Sure...come in." Malcolm says sarcastically. "I don't know where they went. They rushed out around 9 and haven't been back since. They only took dads car though."

Sevyn furrows her brows in thought, "Do you think it has anything to do with last night...I mean earlier this morning?" She asks her older brother.

"What are you talking about?" Malcolm asks.

"When they were yelling at the top of their lungs at like 3 something this morning." Sevyn states.

Malcom scrunches his eyebrows together, "I didn't hear any yelling."

"Yes you did! You told me to go back to sleep and get out their business." Sevyn argues, staring at her brother in disbelief.

"No I didn't. Sevyn you're going crazy." He says, walking to his dresser and grabbing a shirt before stripping off his t-shirt and pulling a LRG shirt.

"Malcolm!" Sevyn jumps up from the bed and grabs her brothers shoulder, spinning him around to face her. "This morning mom and dad were screaming at eachother so I got up to check it out and you told me to go back to sleep. How do you not remember this?"

"I don't remember cuz it didn't happen!" He retorts, taking her hands off his shoulders as she stares at him with a hanging jaw.

"Cuz what didn't happen?" Ty asks, walking into the room fully dressed. "Yall havent been doin no freaky stuff in here have you? Cuz that's nasty."

Sevyn races over to him and puts her hands on his shoulders, "Didn't you hear mom and dad yelling last night? I heard it...the whole neighborhood had to have heard it too." She exclaims, worry clear in her voice.

Ty sends Malcolm a confused look and Macolm rolls his eyes, shrugging. Ty looks back down at Sevyn, "I didn't hear anything Sev. Maybe you were dreaming." Sevyn's mouth nearly drops through the floor as she stares at Ty. Malcolm cracks up, "Maybe she's gone crazy. Not enough sleep or something." He says. The boys laugh and Sevyn just stands there, her mind scattered all over the place.

Was she really dreaming when she heard her father screaming? Or is she really just going crazy? Malcolm seems completely unphased like he wasnt the one who told her to stop being nosey last night. Did she really imagine or dream up all of that? And if she did, why? Sevyn tries to think about what she had before going to sleep last night but all she remembers is eating a sandwhich from Subway along with a Sprite. No more fast food before bed.

Sevyn looks at her brothers, both of them fully dressed and ready to start their day. "Where are yall going?" She asks.

"Basketball courts, you wanna come?" Malcolm replies.

Sevyn nods, "Yeah lemme just go wash up real quick and get dressed." She tells them.

"Im giving you twenty minutes before we leave yo ass" Ty warns her, tossing the keys to their moms car up in the air and then catching them.

"Exscuse me for caring about how I look and smell unlike your funky ass." Sevyn remarks, leaving the room before he can retort. Her head is still slightly spinning from Malcolm denying that their conversation happened last night and that their parents weren't arguing. Sevyn goes into the bathroom and shut the door, undressing and stepping into the shower.

Maybe Ty's right...maybe she is going crazy.



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Short chappie...

-Who's ready for all the forthcoming dramaaaa ;)