Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Everybody Needs a Little JT in Their Life

After we finished eating, we all went downstairs except for Mom and Dad. We had this big jam session and it was really cool. Ryan and I had this really weird accordion/guitar duet with him on guitar and me on accordion.

But of course they had to leave and the rest of the day and week was really boring.

Andbutso the usually dreaded day of Monday became something I looked forward to. I got up super early to walk Ryan to school. I ran to the woods and ran up to their house and knocked on their front door.

Spencer opened the door with a tooth brush in his mouth. "Wha the fuw oo you wawn?" he said, then saw who he was talking to and took the toothbrush out of his mouth. "Oh, hey, Brendon. Come on in."

"Thank you," I said, walking in. "Where's Ryan?"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he asked. I was about to answer when he said, "It's 6:47 AM. And I don't have time to deal with your shit." He put the toothbrush back in his mouth and started to walk away.

"You swear a lot when you're tired," I said.

"As so I've been told," he flipped me off and walked up the stairs.

I walked over and sat on the couch and watched the muted TV. The lady on the news show had a weird top lip that kept disappearing and was reporting something about a viral video when Ryan walked downstairs. His hair was dripping wet and he was only in a towel. I guessed he had just gotten out of the shower.

"Hey, Patrick! Did we get any more Frosted-" he stopped when he saw me and said quietly, "...flakes."

"Hi, Ryan," I said, standing up and walking over to him.

"Uh, Br-Brendon," he said, holding his towel and trying to cover his bare chest with one arm. "What are you doing here?"

"I came over early so I could walk you to school," I said.

"Well that's really sweet, but I think you came over too early."

"Sorry. I'd go back home but I already told my mom that I was going to talk to someone about a job, so..."

"Wait, you're getting a job?"

"Thinking. I really haven't found anywhere that's hiring, and I don't want to work in a department store." I sat back down on the couch.

He sat next to me and said, "Well, I know a smoothie place next to a burger joint downtown that's hiring."

"Was the burger joint called 'Stromberg's'?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think it was."

"They have the best burgers," I told him enthusiastically. "You've got to try them. We could go there for lunch today."

"Well, can I get dressed first?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure," I said. "I'll wait for you down here."

"Okay," he said, standing up. "See you in a minute." He walked up the stairs.

I watched the muted TV for a while before I stood up and walked around a little. Not long after I stood up, Pete danced in through the back door. He had headphones on and was singing a Justin Timberlake song.

"...I'm bringin' sexy back," he sang. "Them other boys don't know how to a-" he saw me and stopped singing and took his headphones off. "Brendon. What are you doing here?"

"I'm apparently walking in on a Justin Timberlake concert," I said.

"Hey, everybody needs a little JT in their lives," Pete said, walking into the kitchen.

"Amen," I said, following him. "I'm actually here to walk Ryan to school."

"I kind of figured," Pete said, grabbing a waffle iron from a cabinet.

"Ooh, you're making waffles?" I asked.

"Yep," Pete said, grabbing a box of pancake and waffle mix.

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I had waffles for breakfast with the gang and raced Ryan to school, even though I knew he would beat me. When we got there, it was club sign-up day and Ryan walked over to the drama club's stand.

"You're signing up for drama club? Why?" I asked.

"Because I used to be in the club and a friend has convinced me to sign up again," he said. "I was their makeup artist back in the day."

"Really?" I asked. "I'm signing up, too." I leaned down and signed my name below his.

"You don't have to do that," he said.

"I know, but I want to," I said. "I've actually been meaning to sign up for a club recently."

"Okay," he said and we began walking down the hall. We weren't really going anywhere. We still had over half an hour left until classes actually started.

"Hey, Brendon?" he asked. "Can you come by my house after school?"

"Yeah, of course," I said. "Why?"

"Well, every year we do this secret Santa thing with all of the people who have the curse and tonight we do the drawing of the names," he said.

"Then why do I need to come?" I asked. "I mean, I'll still come--"

"Oh, uh, you're part of it, too. Since you're our friend and you know about the curse, you're invited. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I already said I would," I smiled. "What time should I come over?"

"Any time after school, but preferably before 4:30," he said.

"Alright, is there any limit on how much I can spend?"

"Man, you ask a lot of questions," he said. "And no, there isn't. Feel free to just go crazy."

"Alright," I chuckled. "Are we still on for lunch at Stromberg's?"

He smiled and said, "Yeah."

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sorry we're only posting like one a day we're going a lot slower than we thought we would

picture attached  is brendon and ryan