Chapter 10
"Jeremy!" Eric and Carter suddenly yelled, causing me to wake up with a jolt. "Happy birthday!"
I groaned and covered my head with my pillow. Who cares if it was my birthday? I just wanted to sleep in.
"Come on, wake up!" Eric said, jumping on my bed. "We got a surprise for you! Well, not really, but we still want you to wake up!"
"Go wake up the other twin," I said. "I want to sleep."
"We tried, but she yelled at us and threw a pillow at us," Carter said.
"Then go threaten to paint her hair or something."
"Ooh, let's go do that, Eric!"
"Yes!"
I sighed when they left my bedroom, mainly because they didn't close the door. That gave Zoey the opportunity to walk in my room and make as much noise as she could, trying to wake me up.
I lifted my head off of my bed to look at the clock by my nightstand. It wasn't even nine o'clock and it was a Saturday. What was up with my siblings wanting to wake me up so early?
"C'mon, Jer-Bear," Zoey said, pulling on my arm. "You hafta get up!"
"Okay, okay, I'm up." I sat up and rubbed my eyes, which didn't last because she pulled me out of the bed, so I had to follow her downstairs.
Dad was in the kitchen, making breakfast for everyone. "Happy birthday, Jeremy," he said as I sat down at the table.
"No."
"No what?"
"It's not a happy birthday, it's a tired one."
Dad rolled his eyes. "Well, then I'm sorry for making your mom have kids that don't know how to sleep in."
"Yeah, it is your fault."
Massey came into the kitchen, dragging her feet on the ground. "Dad, tell your children to stop being annoying," she whined. "I needed my beauty sleep."
"Yeah, you definitely do," I muttered under my breath, which made her slap my upside the head. "What? You do."
"Yeah, good thing to say to your twin sister," she said.
"We're fraternal, not identical," I pointed out.
"Whatever," Massey said before looking at Dad. "Can I go get my learner's permit today?"
"I called and they're all book," Dad said. "Your appointment is on Tuesday. Yours too, Jeremy." I gave him a thumbs-up.
"But I'm sixteen today," Massey said. "I wanted my permit today...."
"Why do you complain about everything?" I asked.
"I don't," Massey said.
"You kind of do," I said.
Massey just scoffed and rolled her eyes. She really did complain about everything.
When Dad was finished making breakfast, everyone came into the kitchen to eat. When I was almost done eating, there was a knock on the door and Massey said it was probably Katie, so she got up to answer the door.
Massey soon led Katie to the kitchen where Katie gave me a hug. "Happy birthday, Jeremy."
"Thanks," I said as I hugged her back.
"I got you a present, too," she said, handing me a small bag. "I remember you telling me that you're out of acrylic paint, which was hard to believe because you have a room just for art."
I looked inside the gift bag, seeing quite a few different colors and shades of acrylic paint. I then smiled at Katie. "Thank you."
Katie smiled back. "You're welcome." She then eyed the food on the table. "Ooh, is there any for me?"
"Of course," Dad said. "I kind of figured you would come over so early so I made sure there is some for you too."
"Sweet," Katie said before grabbing a plate from the cupboard.
I got up from my seat. "You can take my spot. I'm done anyway and I want to go test out my new paint."
"Thanks," Katie said, smiling at me again.
I placed my plate in the sink before heading to the art room. I picked up a blank canvas and set it on the easel, staring at it a bit before deciding what to paint.
It usually didn't take me too long to think of something to paint. Sometimes, I had a very vivid image in my mind and other times, I just went with the flow and see what I came up with.
This time, I had a vivid image that I wanted to paint, so I grabbed a pencil and sketched a rough outline before setting my paintbrushes and a cup of water on the easel. I then grabbed a palette and began painting, not even caring that I wasn't wearing my painting clothes. I rarely did, anyway, unless Dad told me to because he was getting tired of trying to get paint off of my pajamas.
I usually told him to deal with it because it wasn't like I was going to leave the house in my pajamas. Who cares if they had paint on them?
Katie walked into the art room and stood beside me, looking at the work I had so far. "That's amazing."
"It's a blue canvas," I pointed out.
"But I know it will be amazing. You're an amazing artist."
"Thanks. Shouldn't you be with Massey?"
"Aww, are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Maybe. Nah, I just know she'll start whining if you're in here with me and not with her."
"I know. She's just getting changed, then we're going to go to the mall so she can pick out her birthday gift for me to buy because I had no idea what to get her."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really? But she's your best friend."
"I know. But I really suck at gift-giving, so I normally take someone out somewhere and let them pick their gift."
"Don't worry, I suck at giving presents too. I wouldn't even know what Massey wanted for her birthday until she hinted it towards me many, many times."
Massey walked into the art room. "Okay, I'm ready. My dad say he'll drop us off."
"Okay," Katie said. "Bye, Jeremy. Make sure you take a picture of your painting and send it to me when you're done."
"Sure," I said before she left the house with Massey.
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Yay an update. :D I wanted to wait until I finished this term of school before I wrote this chapter. cx
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Teen Fiction*spin-off of The Only One and Together, We Rise* Jeremy Cosgrove isn't like most teenagers. He's a genius, a musical prodigy, and an art prodigy. However, he also has selective mutism. For years, he has been home-schooled since he finds it ha...
