The Drummer Across the Street (Rodrick Heffley Fanfic) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 2

"Dad!" Seán and Kian called simultaneously as I got to the bottom of the stairs, "Come on! We gotta go!"

"Gotta go where?" I asked dad as he came out from his room.

"Some roller blading thing for the 7th graders." Dad informed me, "Oh, and you're coming."

My eyebrows shot up and I scoffed at him. "What? Why the fuck am I going to some stupid 7th grader thing?"

"Because I said so, and that's final." He shot back, grabbing a backpack. I watched as my step-mother yawned and shuffled into her and dad's bedroom with her pyjamas on.

"Why isn't Julie going?" I asked dad. I was sensing some unfair behaviour going on.

"Because I'm tired, Demi," the woman I called my step-mother sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh yeah, from doing shit all." I muttered under my breath as she closed the door. I looked up and saw dad glaring at me. "What? I didn't see her unpack a single fucking box."

"Maybe that's because you were in your room unpacking your own stuff for most of the day. Plus you were over at the neighbour's house for a couple hours." Dad said, challenging me to go on.

"Can you two shut up and can we maybe leave the house sometime this century?" Seán yelled at us, him and Kian waiting for dad and I in the back of dad's car.

I rolled my eyes and walked past dad to his car parked in the garage. I got in the front seat and clicked the seatbelt. When dad hopped in as well, I turned to him and asked, "So when am I getting my first car, dad?"

"When you can afford to buy one," he replied, giving me a tight lipped smile as he started the car. I huffed out a sigh, resting my elbow on the handle of the car door and my chin in my hand.

I stared out the window and watched the lights of the night whizz by as the car sped towards the roller rink. Dad always had a short temper, which is one of the traits I must have gotten from him. When mom was around though, it was noticeably harder to anger him. We were always so happy and life couldn't have been better in anyone's eyes.

Since she left us, somehow his temper had gotten way worse that it was before. I guess he decided to always lash out on me because I was always doing something wrong in his eyes. He blamed me for her leaving, even though she was the closest family member I had.

Sometimes I wonder if he thinks I'm as much of a mistake as he makes me feel.

The car came to a stop in front of the roller rink. "You three get out, I'll find a park and be in soon." Dad ordered us, giving me three of the four tickets as my brothers got out of the car. I rolled my eyes and followed them out of the car and towards the roller rink.

I squinted when I entered due to the bright lights and watched as the crowded place was filled with screaming children and loud adults. I groaned as I followed behind my brothers; this is not how I wanted to spend my first day in a new town.

"Seán. Kian. Come here." I called before they could wander further. They both turned to look at me and before they could turn back, I waved the tickets where they could see them, forcing them to come over to me.

I handed Kian two of the tickets and he snatched them out of my hand. Before I could say anything more, they had already dashed off and gotten their skates. I rolled my eyes and followed, grabbing myself a pair of skates in case I got too bored to think of anything else to do.

I bought a slice of pizza from the canteen and sat down at a bench, crossing my right leg over my left. I eyed the gross looking pizza slice before taking a bite. It was chewy and hard, like it had been left out all day and just been reheated 10 minutes ago. No matter how gross it tasted, food was food and I hadn't eaten since that morning.