Who cares? (A Reese Wilkerson FanFiction)

Chapter 6 The Krelboyne Picnic

A week had passed by dreadfully slow. Reese and I had agreed to be friends but I hadn't really talked to him all that much. It was exactly like how it used to be. Malcolm and I would hang out, we would acknowledge Reese's presence, and then we would go back to doing our own thing.

It upset me that Reese wouldn't talk to me. I had been trying to hang out with him and talk to him but he would always shut me down. By Thursday, I was over it and stopped caring.

It was now Saturday, the day of the Krelboyne Picnic and I found myself shockingly nervous. I had done performances before but not in front of parents and other students from my school. Up until now, my only audience had been the kids in my theater class (outside of school), my friends who were in "the band", my parents, and my alternate universal self who appeared when I was in front of a mirror.

I was still excited but as my mother drove closer to the school, my stomach began to slush around.

"Are you excited?" my sister, Shelby, asked me. Like the Wilkersons' older brother, my sister was also in town this weekend to see me perform.

"Yeah, I guess," I stated.

"'Yeah, I guess?' What's wrong with you? Do you have a fever or something?" Shelby overexaggerated, pressing her hand to my forehead roughly. I pushed her arm away.

"Stop, I'm fine! Just nervous."

"When are you ever nervous?"

"All of the time," I confessed.

"Why? You're amazing! I am honestly jealous of you!"

"I don't know. I just don't want to mess up or for everyone to hate it," I sighed. Shelby and I both grew silent in the back of the van, even though everyone else in the car continued to scream and talk in their own conversations.

Shelby sighed. "Not everyone is going to like you," Shelby began, "but those people don't matter. They were made to discourage you and make you feel like you are inadequate to other people. Next time someone makes you feel that way, I want you to take their comment and stomp on it. They mean nothing." Shelby was majoring in psychology. She was okay. Not the best, but okay.

I just nodded my head in response.

The car stopped and I realized that we had arrived. I gulped down all the negativity - or at least tried to - and I let my stomach acid devour it.

"We're here!" my mother cheered. She was very excited but I wasn't sure if it was because I was performing or she felt like she was a Krelboyne-Mom.

My family poured out of the car and was met with the ninety-seven-degree atmosphere. I glanced over to see that the Wilkerson's just arrived and parked on the other side of the parking lot.

My father got my accordion out of the trunk and told me that he would take it to Ms. Miller's classroom. I nodded and began to walk towards Malcolm.

I noticed that my sister soon was following my footsteps. Hmm... This could get interesting.

"Hey, Malcolm," I called out when I got closer.

"Hey," he frowned back.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just don't wanna be here. Francis and I are planning to ditch this place anyways," he explained.

"Okay," I said unbelievingly. He noticed my sarcasm.

"What do you mean, 'okay'? Why don't you believe me?"

"Because I know Francis."

"What does that mean?"