Individual

Chapter 7

“Andrew!” Kay shouted. She leaped over to wrap her arms around him. “I didn’t know you were coming home.”

Her third brother returned the hug. “Onii-chan, at least. You didn’t get the message?”

Kay liked the fact that Andrew was less strict about honorifics. The rest of her family always wanted her to use the formal version, but Andrew didn’t mind being slightly informal. And although he constantly reminded her to call him that, he honestly didn’t care if Kay addressed him by his English name.

“What message?” Kay asked, flopping backwards on her bed. “Wait—nevermind. Oka-san confiscated my phone a month ago, I think, but I don’t remember exactly.”

“What for?”

Kay shrugged. “To study? I had tests, I guess.”

“You guess you had tests?” Andrew repeated, astounded. “Nakagawa Kazuko…”

“All right, let’s not talk about that. I need to ask you something serious.” She crossed her legs on the bed. “What happened between you and Brooklyn, uh, Sargent?”

Andrew didn’t bat an eyelid as he resumed flipping through his stack of papers. “Who’s that?”

Kay shifted closer to him. “Br-ook-lyn Sar-gent,” she enunciated every syllable.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Dude!”

“Don’t you ‘dude’ me, Kazuko,” Andrew replied sharply.

“All right,” she said regretfully. “But you really don’t remember her? She’s in your year. And she confessed to you!”

Andrew didn’t look the least bit interested. He meticulously stuck a tab onto the page of his book and glanced over at Kay. “I don’t know who that is, Kazuko. Drop it.”

Kay groaned. “All right… I’ll go get answers from Tristan.”

“Good luck.”

Kay scowled and left their room, and quietly entered the neighbouring one. Tristan barely acknowledge her presence, his nose buried in his never ending pile of medicine books.

“Tr—Onii-san,” Kay greeted as sweetly as she could muster. She gagged silently right after.

Her second brother adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, but his eyes were still trained on the wall of text. “Mhm? What has gotten you so polite today?”

Kay internally grimaced, having blown her cover. She decided not to beat about the bush. “Do you know Brooklyn Sargent?”

“Who’s that?”

“A girl. She’s a year older than me; in the same year as Andrew. Which is two years younger than you,” she said eagerly.

“And how would I know her?” asked Tristan.

“She confessed to you but you rejected her,” Kay blurted.

The reply was completely unexpected. Tristan arches an eyebrow, but not lifting his gaze to his sister. “That happens quite a bit, Kazuko. I wouldn’t remember all of the girls who’ve had that experience with me.”

Kay’s mouth fell open. She didn’t know if she was amazed by the fact that that incident happened with more than one girl, or because her brother seemed to have a triple the size of the already big ego she’d thought he had.

Finally, Tristan spun in his swivel chair so that he faced Kay. The tone in his voice switched from calm to an almost condescending one. “You know what you should be doing now? Studying. Not asking me such dumb and useless questions.”

He tapped the side of her head firmly. “Worry about your future instead, Kazuko.”

~

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Kay asked her friend, her voice flat as she dragged her feet on the white tiled floor.

Eden swerved skillfully to avoid bumping into someone. She was reading The Great Gatsby, a book Kay didn’t have trouble picking out at least ten words she didn’t know on each page. Eden glanced up at the ceiling, squinting slightly, like she was trying to gather her thoughts.

“A script writer. Or a novelist.”

Kay nodded her head slowly. “Those are cool jobs.”

“Why do you ask? I thought you hated talking about future related stuff,” asked Eden.

Kay shrugged. “I was just thinking.”

Right as she said that, Kay was forced to stop thinking in that moment. Three girls approached her and Eden, and stopped walking when they were less than a metre away.

Kay was tempted to make a hundred and eighty degree turn and leap out of the school, but stayed rooted to the ground. She wouldn’t have had time to warn Eden. Hell, she didn’t even have time to warn herself about this ambush.

Eden nearly strolled off, oblivious to what was happening, but one of Brooklyn's minions stuck an arm out, and Eden was centimetres from knocking into it when she stopped and clapped her book shut.

Brooklyn's arms were folded across her chest, in what seemed to be a pose she was familiar with. Her eyes narrowed and she trained her gaze on Kay.

“Kay Nakagawa.”

Kay never knew what people wanted to say when they begun their conversation with the other person’s full name, but she kept her mouth zipped shut.

“You think you can run away so easily, can you?” Brooklyn sneered, advancing towards Kay. “You can’t escape now.”

“So, what are you going to do?” challenged Kay, a hint of playfulness in her voice. Her tone had the desired effect on Brooklyn, and the brunette visibly fumed.

Eden spoke up. “You’re pretty immature for someone taking A Levels this year.”

“Shut up, bitch,” was all Brooklyn could come up with, her voice shaking with anger.

Kay’s fist balled at her sides, and Eden hissed at her to control herself. Kay’s jaw clenched and she shut her eyes to prevent herself from launching at Brooklyn and giving her a well deserved punch to the gut.

“Do you have anything to say? If not, excuse us.” Kay took hold of Eden’s forearm and dragged her away from the scene.

Brooklyn ran and grabbed Kay’s arm, yanking her around and slapping her. “Bitch. I’m not done with you yet. Do you know who I am?”

Kay’s insides boiled and she released her grip on Eden. Not heeding the warning cry of Eden, Kay raised her fist and thrust it at Brooklyn's stomach with full force.

As the brunette lay on the ground, angry tears welling in her eyes, Kay towered over her and glared down.

“I know. An entitled brat, that’s who you are.”