Challenge | Adam Banks

TWENTY-ONE

It wasn't the alarm clock that woke Delanie up the next morning, nor was it the water running as Julie brushed her teeth. It was instead the incessant pounding on their door that woke her up about an hour before she normally got up for classes.

Both girls stirred as a result of the inconsiderate interruption of their sleep. They exchanged exhausted glances before Delanie let out a huff, angrily tossing her blankets aside. She shoved her feet into her old slippers and tugged a hoodie over her head before making her way to the door. She aggressively tugged the door open, prepared to give whoever was on the other side a very frustrated greeting. Her older brother grinned at her the moment she met his gaze. "What the hell do you want?" she grunted, rubbing her eyes.

Jett chuckled gruffly, crossing his arms over his tattered t-shirt. "Good morning to you too, sunshine," he joked, earning himself a very tired glare. "I'm about to call Dad before he goes to work, and you're going to come talk to him with me," he said simply, as though this were a simple, common occurance.

The truth was that Delanie hadn't spoken to her father since he dropped her off at school the very first day. She had called her mother a total of two times, once to tell her that she was settled in, and another to tell her about a paper she wrote that her English teacher decided to send in as Eden Hall's nomination for a local contest. Other than that, she didn't have any contact with either of her parents. And that was just fine. Thus, Delanie closed the door in her older brother's face.

She had just begun to move back towards her bed when his knocking began again. Julie, who was trying her very hardest to go back to sleep, shouted at her friend. "For God's sake, just go!" she groaned, tugging her covers up over her face.

Delanie sighed before turning on her heel and joining her brother in the hallway. "I will speak to him for five total minutes. Then I'm getting ready for school," she demanded.

Jett just grinned, leading her out of the girls' dormitory and into the boys'. Nigel was surprisingly absent when the siblings entered Jett's dorm, something that Delanie noticed, but was much too tired to question. She sat down at the foot of Jett's bed as the older boy stood at the desk across the room, dialing their home number into the old corded phone. Delanie watched her brother's face to see if she could judge when their father picked up, but the sudden "Hey pops!" that came out of Jett's mouth was a much better indicator.

Delanie sat and listened to her brother's side of the conversation, her leg bouncing anxiously. She felt like she was waiting for her turn to enter the principal's office. Jett and their father chatted for a solid fifteen minutes before Jett said that someone else wanted to talk to him. He waved Delanie over and handed her the phone.

She took a deep breath. "Hi Dad," she began quietly, sleep still lacing her voice.

"Finally. I was wondering when I would hear from you," her father's gruff voice echoed in her ears. She cringed a bit at the sudden increase in volume. She wasn't really entirely prepared. "How are you, Delanie?" he asked politely.

Delanie smiled to herself, realizing how drastically her answer to that question had changed over the past few weeks. "I'm pretty good. Things are going much better than I imagined they would be," she answered earnestly. Her mind then wandered to her hockey friends, and her stomach dropped. "Some of my friends are in a bit of a tough spot, though. That's becoming a bit of an obstacle," she added meekily.

She heard her father sigh. "Just take care of yourself," he insisted, "I understand wanting to help your friends, but it isn't worth your unnecessary stress."

Delanie frowned. "Okay, but-"

"No buts. We sent you to Eden Hall to focus on your future, not your friends," her father argued definitively. Delanie let out a sigh as her father began talking again. "I assume you're not making trouble for your brother?"