Down For The Count

Fifteen

Paisley's POV

'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you,
You're gonna believe them-

"Turn it off!" I yelled, hiding my head underneath of my pillow. Instead of being aware that it's 8 AM and turning down the stereo in the living room, the volume increased drastically as Taylor Swift's voice boomed throughout the entire house.

Thanks, Lin.

"LIN! COME ON!" I tried yelling over the loud music, but I doubt he could hear me. Taking matters into my own hands, I unhappily got out of bed, walking out of my room.

"Lin, what is-" I stopped abruptly as I walked into the kitchen to see a big breakfast set up.

Great.

"Happy birthday!" Vanessa said excitedly, walking over to me and engulfing me in a hug. I grinned a little, accepting the hug as Lin's voice got louder.

It's so weird that it's already the end of November. The court case is in a little over three weeks. It felt like we had months left.

I groaned, listening to the track repeat itself once it finally ended. "You do realize this isn't the only song you have to play all day."

"Yes it is." Lin yelled from the kitchen, clearly thinking he was doing something by playing "Fifteen" on my fifteenth birthday. I watched as he flipped a pancake right onto the floor. But he looked completely unfazed, throwing it away before going back to the stove to make a new one and singing loudly to the music.

I've always found it strange how people cope with their stress and anxiety.

For example, I shut down completely and get really sad. I'm not sure why I haven't yet, maybe I haven't really come to terms that the court date is right around the corner. It'll be here before I know it.

But everyone deals with stress differently. Violet gets jittery, Winter laughs, and Alex becomes super defensive, snapping at anything in her path. Eric isolates himself, and Vanessa works herself to death, constantly typing away on her laptop until her fingers hurt.

And Lin...Lin gets loud.

Well...Lin is always loud, but he gets really loud when he's nervous, like he's trying to cover up the fact that he's upset. Maybe the nerves are already kicking in.

Or maybe I'm flattering myself and he's just really happy that I could be leaving soon.

"Do you feel older?" Lin asked excitedly, not taking his eyes off of the pancakes he was in the middle of making. I sighed and took my seat at the table.

"No, but I would've felt a lot better if I had gotten an extra two hours of sleep." I mumbled, expecting him to get all defensive. He didn't at all, in fact he started laughing, singing louder as the song repeated. "Can we please turn this off?"

"Absolutely not."

Great.

I waited for the food, listening to the song that Lin had put on repeat. I gave Vanessa a desperate look, hoping she would help me out because I really will get a headache if we listen to this again and again all day.

She shrugged, looking unfazed. "I think it's clever, I like it."

"You're supposed to be on my side." I groaned dramatically, resting my head against the table. I jumped immediately as Lin placed the plate of pancakes right next to my head.