Beside You - Ashton Irwin

5

As I stepped inside the Clarke household at 4:38 pm, I was instantly brought into a hug by my Aunt Laura. "Andrea! You're here, we've missed you." She said in a soft tone. I didn't even mind if she called me Andrea. "Mum, it's Andy now." I only laughed at Eddie's comment, always sticking up for me in any situation, I would do the same for her any day. "I'm sorry darl. I just missed you so so much!" It had only just dawned on me that Eddie and Laura had lost their American accents. After living in Australia for almost 5 years it must have been normal for them now. "LANDON, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE, ANDY'S HERE," Eddie yelled at the staircase. "Eddie, language."

 Vano sternly said to her. I tried my best not to laugh at Vano being stern. Everyone except Eddie knew it was only a joke since Vano had never said a sincerely strict sentence in his life. "Sorry Tata, I won't swear at Landon anymore." At this moment, I heard heavy footsteps running down the stairs. "Woah, Andy, you look so different." Landon's shaggy brown hair hadn't changed since the last time I had seen him. "Hey Landon, I missed you." He gave me a hug and he whispered in my ear. "I'm almost as tall as Ant!" I nodded my head in his neck since he towered over my 5'6 self. We broke apart and Eddie lead me upstairs to her bedroom that I would be sharing with her. "Oh my gosh Eddie, I haven't seen your room in ages! It looks so different!" 

She nodded and laughed, the last time I had seen her room the walls had been lavender and there were pink cupboards. Now it was white with a pastel blue bedspread, it looked very coastal. A second, temporary mattress had been set up on the floor for me, It had the same sheets as Eddie's bed on it. "Mum said I have to let you sleep on my bed, so here you go." She huffed out. Eddie had never been one for sharing, even when we were younger she wouldn't even let me play with her barbies. "No Eddie, I'll sleep on the mattress, I want you to have your bed, I'll feel bad if I kick you out of your bed." She smiled at me then dive-bombed onto her bed. "Thanks, Andy."

It was around 7 pm when we went downstairs for dinner, Laura had made spaghetti for dinner. Everyone was sitting at the dining table. For any normal family, this would have been considered a nightly routine, everyone sitting down and talking about their day. But I couldn't remember the last time I had had a family meal with the four of us, maybe even the 3 of us. We all grabbed our plates and sat down to eat. "So Andy, as much as I would love for you to have at least 3 days to settle in, tomorrow is a Monday, and we all have work and I don't want to leave you by yourself yet, and It would get very lonely alone since Eddie would be at school all day. 

Would it be ok if you start your classes tomorrow?" I think about this for a few seconds. What would I do anyway, I don't know anyone here? "Yeah Laura, that's fine." I knew schools in Australia all wore school uniforms, unlike America, where we could rock up to school in anything. "Eddie, can I borrow one of your uniforms for school?" She nodded as we put our plates in the sink. "Hey Eddie?" she turned around to look at me. "Uh, I never got to say this at the airport, but thank you for letting me stay here, even though we haven't seen each other in like 4 years." She smiled softly at me. "You're welcome, Andy. Let's go watch some movies before we go to bed. We have lots to catch up on."

Sitting on Eddie's bed, we switched on High School Musical. A classic movie if I do say so myself. I remember when we first watched this together, we decided that this was our movie, and every time we watched it after that, we would sing all of the songs off by heart. Eddie's soprano voice always took Gabriella's parts while I was stuck with Troy's part. I didn't complain though, I was lucky to be spending time with my best friend. "So what is school here like?" I asked Eddie, "It's crazy, I have a really close friendship group that I know will love you. Their names are Luke, Ashton, Calum and Mikey. We've all been friends since year 8 when we blew up the science labs." I looked at her questionably. 

The old Eddie I knew would have never thought of disobeying a teacher or breaking a rule, but yet again, the old Eddie I knew had brown hair like me. Maybe the change in hair colour changed her personality? We might never know. "Do you think we'll be in the same classes?" She nodded, "yeah probably, If not you'll probably have one of my friends in each of your classes, also make sure to have your phone on silent, so we can text during class. If you can, get a seat at the back of the class, since its the middle of the year it might be unlikely but just try." I smile at her and lean over and hug her tightly. "You don't know how much I missed my favourite cousin. I'm so sorry we never talked after I went back to America after that trip here 4 years ago." 

It was around 10 pm and we were near the end of the second High School Musical, Laura knocked on the door, and walked in. "Girls, it's getting late. You both have school tomorrow. Go to bed girlies. Nigh-Night" We waved goodnight to my aunt and then I rolled off Eddie's bed to get onto my mattress. I changed out of my top and into my PJs and snuggled into my bed. "I just realised, this is like a really really long sleepover. This is going to be so cool!" We said goodnight to each other and faded into a deep jetlagged slumber.

"Bună dimineața, fetelor, get up girls it's 7 am." Uncle Vano's voice was the first thing I heard when I woke up. I had spent most of my childhood around him so I had picked up on some Romani, but most times he spoke it, he was directing it to Eddie, who was fluent in it. I could speak a bit of French with my mom since she thought it was a classy language and decided to make me take classes, but that was it. I had never tried to excel in Spanish class back in middle school, much to my Hispanic mother's dismay, I made sure to ditch language when I got to sophomore year. At this point I had just accepted that I was completely and utterly whitewashed from my Hispanic heritage, I had no connection to my mom's culture.

I rolled off the mattress onto Eddie's furry carpet. I got up off the floor and pushed Eddie off her bed. "What the fuck was that for?" She was always cranky in the mornings. She glared at me for a few seconds before getting up and shaking her head while trying to hide a smile. She walked into her cupboard and handed me a clean uniform. "Hey, I forgot to shower last night, can I have a quick one now?" "First door on the left." I walked out of her, our? Room, and into the bathroom. I placed my uniform and my bra and undies on the towel rack and stepped in the shower. I quickly washed off the airport smell and didn't bother about my hair. I stepped out and found a toothbrush in a plastic packet that Laura had left out for me. 

I thanked her silently for this, brushed my teeth, put on the white polo and green and black and navy skirt and tied up my doc martens. I didn't have proper school shoes, so these were gonna have to do. I walked out of the bathroom and downstairs to where Eddie was waiting for me. With both our backpacks in hand, we walked out to her car. "I got my Ps the day I turned 17." She noticed me looking at her car. It was a blue Subaru. A car you don't see anywhere in America. "Are you ready for this?" she asked. I nodded, ready for my first day at this new school.

*Translations*

Bună dimineața, fetelor: Goodmorning, girls