My search for my sister brought me to Prism's room. I rarely went in there despite our rooms being right next to each other. It was true my brother had been a lot less annoying since dad's disappearance than he had been, but as the weeks progressed he was steadily working back up to his old levels of bothersome once more. A sadness did continue to linger about the house, but the constant somberness and seriousness as if someone had died was gone. I usually on went into Prism's room if I was desperate to use a computer or if I was trying to dig up some sort of blackmail to use on him to get him to stop pestering me. Then there was also the fact that I avoided his room because it often smelled how it smelled when I walked in at that particular moment. Prism was big on working out, and the scent of his sweat was not exactly something I preferred.
"Forty." Desire counted the chin-ups Prism was doing.
"I've already passed that!" he said back shakily as he fought slightly to pull himself up another time.
"Well, there have been some that you struggled with, so I didn't count them."
"As long as I get my chin up, they count! It doesn't matter if it takes longer than normal!"
"Whatever," Desire smiled nonchalantly, "You're close enough. Just do a few more, and you'll definitely hit your goal of fifty."
"Some counter you are." Prism mumbled under his breath.
I smiled as I walked inside properly. It was nice to see that there was someone in the house who could tease and banter with Prism without having to fear a rebuttal. Prism would typically mumble as he just had or complain, but he would never try to go after Desire like he did me.
"Hey, Coal. Need something?" Desire wondered as I walked over.
"Yeah. I wanted to ask you a favor."
"And that is?" she wondered.
"Mary's birthday is coming up in a few weeks. I wanted to go out today to get her present, and I was hoping you would come along to give me advice since I don't know what to get her." I explained.
"Ooo, shopping? Count me in. That sounds like a perfect way to spend the last day of summer."
"Don't remind me that school starts tomorrow." I pouted fiercely.
"If you two are going out, pick me up some peanut butter cookies?" Prism, who had switched to doing pull-ups, requested.
"Yes, because that's exactly what you should eat after a workout." I teased.
"Do I look as if I need to worry about gaining weight?" Prism instantly chided back, doing his pull-ups quicker and with extra drama for better emphasis, "I mean, you should worry about yourself before you worry about me. You spend most of your time lazing about watching television or playing video games. If anyone is going to be gaining chub, it's you."
"I'll try to remember your cookies, Pris" Desire broke back into the conversation to stop it from turning into an argument, "I know Blaze is about to head off to the hospital with mom for another one of her check-ups, Coal. Let's hitch a ride into the city with them. The better stores are in that area."
That idea was fine with me. Desire reached for her phone on Prism's desk, and I decided to use the moment to have a bit more fun with my brother. I refused to let him have the last word. I pretty much jumped onto his back after he finished a pull-up. To his credit, he did remarkably well in handling the sudden weight. Prism didn't drop down instantly liked I expected, and he even actually tried to do a pull-up with me gripped to his back like a baby monkey once he realized what I was doing. He wasn't that strong though. His hands slipped off the bar. Deciding he had held up enough for me to me to be a bit nice to him, I helped lower him to the ground instead of letting him drop right onto his backside like he would have done otherwise.
"Coal!" he cried at me.
I was already bolting out of the room with a massive smile and a loud laugh lingering behind me as I ran.
"See if I get you a present for your birthday now!" his warning came.
I ignored it as I merrily rushed down the stairs. I heard Desire chuckling too.
Mine and Desire's first stop was the comic shop. It was the closest place to the hospital parking lot where I could potentially find something for Rosemary. Hunter had gotten her into an old comic book series of his, and it had turned into something of a light obsession for her. There was no point in getting any of the comics as she already had them, but I hoped I could find a figurine or something of one of the characters. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side. Maybe even some bad karma was working on me thanks to my stunt with Prism. There was a really nice figurine of Rosemary's favorite character, but it also came with a really nice price tag. I would have had to save up for years before I could think of buying it. The only other non-comic item from that series was a much cheaper figurine that she already had a model of. I frowned deeply as this had been my lone decent idea for a present. Now I seriously had no idea what to get my friend and cousin. I was more glad than ever that I had thought to ask Desire for help, although her window shopping did keep us in the store for way longer than I wanted.
"I wonder if I should put one of these on hold for Pris' birthday. He's always been a fan of this series." she wondered as she stared at some collectible from another comic.
"Why don't you just buy it now?"
"You know how much of a snoop he is. There's no way I'd be able to hide it for six months in the house without him finding out."
"True."
It took her forever and a year to decide what she wanted to do. Eventually, Desire reasoned she wouldn't bother with worrying about getting the collectible for Prism just yet. It wasn't a special or limited edition or anything, so it would be just was easy to find once their birthday was actually an acceptable length of time away. To apologize for the wasted time, I was treated to a piece of pie from the little cafe attached to the store.
"She likes stuffed animals and things like that. She's a really big fan of Aunt Sunset's movies too." Desire rolled off a few more things from the list she was thinking up of what Rosemary liked.
"I got her a stuffed animal last year and one for Christmas, and Aunt Sunset doesn't have any new movies out on DVD yet," I had to instantly shut them down, "I want to get her something really good this time too. Not just the first thing that comes to my mind that she might like."
"Any particular reason why?" Desire wondered curiously.
"Just...reasons." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Got a crush?" my sister immediately turned super teasing.
"Urgh! No, eww! Would everyone stop saying stuff like that? We're cousins- it's super gross!" I complained loudly.
"Sorry, sorry," Desire apologized with an amused smile, though she was serious too, "I did just mean to only tease. It's my job as your older sister."
"I'd rather you stick to things like buying me food."
"Hey, I can't do nothing but fork over money for you with no benefit in it for me." Desire laughed.
"Fine." I smiled back widely with a small roll of my eyes as well.
I definitely need the burst of energy the sugar from the pie gave me. Desire eventually ran out of suggestions, and I had already been at a total loss. I wasn't satisfied with anything my sister pulled off shelves to show me. Anything that seemed like a likely choice was something Rosemary owned anyway or it was way too expensive even with Desire offering to chip in a few dollars. The best thing we came across was this incredibly elegant music box that you could engrave a name on. I remained hesitant though, so we left that as our last resort if the rest of our efforts brought up nothing else. Part of me was worried our efforts wouldn't last for much longer. I figured my pickiness and hesitancy would would soon make Desire bored with the whole adventure. Thankfully, there was no need for me to worry. Desire wasn't a super girly girl totally obsessed with makeup, boys, and clothes, but shopping was a much loved hobby of hers. She looked at stuff for herself as much as we looked at things for Rosemary. It kept her interest going, and it had us traveling all over the city. The two of us eventually ended up at the city park where we walked slower as we passed by. That Saturday felt like a lifetime ago, and there wasn't one inch of the place that didn't bring up fond memories.
That was when an idea hit me, and it hit me hard.
"I know what I want to get!" I said suddenly, stopping where I was and making Desire have to stop and turn back.
"Yeah? What is it?" Desire asked.
"I'll let you know when I find exactly the one I want. Are there any photography stores or something like that around?"
"Photography stores?" Desire tilted her head at me studiously, "Hmm, I think so. It'll be back the way we came. It's not far down the road at all."
"Great!"
After about two hours of searching and shopping, a mere ten more minutes was what it took for me to have Rosemary's present in hand. Desire was somewhat confused with my purchase as on the surface it didn't live up to the hype of importance I gave it. I didn't bother trying to explain my intentions, because I knew the significance of the present wouldn't make sense unless one knew of Rosemary's current predicament. Whenever the truth came out, my choice would be much more understandable. I just hoped Rosemary herself understood my intent of sentiment. I think she would get what I was going for when I added on the second half of the present I now needed to do now that I had the first half.
Mom and Uncle Blaze were still at the hospital, and they were going to be for a good while longer. Desire suggested we stop at a convenience store to get Prism his cookies before taking a taxi back home. Both of our feet were far too worn to walk the long trek back even if the perfect weather tempted us greatly. So, she and I were walking along down the sidewalk peacefully when the angry cry came that disrupted the content silence passing between us.
"Hey!"
Desire and I both looked towards the noise, but only to see what was going on. We were shocked to find out the call was intended for us. Well, it was intended for my sister.
"What do you think you're doing?" the gray, heavily intoxicated man grumbled as he stumbled over.
"Um, walking?" she responded with a frown and raised brow.
"You're not'lowed todohat here." the man slurred as he messily wagged his finger at her.
"Excuse me?" Desire frowned deeper.
"Get out-" he burped so disgustingly I wondered if he hadn't thrown up in his mouth a bit, "Fiss city."
"Uh, screw you? I have every right to be in the city whenever I want to." my sister fought back more determinedly.
"Nah, you're one 'dose damn Mixed whores. Runninround 'n flaunting your colors 'cuz you fink you're the shit. Country's...ugh, going t'hell 'cuz sluts like you."
My mouth had already dropped open wide, and I was checking my angles for the best positioning of where a kick to the balls would be most painful. This guy in front of us was a real piece of work! I had seen people on the internet or some crazies on television bash Mixed people like they had crawled up from the depths of hell to make everyone's lives miserable, but they had always been small in number. Never had I actually in real life come across some poor awful idiot who stuck to an old way of thinking that should have died out long ago.
"If the country is going to hell, it's because of people like you," Desire snapped back after she held her arm out to prevent me from getting closer to the man, "Drunk out of your mind before three in the afternoon. Some upstanding citizen you are. You must have a pitiful life. I don't see a ring on your finger. No wife, huh? Or, maybe, she left you, although I can't imagine the reason why. Maybe she even left you for a guy of a different color."
By the look of shock on the man's face that instantly shifted to rage, I think it was safe to say Desire had managed to guess accurately on her first try. However, I didn't count it as a good thing given the man's stance. He was far too drunk, and we had no way of knowing how he would react when provoked.
"You must have really hit a low point to think verbally assaulting me will win you back any dignity. You're better off crawling back to whatever bar you came from." Desire finished with a bite.
She hurriedly left it at that, turned on her heel, and grabbed my hand tightly to lead me away at a brisk pace.
"I really want to kick him in the balls." I whispered quietly as I let her pull me forward.
"If anyone is going to be doing that, it's going to be me," she whispered back with a hint of a smile, "But, as much as I'd like to, we need to just walk away. The last thing we need to do is get ourselves involved in some mess."
I nodded and understood that if she was mirroring my own thoughts then it definitely was the right decision to get ourselves out of there when we didn't know what we could be getting ourselves into. The two of us covered a good amount of ground in a short amount of time, but that time was only several seconds. Desire's hand was abruptly yanked away from mine. She was crying out in pain, and my head whipped around to find the man grabbing her ponytail and pulling her back!
I was prepped to go and ready to leap, but I didn't get the chance to so much as move a muscle. With a determined twist, Desire wrenched herself free. I then got to watch mom's powerful hits that she absolutely passed down to my sister with a great front row view. Desire pulled her arm back impossibly far before slamming her fist with an audible, thick thud into the man's cheek. She went for a kick to the balls then, but the guy was already falling over so her foot didn't get far enough to do the damage I hoped for. However, she did get a solid kick right into his gut when his pathetic bum crashed into the pavement.
The guy was too drunk to register the pain. Shock was the only thing getting through his brain, and he sat on the ground frozen solid as he stared up at Desire with wide, frightened eyes. She glowered down at him as she folded her arms. The seconds ticked by, the situation sunk in, and I found myself smiling.
"That was badass." I said quietly to my sister.
She had struck down a grown man twice her size like it was nothing.
"You can thank Blaze for that." she answered softly, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
"I really need to get him to give me some lessons." I mumbled the reminder to myself.
I then began wondering what in the world we were supposed to do next. It didn't feel right to simply walk away and let the guy get away with possibly pestering someone else. Thankfully, it wasn't a solution Desire or I had to come up with. A waiter from the restaurant the man had now obviously come out of was already rushing over with a vengeance. He reached us, forcibly dragged the man to his feet, kept him tightly gripped on the arm, and glared daggers at him before addressing us.
"I'm sorry about this. I kicked him out of the bar after I forced him to call a taxi to take him home because he was harassing the other customers. He had calmed down somewhat, so I thought he would be fine sitting out here by himself. Now I'm thinking it's time to call the police." he explained.
"Wasn't doin' nuthin'." the gray man grumbled, trying and failing miserably at pulling away.
"I saw what you did with my own eyes, and our camera will have captured it as well!" the waiter barked at him, "You've been coming in for a week straight bothering and then threatening everyone, and we're all done with you! You only slipped back in today because the boss is off!"
The gray man said nothing. He merely glanced to the side with an infuriated expression.
"I truly am sorry about this. Do you two have a parent or adult you can call?" the waiter asked us with a much kinder voice.
"Blaze said he and mom wouldn't be done for a while." I said to Desire softly as those were the two my thoughts immediately went to.
"Yeah, getting them would be too complicated. I know who to call though. She told me she'd be in the city today- buying presents for Rosemary." Desire answered with a grin.
Desire pulled out her phone, and not even ten minutes later Aunt Deny was there at the restaurant. She was, naturally, appalled by what happened, and I wondered if she wouldn't have taken a swing at the gray man herself too if the police hadn't already shown up to fine him for public drunkenness, being a public nuisance, and assaulting a minor before they took him to the station. The restaurant gave us some free fries to much on while we waited for Aunt Deny and then while we talked with her and the policeman making the report. With the situation safely under control and on its way to being over, Aunt Deny drove Desire and I home. Prism, outside on the deck playing darts with Wisp, rushed inside expectantly.
"No cookies?" he pouted lightly when he saw we only had the bag with Rosemary's present.
"Sorry, Pris. We were going to get them, but there was a bit of an incident." Desire apologized.
"Yeah?" he wondered, it sinking in that something was off what with Aunt Deny suddenly tagging along.
"These two were walking to the convenience store when some drunk man verbally assaulted and then physically assaulted Desi. For being Mixed." Aunt Deny explained with a huff.
"Asshole," Prism instantly snapped, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm not about to let some drunk idiot's slurred insults make me feel bad about myself when there's no reason to feel bad in the first place, and he only pulled my ponytail. Didn't even pull as hard as those stupid boys back in kindergarten did when they had fun grabbing my hair." Desire shrugged.
"Desi beat the guy up good too!" I explained proudly, "I wanted to kick him where it would really get him, but seeing her take him down was just as cool."
"I expected nothing less." Prism smirked at his twin.
"Well, the guy could barely stand as it was. He wasn't exactly a challenge in the first place. It was still highly satisfying though, I must admit." she chuckled.
The rest of us laughed.
Aunt Deny refused to leave until mom and Uncle Blaze got home. We decided it was best to wait to tell them what happened until they got back so as to not complicated the last of mom's check-up. She had only been able to get the appointment time on a great stroke of luck, and we didn't want to force her out of it prematurely. Both Desire and I were fine anyway. I watched my sister as I anticipated her getting a bit more shaken up now that it was all getting a chance to sink it, but her words that she was fine were the truth. She saw my concern and explained that this was hardly the first time she had dealt with someone bothering her because of her colors. It was the most intense kind of that situation she had faced, fair enough, but Desire had no interest in even that getting to her. The pain of her hair being yanked had disappeared almost instantly, and she refused to get upset as that would give the man a slight kind of power over her that she would never give him.
I was a little unnerved to hear to hear that people having issues with her being Mixed was not a new thing. I hadn't seen any problems at all, but, I suppose, I hadn't been paying close attention. I was curious to hear more about it all, but Desire wanted to have some fun. She and I joined Wisp and Prism on the deck while Aunt Deny decided to make some brownies. The fries from the restaurant had filled me up decently, but I knew that soon the smell of those gorgeous squares of chocolate would have my stomach aching for food before too long regardless. Desire and I talked about random nonsense while we waited. Wisp won the game of darts, we all gorged ourselves on the brownies the instant they were cooled, and I managed to forget for a time that at this point the following day I would be finishing up my first day of a new school year.
I couldn't forget about school after dinner. Mom's doctor gave her a new kind of medicine that was already helping to combat her nausea, so she had extra energy to spare. She was rigid of individually going through our supply lists to make sure we had everything. She scheduled our showers and sent us to our rooms earlier than normal where we were only allowed to leave in order to use the restroom. The idea was that it would force us to go to bed early. I did end up going to bed earlier than normal, but that was because I wasn't lucky enough to have a computer or television in my room like my older siblings did. It was either go to sleep or be bored out of my mind.
I was actually grateful to be well rested, but you definitely didn't hear me singing any praises the next morning. Frowns, pouts, grumbles, and complaints was all that I produced. Aunt Sunflower did nothing but grin widely at me when I got into her car as she was taking Midas and me to school. Midas had to half pull me out of the car when we reached the building. I stood before the blocky, three story building and just glared.
"I don't wanna..." I whined, shrugging my shoulders forward.
"You'll live." Midas teased, gently pushing me towards the doors.
"Well, maybe I'd rather just die." I professed dramatically.
I did, however, open the door and step inside willingly as Midas otherwise would have pushed me right into the door if I kept protesting.
The two of us had been dropped off early, so there wasn't a great amount of other students around yet. All of my friends had been brought to school about the same time though, which was normal for us. The only reason we didn't come together at the same time was that none of our families had a car that could fit us all. There was the bus, but we only took it if our parents were having a lazy day when they didn't feel like driving.
The six of us took seats in the back corner of the cafeteria while we waited for the ominous first bell to ring.
"The way this school system works still confuses me," Rosemary was saying, "In any other place you guys would be in the middle school right now, right?"
"Yup," Azure answered, "But we've got junior high instead. That means an extra year of elementary school, only three years of high school, and both junior high and high school start a year 'later' than everyone else."
"Why is it like that?" Rosemary wondered.
"Not a single clue. I don't mind though. It means we get an extra year of recess." Azure said cheerfully.
A pout spread across Rosemary's face. She sighed deeply.
"I'm glad the system is like this. Even if I'm a grade below the rest of you, at least we're still in the same building. I have one more year to try and catch up." she said.
"Catch up?" Mimosa repeated curiously.
"I want to try and skip a grade. That way I can be in the same grade with you even though I'm a year younger. I hate being by myself. No one's really been mean to me, but I didn't exactly make a lot of friends last year either. I was too quiet." Rosemary explained quietly.
"That's because you were still adjusting back then. You had only just joined the family and moved to Berrybrook," I reminded her, "I'm sure you'll have a much easier time now."
"Me too," Holly joined in eagerly, "But even then, I'm sure you can skip up if you really want to. You've been working incredibly hard over the summer. If you keep that up and show your teacher how you can power through the material with ease, I'm sure that'll be a great start towards the school considering moving you at least."
"I hope so." Rosemary said uncertainly.
The free time we had passed quickly. Before I knew it, the cafeteria was filled with bodies and kids were swarming the halls. An announcement went out that we should all start making our way towards our classrooms. Rosemary's was on the other side of the building, so she took off right away. The rest of us lingered.
"So whose class are we all in? We haven't looked at that yet." I pointed out.
"Mimi and I are both in Mrs. Crisp's class." Holly responded.
"Oh, same for me too!" Azure exclaimed.
"Me as well." Midas nodded.
Those words left his lips, and my chest sunk. The bit of excitement I had had crashed miserably into a tidal wave of disappointment.
"W-What?" I sputtered out in light horror.
"You're in a different class?" Mimosa asked, her disappointment matching mine.
"Yeah. I've got Mr. Trail."
"I've never heard of him before. He must be new." Midas said.
"That sucks big time, Coal. There's always lunch and recess though. We can still hang out then." Azure tried to comfort.
"Right, and I've heard Mrs. Crisp can be kinda strict. You might have lucked out and gotten the cool teacher." Holly added.
"I guess..." I mumbled.
There was little that could be said to make me feel better. I obviously wasn't excited about being back at school in the first place, and now I was by myself while the rest of my friends were in another class together. I had been hopeful for Rosemary skipping a grade for her sake before, but now I hoped it for my sake as well. Not having a friend around was going to drag me down. That's not to say I didn't get along with the rest of my classmates. I couldn't really think of one person I particularly disliked, and I had a lot of fun with most everyone else. It simply wasn't the same as having my close friends with me.
To make matters worse, the seating assignment chart was already taped to the chalkboard when I walked in. Having 'Vivid' as my last name had always had me sitting in the back corner of the room as far away from the teacher as possible. Unfortunately, I would not luck out there either. Mr. Trail was apparently the kind to like to do things differently. He did the seating in reverse alphabetical. That meant I was in the seat directly in front of his desk. Learning that made me nearly turn on my heel and walk out of the door. I had no clue how I was supposed to cope with the new position. Years of being able to get away with doodling, passing notes, and just generally not paying attention had spoiled me. There was no way I was going to get away with any of that now!
My mood sinking, I didn't try to talk with anyone on my own. I sat in my seat and sulked while I pulled out a book to read. Might as well get a head start if I was going to be forced to have to actually pay attention and learn stuff.
I only got through two pages before I was interrupted. Pleasantly interrupted though. There were a few people in the class I did know better than others. One of those others was Cattleya, Azure's cousin. She was the daughter of his Aunt Pistachio and her husband.
"Hey, Coal." she greeted as she bounced over cheerfully.
"Hey, Cat."
"Azzy's not in our class this year?" she questioned.
"Nope. He's in Mrs. Crisp's class along with Midas, Holly, and Mimosa." I revealed with a frown.
"Oh, stuck by yourself, huh?" she noted with a laugh.
"So it would seem."
"Well, I'll be sitting next to you, so at least you won't get saddled with an annoying desk neighbor."
"I'm glad for that then." I smiled back.
"As you should be," Cattleya bantered back proudly before returning my smile, "Have a good summer?"
"There were parts that were good, but..." I trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say and dreading having to bring the sad topic up again and again.
"I heard about your dad," Cattleya instantly caught on, becoming serious and sympathetic, "There still hasn't been any progress finding out what happened?"
"No." I said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry."
Another person appeared next to us in the blink of an eye. It was Cinnabar, or Cinna, another classmate. He had apparently overheard our conversation.
"I heard about your dad on the news," he began by saying, "They said that he's being held hostage by that Spreading Roots Company or whatever. Is that true?"
I had to take the briefest of seconds to recall what he was talking about. Mom and the rest of the adults I knew referred to the organization that caused the big mess as The Company or even T.R.E.E. Spreading Roots was the name of the parent organization that had been the central hub of all their activity.
"No one knows what's going on. We don't know where dad is or if he was taken hostage, and who he was taken by if he was." I clarified.
"This reminds me of a story my sister told me this one time. She said a long while ago in this small city on the west coast a father of three mysteriously went missing. No one knew what happened to him. So many years went by that even his children had passed on. Then the city knocked down an old, brick building. It turns out that the father had gotten involved in some illegal stuff. He angered some people, they killed him, crushed up his bones, and stuffed them in the center of the bricks that were being made to build the building when it was new."
"That's a wonderful story." Cattleya said with dry sarcasm.
"Yes, it was exactly what I needed to hear." I added wryly.
"Oh, eh, sorry." Cinnabar apologized.
"No, it's alright," I laughed, "I actually don't mind at all."
And I really didn't mind. As long as it wasn't taken too far and too insensitively, I preferred trying to make light of the situation than having to always talk about it seriously. It made it easier to shrug off the negative emotions.
The bell rang, and everyone rushed to their seats. A few second passed, and Mr. Trail walked in. He was definitely a new teacher as I had never seen him in the halls before. He confirmed it himself once everyone settled down.
"Welcome. Welcome, everyone. I'm sure I'm familiar to none of you, and that's because this is my first year at this school. My name is Mr. Trail, and I'll be teaching here after having been a teacher for several years at a school in a city called Lodge on the east coast. I hope you don't mind if I try a few new things."
"Like ruining my perfect seating spot." I thought to myself.
"You've got a great system here in Berrybrook, and I'd like to see how well things done here mesh with a bit of how things are done in Lodge. It might be a bit disorientating at first, but I think it'll help to make the learning process more engaging, and perhaps even fun, for all of us." Mr. Trail concluded his opening statement.
He pulled some papers out of a folder on his desk and glanced them over.
"According to what I've been given, there's no new students, so we can move right on ahead. Most of you all probably know each other to some extent, but to help me out let's go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves."
Surprise, surprise- I got to go first.
Names were given and simple tidbits of information were requested. Instead of giving us a general prompt for us all to answer, Mr. Trail asked each individual his or her own specific question. Sometimes it even related to something the student before them said. By the time we got to the back, everyone was involved in the discussion we were having about the benefits and downsides to wearing school uniforms. It was a topic that was rather random, but Mr. Trail ran with it. That was when I saw how skilled he was. The whole class was having a pretty intellectual debate where none of us realized we were being taught how to properly argue an issue because it had been started in such a fun way. It wasn't a chore of gathering and listing points in a boring ramble, but working off our own relationships with each other to move throughout those points like it was a casual conversation.
The hours that passed didn't feel like hours. I realized I liked Mr. Trail so much that I could even overlook his grievance of him putting me in the front. I didn't feel the need to doodle or daydream because I wanted to listen to what he was saying. He didn't stumble or stutter over his words once. He flowed from one topic to the next with ease, and he punctuated it all with a bit of humor. His teaching didn't seem like teaching because it felt more like he was telling one long story that I never wanted to end.
I was genuinely surprised when the bell rang and it was time for lunch and recess. We were already halfway done with the day. That sensation of surprise was constant, because I now thought myself to be the lucky one. Midas, Azure, Holly, and Mimosa were together, but I definitely had the better teacher. Mrs. Crisp was the kind of instructor who rattled off point after point after point expecting everyone to just learn while Mr. Trail made us want to learn. Everyone, but mostly Azure and Holly, laughed at me for going on at first about Mr. Trail like he was a miracle. I even got teased about having a crush. I laughed it all off. They could have their fun at my expense. I could have the cool teacher.
Recess was recess. Midas, Azure, and Mimosa got caught up in a massive game of Red Rover while Holly and I took over the soccer court with a few other classmates. Holly was on one team, and I was the goalie for the other. She had a special agenda to try and pelt the ball at my face as much as possible. It made it incredibly simple to block as I knew where the ball would be going. The game ended on a tie as we were called back inside before we could finish.
I only wish I could say the day kept going with that same positive attitude. My school day ended on a good note, and I planned out with Rosemary to walk to the high school. They got out just a little bit later than we did, and that was just enough time for us to walk over there and reach the building about when they were done. It was when she and I reached the high school that my good mood crashed. Their last bell had only just rung, but Uncle Eden, Hunter, and Malachite were already outside the front doors. Uncle Eden was a little ways away having a go at Malachite. Hunter walked over to us with a exasperated, small smile.
"What did he do?" Rosemary asked with a heaving sigh.
"Damn idiot snuck some vodka in in a water bottle. He got caught in his last period study hall." Hunter explained.
"Isn't that really bad?" I said with worry, "He could get in a lot of trouble for that, couldn't he?"
"Dad fought tooth and nail to prevent the school from bringing the police in to charge him with underage drinking, but's he already got a week of an in-school suspension. He does anything remotely like this again, he'll be getting charged and suspended. If anything's done after that, then all we can do is pray for his soul." Hunter spoke dismally.
"Why can't he just behave?" Rosemary asked with exhausted irritation, "He's already whittled dad down to the point where he'll allow him to drink a little in the house to hopefully appease him from drinking in worse ways. How much more does he want? How does he even keep getting the alcohol?"
"I don't know. He was doing so well for such a long time, but he's steadily been getting worse again. Mal won't talk to me at all about it." Hunter shook his head.
Our conversation was interrupted as Uncle Eden and Malachite's argument grew fiercer to the point where we could hear them without having to strain to listen.
"Oh, just fuck off already, will you!" Malachite's irate snap came, "I'm going to do what I want no matter what you say! Sick of covering up for me? Then stop bothering! I don't care if I get in trouble! Soon I'll be eighteen and can do what I want then! I don't need you nagging and preaching at me because it won't be long before you have any right to tell me what to do anymore!"
"You're going to be listening to me nag and preach for as long as I feel it might help you. Eighteen and an adult or not! That does not do away the fact that you're my son, and that it's my duty to try whatever I can from stopping you from ruining your life!" Uncle Eden countered back, not nearly as angry as I would be if I was in his place.
"There's that bullshit again! God, how many times do I have to tell your stupid face this? I've said it plainly so many times you might as well engrave it on my tombstone! The only reason I let you adopt me is because you were the one person deluded enough to go along with the idea! All the other foster families got the picture real quick, but you were too naive to follow their example! I don't care if I have a family or not! You're not my dad, and I don't want you to be! I already have one of my own! I just wanted access to your house and your money for as long as I could get an excuse to use them, and you can't get mad at me if you ignore that I made that clear from the very start!"
Uncle Eden fought back. He ignored so much of what Malachite said. He focused mostly on Malachite bringing alcohol to school and how he needed to remedy his behavior before it was too late.
"Has he been like this before?" I asked with concern to Hunter and Rosemary.
"Often enough to the point where this isn't unexpected." Rosemary admitted, glancing to the ground.
"Mal with straighten out, especially once grandpa hears of this. He listens to him better than dad for whatever reason. God, at this rate those two are going to be at this all night though. I'm really not in the mood to listen to it." Hunter complained.
I watched as he whipped out his phone and called someone.
"Hey, mom?" he started when she picked up, "Yeah, I'm already out for the day. Hey, I'm gonna bunk in my room at your place tonight. Mal has-"
Hunter paused as Auntie Rose said something, which apparently made Hunter chuckle.
"Oh, you already know what he's done," he said before whispering to us to give us the explanation, "Deny's over at mom's filling her in on what's happening."
Hunter walked away to continue the call with more privacy. Not that he needed to. He was asking his mom what she would be willing to make him for dinner. I was stunned at how casually he was speaking given the intense words Uncle Eden and Malachite were still exchanging, but I suppose he was more used to this stuff than I was. This was the first time I was seeing this specific problem part of our family faced.
"Maybe you should come over to my house instead of us going over to yours to work on homework." I suggested to Rosemary.
"That'd be best," she agreed, "I want to beat Mal over the head with my textbook right now. I just don't understand how he doesn't care about how great he's got it! Mom and dad love him so much even though he'll treat them like this. It's worse because he knows what we have to deal with now because of my stupid birth parents. He knows how much I would love to be in the steady kind of position he's in! He's making the case worse for us to by doing these idiotic stunts too!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm sure my birth dad's lawyer is going to use every aspect he can to make me living with mom and dad seem like it's not the best place for me. They'll play up the delinquent older brother who's a bad influence on me card big time if something doesn't change soon! Not to mention it'll make dad look unfit as a father since he's not able to control Mal and his increasingly bad behavior."
"Does Mal know that?"
"We've hinted it several times hoping that would get the message across, but I'm going to have to lecture him myself once dad's done with him. Let's see him just try and berate me like he's a spoiled toddler!" Rosemary huffed.
"He won't be able to stand his adorable little sister going off at him, I'm sure," I said as encouragingly as I could given how unnerved I was by the argument, "Trust me. I've seen Desi work her magic on Wisp and Pris so many times I can't count them all. You'll set him straight, and I'll help you whack him with your textbook too if that doesn't do the trick."
"Thanks. Something needs to get through that thick skull of his."
"We will." I comforted once more.
Rosemary turned her head. Malachite had thrown his hands up and began walking away. Uncle Eden instantly followed.
"I hope so..." she mumbled.
"Yes, because that's exactly what you should eat after a workout." I teased.
"Do I look as if I need to worry about gaining weight?" Prism instantly chided back, doing his pull-ups quicker and with extra drama for better emphasis, "I mean, you should worry about yourself before you worry about me. You spend most of your time lazing about watching television or playing video games. If anyone is going to be gaining chub, it's you."
"I'll try to remember your cookies, Pris" Desire broke back into the conversation to stop it from turning into an argument, "I know Blaze is about to head off to the hospital with mom for another one of her check-ups, Coal. Let's hitch a ride into the city with them. The better stores are in that area."
That idea was fine with me. Desire reached for her phone on Prism's desk, and I decided to use the moment to have a bit more fun with my brother. I refused to let him have the last word. I pretty much jumped onto his back after he finished a pull-up. To his credit, he did remarkably well in handling the sudden weight. Prism didn't drop down instantly liked I expected, and he even actually tried to do a pull-up with me gripped to his back like a baby monkey once he realized what I was doing. He wasn't that strong though. His hands slipped off the bar. Deciding he had held up enough for me to me to be a bit nice to him, I helped lower him to the ground instead of letting him drop right onto his backside like he would have done otherwise.
"Coal!" he cried at me.
I was already bolting out of the room with a massive smile and a loud laugh lingering behind me as I ran.
"See if I get you a present for your birthday now!" his warning came.
I ignored it as I merrily rushed down the stairs. I heard Desire chuckling too.
Mine and Desire's first stop was the comic shop. It was the closest place to the hospital parking lot where I could potentially find something for Rosemary. Hunter had gotten her into an old comic book series of his, and it had turned into something of a light obsession for her. There was no point in getting any of the comics as she already had them, but I hoped I could find a figurine or something of one of the characters. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side. Maybe even some bad karma was working on me thanks to my stunt with Prism. There was a really nice figurine of Rosemary's favorite character, but it also came with a really nice price tag. I would have had to save up for years before I could think of buying it. The only other non-comic item from that series was a much cheaper figurine that she already had a model of. I frowned deeply as this had been my lone decent idea for a present. Now I seriously had no idea what to get my friend and cousin. I was more glad than ever that I had thought to ask Desire for help, although her window shopping did keep us in the store for way longer than I wanted.
"I wonder if I should put one of these on hold for Pris' birthday. He's always been a fan of this series." she wondered as she stared at some collectible from another comic.
"Why don't you just buy it now?"
"You know how much of a snoop he is. There's no way I'd be able to hide it for six months in the house without him finding out."
"True."
It took her forever and a year to decide what she wanted to do. Eventually, Desire reasoned she wouldn't bother with worrying about getting the collectible for Prism just yet. It wasn't a special or limited edition or anything, so it would be just was easy to find once their birthday was actually an acceptable length of time away. To apologize for the wasted time, I was treated to a piece of pie from the little cafe attached to the store.
"She likes stuffed animals and things like that. She's a really big fan of Aunt Sunset's movies too." Desire rolled off a few more things from the list she was thinking up of what Rosemary liked.
"I got her a stuffed animal last year and one for Christmas, and Aunt Sunset doesn't have any new movies out on DVD yet," I had to instantly shut them down, "I want to get her something really good this time too. Not just the first thing that comes to my mind that she might like."
"Any particular reason why?" Desire wondered curiously.
"Just...reasons." I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Got a crush?" my sister immediately turned super teasing.
"Urgh! No, eww! Would everyone stop saying stuff like that? We're cousins- it's super gross!" I complained loudly.
"Sorry, sorry," Desire apologized with an amused smile, though she was serious too, "I did just mean to only tease. It's my job as your older sister."
"I'd rather you stick to things like buying me food."
"Hey, I can't do nothing but fork over money for you with no benefit in it for me." Desire laughed.
"Fine." I smiled back widely with a small roll of my eyes as well.
I definitely need the burst of energy the sugar from the pie gave me. Desire eventually ran out of suggestions, and I had already been at a total loss. I wasn't satisfied with anything my sister pulled off shelves to show me. Anything that seemed like a likely choice was something Rosemary owned anyway or it was way too expensive even with Desire offering to chip in a few dollars. The best thing we came across was this incredibly elegant music box that you could engrave a name on. I remained hesitant though, so we left that as our last resort if the rest of our efforts brought up nothing else. Part of me was worried our efforts wouldn't last for much longer. I figured my pickiness and hesitancy would would soon make Desire bored with the whole adventure. Thankfully, there was no need for me to worry. Desire wasn't a super girly girl totally obsessed with makeup, boys, and clothes, but shopping was a much loved hobby of hers. She looked at stuff for herself as much as we looked at things for Rosemary. It kept her interest going, and it had us traveling all over the city. The two of us eventually ended up at the city park where we walked slower as we passed by. That Saturday felt like a lifetime ago, and there wasn't one inch of the place that didn't bring up fond memories.
That was when an idea hit me, and it hit me hard.
"I know what I want to get!" I said suddenly, stopping where I was and making Desire have to stop and turn back.
"Yeah? What is it?" Desire asked.
"I'll let you know when I find exactly the one I want. Are there any photography stores or something like that around?"
"Photography stores?" Desire tilted her head at me studiously, "Hmm, I think so. It'll be back the way we came. It's not far down the road at all."
"Great!"
After about two hours of searching and shopping, a mere ten more minutes was what it took for me to have Rosemary's present in hand. Desire was somewhat confused with my purchase as on the surface it didn't live up to the hype of importance I gave it. I didn't bother trying to explain my intentions, because I knew the significance of the present wouldn't make sense unless one knew of Rosemary's current predicament. Whenever the truth came out, my choice would be much more understandable. I just hoped Rosemary herself understood my intent of sentiment. I think she would get what I was going for when I added on the second half of the present I now needed to do now that I had the first half.
Mom and Uncle Blaze were still at the hospital, and they were going to be for a good while longer. Desire suggested we stop at a convenience store to get Prism his cookies before taking a taxi back home. Both of our feet were far too worn to walk the long trek back even if the perfect weather tempted us greatly. So, she and I were walking along down the sidewalk peacefully when the angry cry came that disrupted the content silence passing between us.
"Hey!"
Desire and I both looked towards the noise, but only to see what was going on. We were shocked to find out the call was intended for us. Well, it was intended for my sister.
"What do you think you're doing?" the gray, heavily intoxicated man grumbled as he stumbled over.
"Um, walking?" she responded with a frown and raised brow.
"You're not'lowed todohat here." the man slurred as he messily wagged his finger at her.
"Excuse me?" Desire frowned deeper.
"Get out-" he burped so disgustingly I wondered if he hadn't thrown up in his mouth a bit, "Fiss city."
"Uh, screw you? I have every right to be in the city whenever I want to." my sister fought back more determinedly.
"Nah, you're one 'dose damn Mixed whores. Runninround 'n flaunting your colors 'cuz you fink you're the shit. Country's...ugh, going t'hell 'cuz sluts like you."
My mouth had already dropped open wide, and I was checking my angles for the best positioning of where a kick to the balls would be most painful. This guy in front of us was a real piece of work! I had seen people on the internet or some crazies on television bash Mixed people like they had crawled up from the depths of hell to make everyone's lives miserable, but they had always been small in number. Never had I actually in real life come across some poor awful idiot who stuck to an old way of thinking that should have died out long ago.
"If the country is going to hell, it's because of people like you," Desire snapped back after she held her arm out to prevent me from getting closer to the man, "Drunk out of your mind before three in the afternoon. Some upstanding citizen you are. You must have a pitiful life. I don't see a ring on your finger. No wife, huh? Or, maybe, she left you, although I can't imagine the reason why. Maybe she even left you for a guy of a different color."
By the look of shock on the man's face that instantly shifted to rage, I think it was safe to say Desire had managed to guess accurately on her first try. However, I didn't count it as a good thing given the man's stance. He was far too drunk, and we had no way of knowing how he would react when provoked.
"You must have really hit a low point to think verbally assaulting me will win you back any dignity. You're better off crawling back to whatever bar you came from." Desire finished with a bite.
She hurriedly left it at that, turned on her heel, and grabbed my hand tightly to lead me away at a brisk pace.
"I really want to kick him in the balls." I whispered quietly as I let her pull me forward.
"If anyone is going to be doing that, it's going to be me," she whispered back with a hint of a smile, "But, as much as I'd like to, we need to just walk away. The last thing we need to do is get ourselves involved in some mess."
I nodded and understood that if she was mirroring my own thoughts then it definitely was the right decision to get ourselves out of there when we didn't know what we could be getting ourselves into. The two of us covered a good amount of ground in a short amount of time, but that time was only several seconds. Desire's hand was abruptly yanked away from mine. She was crying out in pain, and my head whipped around to find the man grabbing her ponytail and pulling her back!
I was prepped to go and ready to leap, but I didn't get the chance to so much as move a muscle. With a determined twist, Desire wrenched herself free. I then got to watch mom's powerful hits that she absolutely passed down to my sister with a great front row view. Desire pulled her arm back impossibly far before slamming her fist with an audible, thick thud into the man's cheek. She went for a kick to the balls then, but the guy was already falling over so her foot didn't get far enough to do the damage I hoped for. However, she did get a solid kick right into his gut when his pathetic bum crashed into the pavement.
The guy was too drunk to register the pain. Shock was the only thing getting through his brain, and he sat on the ground frozen solid as he stared up at Desire with wide, frightened eyes. She glowered down at him as she folded her arms. The seconds ticked by, the situation sunk in, and I found myself smiling.
"That was badass." I said quietly to my sister.
She had struck down a grown man twice her size like it was nothing.
"You can thank Blaze for that." she answered softly, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
"I really need to get him to give me some lessons." I mumbled the reminder to myself.
I then began wondering what in the world we were supposed to do next. It didn't feel right to simply walk away and let the guy get away with possibly pestering someone else. Thankfully, it wasn't a solution Desire or I had to come up with. A waiter from the restaurant the man had now obviously come out of was already rushing over with a vengeance. He reached us, forcibly dragged the man to his feet, kept him tightly gripped on the arm, and glared daggers at him before addressing us.
"I'm sorry about this. I kicked him out of the bar after I forced him to call a taxi to take him home because he was harassing the other customers. He had calmed down somewhat, so I thought he would be fine sitting out here by himself. Now I'm thinking it's time to call the police." he explained.
"Wasn't doin' nuthin'." the gray man grumbled, trying and failing miserably at pulling away.
"I saw what you did with my own eyes, and our camera will have captured it as well!" the waiter barked at him, "You've been coming in for a week straight bothering and then threatening everyone, and we're all done with you! You only slipped back in today because the boss is off!"
The gray man said nothing. He merely glanced to the side with an infuriated expression.
"I truly am sorry about this. Do you two have a parent or adult you can call?" the waiter asked us with a much kinder voice.
"Blaze said he and mom wouldn't be done for a while." I said to Desire softly as those were the two my thoughts immediately went to.
"Yeah, getting them would be too complicated. I know who to call though. She told me she'd be in the city today- buying presents for Rosemary." Desire answered with a grin.
Desire pulled out her phone, and not even ten minutes later Aunt Deny was there at the restaurant. She was, naturally, appalled by what happened, and I wondered if she wouldn't have taken a swing at the gray man herself too if the police hadn't already shown up to fine him for public drunkenness, being a public nuisance, and assaulting a minor before they took him to the station. The restaurant gave us some free fries to much on while we waited for Aunt Deny and then while we talked with her and the policeman making the report. With the situation safely under control and on its way to being over, Aunt Deny drove Desire and I home. Prism, outside on the deck playing darts with Wisp, rushed inside expectantly.
"No cookies?" he pouted lightly when he saw we only had the bag with Rosemary's present.
"Sorry, Pris. We were going to get them, but there was a bit of an incident." Desire apologized.
"Yeah?" he wondered, it sinking in that something was off what with Aunt Deny suddenly tagging along.
"These two were walking to the convenience store when some drunk man verbally assaulted and then physically assaulted Desi. For being Mixed." Aunt Deny explained with a huff.
"Asshole," Prism instantly snapped, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm not about to let some drunk idiot's slurred insults make me feel bad about myself when there's no reason to feel bad in the first place, and he only pulled my ponytail. Didn't even pull as hard as those stupid boys back in kindergarten did when they had fun grabbing my hair." Desire shrugged.
"Desi beat the guy up good too!" I explained proudly, "I wanted to kick him where it would really get him, but seeing her take him down was just as cool."
"I expected nothing less." Prism smirked at his twin.
"Well, the guy could barely stand as it was. He wasn't exactly a challenge in the first place. It was still highly satisfying though, I must admit." she chuckled.
The rest of us laughed.
Aunt Deny refused to leave until mom and Uncle Blaze got home. We decided it was best to wait to tell them what happened until they got back so as to not complicated the last of mom's check-up. She had only been able to get the appointment time on a great stroke of luck, and we didn't want to force her out of it prematurely. Both Desire and I were fine anyway. I watched my sister as I anticipated her getting a bit more shaken up now that it was all getting a chance to sink it, but her words that she was fine were the truth. She saw my concern and explained that this was hardly the first time she had dealt with someone bothering her because of her colors. It was the most intense kind of that situation she had faced, fair enough, but Desire had no interest in even that getting to her. The pain of her hair being yanked had disappeared almost instantly, and she refused to get upset as that would give the man a slight kind of power over her that she would never give him.
I was a little unnerved to hear to hear that people having issues with her being Mixed was not a new thing. I hadn't seen any problems at all, but, I suppose, I hadn't been paying close attention. I was curious to hear more about it all, but Desire wanted to have some fun. She and I joined Wisp and Prism on the deck while Aunt Deny decided to make some brownies. The fries from the restaurant had filled me up decently, but I knew that soon the smell of those gorgeous squares of chocolate would have my stomach aching for food before too long regardless. Desire and I talked about random nonsense while we waited. Wisp won the game of darts, we all gorged ourselves on the brownies the instant they were cooled, and I managed to forget for a time that at this point the following day I would be finishing up my first day of a new school year.
I couldn't forget about school after dinner. Mom's doctor gave her a new kind of medicine that was already helping to combat her nausea, so she had extra energy to spare. She was rigid of individually going through our supply lists to make sure we had everything. She scheduled our showers and sent us to our rooms earlier than normal where we were only allowed to leave in order to use the restroom. The idea was that it would force us to go to bed early. I did end up going to bed earlier than normal, but that was because I wasn't lucky enough to have a computer or television in my room like my older siblings did. It was either go to sleep or be bored out of my mind.
I was actually grateful to be well rested, but you definitely didn't hear me singing any praises the next morning. Frowns, pouts, grumbles, and complaints was all that I produced. Aunt Sunflower did nothing but grin widely at me when I got into her car as she was taking Midas and me to school. Midas had to half pull me out of the car when we reached the building. I stood before the blocky, three story building and just glared.
"I don't wanna..." I whined, shrugging my shoulders forward.
"You'll live." Midas teased, gently pushing me towards the doors.
"Well, maybe I'd rather just die." I professed dramatically.
I did, however, open the door and step inside willingly as Midas otherwise would have pushed me right into the door if I kept protesting.
The two of us had been dropped off early, so there wasn't a great amount of other students around yet. All of my friends had been brought to school about the same time though, which was normal for us. The only reason we didn't come together at the same time was that none of our families had a car that could fit us all. There was the bus, but we only took it if our parents were having a lazy day when they didn't feel like driving.
The six of us took seats in the back corner of the cafeteria while we waited for the ominous first bell to ring.
"The way this school system works still confuses me," Rosemary was saying, "In any other place you guys would be in the middle school right now, right?"
"Yup," Azure answered, "But we've got junior high instead. That means an extra year of elementary school, only three years of high school, and both junior high and high school start a year 'later' than everyone else."
"Why is it like that?" Rosemary wondered.
"Not a single clue. I don't mind though. It means we get an extra year of recess." Azure said cheerfully.
A pout spread across Rosemary's face. She sighed deeply.
"I'm glad the system is like this. Even if I'm a grade below the rest of you, at least we're still in the same building. I have one more year to try and catch up." she said.
"Catch up?" Mimosa repeated curiously.
"I want to try and skip a grade. That way I can be in the same grade with you even though I'm a year younger. I hate being by myself. No one's really been mean to me, but I didn't exactly make a lot of friends last year either. I was too quiet." Rosemary explained quietly.
"That's because you were still adjusting back then. You had only just joined the family and moved to Berrybrook," I reminded her, "I'm sure you'll have a much easier time now."
"Me too," Holly joined in eagerly, "But even then, I'm sure you can skip up if you really want to. You've been working incredibly hard over the summer. If you keep that up and show your teacher how you can power through the material with ease, I'm sure that'll be a great start towards the school considering moving you at least."
"I hope so." Rosemary said uncertainly.
The free time we had passed quickly. Before I knew it, the cafeteria was filled with bodies and kids were swarming the halls. An announcement went out that we should all start making our way towards our classrooms. Rosemary's was on the other side of the building, so she took off right away. The rest of us lingered.
"So whose class are we all in? We haven't looked at that yet." I pointed out.
"Mimi and I are both in Mrs. Crisp's class." Holly responded.
"Oh, same for me too!" Azure exclaimed.
"Me as well." Midas nodded.
Those words left his lips, and my chest sunk. The bit of excitement I had had crashed miserably into a tidal wave of disappointment.
"W-What?" I sputtered out in light horror.
"You're in a different class?" Mimosa asked, her disappointment matching mine.
"Yeah. I've got Mr. Trail."
"I've never heard of him before. He must be new." Midas said.
"That sucks big time, Coal. There's always lunch and recess though. We can still hang out then." Azure tried to comfort.
"Right, and I've heard Mrs. Crisp can be kinda strict. You might have lucked out and gotten the cool teacher." Holly added.
"I guess..." I mumbled.
There was little that could be said to make me feel better. I obviously wasn't excited about being back at school in the first place, and now I was by myself while the rest of my friends were in another class together. I had been hopeful for Rosemary skipping a grade for her sake before, but now I hoped it for my sake as well. Not having a friend around was going to drag me down. That's not to say I didn't get along with the rest of my classmates. I couldn't really think of one person I particularly disliked, and I had a lot of fun with most everyone else. It simply wasn't the same as having my close friends with me.
To make matters worse, the seating assignment chart was already taped to the chalkboard when I walked in. Having 'Vivid' as my last name had always had me sitting in the back corner of the room as far away from the teacher as possible. Unfortunately, I would not luck out there either. Mr. Trail was apparently the kind to like to do things differently. He did the seating in reverse alphabetical. That meant I was in the seat directly in front of his desk. Learning that made me nearly turn on my heel and walk out of the door. I had no clue how I was supposed to cope with the new position. Years of being able to get away with doodling, passing notes, and just generally not paying attention had spoiled me. There was no way I was going to get away with any of that now!
My mood sinking, I didn't try to talk with anyone on my own. I sat in my seat and sulked while I pulled out a book to read. Might as well get a head start if I was going to be forced to have to actually pay attention and learn stuff.
I only got through two pages before I was interrupted. Pleasantly interrupted though. There were a few people in the class I did know better than others. One of those others was Cattleya, Azure's cousin. She was the daughter of his Aunt Pistachio and her husband.
"Hey, Coal." she greeted as she bounced over cheerfully.
"Hey, Cat."
"Azzy's not in our class this year?" she questioned.
"Nope. He's in Mrs. Crisp's class along with Midas, Holly, and Mimosa." I revealed with a frown.
"Oh, stuck by yourself, huh?" she noted with a laugh.
"So it would seem."
"Well, I'll be sitting next to you, so at least you won't get saddled with an annoying desk neighbor."
"I'm glad for that then." I smiled back.
"As you should be," Cattleya bantered back proudly before returning my smile, "Have a good summer?"
"There were parts that were good, but..." I trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say and dreading having to bring the sad topic up again and again.
"I heard about your dad," Cattleya instantly caught on, becoming serious and sympathetic, "There still hasn't been any progress finding out what happened?"
"No." I said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry."
Another person appeared next to us in the blink of an eye. It was Cinnabar, or Cinna, another classmate. He had apparently overheard our conversation.
"I heard about your dad on the news," he began by saying, "They said that he's being held hostage by that Spreading Roots Company or whatever. Is that true?"
I had to take the briefest of seconds to recall what he was talking about. Mom and the rest of the adults I knew referred to the organization that caused the big mess as The Company or even T.R.E.E. Spreading Roots was the name of the parent organization that had been the central hub of all their activity.
"No one knows what's going on. We don't know where dad is or if he was taken hostage, and who he was taken by if he was." I clarified.
"This reminds me of a story my sister told me this one time. She said a long while ago in this small city on the west coast a father of three mysteriously went missing. No one knew what happened to him. So many years went by that even his children had passed on. Then the city knocked down an old, brick building. It turns out that the father had gotten involved in some illegal stuff. He angered some people, they killed him, crushed up his bones, and stuffed them in the center of the bricks that were being made to build the building when it was new."
"That's a wonderful story." Cattleya said with dry sarcasm.
"Yes, it was exactly what I needed to hear." I added wryly.
"Oh, eh, sorry." Cinnabar apologized.
"No, it's alright," I laughed, "I actually don't mind at all."
And I really didn't mind. As long as it wasn't taken too far and too insensitively, I preferred trying to make light of the situation than having to always talk about it seriously. It made it easier to shrug off the negative emotions.
The bell rang, and everyone rushed to their seats. A few second passed, and Mr. Trail walked in. He was definitely a new teacher as I had never seen him in the halls before. He confirmed it himself once everyone settled down.
"Welcome. Welcome, everyone. I'm sure I'm familiar to none of you, and that's because this is my first year at this school. My name is Mr. Trail, and I'll be teaching here after having been a teacher for several years at a school in a city called Lodge on the east coast. I hope you don't mind if I try a few new things."
"Like ruining my perfect seating spot." I thought to myself.
"You've got a great system here in Berrybrook, and I'd like to see how well things done here mesh with a bit of how things are done in Lodge. It might be a bit disorientating at first, but I think it'll help to make the learning process more engaging, and perhaps even fun, for all of us." Mr. Trail concluded his opening statement.
He pulled some papers out of a folder on his desk and glanced them over.
"According to what I've been given, there's no new students, so we can move right on ahead. Most of you all probably know each other to some extent, but to help me out let's go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves."
Surprise, surprise- I got to go first.
Names were given and simple tidbits of information were requested. Instead of giving us a general prompt for us all to answer, Mr. Trail asked each individual his or her own specific question. Sometimes it even related to something the student before them said. By the time we got to the back, everyone was involved in the discussion we were having about the benefits and downsides to wearing school uniforms. It was a topic that was rather random, but Mr. Trail ran with it. That was when I saw how skilled he was. The whole class was having a pretty intellectual debate where none of us realized we were being taught how to properly argue an issue because it had been started in such a fun way. It wasn't a chore of gathering and listing points in a boring ramble, but working off our own relationships with each other to move throughout those points like it was a casual conversation.
The hours that passed didn't feel like hours. I realized I liked Mr. Trail so much that I could even overlook his grievance of him putting me in the front. I didn't feel the need to doodle or daydream because I wanted to listen to what he was saying. He didn't stumble or stutter over his words once. He flowed from one topic to the next with ease, and he punctuated it all with a bit of humor. His teaching didn't seem like teaching because it felt more like he was telling one long story that I never wanted to end.
I was genuinely surprised when the bell rang and it was time for lunch and recess. We were already halfway done with the day. That sensation of surprise was constant, because I now thought myself to be the lucky one. Midas, Azure, Holly, and Mimosa were together, but I definitely had the better teacher. Mrs. Crisp was the kind of instructor who rattled off point after point after point expecting everyone to just learn while Mr. Trail made us want to learn. Everyone, but mostly Azure and Holly, laughed at me for going on at first about Mr. Trail like he was a miracle. I even got teased about having a crush. I laughed it all off. They could have their fun at my expense. I could have the cool teacher.
Recess was recess. Midas, Azure, and Mimosa got caught up in a massive game of Red Rover while Holly and I took over the soccer court with a few other classmates. Holly was on one team, and I was the goalie for the other. She had a special agenda to try and pelt the ball at my face as much as possible. It made it incredibly simple to block as I knew where the ball would be going. The game ended on a tie as we were called back inside before we could finish.
I only wish I could say the day kept going with that same positive attitude. My school day ended on a good note, and I planned out with Rosemary to walk to the high school. They got out just a little bit later than we did, and that was just enough time for us to walk over there and reach the building about when they were done. It was when she and I reached the high school that my good mood crashed. Their last bell had only just rung, but Uncle Eden, Hunter, and Malachite were already outside the front doors. Uncle Eden was a little ways away having a go at Malachite. Hunter walked over to us with a exasperated, small smile.
"What did he do?" Rosemary asked with a heaving sigh.
"Damn idiot snuck some vodka in in a water bottle. He got caught in his last period study hall." Hunter explained.
"Isn't that really bad?" I said with worry, "He could get in a lot of trouble for that, couldn't he?"
"Dad fought tooth and nail to prevent the school from bringing the police in to charge him with underage drinking, but's he already got a week of an in-school suspension. He does anything remotely like this again, he'll be getting charged and suspended. If anything's done after that, then all we can do is pray for his soul." Hunter spoke dismally.
"Why can't he just behave?" Rosemary asked with exhausted irritation, "He's already whittled dad down to the point where he'll allow him to drink a little in the house to hopefully appease him from drinking in worse ways. How much more does he want? How does he even keep getting the alcohol?"
"I don't know. He was doing so well for such a long time, but he's steadily been getting worse again. Mal won't talk to me at all about it." Hunter shook his head.
Our conversation was interrupted as Uncle Eden and Malachite's argument grew fiercer to the point where we could hear them without having to strain to listen.
"Oh, just fuck off already, will you!" Malachite's irate snap came, "I'm going to do what I want no matter what you say! Sick of covering up for me? Then stop bothering! I don't care if I get in trouble! Soon I'll be eighteen and can do what I want then! I don't need you nagging and preaching at me because it won't be long before you have any right to tell me what to do anymore!"
"You're going to be listening to me nag and preach for as long as I feel it might help you. Eighteen and an adult or not! That does not do away the fact that you're my son, and that it's my duty to try whatever I can from stopping you from ruining your life!" Uncle Eden countered back, not nearly as angry as I would be if I was in his place.
"There's that bullshit again! God, how many times do I have to tell your stupid face this? I've said it plainly so many times you might as well engrave it on my tombstone! The only reason I let you adopt me is because you were the one person deluded enough to go along with the idea! All the other foster families got the picture real quick, but you were too naive to follow their example! I don't care if I have a family or not! You're not my dad, and I don't want you to be! I already have one of my own! I just wanted access to your house and your money for as long as I could get an excuse to use them, and you can't get mad at me if you ignore that I made that clear from the very start!"
Uncle Eden fought back. He ignored so much of what Malachite said. He focused mostly on Malachite bringing alcohol to school and how he needed to remedy his behavior before it was too late.
"Has he been like this before?" I asked with concern to Hunter and Rosemary.
"Often enough to the point where this isn't unexpected." Rosemary admitted, glancing to the ground.
"Mal with straighten out, especially once grandpa hears of this. He listens to him better than dad for whatever reason. God, at this rate those two are going to be at this all night though. I'm really not in the mood to listen to it." Hunter complained.
I watched as he whipped out his phone and called someone.
"Hey, mom?" he started when she picked up, "Yeah, I'm already out for the day. Hey, I'm gonna bunk in my room at your place tonight. Mal has-"
Hunter paused as Auntie Rose said something, which apparently made Hunter chuckle.
"Oh, you already know what he's done," he said before whispering to us to give us the explanation, "Deny's over at mom's filling her in on what's happening."
Hunter walked away to continue the call with more privacy. Not that he needed to. He was asking his mom what she would be willing to make him for dinner. I was stunned at how casually he was speaking given the intense words Uncle Eden and Malachite were still exchanging, but I suppose he was more used to this stuff than I was. This was the first time I was seeing this specific problem part of our family faced.
"Maybe you should come over to my house instead of us going over to yours to work on homework." I suggested to Rosemary.
"That'd be best," she agreed, "I want to beat Mal over the head with my textbook right now. I just don't understand how he doesn't care about how great he's got it! Mom and dad love him so much even though he'll treat them like this. It's worse because he knows what we have to deal with now because of my stupid birth parents. He knows how much I would love to be in the steady kind of position he's in! He's making the case worse for us to by doing these idiotic stunts too!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm sure my birth dad's lawyer is going to use every aspect he can to make me living with mom and dad seem like it's not the best place for me. They'll play up the delinquent older brother who's a bad influence on me card big time if something doesn't change soon! Not to mention it'll make dad look unfit as a father since he's not able to control Mal and his increasingly bad behavior."
"Does Mal know that?"
"We've hinted it several times hoping that would get the message across, but I'm going to have to lecture him myself once dad's done with him. Let's see him just try and berate me like he's a spoiled toddler!" Rosemary huffed.
"He won't be able to stand his adorable little sister going off at him, I'm sure," I said as encouragingly as I could given how unnerved I was by the argument, "Trust me. I've seen Desi work her magic on Wisp and Pris so many times I can't count them all. You'll set him straight, and I'll help you whack him with your textbook too if that doesn't do the trick."
"Thanks. Something needs to get through that thick skull of his."
"We will." I comforted once more.
Rosemary turned her head. Malachite had thrown his hands up and began walking away. Uncle Eden instantly followed.
"I hope so..." she mumbled.
Be First to Post Comment !
Post a Comment