Misunderstood

 "You're a bad influence on me!" I laughed, and followed him. He turned the TV to a rock music channel and we tried to eat our breakfast whilst simultaneously headbanging to Smells Like Teen Spirit.

 "I have the ultimate headbang." he said, putting down his plate and demonstrating.

 "No way, you have to have long hair to truly headbang!" I said, untying my hair and showing him. I got a headache and stumbled forward but he caught me.

 "Go get dressed and we'll go up the High Street." he ordered.

 I got showered and changed into a Nirvana shirt Callum had bought me and black skinny jeans. I slipped my red converse high-tops on and grabbed the shopping list and money from mum.

 "You say you have to have long hair to headbang, but I have long hair." Callum said as we left the house.

 "No, Cal, you have short hair and a long fringe. There's a difference." I told him.

 "Dad hates my hair. 'You can only see out of one eye' he tells me..." Cal complained.

 "He makes a valid point, but it looks awesome." I said, and he chuckled. I pulled out the shopping list.

 "What's that?" he asked.

 "The shopping list from mum, she wants us to buy a few things." I told him. He pulled the list out of my hands.

 "Screw the list," he said, tearing it up. "Let's go proper shopping!"

 It was so easy to relax when Callum was in charge, even if it meant getting into a lot of trouble. He led me into a music shop, full of CD's, posters, instruments and their accessories.

 Over the sound system they were playing trashy, teen pop.

 "Ugh, put some real music on would you Nick?" said Callum to the guy behind the counter.

 "Will do. The manager said I couldn't change it unless a customer complained..." said Nick, grinning as he put on a new CD. An Aerosmith song came on.

 "Hey Nick." I said with a smile.

 "Hey Jade. So what can I do for my best mate and his little sister?" Nick asked.

 "Nothing at the moment, we're just browsing." I answered.

 "Hey, Nick, did you get those new guitar straps in yet?" Callum asked him.

 "Nah, not yet, we're expecting a delivery on Tuesday..."

 "So Jade, what do you want? Any albums? Posters?" Callum asked me, flicking through a guitar magazine.

 I opened my mouth to speak but Callum started talking to Nick about the guitars. I wondered how they could know so much about them. Callum could just name a guitar and Nick could talk about it for ages, just reciting information on it.

 "Cal we don't have any money, we can't buy anything." I told him when he'd finished.

 "What about the money mum gave us?" he said, picking up the latest My Chemical Romance album.

 "That's for groceries." I reminded him. He snatched the ten pounds out of my pocket and bought the album. I sighed. We were going to be in so much trouble. Again. I let Callum talk me into buying my own copy of a Manic Street Preachers album, as I was always borrowing his.

 "Cal, you just spent the money!" I said. He pulled his credit card out of his pocket and waved it at me. "You haven't worked in over a year, how the hell do you have any money?"

 "Mum and dad pay fifteen pounds into my account every month." he said, handing me the card for I knew the PIN. I bought the CD, and then we left the shop. We wandered down the High Street and went into a small supermarket. Callum went down the hairdye isle.

 "I'm looking for some blue hairdye, I want to dip-dye the end of my fringe..." he told me.

 "We're not allowed to dye our hair." I reminded him.
 "I'm an adult, I can do as I please." he said, frowning.

 Cal is twenty-three years old. Mum and dad got married when they were only nineteen, and a year later Callum was born. I came along seven years later.

 Callum is my best friend as much as he is my brother. He knows everything about me and can read me better even than mum or dad. As I stood next to him I was reminded of just how tall he is. I am average height, like our mum, and even though Cal is long-limbed like dad, he is far taller than anyone I know.