In the Crowd (Tye)

Chapter 15

Ace threw down his stuff in a lump, not bothering to unpack his few belongings. I frowned at it, lumpy, large, in the middle of no where… yeah. It had to move.

 I kicked Ace’s (and not surprisingly everyone else’s) stuff into a neat pile. Griffin was already lounging about, perfectly at ease in my home. Mom didn’t seem too bothered, these guys had come over before when we were younger after all.

“Is it just me? Or is your house much smaller than when I was ten?” Ace asked. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or now. “Oh hey!” Ace perked up, sitting up straight. “Can we go visit Arina now?” Griffin cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Why would we visit her? Of course, Tye should be visiting her…” Griffin smiled innocently. I scowled at him. “It’s almost Christmas!” Griffin reminded me.

“I thought you didn’t celebrate Christmas,” I frowned. Griffin simply shrugged.

“I don’t. But you do, and so does Arina,” He smiled again. “And you do like her. And she likes you. It’d be a nice present wouldn’t it? Seeing the one you love?” his voice had taken on a teasing tone, that just made me want to smack his annoying face.

“I don’t like her.” I snapped.

Ken grinned slyly. “You can keep saying that, but it can’t change the truth.”

“Even if I did like her, it’s not like she likes me. She sees me as some singer, not a person.” We all grew slightly quieter at that. I knew I hit a sensitive topic for them. We were still all friends with each other, but that was about it. We weren’t seen as people by others. That’s why I was homeschooled after all.

Griffin and Ace were also homeschooled, Nico went on and off classes and Ken, being a nerd, graduated early.

Mom stepped into our living room awkwardly. “My, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you all… would you like some food?” Mom whisked them away into the kitchen, giving me some peace. Tony stepped in front of me. I raised my eyebrows.

“What?”

“Well, Mom got rid of them. Now you go to Arina’s!” he smiled sweetly. I frowned back at him.

“Let me think- no.”

“Then I’ll have to take you myself.” Tony grabbed my hand and all but dragged me outside. The cold wind bit me immediately. I turned around to go back inside, at least get my coat if I had to go. The door was shut. Tony was no where in sight. I jiggled the door knob frantically. He’d locked me out.

Cautiously, slowly, Tony opened the window. I ran over to it, but after slipping a paper out, he immediately shut the damned thing. I sighed.

Go to Arina’s

By taking me himself, I thought Tony would actually drag me there. I guess not. I kicked the concrete street. At least it wasn’t snowing. I hated snow. That was the time little kids would go screaming and throwing frozen water at each other- and occasionally at me. I didn’t mind that, what I did mind was when teenage girls would run out wearing short coats or miniskirts and make out with guys in the cold. I mean, did they want to freeze? It seemed that whenever it snowed, I had to watch that petrifying scene.

Go ahead and hate me for being such a hater to girl’s “sweet love.” It may because I’ve never fallen in love, or it may because I naturally despise the teenage years of females- whatever it was, I was just being honest with how I felt.

I stared up at the door. Damn, how was I already at Choi’s house? I swear I was just in from of my own home. I whirled around, stepping away from there. Loophole- Tony only said I had to go to her place, I didn’t have to meet her. I smiled at my genius plan.

The door to Choi’s house opened swiftly. Whoever was pulling it seemed panicked, surprised, and wanted to catch the freak on their doorstep- which naturally, was me.

“Tye? What are you doing here?”

Aw, hell.

***

I stood awkwardly at the door, refusing to sit down no matter how many times I was invited to. My eyes wandered about the house, examining each and every detail. Her house was simple, clean and bland.

“Where are your parents?”

“Why are you here?”

We asked at the same time. I sighed. I was going to have to kill my brother. Choi sat down on the coffee table which was placed between two couches. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. “My parents are out of town again,” Choi said at last, breaking the awkward silence. “So why are you here?” she pressed again. I shrugged.

“They made me.”

“Oh.” Choi’s face fell. She seemed to perfectly understand who I meant by “they.” She fingered a piece of paper which was left on the table absently. “Is that the only reason you came?” Choi didn’t directly look at me, but I could hear the trace of hope in her voice.

I frowned at her. “Duh. Why else would I go here?” I replied bluntly. Choi sighed, I could tell she was trying to hide some disappointment. She muttered something, but I couldn’t hear so I ignored it.

My frown deepened. Why did I feel like I was lying? I knew for sure that I wasn’t, but I still felt this guilty, tugging feeling. Maybe I didn’t feel bad because I might’ve lied. Maybe I felt bad because I’d just hurt Choi- again.

A sudden thought flicked through my head: I wish I was Ken. It’s ridiculous, but Ken always knew just what to do. He was smart, even tempered, and all that crap I wasn’t. Plus, he didn’t have to deal with Choi. I immediately felt guilty for thinking that. But damn, why would I need to feel guilty? It was true wasn’t it?

“Dammit!!!” I shouted out suddenly. Choi sat up, staring at me oddly.

“What was that for?” she asked calmly.

“I’m just… really frustrated right now.” I muttered. Sliding down to sit on the floor, I waved my hand feebly, as if to show her I was fine. Then I just curled up in a ball. What the hell was wrong with me anyway?

“Tye? Do you want me to leave you alone? I could just…” She trailed off, pointing toward the hallway. I shook my head.

“It’s fine. I’m gonna go now anyways. See ya,” I muttered, stepping out.

Choi walked out behind me, but she stayed by the door. “Okay- bye… Huynh.” She said to my back. Her face was straight, and I didn’t bother digging around to see what she really felt.

It seemed as though Choi was one of the few people who treated me as a person, not a star. But now she was calling me my last name again- my stage name. So I assumed she was going back to being formal, acting like I was a celebrity. Not that I cared.

But… I wish she would call me Tye again.

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NYAAAGGGGGG. I hate Tye! Why is his character turning out like this???? He's so pissy! But hey, this story is taking longer than I thought it would ^.^ Yay to that! On word, it's about 49 pages! :) I'm going to start uploading regularly soon!

Hope you enjoyed! Vote/Comment if you want? <3