Internet Friends | Luke Hemmings

Chapter 9

"Izzy, Izzy,Izzy, Izzy " the crowd chanted as I leapt confidently onto the stage.

Lights flashed, the crowd erupted into screams, the music, my music played. The arena was alive.

Then all of a sudden the world began to shake, the crowd continued shouting my name, oblivious to the fact there was a sudden earthquake. One voice in particular stood out, louder and different to the others.

"IZZY! IZZY! Get up!"

My eyes snapped open when a hand came in contact with my face.

"Ouch," I rubbed where I had been slapped. That's gunna leave a red mark.

"Sorry but you weren't waking up and we're going to be late," Sammy said her face hovering above me.

"I told Aunty Lauren and Uncle Mickey that we'd be there by 11 and it's half past 10 now." She said leaving my room so that I could get dressed.

Ugh I forgot Sammy and I were going to see my Aunty and Uncle today. I should have set an alarm or something.

I pulled myself out of bed and slowly trudged to my wardrobe. I pick out a black and white striped top and a black skirt even though I was rather tempted to wear some black leggings again, they wouldn't mind.

I had no time to shower so got dressed and put on a coat of mascara , I can't be bothered to do anything else to my face.

I pulled a brush through my hair and tied it in a ponytail. I gave my tired self a look over in the mirror. Meh, it'll have to do.

I grabbed a pair of black and white converse and stumbled down stairs. I retrieved a breakfast bar out of the kitchen cupboard before being dragged out by my sister, since when did she feel the need to be on time.

The car pulled up on to the drive of their cute little house on the edge of London. Surrounded by trees, in a friendly neighbourhood, it was my favourite place to go when things got hard.

"Hello stranger!" My Aunty Lauren pulled Sammy into a hug before she could fully open the door.

"And Izzy, you get more gorgeous every time I see you, how are you sweetie?" She let us in side after giving me a hug too.

"Great" I said with a grin, and for once in a long time, it wasn't a fake one. I'm genuinely happy when I'm here.

The dark oak walls and snug little living space was a nice change from my modern, oversized home, I'd love a cosy house like this when I'm older.

"Where's my little star?"

I ran into my uncles outstretched arms just like I was a kid again. For my dad's brother, he looked nothing like him. My dad had black hair that he tended for with great care, his brother however had slightly messed up brown hair that matched his carefree attitude. Black and grey suits were more my dads style, a plain shirt on a day off, where as my crazy uncle Mickey had his brown flannel on top of a grey top with a old pair of jeans.

Sammy joined us in the warm embrace "mmm, what smells so good?"

"Ah well we knew you girls were coming over so I whipped up my specialty, pasta bake" Uncle Mickey's pasta bake was defiantly the best in the world, period.

"Aww thanks you're the best"

"Quinn's in the living room by the way." Aunty Lauren smiled, then returned to the kitchen on the left.

I turned right into their cool living room.
Their whole family was based around music, it's where I got my love for it from. My Aunty and uncle met at a concert. Aunty Lauren was into country and was a dab hand at the Banjo and even the harmonic and she wasn't afraid to whip them out at family gatherings.
My uncle however was more into rock music, he plays the guitar, bass and the drums. He taught me them when I was younger and sparked my love for everything musical.

Quinn was like me, into bands like Blink 182 and All Time Low. But even though he won't ever admit it, I caught him singing to Taylor Swift like there was no tomorrow. I ain't gunna lie, I may have a slight obsession with One Direction myself.

I found Quinn in the living room just as Lauren had said, rummaging through their collection of vinyls which was about three times the size of my entire iTunes library.

"Hey Quinn, decided what to play yet?"

He jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound of my voice and he span around to see who had made the disturbance.

"Jeez Izzy I didn't see you there, you gave me a heart attack." He recovered from the shock and flicked his brown fringe to the side.

"I can see that, " I giggled "You didn't answer my question"

"Oh I was just sorting them out, Nirvana was next to Bon Jovi and it didn't seem right."

I nodded "oh okay them"

"That was like an hour ago and now it looks like a bombs gone off." He gestured to the piles of music that surrounded him.

"I'll help, just tell me what to do and it'll be sorted in no time."

He explained to me his system of sorting the genres. No idea where Sammy had got to at this point, I expect her to be catching up with Lauren and Mickey, they hadn't seen her since I had.

"So" Quinn slotted Metallica into its place while I passed him another. "Is school okay?" He gave me a sympathetic smile.

He knew all about the bitches at school, I'd told him not to get involved cause I knew that would make me look weak therefore making things worse. In fact, no one knew that Quinn was even my cousin, I was afraid if the populars knew they would try and befriend me to get on Quinn's good side and I wasn't going to let that happen. They'd try and change me to be like them and that was honestly my biggest fear, to become what I was afraid of.
I didn't want people to be scared of me the way I'm scared of Kim French and her buddies.

"It's as good as it could be" I shrugged, I just wanted to get this conversation over and done with.

"Izzy," he sighed and put down a record. That was a bad sign.

" I see what those bitches do it you, it's fucked up. I could do something, let the principle know, tell them to stop, anything to just get them off your back."

"No please, I'd rather you didn't. I would just make things worse. And I only have two years till I get to leave."

His mouth opened to speak, to give one of his lectures about how I should enjoy school and not have to worry about being bullied.

"Dinners ready guys!" Sammy popped her head in the living room. Good timing.

It was strange to sit at a table with a bunch of other people who are related to me. For me, things like this were a rare occurrence. I was used to sitting on my own surrounded by the silence and the echoing loneliness. Sammy had been with me the past few days which was strange at first but I was slowly getting used to someone being around.

Uncle Mickey's pasta bake lived up to its standards and tasted incredible as usual. We laughed and chatted about new bands, music and what Sammy was up to.

I stopped eating for a second to take it all in, the happiness around the table. I felt like i belonged here,like an actual family that would go on holidays together, buy fish and chips at the beach and spend time with each other.

I looked around the table at them all smiling and laughing. I couldn't help but smile myself, how I wish I could stay in this moment forever.