Painting Flowers (A Jack Barakat fanfic)

Chapter 1

*Kathryn's POV*

I help my parents carry our bags to the cab that awaits us out the front.

Hello Baltimore.

I give my father the bags to load into the trunk with the driver and take a seat with my mother happily.
"Excited?" She asks me with a warm smile. I nod.

I am more than excited. I am ecstatic. I have never left Glastonbury in my life, so I'm curious as to what my journey may hold.


The drive to wherever we're staying is long and quiet, but filled with anticipation. Just before we make a final turn, my mother turns to me and says;

"You remember your Aunt Isobel and Uncle Peter don't you?"

I nod. I vaguely remember their son too, but I've forgotten his name. He was only a year or two older than me, meaning he'd be around 16 or 17 now.

The cab pulls up outside a nice-looking house and we get out and remove our bags from the cab, walking up to the door.

Before my mother has a chance to let go of a bag and ring the doorbell, the door swings open, revealing a couple around my parents age waiting to greet us.

"Isobel! Peter! How great to see you!" my mother cries happily, dropping her bags and spreading her arms for a hug. The couple hug her and my father as I stand and watch awkwardly. The woman pulls away and looks at me. "And this must be little Kathy!" she smiles. I wave and mumble a greeting of some sort.

Nobody has really called me 'Kath' or 'Kathy' since I was in year 5. So I'm not exactly used to it anymore, but I let it slide.

"Yes, this is Kathryn!" my mother says happily. "Kat? Remember I was telling you about Aunt Isobel and Uncle Peter?" She asks. I smile and nod, waving and greeting them properly. "Yes, I do. Hello." I greet them with a smile.

The woman whom I assume is Aunt Isobel, steps forward, hugging me warmly. I shake the man, or Uncle Peter's hand kindly. He looks like my father, so I obviously see the resemblance.

Isobel and Peter lead us inside and I hear the faint sound of a guitar from upstairs and as if she read my mind, Isobel says;

"That's Alex up there. You can go see him if you like."

I put my bags down and slowly follow the sound to a room with posters stuck up on the door. I knock on the door, and receive no response, so I slowly push to door open and see a young boy around my age, sitting on his bed, playing his guitar lazily. He doesn't seen to notice me. From what I can hear, he's playing the main riff from "Adam's Song" by Blink-182, which happens to be one of my favorite songs.

The door creaks loudly as I go to close it, and his head flicks up. He looks startled but calms down when he sees me. "Oh. Hi." he says awkwardly, putting down his guitar. I wave shyly. "Hello." I say. he has quite long hair, not so long he looks like a girl, but short enough to look like a boy. It covers one if his eyes and he pushes it out of the way and stands up. I can see that he is taller than me, and I can't help but look at the ground. "You must be Kathryn." He says, holding his hand out politely. "Everyone calls me Kat... or your parents call my Kathy." I reply, shaking his hand. He chuckles lightly. "Did you guys just get here?" be asks. I nod in response. He looks over my shoulder and out the door. "I'm Alex by the way. C'mon." He says.

I follow him downstairs to where our parents are still loudly catching up, exchanging stories and questions. My mother sees Alex and exclaims, "Oh Alexander! You were so small when I last saw you!" Isobel steps aside to let Alex through to greet my parents. My father looks at me and says to Alex, "I see you've met Kathryn?" Alex nods with a smile before turning to his mother.

"I'm hungry." he says. Isobel rolls her eyes at him.

Well, where do we normally keep the food, Alex?" she says sarcastically. Alex happily trots off to the kitchen and I'm left with the adults. "Has Alex taken your bags up for you yet, Kathryn?" Isobel asks me. I look over and see my bags are where I left them, so I shake my head in response.

At that moment, Alex walks back in looking quite content, his mouth full of food. "Kathryn, Alex is going to share his room with you. Alex, help take Kathryn's bags up to your room please." I look at Alex, who's confused as to which bags he's taking up. I walk over and pick up one of my bags and point to the other one, signaling for him to come and get it, which he does.

I follow him back to his room where he places my bags next to a mattress on the other side of the room with a white bedspread and sits down. I sit next to him. "So Kathryn..." he says, making me look up. "What's Glastonbury like?" he asks, pushing his hair from his eyes again. I sigh and look back down at my hands. "Quiet. Boring. Too quiet for me." I answer. He chuckles, making me look up. "Well then, you won't be disappointed with Baltimore." He says.

And I know he's right, because I have a good feeling about Baltimore. I can't wait to see what Baltimore holds for me. Especially when I start school here. I can't wait.