Good Boy

Chapter 1

Austin playfully pushed his younger brother, Christian, down the last step while pulling his sleeve into his coat.

"Mom! Austin pushed me again," Christian yelled.

"I can't leave you boys alone for 2 minutes," she said.

"He's fine, I could have pushed him a lot harder if I wanted to," Austin laughed while he adjusted his wavy brown hair.

Christian zipped up his own coat and opened the door. The two boys raced outside across the small front lawn.

"Have fun and don't be home too late," their mother called after them.

The September air was cold. The boys could see their breath before them as they made their way to Ethan's house. Ethan was the high school soccer captain. He would always throw a party after the team won a game. Austin was on the team and Ethan was his best friend. It was only yesterday that the team beat Riverton High School, their toughest rival.

Tonight's party was going to be awesome, Austin thought. Christian was 15, only a year younger than Austin. Their mom had forced Austin to bring Christian with him. But he didn't mind too much. They were quite close. Despite being younger, Christian was taller than Austin, a fact that he enjoyed teasing Austin about.

Austin and Christian rounded the corner to see Ethan's house. The street was lined with dozens of cars and music blared from the house. A crowd of teenagers that Austin didn't know filled the front garden.

"Almost the whole school must be here," Christian said in amazement.

Usually only the soccer team and a few other friends were at Ethan's parties.

"Well, Riverton are the toughest team in the league. It's surely cause for celebration, Austin cheered."

The brothers squeezed their way through the crowd in the garden and stepped in through the front door where they were greeted by Ethan. Austin and Ethan bro-hugged while Christian stood off to the side awkwardly.

"It's great to have the winning goal scorer here," Ethan said loudly over the booming music.

"Well I wouldn't have scored without your great pass," Austin replied as he patted Ethan on the back.

Ethan bowed in gratitude and Austin laughed at him. "We do make a good team, don't we?" Austin said.

"Well enjoy the party!" Ethan said as he handed Austin and Christian a red cup each. Christian and Ethan exchanged nods as they passed. The brothers made their way through into the kitchen. It was empty apart from a guy and a girl making out in the corner.

Austin held the cup to his mouth and took a small sip. His face twisted in disgust as soon as the drink hit his tongue. He immediately poured the contents of his cup down the sink. He grabbed Christian's cup out of his hand and did the same.

"Hey what was that for?" Christian protested.

"It was vodka. I'm not letting my little brother get drunk on my watch." Austin explained, "And besides, that stuff tastes disgusting."

Austin opened the fridge and grabbed two cans of Coke. He tossed one over to Christian. When Austin walked through the door into the living room there was a sudden cheer and all eyes were on him.

"Austin! Austin! Austin!" the crowd chanted. Ethan stood up on a coffee table in the centre of the room and gestured for Austin to join him.

Ethan raised his hand to silence the crowd and began to speak "For 20 years Greenfield High has suffered terrible losses to Riverton High. But yesterday, one man put a stop to that. And his name is Austin Mendez." The crowd burst into applause and cheers once again. Austin's face flushed red from embarassment.

Oh brother Christian thought as he stood in the corner of the room. He turned and walked outside into the large back garden. There were a few people sitting around a table including one boy that Christian recognised. His name was Griffin and he was on the soccer team with Austin. Christian sat down beside him.

"What's up Christian," Griffin asked.

"Not much. Nice game yesterday," Christian responded.

"We couldn't have done it without your brother. It must be hard being compared to him all the time," Griffin said.

"What? I'm not compared to him," Christian said firmly.

"Really? I just thought that you're kind of in his shadow since you're a bench warmer on the baseball team and Austin is the best soccer player in the school," Griffin said before taking another drink from his cup.

Christian was starting to tense up and he had his fists clenched. His face was growing red and he was starting to sweat. He was about to stand up until someone else at the table spoke.

"Austin isn't all he's cracked up to be," said a boy sitting across from Griffin. He had ginger hair and a freckled face. His biceps were almost the size of Christian's head. "We could have easily won yesterday if we wanted," he continued.

"Wait a minute, you're from Riverton," Griffin yelled as he stood up, "You better get out of here before we make you."

The boy stood up sheepishly and turned towards the garden. He waved at a small stocky boy and together they ran back into the house. Christian looked at Griffin who was fuming. He could almost see steam coming out of his ears.

"We better tell Ethan his house has rats," Griffin grunted, "If there are any more of them, things could get ugly."

Griffin sprinted into the living room and Christian followed closely. They navigated their way through the crowd of tipsy teenagers until Griffin had found Ethan. Christian struggled to hear what they were saying because they were standing right beside the speaker. 

Eventually, Griffin turned away from Ethan and dissappeared back into the crowd with an angry look on his face. Christian put his hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"Do you know where my brother went?" Christian asked.

"Yeah I think he went out front with some of the seniors. They seemed pretty impressed with his goal yesterday," Ethan answered.

 The crowd in the house had grown so big now that Christian had to pry his way between people. He could smell the sweat and cheap aftershave off all the guys he pushed past. It was going to be almost impossible to find Austin, Christian thought.