So even though I haven't reached 10 reads yet I DID get a vote!!! So I thought that counted as 2 reads to equal 10... so props to me and whoever voted because you are awesome so major thumbs up! I really liked how this one turned out and considering the opinions of others you might not like it. Probably won't post until Saturday or Sunday so hopefully the chapters I've uploaded so far will hold all of you until then. Isaac's brother Trey is holding the spot in the multimedia for their first day of school.
Title: Afterlife- Avenged Sevenfold
(Isaac's P.O.V)
It was time to man up for craps sake. I mean let’s get completely real here. I’m 17 years old and I’m scared for the first day of school. How much more pathetic can I get?
“Toast. I can make toast.” My mom blurted as I walked into the kitchen before I headed off to school.
“It's all about the coffee, Mom.” I murmured searching through every cabinet for a cup, still trying to get used to where everything was.
“Is there coffee?” Nixon said rounding the corner, taking the cup from my hand.
“It’s your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared. Lunch money?” She asked looking around the house in a hurry.
“I'm good.” I responded pouring myself another cup of coffee.
“Anything else? A number two pencil? What am I missing?” She questioned almost spinning in circles.
“Don't you have a big presentation today?” I wondered handing Trey a cup of orange juice.
“I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at— now. Crap!” She yelled throwing on a jacket and shoes.
“Then go. We'll be fine. I’ll take care of Katherine.” I reassured her, setting down my cup, making my way through the kitchen and to the stairs.
“You okay?” I asked Nixon from his place on the couch.
“Don't start.” He said taking a sip of his coffee before getting up and putting on his jacket.
I turned to head up the stairs when I saw Katherine slowly making her way down one step at a time, holding onto the railing tightly.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her.
“Can I have some milk?” She questioned grabbing onto my pants.
“Of course you can.” I responded setting her in her booster chair. I quickly pulled out her Sippy cup and a few pieces of watermelon for her to eat.
The time was nearing 7:10 AM and with my school starting at 8 I needed to get everyone ready to go. Nixon was working on his latest Sudoku puzzle at the kitchen table, Trey was watching his early morning cartoons and I still needed to get Katherine ready to go.
“Are you done Kitty? I said reaching for her plate. She nodded her head at me and she was trying to get out of her seat. I placed her cup in the sink and picked her up, carrying her to her room.
I wiped the left over watermelon residue from her cheek changing her from her pajamas into a green shirt and purple pants.
“Braids.” She requested. I split her hair down the middle giving her two pigtail braids with pink bows at the end to tie them up.
7:30. I have plenty of time.
“Okay Trey turn the TV off and get your sneakers on please.” I asked softly bringing his book bag and putting it on the couch.
“But Izzy this is one of my—.”
“Trey please. We don’t want to be late.” I turned to go check on Nixon.
“Did you figure that one out yet?” I questioned looking over his shoulder.
“Please I finished that one 20 minutes ago. I think I need a harder book.” He said praising himself with his intelligence.
“Can you finish those later? We need to leave before it gets too late.”
“Yeah I’ll get Trey.” He said getting his back pack.
I walked back to where I left Katherine sitting. She was tracing the pattern on her shirt as I tapped on her shoulder.
“Let’s go baby.” I said taking her hand. I ripped my phone off the charger and grabbed my book bag from the table. As I closed the door I turned to take my keys from my pocket to securely lock it.
I strapped Katherine in her car seat and quickly pulled out of the driveway. The clock said 7:34.
I first dropped Katherine off at daycare, making sure that everything was set to go.
“I’ll be here to get you after school okay?” I reassured her as she started tearing up.
“Shush Kitty I love you okay. I’ll see you in a little while okay?” I comforted wiping the tears from her face and standing up.
“Bye Izzy.” She waved at me softly as I turned to hustle back to the car.
7:49.
Dropping Trey off to school in a hurry wasn’t a good thing to do especially when I practically landed him in his class. “Have a good first day. Make some friends okay?” I said quickly giving him a hug watching him take a seat in his class.
7:56
“Nixon come on hurry!” I said pulling into the main office.
“Can I help you?” The receptionist asked me.
“Hi. Yes my brother and I are new to this school and we need to pick up our schedules.” I requested.
“Names?”
“Nixon and Isaac Baldwin.”
“Ah yes, here we are.” She said pulling out two papers from a file.
“Which one of you is Nixon?” She asked. My brother raised his hand slowly.
“You’ll be in the first floor of E Building for your first class. You’ll have Mrs. Peter for your math class. Hand this paper to all of your teachers and have them sign it. Then turn it into the office at the end of the day,” She said handing my brother his schedule.
“You must be Isaac then. Your first class is English with Mr. Taylor. That’s the second floor of D building,” She continued.
“We have several buildings here. A Building is where theatre, art and band students have their class. B Building is the library and the foreign language classes such as Spanish and German. C Building is the gym. D Building is the English and History based classes and E Building is for Math and Science. Buildings F and G are for the vocational classes like woodshop and parenting,”
“B Building connects every Building including the gym and lunch room so it’s not so hard to get lost. There are three different hours for lunch. I’m sure from memory you both have different lunch hours.” She pondered.
I glanced down at my schedule going through each class:
1st: Literature & Composition, Mr. Taylor: D206
2nd: P.E., Mrs. Bruner: C104
3rd: Algebra II, Mrs. Meyer: E116
4th: Lunch
5th: Spanish III, Mr. Wesley: B228
6th: Sociology, Mr. Roth: D223
7th: Chemistry, Mrs. Ream: E221
8th: Art II, Mr. Sanders: A114
“Now the first bell already rang for first hour to begin and I will call each of your teachers to let them know you each are running a little behind. Any other questions or concerns feel free to ask classmates or teachers. Welcome to Camden High School.” She said turning to her phone that continued to ring.
The time was 8:11 AM as we walked out of the main office.
“What lunch hour do you have?” I asked my brother sitting down on the nearby bench. He handed over his schedule to me:
1st: Geometry, Mrs. Peter: E105
2nd: P.E., Mr. Kline: C104
3rd: U.S. History I, Mr. Cooper: D227
4th: Spanish I, Mr. Wesley: B228
5th: Lunch
6th: English I, Ms. Williams: D213
7th: Fundamentals of Biology, Mr. Burkes: E229
8th: Environmental Science, Ms. Grimes: E218
“Well this isn’t so bad I guess. We have the same gym hour just different teachers. Come on I’ll walk you to your class.” I said handing him is schedule and picking up my book bag.
“You’re going to be fine okay. Don’t be on your phone during class and don’t stress about the first day. You’re going to do great,” I assured him pulling up to the closed door of his class. I clasped a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“I’ll see you 2nd hour.” I said as I walked to my first class, leaving him there in the hallway. I guess this isn’t so bad. But it’s just the first hour of the day.
As I came to a stop I looked down at my schedule to make sure I was at the right classroom because I didn’t want to make myself look like an idiot on the first day. I reached my hand up and knocked on the door.
“Come on in!” A man yelled from inside. I took the doorknob in my hand and pulled the door open.
“And who are you young man? I’m Mr. Taylor. Now have you ever read a book before?” He asked me. The class laughed at his question seeming as though this is naturally how he is.
“Yes, sir I have read a book before.” I answered his question.
“Well that’s good but you never said who you were.”
“I’m Isaac Baldwin, sir.”
“Isaac what’s with this ‘sir’ nonsense? Enough with the ‘sir’ Isaac. Do I look like a ‘sir’ to you Isaac?”
“No—I mean yes it’s just—I.” I stuttered.
“I’m just messing with you Isaac take a seat. Probably not in the front because I’ve been told I spit a lot.” He joked walking back to his seat.
“Thanks for the heads up.” I replied walking through each row before I found an open seat. With the class talking amongst themselves and random outbursts of Mr. Taylor’s humor I would say this class would be a good one.
“You said your name was Ian, right?” A voice from behind me said. A young girl with long brown, wavy hair was leaning up in her seat.
“Uh, it’s Isaac.” I corrected.
“My apologies, Isaac. Don’t mind Mr. Taylor he’s very sarcastic and he thinks he’s funnier then he actually is.” She informed me.
“I didn’t mind—that much anyway.” At 8:45 the bell cut me off and everyone grabbed their bags and rushed out of the class. She ripped my schedule from my hand and looked it over.
“Hmm, well me and my boyfriend Jai are in your lunch hour so that’s a good thing. I’m also in your math class. I think Jai has chemistry that hour but I’ll have to ask him later. Just go down these stairs and across the commons to the gym. You can’t miss it.” She said taking off in a different direction.
“Wait I didn’t get your name!” I shouted after her.
“Morgan!” She hollered back at me.
Gym wasn’t so bad. I could tell Nixon was having trouble adjusting and with him being a freshman, that wasn’t making it any better.
“You’re first class was good yeah?” I asked him, after sitting for 20 minutes listening to the teachers talk about gym rules.
“Yeah I guess. It’s kinda weird being the only freshman in a sophomore class. But these two kids actually talked to me. I guess I must have did something right.” He laughed softly under his breath.
“I told you, you were gunna do great.” I praised wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
9:35 the bell rang to head to 3rd hour and I was a little excited to be honest. I think I would consider Morgan a ‘friend’ even though I knew nothing about her. I made my way through the crowd and finally down to the end of the long hallway.
“Isaac back here!” A familiar voice bellowed as I entered the classroom. I weaved through the chairs and placed myself in the desk next to her.
“Carly this is Isaac. I just met him this morning. Isaac this is Carly.” Morgan introduced us. Carly had shoulder length straight blonde hair with dark brown eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I said lifting my hand to halfway wave at her.
“Likewise.” She said, giving me a flirtatious look. I quickly looked away hoping that she would get the idea that I don’t swing that way, that the team I play for requires completely different equipment then what she has, if you catch my drift.
The longer the day continued the longer each class seemed to be and when the bell rang at 10:25 for lunch I knew this day would be the longest one ever.
“Isaac come on, I want you to meet Jai.” Morgan said pulling on the hood of my jacket and dragging me to the lunch room.
“Come on let’s go get a burger or something. I’m sure Jai already got his food.” She said still pulling me along with her.
“So where are you from?” She questioned me.
“I’m from Nebraska.” I responded. She nodded her head at me as we moved forward in line.
“Any siblings, parents, family members of any kind?” She pushed.
“Yeah um, my dad who is the reason we moved here just became the new lawyer in town. My mom luckily enough got her job to transfer her here as well—.”
“And what does she do?” Morgan jumped in.
“She’s a writer.”
“My sister Harper is a writer for the local newspaper but then there is my brother Grayson who is a sophomore. He’s the youngest in our family and has a huge crush on Jai’s sister Hannah who’s also a sophomore. But he can’t go out with her because that would like incest or something right? I mean I’m already going out with Jai, so if Hannah does date my brother wouldn’t that be like me dating my own brother?” She rambled on.
“I have two younger brothers, Nixon who’s a freshman and Trey who’s in third grade. Then there is my youngest sister Katherine who’s in daycare because she’s just three.” I said changing the awkward subject.
“Jai has a younger brother who’s three! Miles is the sweetest little thing ever. What daycare did you put her in?” She asked getting really excited.
“Umm, I think it was called ‘Camden Care’ or something like that.” I said unsure of myself.
“Yeah that’s the one! Man do we get a long or what? We all have so much in common its crazy.” She announced. Her phone dinged twice in a row before she grabbed it out of her pocket looking down at the screen.
“Ah man.” She breathed out.
“Is everything alright?” I asked grabbing a tray for myself.
“No, Jai wasn’t feeling well so he went home. Excuse me I’m going to call him.” She said dialing a number on her phone and putting it to her ear.
The rest of the lunch hour was spent listening to her ramble on about her life, social and personal. I mean I guess one friend is better than none am I right? Occasionally from time to time I would see Nixon in the hallway, his face glued to the phone in his hand.
“Hey little bro, only two more classes left. How’s the day going for you so far?” I asked him.
“I made friends Isaac! Actual friends!” He exclaimed. “I first met them in math and then we have the same lunch hour. They asked me if I wanted to eat with them and we exchanged numbers and I have been texting them all day!” He shouted.
“That’s great Nixon, honestly I’m proud of you.”
“Have you gotten most of your signatures yet?” He questioned as we walked in the hallway.
“Crap I forgot to get my sociology teachers. I’ll have to catch up with you later.” I said bolting off to my previous class.
I quickly walked into the class before he started lecturing about the new school year and handed him the paper. He rushed to get the paper signed that way I wouldn’t be late for my next class.
“Jai Barker?” Mrs. Ream, my chemistry teacher called out as I walked into her classroom. I handed her the pass that Mr. Roth had written for me.
“Take a seat Mr. Baldwin.” She instructed. I was at least glad that a familiar name was in this class.
At the end of the day going through the rest of my classes was a blur. Most of my teachers would talk for about 10 minutes and we, the students were left sitting on our phones, something that my teachers didn’t care if we were on or not.
-To Nixon: Meet me at my car right after school.
-To Isaac: My friends wanted me to hang out after school.
-To Nixon: Not today buddy, I’ll have to meet them first. Besides we have to pick Trey up from school at 3:15 and Katherine at 3:30.
-To Isaac: Ugh… fine.
The final bell rang at 3:00 for dismissal. Everyone stood outside the school catching up with old friends and chatting about hanging out later that day. Everyone but me.
“Took you long enough.” Nixon said as I unlocked the door.
“Hush.” I responded
Silently we drove back the same way we came in the morning picking up Trey first. I parked the car along the side of the road and got out to wait outside the school, leaving Nixon to wait in the car.
It was like a mad heard of elementary school children was headed towards me when the bell rang. Teachers scrambled to keep kids from running out in the street to their parents. I searched among the small children looking for my brother. Red shirt, red shirt, where is a red shirt.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a red blur as Trey ran into my leg, hugging it tightly. I picked him up and squeezed him tight. Moments like these I realized that I don’t spend as much time with Trey as I do with Katherine or Nixon, probably because he never complained about wanting attention from me. And I felt like I was ignoring him to be honest whenever he did want to hang out, either because I had homework, I had to make dinner, or whatever the excuse was.
“Hey buddy. You ready to go home?” I asked as I put him back down on the pavement. He grabbed ahold of my hand as we walked down the stairs onto the sidewalk.
“Does the Ninja Turtles still come on at four?” He questioned as I buckled him into his safety seat.
“I don’t know little man,” I answered honestly. “Why don’t we check when we get home?” I suggested getting back in the driver’s seat, starting the car again.
“Trey stop kicking my seat.” Nixon blurted out randomly. A few seconds passed and he said it again.
“Trey I mean it stop.”
“I’m not bothering no one.”
“You’re bothering me now cut it out before I—.”
“Nixon,” I cut in. “Trey settle down please.” I said calmly.
“Fine.” He caved in. I found a spot and parked in the closest parking spot I could find and left my brothers to wait in the car.
“I’m here to pick up Katherine Baldwin.” I told the lady at the front desk.
“One moment please.” She requested as she dialed a number into her phone.
“Hey Rebekah, Isaac is here for Katherine,” she said hanging up the phone. “She’ll be out shortly.” She informed me.
A few seconds passed and Katherine came out with who I would take to be Rebekah, holding onto her hand tightly. Once she got a glance of me she flew out of the young woman’s grasp and into mine. I picked her up in my arms and kissed her cheek.
“She’s very smart that one. I was truly amazed with her knowledge,” she praised Katherine, tightening her bows in her hair. Katherine had her arms wrapped so tight around my neck that she was almost choking me.
“I’m Rebekah Watson, Katherine’s teacher.” She said giving me a bright smile.
“I’m Isaac Baldwin, Katherine’s brother.” I said reaching out my hand. She took ahold of it and shook it.
“I know.” She said dropping it and walking away back into the classroom as I put Katherine down on the ground.
“Do you like your teacher?” I asked taking her book bag off her shoulders.
“Miss Bekah is pretty.”
“I think you’re pretty. Did you have fun today?”
“I wanted to play with you. I was sad when you left because I play with you but now you are here so I am happy.” She said as a smile came to her face. I picked her up again hugging her tightly against me. She grabbed both of my cheeks, pinching them with her chubby hands and pushing them together making her laugh. The sound of her laugh was the best sound on the planet with no discussion about it. I strapped her into her car seat and jabbed my hand into my pocket to grab my keys.
“Damn, I’ll be right back.” I said getting out of the car and walking back into the building. I looked on the floor in every crevice and crack until I finally found them underneath the counter of the front desk. I bent down to pick them up and smacked my head on the hard surface.
“You okay?” A deep voice from the side said.
“Were you following me?” I asked, that being the first thing to come to my mind.
“No, I—uh, uh, I—uh just—I saw you fall.” He stuttered.
“Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a children’s daycare.” I said rubbing the back of my pounding head.
“I have family that goes here.” He responded.
“Oh— wow— tactless. I'm sorry. It's the pain, it’s making me foggy. And then back there, I’m pretty sure there was this— this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?” I stopped myself before I could ramble on any longer then I already had. “I'm Isaac.”
“I'm Jai.”
“Don’t we have chemistry together?”
“Oh so you’re the guy Morgan won’t stop talking about. Yeah that’s me. Sorry I flaked today I just wasn’t feeling like myself.” He explained.
“Right I get it. It’s understandable,” He reached down and picked up my keys that still lay on the floor.
“Thanks. Are you picking up Miles?”
“Oh. Um, yeah. How do you know that?” He wondered.
“No, no. It's just, I mean, Morgan told me that you have a younger brother who goes to the same place as my sister. I’m not like a stalker or anything like that.” I said rambling on again.
“Did you hurt yourself?” He asked changing the subject.
“Hmm?”
“Did you hurt yourself?” He asked again.
“Really, it's nothing,” I assured him. “Are you going to be at school tomorrow?” I asked breaking the silence.
“Hopefully.” He said with his one word response.
“Well my family is waiting for me outside. I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow.” I said to him.
“Hopefully.” He said once again as I turned to leave the building. I sat back in the driver’s side and put the keys in the ignition.
(TIME PASS)
“Trey only an hour of cartoons. Do you have homework?” I asked as he sat down in front of the TV.
“Just a paper that mom has to sign.”
“Alright. If you ask Nixon maybe he will help you with basketball before it gets dark out.” I suggested.
“One hour Trey. I mean it.” I said leaving him to stare at the TV.
-To Isaac: Hey Izzy I’m swamped here at work and won’t be home until after dinner.
-To Mom: It’s okay Mom. I have everything under control.
-To Isaac: And your father is dealing with several new clients and won’t be back until after midnight.
-To Mom: It’s okay really. I’m going to make some grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and peas. Is that alright?
-To Isaac: Yes dear that is perfectly fine. I will talk to you when I get home.
“Nixon!” I called for my brother.
“You don’t have to shout.” He said walking into the kitchen with Katherine at his side.
“Can you look after Katherine while I get dinner ready?” I asked, getting ingredients out from the refrigerator.
“Yeah I guess. I have homework I have to do so she’ll have to sit at the table with me then.”
“Can you get started with the homework then? Trey wants you to help him with his basketball.”
“Doesn’t Trey have homework too? And why can’t you help him? You know I’m no good at sports even dad says so.” Nixon said taking his homework out of his bag. Katherine ran into the living room and I followed after her. She planted herself next to Trey on the ground and stared at the TV.
“Trey, can you watch Katherine for a little while? Make sure that she doesn’t go anywhere by herself.” I asked him.
“Give me an extra hour of cartoons.”
“30 minutes.”
“Fine I’ll watch her.” Trey said caving in.
“You know my Fundamentals of Biology teacher is a total douche.” Nixon said as I walked back into the kitchen.
“Hey now. Watch yourself,” I warned. “And he can’t be a douche if he cares about the learning ability of his students.
“It’s just he expects so much more than the teachers in Nebraska. It’s really hard and it’s only the first day.”
“Is that the only homework you have?” I questioned.
“Yeah.”
“Hurry up and finish. That way you’ll be free to do whatever you want for the rest of the night.” I said starting on the chicken.
In two hours’ time I had finished dinner, cleaned the dishes, Nixon finished his homework, Trey stopped watching TV, and Katherine was sitting at the table coloring in her book.
As the clock struck 8PM it was time for Katherine to go to sleep. I helped her earlier with her bath while Trey convinced Nixon to help him with his basketball for at least 15 minutes.
I settled Katherine into her bed with freshly brushed teeth, tucking her in tight.
“Now if you need anything come get me okay? I should be up for a little while longer.”
“I know Izzy. I love you.” She said her eyes getting pretty heavy already.
“I love you, too baby girl. Sweet dreams.” I said leaning down to kiss her cheek. I leaned down to switch her night light on before shutting her door for the night.
At 9PM, Trey and Nixon sat on the couch watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
“Trey enough TV and go brush your teeth.”
“Izzy—.”
“Don’t ‘Izzy’ me. You begged to stay up later than usual and you know how you are in the mornings. Please Trey I don’t want to ask you again.” I explained to him. He huffed and practically shoulder checked me as he ran passed me.
“You can’t say that you didn’t act like that when you were eight.” Nixon said trying to defend his younger brother.
“I just want what’s best for him. For all of you. That way you don’t have to grow up and be trouble makers.” I admitted turning away to check on Trey.
“You know something? For someone who was never ‘trained’ to look after three minors, you’re not doing as bad as you think.” He mentioned in the most sincere way.
“Don’t stay up too late.”
“Are you going to bed?” He asked quickly.
“No I need to stay up until mom gets home. Why is something wrong?” I questioned.
“No, no. No just wondering is all. I’m a little beat so I think I’ll check on Trey for you and then go on to bed. Goodnight.” Nixon explained.
“Alright. Have a good night buddy.” I said walking over to the couch.
“Actually,” Nixon said poking his head around from behind the wall. “Um—I know that—uh we don’t say this much—or at all—but I uh—I love you Isaac. And I uh—just want you to know that.” He stuttered quickly before turning and running up the stairs, leaving before I could reply.
(TIME PASS)
Stop tapping me.
Stop tapping me.
Now you are shaking me.
Stop shaking me.
Fine! I’ll get up.
The on-going war in my head stopped as soon as I opened my droopy eyes to find my mother in front of me.
“Go to bed, sweetheart is after 11PM.” She said softly, not wanting to wake the others.
“Wait. Trey needs you to sign a paper for school tomorrow.” I said before she could take off to her room. I grabbed the paper from the magnet on the fridge and handed it to her. She quickly looked over it and signed it, sticking it back in its place.
“Goodnight dear.” She said a final time.
I made my way from the front door of my house to my room up above the garage. My sanctuary, my domain.
I’m home.