I woke up to the sound of the rain on a dreary monday morning.
It usually wasn't too bad, but since we had to patch up the roof with a bit of old tin, it was ridiculously loud.
I groaned to myself, knowing that I wasn't getting any more sleep this morning. I reluctantly threw my feet of the bed and stood up, making my way to the shower.
I turned the shower on and hoped Mom hadn't used all the hot water. It ended up being freezing cold, though I still took a shower.
When I was finally dressed in my usual outfit, and my hair was all brushed, and my teeth all cleaned, I headed downstairs to find my father.
"Morning Theodore." My father greeted.
"Morning." I smiled, sitting down at the bench. "Where's Mom?"
"At work."
I nodded. "Right."
"Anyway, did you sleep well?" He asked as he started pouring me a bowl of cereal.
I shrugged. "The rain woke me up. That tin patch isn't quiet."
"Yeah, I realised. Sorry, though. I'll have to find something better."
"No, no, it's okay." I assured.
"It's really not." He sighed.
"It is!" I tried to change the subject. "Do you have another interview today?"
He nodded. "I feel really good about this one."
"That's awesome." I smiled. "I'm sure you'll get it this time Dad."
"Thanks." He smiled. He placed the bowl of cereal in front of me.
I took a spoonful. "So, what's the job?
"How's it taste?"
I gave him a look. "What's the job, Dad?"
"That's not important."
"Dad?" I asked again, my voice a lot softer this time.
"What?"
"What's the job?"
"It's not important Theo."
"It is." I told him firmly. "Come on."
"I'm not telling you. Now, finish your breakfast."
"Dad!"
"It's just a job, okay?"
"What job?"
"I'm not telling you. It's one I said I'd never take." He mumbled.
I frowned. "Dad..."
"It'll be fine. I don't think I'll have much competition."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's nothing. If I tell you you'll worry."
"I'm worried now."
"Don't be. I promise, it'll be fine. We can talk when you get home from school."
"Promise you'll tell me?"
"I promise."
I smiled. "Good."
"Are you ready to go to school?"
I nodded. "Yeah, all ready."
He smiled. "I knew I could trust you to get ready."
I rolled my eyes playfully. "I'm nearly 15 Dad."
"I don't believe you."
I laughed and took another bite of my cereal.
"So how are you going with school?"
"Good." I shrugged. "It's school, I guess."
"You're a pretty smart kid, ya know?"
"Eh." I shrugged.
"You are."
"Not really."
"You really are. I could see you as a doctor, or something."
"I'm not that smart, Dad." I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah you are!"
"I only get B's Dad."
"You shouldn't let that get to you. If you don't stop trying, you'll never get into college."
"Um..."
"What's up?"
He looked at me expectantly. I didn't have the heart to tell him at that point.
"Nothing, don't worry."
He smiled. "I reckon all the best colleges will be after you."
"Maybe? I don't know Dad."
"They will, my amazing baby boy."
I went bright red. "I'm not a baby anymore Dad."
"Yeah you are. You'll always be my baby boy."
I just smiled.
"You're the best kid ever."
"Not really."
"Yeah you are."
I rolled my eyes.
"I've got to head off if I'm going to get to the interview on time. Stay safe Theo. Have fun."
I nodded. "Have fun Dad, good luck!"
He smiled before waving me goodbye. He left the house and I put my bowl in the sink.
After a quick washing up of everything, I locked the front door and began the walk to school. After two streets, I stopped on my usual curb and waited for my best friend.
She ended up running up behind me and jumping onto my back.
"Argh!" I shoved her off, before laughing. "Hey Layton."
"Hey Theo! Good to see you."
"Same here." I smiled. "How was your weekend?"
"Pretty good." She beamed.
"Where'd you go?"
"I just went to the next town over. Nothing special. Dad wanted to meet up with his brother."
"And how was he?"
"He was fine. Boring as always."
Still sounded a lot more exciting than my weekends. "Oh well."
"Did you do anything interesting?"
"Just sat at home." I shrugged.
"Cool." She shrugged.
I nodded. "Did you do the history homework?"
Her eyes widened. "No..." She giggled slightly.
I laughed. "Of course. I need to look up some things on the internet for it, so I'm going to drop into the computer lab before school."
She nodded. "I'll come with you and see if I can get any done."
"Cool." I nodded as we turned into the school gates.
We got to the computer lab and I started up one of the painfully slow computers so I could work. Layton was working on her laptop beside me.
"Ya know, if you just told the teachers that you didn't have internet at your place, they'd stop giving you detention."
"Every single kid uses that excuse."
"Yeah, but yours is for real."
"They won't believe me."
"Just ask your parents for a note."
"Fine."
She nodded and sent her homework to the printer.
"Can you wait for me? This hasn't finished loading up yet." I sighed.
"Sure." She shrugged.
"Thanks." I murmured.
It finally printed just as the bell rang, and we both ran to class.
"Hello Theodore, Layton." Our teacher greeted.
"Sup?" Layton asked, sitting down in her seat.
"Please don't say that." Our teacher sighed.
She shrugged. "K."
Our teacher sighed again.
I took my seat next to her and started working on some lyrics I'd been working on over the weekend.
"Are you songwriting again?" She asked in a whisper.
"Maybe?" I whispered back.
She giggled slightly.
"It's really nothing." I shrugged.
"Sure, sure."
I nodded. "Yeah. Nothing."
"You're not a good liar."
"Lay, it's nothing." I told her plainly.
"You say that all the time."
"That's because none of my songs are good."
"They're amazing!" She stated a bit too loud.
Everyone stared, and I sighed.
"Sorry." She giggled slightly.
I continued working in silence.
About halfway through the lesson, the teacher came up to our desk.
"Homework?" She asked, holding her hand out.
I presented my sheet.
"That's the wrong subject. That's not due until tomorrow."
I froze and dug through my folder. "What was it?"
"The English worksheet I gave out on Thursday?"
I found it and passed it over. "Sorry."
"Thank you. Layton?"
"Didn't do it Miss."
The teacher just wrote out a detention pass and placed it on the desk.
"Thanks." She grinned, doing finger guns.
The teacher rolled her eyes.
"You're gonna get expelled some day." I told her.
"Well that day's not today." She smirked.
"True."
"And besides, the school loves me, or my Dad, which basically means they love me, right?"
"Lucky." I murmured.
She nodded.
"We should probably do the work."
"Stuff that." She stated.
"Well, some of us don't have rich parents to bail us out." I muttered. "And I've got college expectations on my back."
"Really? When'd that start?"
"Since I brought home a B." I muttered.
She chuckled. "Fun."
"Can you not laugh about this? This is serious."
"Not really. If your parents send you, you can always drop out."
"No, I can't!" I told her. "You don't have expectations! If they send me, do you know what they would cost?! They'd be giving up everything. I can't drop out after that."
"Sure you can!"
I glared at her.
"They would totally understand."
"They would totally not understand!"
"Why not?"
"Because it'd kill them!"
"How? They know you want to be a musician, right? They'll understand."
"No, and no."
"Why haven't you told them?!"
"Because they won't understand." I sighed.
"Whatever."
The bell rang and I packed my notebook up.
Layton didn't talk to me the whole way to the next class.
We sat down in maths for some work.
She just quietly took her notes beside me.
"Dad won't tell me what his job interview was for this morning." I mumbled. "I'm getting worried."
"I'm sure it's fine."
"He said it's something he wouldn't ever take..."
"Maybe it's just something obscure."
"I have a really bad feeling about this Lay..."
"You shouldn't."
I sighed. "Thanks for really listening Lay."
"You're just paranoid."
I glared at her.
"Come on, don't worry so much."
"I'm just like, a constant ball of worry."
"I realised."
"Yep."
"Anyway, do the work."
I frowned and got back to my maths.
She finished the work and handed it to the teacher.
I went after her, and handed mine in also. In return, I was given a homework sheet.
When I sat down, I tried to work more on the song. I really wasn't happy with it.
Layton leaned over. "That reminds me! I found this thing for you on the internet."
"What do you mean?"
She pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and slid it over to me. "It's a competition."
"You know I can't enter these internet competitions."
"No, no, it's for reals. Like, the dudes from Fall Out Boy and Panic are running it."
"I still can't enter."
"Course you can. They're running this camp thing, right? And it like, totally preps kids to be in the music industry. They even promise people are going to get signed on this thing!"
"I'm not good enough."
"Pfft. Of course you are. I've heard you sing!"
"Then you should know I suck."
"No, I know you're AWESOME."
"Whatever."
She shoved me gently and smiled. "I reckon you could get into this."
"I doubt it."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." She grinned expectantly.
"I don't want to do it."
"But you're such a good singer T!"
"I'm sorry."
I felt like an ass for lying to her, but I didn't want her to know that I was interested. That meant more pressure, and more disappointment if I didn't enter, or if I did enter and didn't get in.
"Is it because of the university thing?"
"No, no, I just don't want to do it. It'd cost too much."
"You need to do more things for yourself."
"Maybe, later. I don't know."
"Fine."
We worked until lunch, when Layton had detention. I sat down in the computer lab to do some research on this competition.
It was pretty intriguing and seemed like the exact thing I needed.
I printed a sheet off and shoved it in the bottom of my bag.
I looked into it a bit more. I heard the door open and I closed the tab.
"Whatcha doing T? Old lady Hessen let us all out early."
"Uh, just some work."
"Cool, cool. Wanna come back to my place after school?"
"If I can."
"Cool." She grinned. "Or do you want me to come to yours?"
"Umm, well I want to know how Dad's interview went."
"Oh, yeah, okay." She nodded. "Maybe I want to know too?"
"You're not coming to my house, Lay."
"Seriously?!" She groaned. "How long have we been friends?"
"You don't want to come to my house."
"How long T?"
"A while?"
"3 years!" She told me. "And I've never been to your house once!"
"That's because it's so much worse than yours!"
"I don't judge, dude. I stayed in a hut when I was volunteering with my Mom in Africa!"
"I live in a house that's quite literally falling apart!"
"It can't be that bad!"
"Sure."
"Prove it to me." She challenged. "We should go."
"Fine." I muttered.
She grinned from ear to ear. "Really? Awesome! I finally get to see where you sleep! Wait, that sounded creepy... anyway, I'm excited."
After school, I trudged towards my house. I was nervous, and honestly thought she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore.
"Weird neighbourhood." She murmured, looking at the homeless dude from 3 blocks down.
"That's Paul." I mumbled.
"I see..."
"He's pretty nice."
"Okay..."
"We're almost there anyway."
"Awesome." She grinned.
I took a deep breath in and knocked on the door.
Dad answered. "Theodore... and co."
"Layton." I stated.
"Layton... hello..." He shook her hand while giving me an odd look.
"She insisted on coming here."
"Lovely to meet you Mr Emmery." She smiled.
He pushed a 5 dollar bill into my hand. "Why don't you two go get some ice cream or something?"
I shook my head and handed it back. "We're gonna head to her house."
Layton gave me a shove in the side.
I sighed. "How'd your interview go?"
"Let's talk about that later..." He was still blocking the door.
"Alright. Bye Dad."
Layton frowned. "Weren't you going to show me that thing T?"
"What thing?"
"You know, the thing."
I sighed. "Can we come in Dad?"
He gave me a look. "Theodore..."
"Please."
He reluctantly moved out of the doorway and went to the kitchen. "I'm sorry we don't have much in the house at the moment..." He fumbled around in the pantry. "Um... cheese crackers?"
"It's fine Dad, don't stress."
"I wasn't expecting company?" He tried to smile.
"That's alright. We'll try to not be a bother."
He forced a smile at Layton.
I then went into my room.
"Huh. So this is where you sleep." Layton sat on the end of my bed. "Kinda hard."
"Better than the floor though."
She laughed it off. I wasn't joking.
I forced a weak smile.
Her face fell. "Wait, you're not serious... right?"
"Uh..." this had become increasingly awkward.
I ended up in an awkward sympathy hug, and I gently pushed her off. "There's reasons why I don't want you here."
"Why not? It's not really that bad."
I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. "Lay, this isn't a happy home like yours."
"What do you mean?"
"You have a Mom and a Dad and you're all so happy and you all just eat breakfast and dinner together every night and you always have food to eat and every morning they go to work and they don't really care about what you do because all they want is for you to be happy. In my family, the 5 rights of life aren't rights, they're earned. And that means that happiness, comes second."
"Still, you have a house, and your Dad seems like he's always here for you."
"The house is from housing commissions and my Dad is always here because he can't hold down a job for longer than a week."
"Oh."
I picked my bag back up. "Let's go. There's nothing here for us to do anyway."
"TV?"
"Don't have one."
She frowned.
"How do you entertain yourself?" She asked.
"Read? There's a library nearby, I'm a bit of a regular."
"That's cool."
I sighed again. "Can we just go?!"
"Fine!"
"Thank you." I murmured, grabbing my bag.
She took a photo of my room. "Cool. Let's go."
"Delete that."
"Is it weird I want a memory of this? I doubt you're ever gonna let me back here, so I wanna record."
"Delete it!" I made a grab for her phone.
She gave me a look. "Weirdo."
"Delete it! Please!"
"Why are you so touchy?"
"Because I can be! Now delete it!"
"T, tell me what's up."
"No."
"Then I'm not deleting it."
"I hate you!"
"I'll delete it if you tell me why you're being so touchy about it!"
"Because I can be, Layton!"
"Woah, T, full name and everything?" She chuckled. "Seriously, I just wanna know."
I just sighed. "Don't worry."
She shrugged and grabbed her bag, not deleting the photo.
"Please just delete it Lay."
"Eh. Maybe later. Come on T, if you're so desperate to leave."
I sighed once again and led her out the house.
Layton's house was starkly different to mine, and you knew that from the moment that you set foot into her street. Her street was lined with colourful trees, rich estates and large mansions. My street was lined with homeless people, litter and drug addicts.
It was like my retreat, her house. It was so nice and so different to mine.
"Mom, we're home!" She called out as soon as she stepped through the door.
"How was school?" Her mother called back.
"Good. T's here."
"Okay. Don't make too much of a mess."
"We never do, Mom."
"I know."
She led me to the kitchen and rifled through the pantry. "We've got chocolate! Yes!"
I smiled slightly.
She grabbed the bag and led me up to her room.
I sat on her bed, which was infinitely more comfortable than mine.
"Sooo... what you wanna do?"
I shrugged.
She gasped. "We should do karaoke!"
"If you want?" I murmured.
She grinned and turned her TV on in the corner, before tossing me a microphone.
"Why don't you start?" I asked.
"No, we both start." She picked a duet.
"Fine."
The song started and we both started singing.
It was kind of awkward, and I was really self-concious about my voice, though I didn't want to seem rude.
She was grinning from ear to ear. "You're such a good singer T!"
"Not really..."
"Yes! Totally!"
"Maybe..."
"Let me prove it to you!" She turned on 'recording' mode.
I frowned slightly.
"Let's do... this one!"
"Fine."
"Why are you so grumpy today T?"
"I don't know."
"Smile?"
"Why should I?"
"Because we're having fun!"
"You might be."
She pouted. "Well, what do you wanna do then T?"
I shrugged.
"See? You need to learn some fun."
"No I don't."
She changed the video game and passed me a controller. "Let's do mariokart."
"Fine."
"So grumpy T."
"I know."
"How can I make you happy?" She asked, resting her head on my shoulder.
"I don't know."
"You're so glum." She put a hand to my forehead. "Are you sick?"
"I don't think so."
"I think that's a fever." She frowned. "Come with me."
I groaned.
She tested my temperature with an actual thermometer, and frowned. "You're definitely sick T."
"Delightful." I murmured.
She handed me some pandols. "Mom, can we drive Theo home? He's sick."
"Yeah, sure." Her Mom shrugged.
"Oh, no, I can walk." I tried to convince.
"No, it's no problem Theo."
"I'll, I'll just walk. It's easier and better."
"No, come on."
I winced. "No, no, I'll be fine."
"Fine."
"If you're sick, at least let Lay walk you home." Her mother informed me.
I groaned and started to leave.
Lay was bouncing along beside me. "You're still being a grumpy bum."
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because."
She pouted. "You're never gonna feel better if you don't talk to me."
"I'll be fine, I promise."
She shoved the bag of chocolate into my hands. "Sugar is the best medicine."
"Thanks."
She smiled. "No problems. Anyway, this is your place. See ya."
"Bye Lay."
"See ya T. Go see a doctor or something."
"I won't."
She poked her tongue out at me, before hugging me and leaving.
I walked inside. "Hey Dad."
"Theodore, come sit down."
"Alright..." I murmured nervously.
I sat down on the couch across from him and fiddled with my fingers, hoping he'd speak.
After a good five minutes of silence, I decided to break the ice. "Chocolate?"
He shook his head. "No thanks..."
"Are you sure? Sugar is the best medicine."
He nodded.
"Well, that's what Lay said." I murmured as I took one to hopefully cure my headache.
He just nodded again silently.
I sighed. "How'd you go today?"
"It was another flop." He sighed.
"I'm so sorry!" I apologised.
"It's fine."
He looked so broken, it was hard to watch.
"I'm sure I'll get the next one, whatever it is."
"Yeah, I bet." I placed my hand on his knee.
"How was your day?" He asked.
"Fine, I guess." I mumbled.
He frowned slightly.
I decided not to dwell on it. "Sorry about before. I would've warned you... I just didn't know either."
"It's fine." He murmured.
"No, it's not, and I'm sorry Dad."
"Don't worry about it."
I nodded awkwardly.
"Your friend seems nice."
"Yeah, I guess."
The awkward silence returned.
"Your Mom's working late today."
I just nodded.
"Do you... want to go and get some dinner?"
"Sure."
He locked the door and we walked down to the nearby McDonalds.
We just ordered something cheap and decided to eat at home.
"I'm sorry." he mumbled as we sat at the table.
"It's alright."
"No, it's not." He sighed.
"It's fine." I assured.
He ate in silence.
"I'm going to bed." He mumbled.
"Okay Dad, sleep well."
"You too."
"Goodnight."
He headed into his bedroom.
I decided to wait around for Mom, so I just laid on the couch.
She didn't get home until really late. The door unlocked and she walked in.
"Hey Mom." I smiled.
"Oh, hey Theo." She smiled.
"How was work?"
"It was alright."
"That's good." I smiled, taking her coat.
"Thanks." She beamed. "And yeah, it wasn't too bad. How was your day?"
"It was okay." I shrugged. "Dad and I already ate, I'm sorry."
"That's fine. I wasn't even expecting you to be up."
"Well, I didn't want to go to bed without seeing you today."
She smiled. "You're so sweet."
I chuckled. "Anyway, Dad's in bed. His interview went pear-shaped, he's not doing too well."
She frowned slightly. "I'll talk to him."
"Okay. Well, goodnight Mom."
"Goodnight Theo. Sleep tight."
I gave her a hug, and she frowned. "Are you feeling okay? You feel a little warm."
"Layton said I had a fever. I don't know."
She frowned. "Let's get you to bed."
"Okay." I mumbled.
She ended up tucking me in.
"Goodnight." I mumbled.
"Night Theo." She pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Sleep well."
"You too."
She smiled and turned my light off.
It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
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Updates begin some time in February.
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