Ryan and Aidan played the shooting game while I watched. I liked watching them play. They were way better than me and it was like watching a film. Not to mention, the cables weren't long enough to reach the couch, so I got the whole couch to myself, while they sat on the floor.
"Look, Chester," Aidan said and smiled up at me. "This is the bit with the ball."
I nodded and hugged the pillow even harder. I loved the bit with the ball.
The door opened and Dad appeared in it.
"Come on, boys." He jerked his head at us. Ryan and Aidan turned the game off and followed. I did too. I hated this. I had to stand on the porch, watching them all shift into birds and fly off without me. I wasn't a shifter. I couldn't fully shift. And what always happened was that I wanted to so badly, my face got covered in feathers.
Dad never commented on my feathers but the way he looked at me was enough. I was humiliated.
They all shifted into their bird forms. Aidan and Dad were both eagles. Ryan was an owl just like me. They took off and left me on the porch with feathers all over my face.
"Come on, Chester, dear," mom said very softly from behind me. She crouched down and held her arms out towards me and I walked right into her embrace. "Let's bake some cookies. Would you like that?"
I nodded and sniffled. My mom was the best in the world and she never made me feel bad about not being a shifter like my brothers. She never made me feel bad for being who I was.
"Hey Chester! Catch!" Charlie laughed and threw the football at me. I caught it and held it up in the air, proudly showing it off. "You should be on the football team."
"Maybe next year." I was never going to try out. I despised everyone on the football team.
"You'll be a good fetcher," a boy named Kyle said.
I threw the football back to Charlie, ignoring Kyle. It was easy enough until he and his group of friends started barking at me. I caught the football again and clenched it between my fingers. They had started this stupid joke because Jessica from our class had a dog named Chester. It was so annoying and I was about to launch the ball in Kyle's stupid face when I heard Ryan's voice.
"Che!"
I turned and looked at him, confused to who the hell Che was. He was looking right at me, yelling out 'Che' again. I went up to him and he smiled, taking my hand in his.
"Come on, Che. We've got to get home," he said very loudly and looked up at Kyle and his friends. His smile faded and he squeezed my hand.
"Why did you call me Che?" I asked after leaving the school grounds, making our way past the red brick buildings.
"You seem like a Che to me." He shrugged a bit and took my backpack from me, swinging it over his shoulder.
"It sounds cooler than Chester."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" He smiled down at me and I nodded.
And from that day no one ever barked at me again.
It was getting late and I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples.
"You okay, deary?" Mom asked and looked a little worried.
"I have a headache."
She rose from her armchair where she always sat in the living room, came over to the couch and sat down next to me. She very gently put her palm to my forehead and looked a little worried.
"You're not warm, sweetheart. Have you had any water today?"
I nodded but went to the kitchen to get something to drink anyway. Ryan was sitting up on the counter by the big open window, taking very deep breaths. He didn't feel well at night, so sometimes he slept outside.
He looked up at me when I came into the kitchen and smiled a bit. "What're you doing?"
"Just getting some water."
"Headache?" He sounded so tired.
I nodded and filled up a glass of cold water from the pitcher in the fridge.
And then my brother loudly gagged, jumped down from the counter and hurried outside. He was grasping the railing and Dad came into the kitchen, looking annoyed. He opened the kitchen door but didn't walk out to Ryan.
"Come inside."
"I can't," I heard Ryan reply. I couldn't see him in the darkness anymore.
"Now, Ryan."
Ryan didn't reply and Dad walked out. He came back shortly, hauling Ryan with him.
"Please, Dad, please don't make me." He was crying now. Ryan never cried. "I can't be inside anymore! Please, I don't wanna hear the noises!"
I pressed my back to the kitchen cupboards, clutching my glass of water to my chest.
Ryan gagged immediately and threw up on the floor and now Mom came into the kitchen. She looked at the puke on the floor and then at Dad. She took Ryan's wrist out of Dad's hand and lead him back outside. Dad was left standing in the kitchen with me, anger rolling off him in waves and puke on the floor.
Aidan came into the kitchen too, but he didn't say anything either. He came to me, put his arm around me and lead me out of the kitchen. I was happy to leave.
Aidan took me to my room and made sure I brushed my teeth and changed into my PJ's.
"Aidan?" I whispered, afraid Dad would hear me.
"Yeah?" He crouched at the end of my bed, where my head was.
"My head hurts."
"It's gonna be okay. How about I read a story for you?"
I loved when Aidan read to me. I nodded and clutched my teddy closer. Aidan picked one of the books off the shelf and sat down on the floor by my head again. He started reading and I didn't remember falling asleep.
"It's time you all grow up. Today is the first step in your real education." The instructor stopped in front of me and looked down. "And it's time to mind what you eat." He continued and I heard snickers from my classmates.
I was a little fat. I had always been a little fat, but I was determined now to get that worked off. I wanted to be a soldier exactly like Ryan. He was amazingly strong already. 14 years old and the biggest and best in his class. I wanted to be like that too.
Aidan was on the fast track to become just as great as Ryan. Everyone knew my brothers and I wanted to be known like them too.
We started the training with running laps. When you're eight years old, you can't really start out with combat training right away. So first, cardio and strength, then combat.
I got started on a new diet too. I needed to get strong and I started running with Aidan and Ryan in the morning and the evenings too. They're much faster than I am, so I'm often left behind, but they always stop to let me catch up. I appreciated that so much.
I was fast to learn combat training. I didn't cry the first time I got punched in the face. I dried the blood off and went back into action. Right back into action. I threw myself at every opponent and I didn't give a shit about getting hurt myself.
My dad was called in and told of my massive improvement. I had always been excellent in school and I spoke Spanish fluently by the time I was 8, but I had never been good in PE. Now, I finally was. I was the best. I needed to be the best.
Dad came to see me fight and when the class was over he smiled and handed me a bottle of water.
"You're fast, Che."
I felt myself grow at least two inches under his praise.
"I have no doubts you'll be just as good as your brothers." He patted my head and took my gym bag for me. "I think we should put our focus elsewhere, though."
"What?" I didn't understand.
"You're very smart, Che. I think we should utilise that."
"I'm doing advanced classes already..."
"Yes, but your focus is on becoming a soldier. Maybe this isn't the right focus. We'll see."
I knew the discussion was over but I wanted to continue. I wanted to be a soldier. More than anything I wanted to be a soldier.
My head was in agony. I couldn't get myself straight and everything was pain. I peeled myself off the couch and went to the kitchen to get some water. I didn't make it. I threw up in the hallway. Mom ran from the kitchen and helped me out on the porch. I fell to my knees right away, gulping air down my lungs.
"It hurts," I whimpered and held my hands to my head.
"I know, sweetheart, but it'll all be better now. Just relax and look up at the stars, honey."
The banging noises in my head had stopped and I opened my eyes. I didn't feel nauseous anymore either.
"Don't tell Dad, please Mom, please don't tell Dad." I grabbed her wrists, my eyes begging her to not tell him.
"We'll keep this between us, deary," she murmured softly. "How about you go down to the little hut and sleep there? It's so nice and warm out here. A good night for sleeping outside." She kissed my forehead and helped me back up to my feet.
She took me to the little hut we had made recently. I loved it down here and I spent a lot of time with my friends here, playing or just hanging out.
Mom sat me down on one couch, while she went back to the house to get me blankets and my pillow.
"Will you be alright out here? Or do you want Ryan to stay with you?"
I could totally bail out Ryan by saying I didn't wanna sleep alone out here, so I nodded. I bundled myself in the blanket and waited for my oldest brother to join me. He didn't take long. He came with a bag of chips, soda and a blanket of his own. He dumped down on the opposite couch and put the chips and the soda on the table between us. He didn't say anything about having to sleep out here with me and I loved him for that.
"How's training going?" he asked and popped a chip in his mouth.
"Good. I'm the best in my class."
He smiled proudly. "Of course you are. You're a Levy."
I grinned and nodded.
"Good, Che. Good!" the instructor praised as I kept moving around Henry. He was my fighting partner and he wasn't doing very well. He was too skinny. I tried to help him out in the gym, but it seemed like he just couldn't gain any weight.
I, on the other hand, did not have that issue. I was 14 and already 5'9'' and almost 150 pounds. I was on the fast track to becoming just as big as Aidan and Ryan. Aidan had already graduated, the absolute nerd. I was not gonna graduate early. I wasn't special. I wasn't a shifter. I was just a soldier and nothing else.
I kicked out and got Henry down on the floor. He groaned and ran his hands over his face.
"I'm never learning this shit," he groaned. I reached my hand out to him and he grabbed it. He weighed next to nothing so getting him back up wasn't hard.
"Henry, you need to gain weight," the instructor said.
"I know, I know. I'm trying."
"Well, try harder." The instructor rolled his eyes a bit and turned to me.
"I think we need to focus on your flexibility now. You're a little stiff in your left leg. I wanna get on top of that before it turns into an issue."
I nodded and started stretching. Okay, gotta work on this leg. Can't let it get stiff...
"Hey, Che."
I looked up, meeting the very green eyes of Clarissa Davis.
"Uh..."
"I was wondering since you know the prom is lady's choice and all... I was wondering if you wanted to go? With me? To prom?"
I almost sprang up from the floor and ran a hand over my hair, wishing she hadn't come right now as I was a sweaty disgusting mess.
"I-I... Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great."
"I was afraid someone had already asked you," she said with a giggle and smiled. "My dress will be green. If you wanna match."
I smiled very widely. "I'll find something green."
Henry looked wide-eyed at me. "Dude, did Clarissa Davies just ask you to the prom?"
I laughed and nodded. I sat back down again and started stretching. "I just got asked out."
"Why don't I ever get asked out? I'm never getting a date."
"Hey, I've never had a date before this! I'm as surprised as you are." I shrugged and wrapped my fingers around my foot, my leg stretched out to the side. It hurt like a bitch in my thigh, but it also felt good.