A-Symmetric // bxb

04: You've Got a Sister?

Jay's POV:

It had been two weeks since my incident. I knew the gash would leave a scar-a cool one at that. Now I have a natural split brow. The doctor told me the bruise wasn't too bad and shouldn't take more than a month to heal. He told me to ice it twice a day for 20 minutes. So I probably had paid 400 dollars for a doctor visit to receive information I could've gotten from Rodger.

Lovely.

It is now the 21st of July, which means school is approaching. Over the last few weeks, Rory, Rodger, and I had been trying to get in every last summer activity before the only time of the year worth living slipped away. For us, school starts on August 16th. I think it varies across the U.S. Some people start quite late, but here in Nowhere, USA, we have to suffer longer. So basically school is unfair, and I possess a deep hatred for it.

Who doesn't?

Anyways, back to the summer activities. We'd done all the outside activities already, and were now resorting to the indoor things-considering it was supposed to be 102 degrees outside today. We've done everything from DIY slip n' slides to twelve hour movie marathons. Today, we planned to meet at Rory's house, (as usual), and play Truth or Truth Extreme. Yeah, no dares. Since Rory is...Rory, we usually don't like to play truth or dare because she takes dares too far sometimes. Besides, truth or truth is more juicy, y'know? We get bigger tea spills.

Anyways, we're supposed to meet at 11:45 with at least two packs of candy and one of those bottles of soda that are bigger than your head. I told them I might be a little late though, I have to go see my sister today. Yeah, I have a sister. Her name is Lizzie and she's 12. I make her live with our aunt, considering it's much safer for her. I couldn't stand to let her live with me and get abused. Our aunt is one of those really cool aunts, she understands she needs to keep Lizzie safe and that her brother (my dad), is very dangerous. Nonetheless, she also understands I can't live with her. My parents could sue our aunt, and then I'd have to go to court and explain why I can't live with my own parents, and then I think they'd be arrested. When they'd get out of prison, they would most likely hunt me down and kill me.

No joke.

Lizzie does know about the abuse and everything, and I haven't found a time to see her since my incident. She knows about it, and she's been worried sick. She acts like a mother. The mother figure most kids have.

The mother I never really got to have.

My aunt lived a good 40 minutes away, so it was a longer drive than I would've liked, but that just gave me some time to blast music in the car. Currently, I have NOAHFINNCE on full volume. I bopped my head to the music, screaming the lyrics with horrendous voice cracks, and tapping the steering wheel incredibly off-beat.

Never said anything about being a good singer, so stop judging.

— — — —

"Jay! Oh god, Jay." She pulled me into a shockingly tight hug, squeezing all the air out my lungs. I wheezed. She nuzzled her face into my chest, she out of nowhere, shoved me away. "You asshole! You didn't give me updates or anything. I should disown you as a brother, but then you'd probably get yourself killed." Lizzie shouted at me.

"Liz, chill. I was perfectly fine till you broke my damaged rib with that bone-crushing hug." I let out a breathy laugh. She couldn't stay mad at me for long, and tried to hide her small smile.

I ruffled her vibrant blue hair as I passed her and waltzed into the house. "Aunt Linda?" I called out. "You here?" I asked, looking into doorways to find her.

"In here hun!" She shouted back in her raspy aunt-like voice. I rounded the corner of the main hallways and tracked her voice to the laundry room. "She turned around when she heard me enter the room and the woman engulfed me in a bear hug, similar to the one I'd received from Lizzie earlier. "How ya holdin' up, Purple Jay? Oh, and for heaven's sake, call me mom!" I swallowed thickly at the mention of the word 'mom.' I suppose my aunt was a mind reader, because she apologized a moment later. I shook it off with a laugh and said, "What did I tell you about the nickname?" I asked. I pretended to hate it, but both Lizzie and Linda knew I loved it.