The Faithful

Chapter 3

We walk into the building alongside Brendon, and as we do so we hear the hoots and hollers from the idiots who think we are getting into trouble.

As we walk in the band room, Mr. Heath looks from Brendon to me and Caelyn. He gives Brendon a confused look. Brendon let's out a light chuckle and replies with "They think they need more practice and I figured that, well, I figured we could help them a bit." Mr. Heath just smiled and nodded his head in approval.

I grab the drumsticks and begin to play quietly. "What are you doing?" I jump out of my skin.

"Playing my part, isn't that what I'm supposed to do?" I ask. He nods his head.

"Not what I meant. Why are you playing so softly?" I shrug my shoulders, "play louder, bolder, be confident." He grabs the other pair of drumsticks and steals my spot for the third time today. He plays so loudly I can hear the drum crying in pain every time that he swings the drumstick. "Got it?" He asks after he thinks he's made his point. I nod once again and approach the drum, with him beside me we play the material together in sync.

After we finally finish, me Caelyn walk out to my car once again. This time we are not interrupted as we climb and in I start the car. "Home or Kyle's?" I ask because sometimes Caelyn doesn't exactly get along with her parents, and ends up in huge fights that usually resolve in her not coming home for a few days, so I drive her to Kyle's.

"Home, all good today," she replies, thinking to make sure she wasn't lying. "Yeah all good." We start the short trip to her house. It's takes about, I don't know, 15-20 minutes. As she climbs out, she turns around and asks, "Have fun with Brendon today. It looked like he has a thing for you as much as you do him." She turns around giggling and makes her way up her driveway and steps through the door, making sure to turn and wave at me before she disappears into her house.

As I pull into the garage, two sad four year old girls step out into the garage. I get out and remember I was supposed to have a tea party with them after school. "Where were you? We were supposed to have a tea party," whines Tara. They looked like as if they were going to cry.

"I'm sorry, maybe we can still have one," I suggested. They nodded their heads. "Why not?" I asked.

"Mommy says we have to start getting ready for Friday school tomorrow. We have to start getting our baths," says Violet.

"I'm sorry twins, maybe tomorrow after I get home from school. To make it up to you, would you like me to invite Caelyn?" They both nod their heads, the twins have always liked Caelyn, and Caelyn has always enjoyed their tea parties.

"Nicole, is that you?" My mom calls from inside the house.

"Yeah mom it's me," I reply as she joins us in the garage.

"Are you all ready for dinner?" She asks, the twins nod and run inside to get their favorite plates and forks. "You ready too?" I nod and walk into the house.

I take seat at the table beside my 13 year old brother, Jordan. My dad joins at the table right before we start getting food, he often doesn't get off work on time which makes him late for dinner. We eat spaghetti and meatballs that my mom made, at last minute.

After the spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, the twins were covered in sauce. I help Tara get a bath first, after she's finished I help Violet. After they are ready, my mom puts them to bed while Jordan gets his shower. Jordan sits down and watches The Walking Dead, I finally get my shower, the water feels so nice, I get out and put on my favorite pajama pants and one of my dad's old t-shirts. I join Jordan on the couch. I watch the ending of this episode, confused, he tries to explain but it doesn't help. I head to bed tired, I lay down. Right before I slip out of consciousness I see Brendon's face and then blackness.