Explosion (Kellic)

Wait what?

He looked it over a second, before placing it in his already packed bag and swinging a chair around to straddle. I always loved it when people straddled chairs. Josh clasped his hands together, then looked right at me. My eyes flickered down. "Listen, darling . . . I'm not entirely sure that you're going to be able to catch up to our project performance . . ." He let that sit in the air for a second and the way he was acting made me nervous that he was going to make me drop the class or something. I was really looking forward to this class. "I'll tell you what," he said, his voice considerably brighter. "How's about we get Sleeping With Sirens down here to play open mic at Cupcake's, yeah?" Josh stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Next Friday, alright darling?"

I blinked, looked at him, scrunched my face in confusion. Sleeping With Sirens? Performing? I sat there in complete shock. So many thoughts were running through my mind all at once I didn't know what to say first. And what the heck was Cupcake's?

"Wait what?"

It was the first time I'd spoken all day but even though I was completely mortified, Josh didn't seem phased. He turned back to me, winked, then walked out the door.

It took me another ten minutes to sort through the confusion of everything and I still had no answers. How did Josh know about my band? Had he heard our demos? I had no idea at all. But the most important question was; Was he actually going to make me do it?

There was no way that I could. No way. What if my parents found out? I froze.

Oh shit.

My eyes shot to the clock. It was 3:55. It took me ten minutes to walk to school this morning. I jumped out of my seat gathered my things and sprinted out the door, down the sidewalk. I ran steadily the whole way, not caring about how much my scrawny legs ached or about how I couldn't breathe. I just ran as fast as I could, panic almost taking over.

I made it there two minutes late and I wasn't going to lie, I was basically freaking out. I knew that if I looked in the mirror I'd be paler than a cloud. My hands were shaking as I got out my key, but the door flung open before I could unlock it.

"Home late on the first day?" My father stood in the doorway, his arms folded, hip jutting out to the side. That was his pissed stance.

I was pretty sure I heard the slap before I felt it. My mother grabbed my arm and dragged me inside, shoving me to the floor. My father's boot immediately struck my ribs. Hard. I heard the door slam shut as it happened again. Then again, and again until it all blurred away into one huge ball of pain. I knew that my mother was laughing, my father was screaming insults.

I didn't know when it stopped, all I knew was waking up in the same place the next morning. My eyes opened, focused on the wall next to me and all the pain hit me at once. It felt like I was on fire.

My mother walked by and nudged my head lightly, "Get up, Worthless."

I shifted, then groaned, my vision blanking white for a moment. I felt her iron grip on my arm as she yanked my small form to my feet easily. She slammed me against the wall, getting in my face. "I said get up, you idiotic fiend."

I nodded, keeping my teeth tightly clamped over my tongue until I tasted my own blood. There was no way that I could make any pained noises. They hated those.

"Now what did we learn yesterday?" my father asked, coming up to stand behind her with his arms crossed.

I opened my mouth, "N-not-"

My mother shook me against the wall, "Don't stutter you babbling little prick!"

I swallowed, took as deep of a breath as I could without it hurting. "To come home on time." My voice shook but I didn't stutter and my parents seemed satisfied with my answer. My father opened the door and mother shoved me outside. I tripped down the steps, felt my backpack land on my legs, then heard the door slam shut. I jumped at the noise, then clambered to my feet before they could change their mind and figure out something else to blame me for.