Backstreet Boy

|Chapter 36: Family Dinner|

Isabella

"So, after like a month, my sister finally took her hair extensions out," Lizzie publicised, slamming her locker shut.

Conscious of the fact that I had a rather high alcohol-contented drink last night, I mechanically winced from the obnoxious sound. Lizzie was gazing sceptically at me with one recently-waved eyebrow higher than the other. Composing myself, I sighed.

"I told you my sister got hair extensions in like a month ago. Even then you were distracted and barely listened to me."

"I know I abhor hair extensions," I replied exasperatedly. "I'm just... so something else happened with Jason," I concluded.

Lizzie turned to me with a gaping hole in the middle of her lips. Jaw more ajar that I had ever witnessed from Lizzie, I stepped back slightly with fear that she might pounce on me any second if I didn't divulge what occurred quickly. Several fellow students who were passing us glimpsed fleetingly in our direction before doing a double take once they perceived Lizzie's peculiar and bizarre expression.

"You have to tell me everything now," she demanded, "right this second."

"Can't we get out of school first? Matt is presumably waiting by the front entrance for you, Lizzie and I don't want to loiter in the corridors for longer than I have to. It's a little cramped." I yawned as I finished my proclamation.

Truth be told, I just wanted to get home. As much as my body craved for the sleep that I had been deprived of last night, I also knew revising tonight would be a requirement. Mother had recently put Abigail and I under house arrest on school nights so we could cram in more revision and get top marks in our exams. Felix knew this time all too well so whenever he came home on a weekend, he'd bring books back to also revise from but then just neglect them in his room whilst he played on his game consoles.

"I trust you enough, Felix," began Mother when she said this to him when he came home last weekend, "that you will revise and I won't have to keep popping up to your room to check on you."

"You can trust me, Mother," he said, which was a complete and utter lie.

There wasn't a lot of trust in the Reynolds household. Father's stress levels were lethally high so he barely communicated with the family considering he got home past our bedtime hours. Mother was scurrying around the house endeavouring to amend things here and there so Father would notice which could diminish his stress (which actually failed considering all he did when he came home was sleep and go out before anyone was up the next morning). Abigail was attempting to abuse her liberation periods on weekends to go out with friends. Felix was barely coming home except weekends. And that left me: I was sneaking out in the middle of the night to rendezvous with a bad boy.

Trust was something our family had never acquired. When Felix, Abigail and I were all younger, we were a lot closer. But as we grew older and Father noticed our talents and abilities, he made us pursue them from a young age. Consequentially that left little time for family bonding sessions and more of future planning. Steadily we grew apart and communication had reduced alarmingly. Although, I think when Mother found out about my rendezvous with Jason, the last remaining trust between us fractured and had dispersed.

Lizzie grasped my arm just as I was about to meander off down the corridor with the optimistic thought that she'd be by my side. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To my car so I can go home and whilst we're walking, I can tell you what happened."

Speculating whether this was the right decision to make didn't take long because Lizzie was already bouncing ahead with barely controlled glee. "Okay, so spill," she said, a phrase she used many times to get me to reveal occurrences and facts about Jason.