some other stepbrother ••• LRH

no. 3 ◇ After School

Charlie's POV

My last class of the day is science with Michael. I hadn't seen him since this morning since I guess he skipped class because he and Calum weren't in History and none of the guys were at lunch, so it was just me and Penny and Sophie.

We just met Sophie at lunch, she's a new foreign exchange student from France and we spent most of lunch talking about her travels and what there is to do in our town.

I'm headed to science class and I'll be presenting alone since Michael ditched class with his friends I guess. Oh yeah, they're in a band, well sort of. They don't play a ton of gigs and 'band practice' is really just code for 'let's get drunk and play video games in my basement.'

Michael is the lead guitarist, Ashton, who is in the grade above us, is their drumer, Calum, who's a sophmore like me and Michael, is the bassist but thier lead singer and other guitarist is some guy, Loop or Huke or something, who goes to a school across town.

Right now they're probably having another 'emergency band practice'.

Anyway, I walk into the science room and to my suprise Michael is in his seat. I walk over to the table and take my seat next to him.

"Hey, I thought you and the guys ditched." I say a little confused as to where he went and why he came back.

"We...did, " he says suspiciously slowly "I just. Decided. To come back. Because I. Remembered we had a. Project. To...pre-sen-t." He slurs the last few words and my eyes eyes widen with realization.

"Oh my gosh you're drunk!" I shout in a whispered voice, slapping him on the shoulder. "Michael Gordon Clifford, you cannot come to school drunk, do you know how much trouble you could get into?! You can't present like this, you can't be here like this!"

"You sound like a mom." He laughs "And don't worry...I can totally present. Our project. Like this. You know what? I'm gonna rock this presentation! Like-like a hurricane!" he giggles and boops my nose "don't you worry one bit."

The bell rings and the science teacher, Mrs. Neddles, hobbles in. Oh dear, I don't think I can sneak Michael out of class now. Hopefully being old and all, she won't notice he's drunk.

I mean, really, he's just a more confident version of himself when he's drunk so...it shouldn't be too bad. Right?

Oh who am I kidding this is going to be a disaster and Michael's going to go to jail or worse, as Hermione Granger might say, expelled.

"Okay for presentations we'll start with Michael and Charlie and then Kyle and Kent followed by Ruby and Sandra...." Mrs. Neddles continues listing the names and I just try to think up escape plans for Michael.

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Well somehow we did it. Mrs. Neddles never even asked if Michael was drunk, she just said "Wonderfull project you two! And um...interesting presentation, Michael, that demonstration at the end was...well, I have no words."

I'm honestly a little proud of myself because we managed to get an A when a drunk Michael was presenting half of the project.

As I guided led up to the front of the class I was planning to just do all of the speaking myself, but then Michael really started getting into the presentation and I probably couldn't have stopped him, so I just let him have at it while making sure to cover all of the important things we would be graded on.

After our presenration, we spent the rest of class watching other presentations, but after ours, Michael got very tired and slept the rest of the class period.

"And that is why the mitochandria is the powerhouse of the cell." Says Brian from the last group of presentations. Diiiiiiiiiiing the bell rings and everybody grabs their things and starts to leave.

"Michael," I say shaking him gently "Michael wake up." I say a little louder. "Eeerrrmmmm" he groans in reply and continues sleeping. "Fine," I say "Don't get a ride home from me."

"I'm up." He says quickly lifting his head off the table. "Now, I'm not sure I heard you...correctly, being half asleep and all, but...did you say you want to... ride me?" he says raising an eyebrow.

I roll my eyes, this is typical Michael "No, now get up and let's get you home." "Oh alright" he says and slowly gets out of his chair.

We make it out the back of the science wing and across the schoolyard to my car. Thankfully it's a Friday so this is I won't have to deal with a hungover Michael at school tomorrow although he would probably just stay home.

I help him into the car and he immediately drifts off to sleep. I get into the car myself and check my phone before starting the car. I see a text from not too long ago from the guys telling me that they're ditching school for 'band practice'. I also get a new text from Penny asking if we're still on for a movie and shopping tonight.

I'm about to tell her yes when I remember that my mom told me we're having her fiance over for dinner tonight. She'd probably ground me if I bailed to hang out with friends instead, so I let Penny know and tell her to ask Sophie if she can hangnout since she could probably use a friend to help show her around town.

I put my phone away, start the car, and begin the 15 minute drive to Michael's house. Michael's parents are both lawyers and his house reflects their success.

It also explains why he always has money for alcohol and that if he ever got in trouble, he could always get away with it. Though his mom, Karen, would severly ground him if he did, so the only illegal thing he does is underage drinking. He also got a red mustang as a gift and he's always having huge house parties, but I hardly ever go to since I'm not really the party type.

I pull into his driveway and park the car. I shake Michael awake once again and he wakes up. "Thanks for the ride, CharChar." he says and I fake smile at him "Anytime, hairdye," I reply "Woah woah woah" he says "You cannot give me a new nickname, Mikey or Cliffoconda are the only acceptable nicknames for this hot piece of ass," he says pointing at himself, still quite drunk.

"Fine," I say "Just text me when you're no longer drunk and when you feel better."

"You got it, Angel." He says snapping his fingers into finger guns and winking as he points at me.

"Angel?" I ask raising my eyebrow at the new nickname as he stumbles up the steps towards his front door.

"Yeah, I showed our lead singer, Luke, your picture at band practice today because he kept asking about you, and I told him about the nickname I have for you and how I wanted to come up with a new one. He said it should be angel, you know cause your name is Charlie like in Charlie's Angels, but you're a girl so you could be an angel. I dunno it sounded cool when he explained it."

"Oh." I say, not really sure what to think about that, so I just decide to not think about it. "Well thanks for the new nickname I guess, I mean it's better than CharChar."

"Well I still like calling you CharChar, so don't think that that's over." He shouts at me from the front door as he fumbles with his keys, opens it, and then waves a goodbye.

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Author's note:
Hey so I guess I just introduced Luke's character so yaaaaaay. Anyway get ready for the next chapter idk what's gonna happen yet.