Irreplaceable

4

Soft music floated around the small garden and people I didn't know were wandering to the neat lines of white draped seating. I was dressed in an uncomfortable suit and, every once in a while, I was swung up into my mother's arm to be cooed at by more strange people. Once the place was almost full I was dragged back to the tree and handed a small white pillow with green ribbons.

I swung it around as I wandered up the centre aisle with my mother coaxing me from the front. I tried handing it off to a few people along the way, but they just laughed and shooed me up to my mom. When I got there, she held me steady and I watched my dad walking with a few other people up the aisle, like Aunt Emily.

Then I saw my brother Greg come into view and squealed in excitement. He grinned up at me, but then his gaze kept straying to the blushing man next to him. They held hands and went up the centre together. Both were dressed in matching green vests with white roses pinned to their black tuxedos. When they reached the front, a judge stepped forward to meet them.

Suddenly it was me standing in front of the judge. The music still played and I could smell the roses and flowers from the garden. I heard my brother's voice saying his vows and I heard Mark's voice responding with his own. I couldn't move my head. My heart was filled with joy and awe, but I couldn't turn my head to see my partner.

I knew it was someone I loved so much I could burst, but no matter how much I tried... I couldn't look over to see their face.

Beep beep beep beep beep...

The jarring sound of my alarm made me groan in distaste. Why didn't I have it on a radio station? Oh yeah. Because I slept through the alarm on that setting. I laughed at my thoughts and finally turned off the annoying sound when I heard my sister pound on the wall.

"Don't knock my pictures!" I yelled at her through the plaster.

"Then turn off your fucking alarm!" She screamed back. I heard the thud from the hall and smiled to myself as I heard our mother yelling at her about language through the door. Heh. I still win. My sister had no control over her mouth at this time in the morning. She was in so much trouble.

"And you! Quit provoking her." I heard mom grumble at my door on her way to make coffee. I rolled out of bed and stood staring at my closet door for a good two minutes before my brain kicked in and started digging for clothes to wear to school. I yawned at the same time, then paused since I couldn't see anything.

Oh hey. I don't think I wore this yet. I pulled out a blue Transformers t-shirt and threw it on over my boxers. Next was a pair of jeans. I found a rolled up pair of socks and sniff checked them before putting them on. Once dressed, I went out into the hall to see my sister brushing her teeth in the bathroom.

We had a rule in the house that if you were just brushing you couldn't lock the door. That happened after I peed in the kitchen sink because Lizard wouldn't get out of the bathroom until she was 'completely ready' for school. I felt like it was another win for me. Besides the look on my mother's face when she caught me was priceless.

"Bacon?" I was asked as I sat down. I nodded and took the plate she handed me. It had two eggs, one toast and a few strips of bacon on it. Mom was feeling good this morning. You could tell her mood based on breakfast. If it was cereal, duck and cover. If it was Dad's cooking, bring flowers.

Lizard joined us at the table and glared at me over our orange juice. I made a face at her with my mouth full of eggs and my mom tsked at me. Dad dragged in with his pajamas still on, absently kissed mom on the cheek, grabbed a large mug of coffee, then shuffled back out with wave and a mumbled 'love you' to us. This was typical Dad behaviour in the morning.

I didn't take offense to it. He wasn't a morning person. Ever. Even on Christmas mornings it took him at least two hours to make cohesive sentences to everyone. The rest of us seemed okay. Lizard managed to speak even if it was grouchy and usually peppered with swear words. Most of the time she managed to keep them under her breath.

"Shit." I heard her quietly say as she looked at the clock. Mom was running water, so she didn't hear that one. I got up and put my dishes in the machine, kissed my mom on the cheek as she tried to arrange my hair.

"Don't you own a brush boy? I know I bought you one. Go use it." She muttered to me. I laughed.

"No time mom. See you tonight." I grabbed my bag and went out the front door. Nate was sitting in his car in our driveway and I hopped in the back seat with his brother.

"Hey." He glanced in the rear-view mirror at my dishevelled self. I grinned at him.

"Good morning!" I said cheerfully. Two groans came from his brothers and one put his hands over his ears.

"He is too cheerful. Make it stop." The other one said. Nate just chuckled at them and pulled out of the driveway.

"Nope. You want a ride then you gotta put up with my friends." He said flatly. I laughed at the disgusted look his brother threw over at me before turning up the radio.

"You are coming over tomorrow night still, right?" I asked Nate absently. He nodded to me, knowing I would catch it. "Bring your laptop so we can work on resumes and stuff, okay?"

"Sure. You should probably study for our test on Monday too." He said to me. I shrugged and dug in my backpack for the chocolate bar I knew was stuck at the bottom.

"Not that it will help any." I mumbled as I pulled out the Snickers and chowed it down.

"How do you eat chocolate for breakfast? He is making me sick." His brother muttered to Nate from next to me. Nate ignored him. We pulled up to the school and everyone clamoured out of the car. I grabbed Nate's sleeve and pulled him over to a group of other people, Mike and Chris included. We talked for awhile before going inside to class.

Nathan sat in his usual desk next to me and threw me a smile before we got out our text books and binders. I rooted around for a bit until I realised my pencil case must have either fallen out or been left in my locker yesterday. My buddy wordlessly held out a writing utensil and I grabbed it, blew him a kiss with a wink and then turned to the front of the class.

I heard an awkward cough, but ignored it as the teacher came in and started class.