Chapter 15

-Justin-

“WHAT THE HELL?!” I screamed at my brother. I was getting weak, because I had gotten sick the past week, and I didn’t have enough energy to punch him.

“You heard me, bro. I’m asking her to be mine.” He was facing the wall, his back was towards me.

“Damn… Then say that to my face.” I was really mad.

“No. I don’t want to see you cry like a baby.” He began to leave the room, but he wasn’t going to.

“NO!!!” I screamed; I grabbed the vase on my bed-side table and threw it towards him. I was off by about 3 inches, though, and it hit the wall. Glass scattered everywhere.

Then the door slammed open. “What’s going on in here??” James the butler and my mom scrambled into the room.

“Oh my God!” My mom dropped to her knees. “Water, roses, everywhere! And this was a good vase too…” She eyed me. “Did you throw this? Justin?”

I looked away from her.

“ANSWER ME, CHếT TIệT!!”

I spun my head around to her. I felt a shiver go down my spine; this was the first time my mom has ever yelled at me. I felt heart-broken inside. Why did I have to throw that vase?

“I-I’m sorry, mom. I was just, r-really angry.” I looked down in shame.

“Well… I understand your anger, but just, please don’t EVER do it again. Ok?” This time her voice was soft again. I don’t ever want to hear that tirade from her ever again, so I agreed.

            After James and mom left the room, I returned to my bed, and slid under the covers. I can’t remember, but I think I was crying. Crying a lot. My body was so stiff, each bone would ache whenever I moved, so I tried to stay still. But it was too hard.

“I knew you would cry.” Kevin’s voice rang from over the covers.

“W-what are you d-doing here?” I whipped my tears and tried not to whimper.

“Stop acting like a big boy.” He grabbed the sheets and tossed them aside.

“H-HEY! What are you�"!” My remaining tears flew all over the place. Kevin stood tall over my bedside, like towers hovering over the city.

“Listen to me, and listen good. I don’t care if you have a thing for Aika, but you’re not even going to school anymore so no way am I going to let her wait for someone who isn’t coming back!”

I felt the need to punch him right then and there. “I AM COMING BACK!!! DAD SAID WHEN�"!”

“Dad lied to you!”

I stopped immediately. What exactly did he lie about?

“He lied. He wouldn’t tell you because you’re not the pawn in the game, I am. All you have to do is stay home and I do the real work. He told me that you weren’t going back to school, that’s why you’re sick now. Since you’re sick that means I have to be sick too.”

So my own dad made me sick? But why?! “Wh…why?”

“He slipped a virus in your soup last weekend. Nothing big, but you’re going to be a little weak for a while. A long while. If ‘you’ stay out of school for a while, the people going after you will soon think that we relocated and then they’ll relocate too.”

I guess that was kind of a good idea, for dad. But then… “But if you’re not going to school, how exactly are you suppose to confess to Aika?”

“I’ve got my ways.”

I saw juvenile in his eyes. “I, I don’t have the energy right now, but I’m warning you brother: If you even TRY to take Aika away from me, I’m going to make sure you’re gone for good!” I clenched my fist.

“Ha, you make me laugh. Is it my fault she finds me so irresistible?” He began to leave the room.

“Wait!” I pleaded. “You’re suppose to be me, so really, she likes me anyways.”

“Not really..” He said slowly. “She kinda knows, about you and me.”

My heart almost skipped a beat. “What?! B-but how?!”

“I don’t know, older bro. But she can tell the difference, she knows which days is you and which days is me, and she seems to get all blushy whenever I’m around. And from what I’ve heard,”

I was frozen.

“she never seemed that way with you. You’d never really talk to her. Oh, and did you know there’s a fanclub after you now? I mean, after me? Face it, you’ve always had things handed to you, but I’m trying for this. I’m reaching for her, you thought if you just sat back and waited, she’d drop into your hands just like the Family Fortune.”

I looked away. “No. No that’s not how it was…”

“You thought ‘Oh, everyone loves me! I get everything! I don’t have to talk to Aika, she’ll come to me!”

“Shut up…”

“But look now… She’s mine, got it? And infact, I’m going to ask her to the homecoming dance. You’ll still be sick by then anyways. And so, I’m not really taking her from you, because you never had her in the first place.”

“SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!! I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT!!! GET OUT!!!” I started crying, in pain. I shouted and kicked, even though it hurt.  

            He finally left my room, with his last remark, “Listen, man, I will do anything, to get her.”

And with that, I fell on the bed and bawled.

  

 

 

-KEVIN-

I KNOW IT may not seem like it, but I felt a little hurt inside. But it’s just, Justin got EVERYTHING he wanted, and he didn’t even have to try. This girl, Aika Pasion, she’s all that I could have for myself. And she was different than the other girls. For one: She hates me! I mean, I kind of got the feeling that she’s falling for me (which is just what I want), but when she first met me, she really didn’t like me. Other girls would have fallen for me right then and there, not even waiting to see what kind of personality I have. And that’s the second thing: She understands my personality. She doesn’t try to change it, but instead she takes it in. She knows that even though Justin and I share the same face (kind of), we are not the same. And third: She cares. At the moment, she cares about Justin and hopes he will come to school, but she still cares. Plus, she’s really cute. No one could ask for such a perfect girl.

            I sat down in the living room and turned on the TV. I took a sip of my soda and then began to search the channels. I came upon this drama. It was French, but whatever. The girl seemed like she had to pick between two guys, and she kept having flashbacks of times she spent with each guy. She was going crazy! And then I realized…

“Oh man, is this how Aika feels? Having to pick between two guys? Oh but wait, she prefers Justin. AH!” I had an epiphany. “She prefers Justin! But I can never really be him, but I can come close! All I have to do is turn the charm on high.”

            I sat back on the couch and continued watching the show that I couldn’t understand. But then I also realized that you don’t need words to understand something serious.

            “Just be Justin. That’s the kind of boy she wants, right?” I leaned back again.

“Kevin, are you talking to yourself?” My mom shouted from the kitchen.

“No, mom, just thinking aloud.”

            Justin didn’t come down stairs the rest of the day, which was good. I was able to plan out my actions to ask Aika out in peace. I was planning on asking her on Friday, right before the weekend, so if she had to think about it she had plenty of time. I wrote everything down in my journal and kept it in my backpack under my bed.

            While I was getting undressed, ready to take my shower before going to bed, my door cracked open. I quickly reached for a towel.

“Dude, if you’re going to yell at me again, just get out and�"” I was interrupted, and it wasn’t Justin.

“It’s me, Sir.” James shot back.

“Oh, James. You couldn’t have picked a better time than now?”

“Oh right, I’m terribly sorry Sir. But there’s a call for you. Her name is Aika Pasion.”

I quickly jolted towards James, my towel fell off. But I grabbed the phone anyway.

James quickly looked away. “Oh my! Well, then I’ll be going.” He rushed out the door and slammed it hard.”

I wrapped my towel around me again and sat on my bed. “Hello? Aika?”

“Oh, it’s you Kevin.”

“So you can tell the difference now?” I chuckled, a little nervously because I was wondering why she had called so late at night (10:00).

“Yeah. Well, this is kinda important, and I really want to get it off my chest…”

I gulped. Was she going to, you know? Ask… Me? “S-sure.. What is it?” My heart began to beat fast.

“Well…”

Damn, just say it!

“I know he’s not in school, but I’m going to ask Justin to the homecoming dance.”

There was a pause.

“H-hello? Kevin?”

I couldn’t answer back. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want her to!

“A-Aika.. I think you should know, about Justin�"”

“Oh, was he going to ask me?!” She said, with cheer. I couldn’t tell her that she wasn’t going to see him, or me, again.

“W-well, uh…”

“I can’t believe it!! Well then, I’ll just wait ‘til he asks me! I called because I wanted to get some advice, you know, because you two are brothers and all, but now I know that’s he’d going to ask me!”

I couldn’t break such sad new to her after she was so happy to get to go with the boy she really wanted to go with. “Right. Well, I gotta go and take a shower.”

“Oh, sorry for keeping you, bye bye!” She hung up the phone immediately.

I see… So that’s who you want to be with? I got into the shower, I turned the water on warm. I usually shower with it hot, but warm was just the right temperature for me to think. I closed my eyes. As the water drops slid down my neck and onto my bare back, I felt as if I was numb. I couldn’t feel a thing.

If she wants to go with Justin, I should at least tell her how I feel right? I slammed my fist against the wet wall. But, he’ll never come back to school. She’ll be lonely, and heart-broken, that night. What kind of man, or lover, would I be if I just let the one I love wait for someone that will never come? I opened my eyes. My body began to feel the touch of the water drops again.

“DAMN! What am I suppose to do?!” I just stood there. And after about 7 minutes my mom screamed at me from the hallway.

“KEVIN!!! �"i trời ơi, what is taking you so long??”

            So I did my business and finished my shower. I went back to the room, dried myself up, and changed into my sleeping clothes, which was nothing but  a used shirt and baggy basketball shorts. I laid there all night, staring at the ceiling. “What am I going to do?” I whispered to myself. I closed my eyes and tried to picture, Aika sitting on her front porch on homecoming night. It’s cold, and she’s been waiting for an hour for her precious Justin to come and sweep her away. But he wouldn’t come, and then she’d cry and tears would soak up her beautiful black lace dress.

“Ughhh!! Why is life so frustrating??”

            Little did I know that Justin was standing just outside my room, and heard my little rant.