"Why does Cal hate his father?"
I've always wanted to do a story more based around Cal and so I'm quite looking forward to writing this one. The first chapter of this story is based in the present day and the rest will be told through flash backs of Cal and Ethan's, I really hope you all enjoy, thanks, Kayxxx :)
I'd rather be a Knight - Chapter One
"I still can't believe I beat you on the FCEM exams Nibbles" Cal spoke smugly as they stood in the staff room, Ethan rolled his eyes knowingly, "you know, I've got a lot of revision books that I used with Tess if you want them for your resit" Cal proposed.
Ethan shook his head in disbelief "I think you're forgetting you still failed Caleb, you only got a few poxy points more than me" Ethan replied as he sipped on his coffee.
Cal's face lit up, "a few?!" He spat out excitedly.
Ethan realised he'd forgotten his own lie, "this is why I never lie" the thought to himself, "Oh no um, I meant one, just one" he replied awkwardly.
"No no no little brother you just slipped up!" Cal argued with a huge grin on his face, "how many did I beat you by? Five? Ten? Twenty?! Maybe even a whole grade?!" Cal urged.
"Does it really matter?" Ethan shrugged, he didn't want to make up another lie to cover up his previous lie that he had just blown to pot leaving him with the possibility of probably blowing this new lie to pot too, complication overload!
"No, you know what it doesn't" Cal replied responsibly, Ethan looked at him warily, "we both still failed, the points between us don't matter looking at it realistically, at least now we know how tough the exams can be eh? Start preparing for resits, Live and let learn that's what I say" he announced uncharacteristically causing everyone in the room to stop and look at him in confusion.
"Good" Ethan nodded, quite stunned by his brother's mature announcement.
"Who am I kidding I beat Nibbles woo!" Cal burst out excitedly into a cheer on his on accord Ethan sighed deeply and shook his head with a smile, of course Cal's maturity would only last for a few mere seconds.
"Cal?" Robyn chuckled.
"Do you understand how great that feels to say?" Cal questioned, "I beat the little wiz kid" he joked as he pulled Ethan into a head lock and ruffled his hair.
"Alright alright that's enough of that" Ethan laughed as he managed to free himself from his older brother's grasp as their colleagues watched on with grins on their faces.
Ethan conducted himself again, fixing his glasses straight on his face and patting down his hair.
"Don't worry Doctor Hardy, I'm sure you'll pass next time" Cal joked.
"Or, at least get better than you Doctor Knight" Ethan replied sarcastically.
"You know, that's something about you two that I've always wondered" Lofty spoke out.
"What?" Cal and Ethan replied simultaneously.
"Are you half brothers?" Lofty asked.
"No?" Ethan replied warily.
"Step brothers?" Max joined in.
"No" Cal chuckled.
"So you have the same parents?" Robyn asked.
"Yes" Ethan replied.
"So...why have you got different surnames?" Lofty asked.
Cal and Ethan exchanged glances.
Ethan opened his mouth to talk but Cal cut him off quickly.
"I took my mother's maiden name" he stated.
"Ohhh okay, everything makes sense now!" Lofty replied awkwardly.
"Well, not everything..." Max spoke mischievously as he looked through the cupboards.
Cal sighed deeply, "I hated my father if you must know, I didn't want anything to do with him or the label of his surname for the rest of my life" Cal explained.
"Why did you hate him?" Robyn asked.
Ethan looked toward his older brother sympathetically.
"It's a very long story" Cal shrugged.
"It's okay!" Max replied as he pulled something out of the cupboards, "we have popcorn!" He announced as he held it up. Max took his seat on the couch in between Lofty and Robyn offering them the popcorn and awaiting Cal's story.
"Really?" Cal sighed, "you really have nothing better to do than to listen about my messed up childhood?" He asked in disbelief.
"Nope, it's tragic. Back to you" Max replied.
"Cal..." Ethan began but Cal cut him off.
"No, you know what I think it's time" He announced, Ethan looked at him in shock, "why don't you take a seat Nibbles, have some popcorn" Cal suggested jokingly. Ethan took a seat beside Robyn on the couch.
"Right, where do I begin?" Cal asked.
"Tell us about your dad" Robyn spoke as she shoved some popcorn into her mouth.
"My dad...well, he was a very high-powered lothario ED doctor-" Robyn cut him off.
"Woah sounds like someone else we know" she chuckled.
"Yes, I'll admit we do share those traits but he was much much more of an idiot." Cal replied bluntly.
"He worked constantly and when I say constantly, I mean, constantly. But not because it brought in money for the family - no, it was so he could get away from the family...or away from me" Cal began.
"I didn't actually realise that until very later on" Ethan butted in.
"He hated me from day one, my father, not Ethan- his hatred for me grew progressively" he winked causing Ethan to smirk.
"There was something about me that my father just hated. I was a very, let's say...energetic kid, very adrenaline fuelled- since I was tiny that was just my personality and that was the thing my father hated. I would rather go and play football or run around the park than sit down and read a book which was his favourite past time, whereas I couldn't sit still for ten minutes. He always saw me as an underachiever, he'd say that to my face, it was like he wanted me to fail in life. When this little ray of sunshine that was know as Ethan was born, dad finally got his idea of a 'perfect' child, which only caused him to hate me his 'underachiever' even more..." His voice trailed off.
"To be fair I was a bit of a failure in my first five or so years" Ethan reasoned causing Cal to laugh.
"This guy had the biggest tonsils I have ever seen in my whole entire life, they were humongous! I have never come across tonsils that big since, even as a doctor" Cal smirked.
"Okay we have to see these, open up!" Robyn spoke to Ethan with a giggle. Ethan opened his mouth and Robyn Lofty and Max all gathered round to get a look in.
"You haven't got any..." Lofty stated confused.
"That's right" Ethan replied.
"He got them taken out eventually but that's at least mid-way in my story" Cal replied.
"He would constantly have tonsillitis, since he was about one and a half all he would do is cry about his sore throat" Cal explained.
"I've never known pain like it, it was horrible, it hurt just breathing, never mind swallowing or God forbid talking!" Ethan explained.
"Meaning Ethan didn't talk, barely ever." Cal concluded.
"So in your father's eyes Ethan was the kid that would never say a word and you were the kid that would never shut up?" Lofty asked understandingly.
"Exactly! He would NEVER talk if he had a sore throat and if you caught him on the unlikely day when he didn't- he had probably the worst stutter I've ever heard" Cal teased lightly.
"...It was pretty bad" Ethan admitted as he held his head down.
"Aw that's so cute!" Robyn announced.
"But none of this is making us understand why you hated your dad?" Max pointed out.
"Ah my dad" Cal sighed as he was brought back on track again. "Because I was so energetic and my father was a doctor, he couldn't accept the fact that I was just an energetic kid, there had to be something more to it than that, there had to be some sort of diagnosis..." He explained, "He managed to riddle it down to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD as it's most commonly known" Cal stated.
"Oh Cal, I'm sorry we didn't know" Lofty spoke sympathetically.
"It's fine Lofty I don't have it, I never did" Cal replied as he shot a glance at Ethan.
"Wait, so you were wrongly diagnosed? By your own father?" Robyn asked in shock.
"Wrongly diagnosed? That's like seriously dangerous, right?" Max questioned.
"And so the story begins..." Cal replied as he clapped his hands together.
