Hello there! I know it's been a while since I updated Burning Ties. However, I've gotten bored with the idea and I'm not sure I can continue it. For now, it is on a pause until my brain decides to function again. For now, I hope you enjoy this new story. Constructive Criticism welcome!
-Ash
Lauren's P.O.V.
I dashed toward the school doors, the wind in my hair and face. "Wait up, Lauren!" a familiar shout pleaded.
I turned around and caught the shape of my brother, Lawrence, who was struggling to catch up with my speed. I laughed and continued faster. Although we could've just ridden the bus, I preferred to actually run to school, much to the dismay of my brother. However, our apartment wasn't far from our new school, Westview High.
You may be slightly confused to what was going on. Well, recently, my brother and I moved to Westview, California. And by recently I meant yesterday. So, even though there was school, this morning we were still unpacking the luggage we had brought with us. Lawrence and I both were looking for a permanent place to stay, one where we wouldn't screw up like the last dozen times. We hoped that Westview's warm climate and peaceful atmosphere would convince us to stay. On the other hand, it would be harder to keep our… identity secret. Anyway, as you can imagine, we were running slightly late, a perfect way to start our first day of school, am I right?
I burst through the doors and began to make a turn for the office, which was easily spotted on my left by a large sign that read, 'Main Office.' However, I decided to wait for my slower brother, realizing that it was certainly harsh to force him to struggle behind me.
Taking a seat on the bench in front of the office, I blew some of my bangs out of my face, regretting the decision not to wear a bandana. It seemed to be ages before my clumsy sidekick finally made his appearance, sweaty and panting. I chuckled softly, earning myself an agitated glare. "What took you so long?" I taunted him.
Lawrence angrily stomped toward me and slapped the smug grin off my face. "It's not my fault that you dragged me here without warning. You didn't even let me eat my Frosted Wheats!"
I stood up and took his wrist, bending it and causing him to wince in pain. I held on until he finally gave up, yelping, "Uncle! UNCLE!"
I let go of his wrist and he growled, but I just snickered. "Never touch a girl. I thought you would know that by now?"
Lawrence gave in and just nodded. "Now, do you want us to be late? According to the clock, we have five minutes to get our schedules and hightail for first period," I told him.
By now you were probably wondering why I treated my brother with such cruelty. Well, it was up to me as the older twin to keep order and discipline between us two. Sure, we fought a lot, but really, we were inseparable. Half the time, I feel like killing him, but actually, I don't know what I'd do without him.
I led the way into the office and he trailed behind me. I approached the lady at the front desk and cleared my throat, hoping to disturb whatever she was doing on the dull computer. The woman looked up through her eyeglasses. "Are you Lauren and Lawrence Schweizheimmer?"
I simply nodded. Long name, I know. It's German. Lawrence and I both had ancestors from Germany and Scotland, but we were never informed of our Scottish ascendants. We both could speak German as well, and I had a slight Scottish accent mixed in with my German one. I rolled my Rs and pronounced the W as a V. My younger sibling used more or less the same accent.
The woman returned her attention to her computer, and I felt slightly insulted. After a few clicks, I heard the sound of a printer. The secretary, or whatever, pulled out two sheets of paper and handed them to me. I took one sheet for myself, for it had my name on it, and I gave the other to Lawrence. We thanked the lady and headed toward the senior hallway, examining the papers along the way.
My first period was chemistry thank god, for I liked having the stressful classes in the morning so that I can get them out of the way. Don't get me wrong, chemistry was an easy subject for me, but it required more work, or brain usage than history. I asked Lawrence what period he had first, and he answered back with the same results I had been given. Luckily, students still lingered in the hallway, finishing up their locker breaks.
I looked at my watch and sighed in relief. We had two more minutes to get to class. I found the chemistry classroom, and we made our way inside. The room was set out in an odd fashion. Instead of being in neat rows, the desks were placed together and were larger, allowing room for a group of four students per desk.
I found an empty table and sat down. Lawrence sat in front of me. The chairs were like high bar stools, so it would be quite the challenge to climb one for a smaller student. However, my brother and I both had pretty tall heights, and it was easy for us to get seated quickly.
I set my backpack down in the space on the table beside me and unzipped it, taking out a pack of mechanical pencils and a new binder. I opened the binder to the first sheet of paper attached to the rings and headed it, 'Chemistry Supplies.' Seeing no need to write anything else down yet, I closed the binder and drummed my fingers against the surface of the desk.
The bell rang, but still there was no sight of our teacher. I whistled impatiently, but was stopped when I heard a high, sugar-like voice. "Excuse me, but those are our seats."
I turned around and met gazes with a tall, pink-haired girl. Standing beside her was a strong-looking fellow with the same coloured hair. I squinted at the girl and raised an eyebrow. "Ahem, but I think these seats were just taken by us. Do they have your names on them?"
The girl replied with an irritated huff. "No, but we claimed them by the beginning of the year."
I snickered. "Yea, but we're new. How would we know that? Do you have any proof that these seats belong to you?"
The girl's tan face turned red with anger. "Why don't you sniff them if you're so intent?"
I raised my eyebrows and shrugged. I then leaned over and sniffed the surface of the desk. I caught a faint whiff of something that smelled like bubblegum. Don't ask why my scent functions so well.
"Ew! What are you, some dog?" I heard a deep, valley-girl voice shout. I looked up to see a sophisticated-looking girl with brown hair dyed purple on the ends. What is with these people and hair dying?
"She told me to sniff them, so I did-" I was caught short by the morning announcements. The pink-haired girl and her gang must've decided to give up, for they left us alone for a rather secluded desk in the corner of the room.
The pink-haired jock came up to me and whispered, "Hey, sorry my sister's gotta be such a jerk. She doesn't like people she doesn't know."
I laughed, putting up my hands. "No problem, I deal with pissed off people all the time, not that-"
"I know," he chuckled. "My name's Bubba, by the way. Bubba Gumball. You can just call me Gumball if you want. That's what everyone calls me."
I nodded. "I'm Lauren. That's my brother, Lawrence," I introduced myself and my brother, jutting a thumb in his direction. Lawrence smiled and waved back at Gumball who gave a slight wave.
"I'll see ya'll around. Maybe you should eat lunch with us," he offered.
I grinned. Making friends here would be a piece of cake. "Sure, why not?"
Gumball gave me his own, genuine smile and he waved at me. I waved back as he began to walk toward his sister's table.
The rest of the morning went by pretty smoothly. Luckily, I shared no more classes with that pink-haired girl's crew, except for her brother. And the neat thing was, our chemistry teacher, Mr. Schweizer, was from Germany and could speak German as well. After he found out that we could speak it, he greeted us and introduced himself in German, much to the amazement of our peers.
I shut my locker and went into the band room. I set my belongings down in the floor beside my seat in the trombone section. How had I figured out where it was located? There were a few rowdy boys blasting their horns and laughing, so I concluded that was where the trombonists sat.
My band teacher, another quite tall fellow, greeted me. "Hello, you must be Lauren? I am Kyle Asheton, but you are to address me by Mr. Asheton. I am guessing you are another trombone player, yes?"
I nodded. "Yes, Sir. Been playing it most my life."
"Ah, so you must definitely have more experience than the other trombonists. I shall see how well you are," he replied. "Do you have your own trombone?"
"Ah, sorry 'bout that. Ya see, we just moved in, so I haven't unpacked any of my instruments yet."
"That's fine. There are plenty of trombones in the back, but they are kind of… damaged… The slides work fine though."
I raised my hand in the air, "Well you know what they say; the slide is the most important part."
Mr. Asheton nodded in agreement. He then left me to go retrieve the instrument I would be borrowing for a day or two. I strolled toward the left side of the room, where there was a smaller room containing lockers with instruments in them. I picked out a neat-looking case and opened it, revealing the glimmering instrument within.
The trombone had barely any dents in it. I took out my mouthpiece, which I had unpacked earlier this morning. I attached the slide to the rest of the horn and placed my mouthpiece in the hole. It had been a few days since I had last played, but the beautiful sound from the bell assured me that I hadn't lost too much practice.
I left the case behind, open so that I would recognize it from the others. I walked back to my seat and sat down. I was careful to choose the last chair, not wanting to anger or upset any of the trombonists. Much to my disappointment, I realized I was the only female trombonist.
Mr. Asheton stepped up to his podium, and the rest of the students grew quiet. He began to take roll, and when he came to me, he introduced me to the rest of the class. "Students, this is Lauren Schweizheimmer. She is new here, so I want you to treat her with the proper respect that she deserves. Mrs. Lauren, if you are interested, the wind ensemble is open to any spots, if you would like to audition."
I nodded. He passed me two sheets of paper, which contained details about the wind ensemble and marching band. The trombonist next to me, a brown-haired boy with a tall stature greeted me. "Hey, I'm Jake. Welcome to Westview High."
"Hey, I'm Lauren."
"I know," Jake laughed. "How long have you been playing?"
"Most of my life," I answered, not wanting to get too specific.
"And how many years would that be?" the feared question came out.
I sighed. "I like to keep that secret."
"Right," he fumbled, "my bad. Here," he moved his stand so that it was between the both of us, "you can look off my music. We warm-up out of these books."
I gave him a reassuring grin, trying to convince him that he hadn't been too nosy on the subject of my playing years. "Thanks."
"No problem."
After band, Jake directed me toward the lunchroom. Apparently, he was Gumball's friend, too. I met with Lawrence and introduced him to Jake. After that, we sat at Gumball's table. While we ate, I noticed a few scowls from the pink-haired girl, but I just rolled my eyes.
During our lunch period, Jake introduced me to his brother, Finn. The two weren't related by blood, for Finn had been adopted. However, like Lawrence and me, they seemed to be an inseparable duo. We also met Lady and two more twins, Marshall Lee and Marceline. Lady was Jake's girlfriend, and she spoke Korean as well as English. Marshall and Marceline were the raven-haired, rock-loving teens who seemed as if they enjoyed a drink now and then.
At our table, I also caught a few uncertain looks from Marceline, and something about her and her brother seemed very… odd. Anywho, Marshall Lee seemed to delight having new 'friends.' He often joked around with Gumball, like boys usually do, and he even tried to hit on me.
I laughed at his tries, and laughed even harder at Gumball's response to them. After the end of lunch, the rest of the day went by peacefully.
A few weeks later, Lawrence and I have become well acquainted with the school. I had started bringing my own trombone to school now, a polished Conn 88h, to the jealousy of my peers whose trombones were in poorer conditions. Lawrence has been developing a friendly relationship between Jake, himself, Finn, Marshall, and Gumball. On the other hand, Gumball's twin sister Bonnibel and her friend LSP (she prefers to be called that) still hated me. I usually talked with Lady or the guys at lunch, but most of the time, I liked to study on my own.
It was a somewhat cool afternoon, for the climate was getting slightly cooler due to winter being on its away. Our little gang, if that's what people call them these days, lay in the grass on the hill overlooking the school. I was stretched out, my arms behind my head, leaning against the bark of the old oak. I was spectating the boys' game of keep away. It was an every man for himself type of game. You kick the ball around while keeping it out of reach of the others.
A few minutes into the game, Lady and Bonnibel joined me by the tree. Bonnibel was laughing at something Lady had said, and luckily she was too busy to notice me. Before things got too awkward, I hopped up and bounded over to join the game.
It was easy to catch my brother off-guard. I swiped the ball with my feet out of his reach and began dribbling away from the others. The wind blew through my hair, but luckily my bandana kept most of it out of my face. Finn caught up with me and attempted to get at the ball, but I danced around him effortlessly. Marshall Lee made a try to steal the ball, but I maneuvered around him as well.
"Guys, you might as well give up!" Lawrence put his hands on his knees, panting with exhaustion. "She's the champion at keep away."
"We'll see about that!" a familiar voice shouted.
A raven-haired, lanky girl dashed toward me. I was surprised, but luckily I was able to rush out of her reach. I dribbled the ball between my two feet and circled around the tree, shooting to confuse her. Out of nowhere, she sprinted and stole the ball from my grasp.
I jumped after her and waited for the perfect moment to strike. It took us a few minutes of dribbling around for me to finally knock the ball away from her. I cackled with triumph, and Marceline smirked. "You're pretty good, I guess. Let's get a drink, I'm a bit tuckered out already from basketball practice."
I stopped and used my foot to kick the ball vertically into the air so I could catch it. I put the ball under my arm and nodded in agreement. The others seemed to concur with her plan as well.
"Where d'ya want to eat?" Marceline asked.
"How about we go to McDonald's?" Finn suggested, only earning a few groans of disappointment.
"I know, let's go to Savory's," Jake proposed.
"I like that idea," announced Marshall Lee, "who's in?" He held out his hand.
I placed my hand over his and almost jumped. It was surprisingly cold. Gumball, Bonnibel, Jake, Lawrence, and Marceline all added their hands, leaving Lady and Finn as the ones left.
Finn crossed his arms. "That place isn't any good."
Lady nudged him and added her hand. "Oh come on, that place is awesome. You only tried one dish. Their hamburgers are pretty good."
"It's better than McDonald's too," Jake added.
"Fine…" Finn muttered, utterly defeated. He added his hand to the group, and everyone cheered.
Marceline offered to drive Bonnibel, Finn, Lady, and Jake. I drove the rest of the group in my mini-van (I had finally taken it to school, tired of Lawrence's nonstop complaining).
After arriving, we ordered and sat at a long table. Lawrence and Marshall joked around with their plates, while I was stuck sitting next to Bonnibel. Fortunately, we didn't make much contact until she decided to apologize.
"Hey, Lauren, I'm sorry I was pretty much a brat on your first day of school," she sighed.
"Naw, man… er… girl. I'm sorry for taking your desk. I didn't know."
Bonnibel smiled and I sent her my own toothy grin. The rest of the night went on nicely, now that Bonnibel and I had reached a calm.
I hope you enjoyed the short chapter. I'll be out of town this weekend, so I'll try to post sometime next week. I would post another chapter this week, but we have final exams and such. Remember, constructive criticism is appreciated!
-Ash
