Chapter Four Author's Notes
My friend AvatarKataang will be my semi-beta for the next chapter or so, mainly just for fun (:
This chapter (or maybe even this entire story) is dedicated to him for two reasons: first, for finally getting over the loss of his best friend, and second for having to go through the pain that I've never felt at such an early stage in his life.
Remember, general feedback is appreciated, but I welcome constructive criticism with open arms and an open mind. The journey to becoming a better writer starts with one rocky road, which forks off to many others. This is one of them.
Disclaimer: BtT does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters. Not written for profit.
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Jess fiddled around with his toothbrush while sitting on the toilet. The sound of his older sisters bickering in the kitchen could've been heard for miles on end. As loud as it was, Jess barely heard it over his own thoughts.
The fact that Leslie had seen that much of his drawings bugged him, but it irked him that he himself let Leslie see them. He had only planned for her to see the first page, maybe one or two pages after that…
But never HALF of the darn thing! Thank god I got lucky that I stopped her before she got to the Valentine's Day part, or else she would've been bugging me for weeks.
An image of Leslie literally as a bug jumped into his mind, making himself chuckle.
As much as Jess would've liked to sit there and get lost in his own thoughts, he knew that Leslie was probably looking for him. Almost lazily, the boy stood up, put his toothbrush back into the toothbrush cup, and opened the bathroom door.
He took a quick glance at the kitchen as he walked outside before being grasped on the arm, and almost immediately Jess found himself being dragged up the stairs to his own room. It was a good thing, too. Because of Joyce Ann's nature as a baby, and because of the two sisters bickering to their mom, pandemonium was ensuing downstairs.
Leslie closed the door behind them and they both slid down on the floor, backs pressing against the door. Realizing that his friend had a bright red smudge on her cheek, Jess quickly reached for the Kleenex box, lying sideways on the floor, and offered it to Leslie. As she gratefully took a tissue, Jess took a closer look at his friend, and realized that the red smudge was ketchup. As if to confirm his beliefs, Leslie spoke up.
"It's just ketchup. Joyce Ann had a pack of it in her hands, and when she squeezed it, it just sort of, you know, exploded." She incorporated it with a big waving motion with her arms, and both of the kids laughed. Wiping away the ketchup on her cheek, Leslie threw away the tissue and started listening to the raging noise downstairs.
"…your sisters sure do know how to create a tantrum."
Not quite sure what tantrum meant, Jess only nodded in response. Never one to leave such a thing hanging, he made a mental note to look the word up later. "You think we should go down?" Leslie raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Her friend shrugged.
"I think your mom will call us when its time to go. Until then, let's wait until the storm dies down." Jess always enjoyed listening to Leslie's speech; it always contained tons of things that he had never heard of before, and sometimes he wondered if she created these phrases herself or got it out of one of the countless books she read in her lifetime. But before his thoughts could get any further, it was interrupted. "So, Jess."
Uh oh.
It was one of the phrases that Mary used when Jess was in trouble, or when she wanted to find out what her son had been doing. When it was spoken, there was never a good ending to the day. That might've explained the sinking feeling in his gut as Leslie stood up and offered her hand to him. Jess unconsciously took it, as if it was a natural response. A tiny wave of electricity coursed through his hand as Leslie helped him up. But not knowing what the feeling was, the boy dismissed it into the back of his head.
The two sat on the bed. A period of silence preceded Leslie's initiation of conversation.
"Do you ever wonder what its like up there?"
"Up there?"
"Yeah…up there, where the clouds float and the birds fly. I mean, I know beyond that is just space, but… sometimes, don't you wonder what its like to…" she closed her eyes, and her sentence was never finished.
"To live in the clouds?"
"To live in the clouds…"
Jess felt a strange feeling of déjà vu.
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A cricket hopped away for its safety as shoes trampled on the dirt road.
After the catastrophic events in the Aarons' household, everything was finally prepared, and the Aarons headed out towards the field. Jess and Leslie towed behind them, with Jess carrying a bulging bag; Leslie had insisted that he should bring something for the smaller kids and themselves to play with after they were done eating.
I'm pretty sure that our parents will go on talking about stuff and lose track of time.
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"…profits down by fifteen percent this month, and I'm considering using the standard marketing technique to get more customers."
"What standard marketing technique are you talking about?" Bill inquired.
"Candy machines inside the store." Chuckles ensued. Pleased by his own little joke, Mr. Aarons took another bite in his ham sandwich, courtesy of the Burkes. Jess was concentrating on a small fly that buzzed around the sandwich. Eventually it landed on the piece of bread, and the moment it did Jess knew it wouldn't stand a chance against the mouth of Jack Aarons. Moments later, he finished the sandwich, and the fly was nowhere in sight.
Not having spoken a word since they left the house, Brenda and Ellie had their eyes fixed on their own sandwiches, slowly chewing and trying to savor the taste. It was, after all, filled with all sorts of ingredients, ones they would never see in their own fridge and pantry. Mrs. Burke, who had "constructed" said sandwiches, looked at the two teens and produced a soft smile.
Jess's mom was busy feeding Joyce Ann, and beside her May Belle was lying on her back, eyes dreamily gazing up at the blue sky.
Only Leslie seemed to be the only child that was actually talking, although it was to Jess with whispers to his ear. Most of the time Jess couldn't hear most of what she said, but the words "interesting" and "parents" could be made out. Suddenly, as if Leslie's body had been jolted by electricity, she jumped up. Jess, wondering if there was a bug or snake in the grass, stood up too and searched for movement in the grass.
"Hey Judy, Jess and I are going somewhere. Be back in an hour, okay?"
Judy's eyes went from Leslie, to Jess, then to Leslie again. Finally, in a joking voice, she said "be back in fifty minutes."
Leslie laughed, and ran off. Jess blanked out for a second, and then gave everything one last glance before taking off after her.
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Been out of the country for the past month, and now that school has started, I won't have as much time to write as I want to. Updates will come out slower for all of my stories.