Chapter 09
Rocky pulled his eyes from his textbook and stared at his closed bedroom door. His eyebrows narrowed behind the lenses of his glasses; eyebrows furrowed above the frames.
Silence.
Still, there was something that had pulled is attention away from his studies in the first place. Removing the pencil sticking out between his lips, he set it down on his desk and removed his foot from the edge of his desk, leaning forward to set all four legs of his chair on the floor.
It was just as well. He hadn't really been focusing on his studies, anyway. The wall of text in front of him was just that: there was nothing discernable about it. For a split second, he didn't even remember what subject he was working on at the moment. Shaking his head, he reached down by his chair for his water bottle and took a long, slow sip from it. He could hear his dad's words of reminder now; "Set a timer to maximize your study time," "focus only on the things you will be tested on," "study in an environment where you won't be distracted."
His whole house was a distraction. Between the muffled fights Colt and Tum-Tum got into next door, or the sound of his father's pacing as he worked, and the lingering wonder of what it was that Snyder had to do with the new kids, it was no wonder he couldn't focus. He just had to face it. This Hugo Snyder thing wasn't going to blow over like it did in previous years.
But, how long were they going to let his memory distract them from leading their lives?
Stretching his arms over his head, he lifted himself up onto the balls of his feet. He groaned when his joints popped, and his muscles extended. He paused, tilting his head to the side.
There it was again.
Lowering himself onto the flats of his feet, he crossed the room to his door and pulled it open, leaning his head out into the dark hallway just in time to see a dark form start to head down the stairs.
"What are you doing?"
Colt spun around, keys jangling as he brought a hand to his chest. "Geeze, dude," he whispered. He stepped back up onto the landing, the light from Rocky's room illuminating him. "I think you take that ninja thing a little too seriously, sometimes. I didn't hear you."
Rocky crossed his arms over his chest and leaned to the side, resting his head on his door jamb. "If you were a better ninja you would have realized I was here," he said with a half-smile. It grew wider when Colt rolled his eyes, nostrils flaring. He knew his older brother was right. "Where are you going?"
"Out."
Lifting a hand to rub at his forehead, Rocky made a face. "I know that."
Colt chuckled. A smug smile sat on his face. "Then why'd you ask?"
"Because I'd like to know where you're going so when mom and dad ask about it, I can back you up."
"Mom and dad won't ask," Colt said with a snort.
"They're not stupid," Rocky said, adjusting his glasses. "I'm sure by now they know you're sneaking out of the house."
"And if they do know, they haven't said anything about it." Colt shrugged his shoulders and fixed Rocky with a stare. "And you won't either."
Rocky let out a single, high-pitched, "Ha." Colt had no leg to stand on. Threatening him? Really? "You're right I won't. Because I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not."
Rocky leveled his gaze at Colt. "Try and stop me." Colt's lips twitched, looking as if he was going to consider it. Rocky didn't break his stare. He knew his words didn't hold a lot of weight to his younger brother anymore. He recognized that Colt had improved immensely with his ninja skills over the years. His growth spurt over the years helped with that as well. Rocky could still win sparring matches, but it had become harder as Colt knew how to use his advantages instead of striking wildly. He was still a wild fighter but knew how to make it work for him. "Realize that if you do try, you'll make enough noise to get mom and dad's attention."
Colt through his keys up into the air and caught them against his chest. "Let's go then," Colt said.
"Ok. But you might as well tell me what's up now, so I have a ready-made plan on how to navigate this with mom and dad when if it comes up."
"Oh, come on, Rock." Colt rolled his eyes.
"No, seriously. I can intercept and intervene, or I can let Tum know ahead of time whether or not he needs to play along no questions asked." Rocky uncrossed one arm and rubbed at his eye. "The point is, I need to know as much information as possible, because whatever work you put into sneaking out and back into this house, I need to put in to keeping this story straight. Take my offer to cover for you now before you regret it."
"Why do you need a cover?" Tum-Tum asked, leaning out of his and Colt's room. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere," Rocky and Colt said at the same time, briefly looking at him.
Tum-Tum looked back and forth between his two brothers. "What do you want me to tell mom and dad?"
"Nothing."
"Then let me come."
"No." A third time, Rocky and Colt spoke in unison.
A deep frown appeared on Tum-Tum's face. Normally, he would have used this as a time to pout, Rocky noticed, to get his way. Tum-Tum used his cuteness, and people still referred to him as adorable or cute, and position as the youngest to his advantage, even at fourteen years old. Not that Rocky could really blame him.
How often had he said, "Because I'm your big brother," even now? But this was different. His shortness in the cafeteria was a different side of him. Even Colt, who spent way more time with Tum-Tum than Rocky did as of late, couldn't figure out what had caused the sudden shift in his personality.
"Fine," Tum-Tum said with a shrug of his shoulders, "I'll just go tell mom and dad you're looking to fight Darren and Darryl. I'm sure they'll be pleased to hear about it." Rocky looked over at Colt out of the corner of his eye – it was what he had suspected as well. Tum-Tum spun on his heels and stepped towards their parents' room, his chin up.
"Hold it," Colt commanded. Tum-Tum immediately stopped walking. "Come back here." Tum-Tum turned around but didn't move any closer. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm not dumb," Tum-Tum said, emphatically. An annoyed expression crossed his face when Rocky let out a "sssh!" at his loud determination, at the same time Colt used his hand to indicate for Tum-Tum to lower his volume. "People talk to me about you guys all the time, you know. I know Darren and Darryl pushed you around today."
"They didn't push me around," Colt said with a scoff.
"They've been talking online about your or whatever," Tum-Tum said, reaching into his pocket. He retrieved it and waved it in the air. "I figured that's where you're going. To find 'em." He took a step closer to his brothers. "So, let me come with you. I can help."
Rocky looked back over at Colt, finding a curious look on his face. He knew both Colt and Tum-Tum would ultimately look to him for the final decision on this situation. They always did. Even for something as small as trying to decide between two electives they wanted to take. Sooner or later, the two of them would have to learn how to make decisions for themselves.
Ha, Rocky thought to himself, you could say the same for yourself.
In his senior year of school, he was faced with big decisions regarding his future. The main one being whether he was going to follow what was expected of him (and practically already decided for him as far as his dad was concerned) or do what it was he wanted to do.
Whatever that was.
His exams had been selected (whether he was going to take the SAT over the ACT or both was a long conversation in and of itself), the college he would attend had been picked out since the day he was born, and his major was practically decided for him.
Just like everything else, if Colt and Tum-Tum were going to understand the importance of living their own lives, he would have to be the one to lead by example. But they would learn. They all would have to. Too long they've had things decided for them; like the looming threat of not being able to see their grandpa or continue martial arts whenever they did something wrong.
Colt lifted an eyebrow in Rocky's direction. He kept his face blank and Colt's shoulders dropped as he expelled a deep breath of air. "All right, let's go," he finally said. Tum-Tum beamed and moved to pass Colt, but Colt stopped him with a hand to his chest. "Remember, if you tell mom and dad, I know exactly who to go to for a beat down."
"You don't have to worry about me." Tum-Tum shrugged. "Mom and dad probably already know."
"Yeah, yeah." Colt motioned for Tum-Tum to follow him.
Rocky removed his glasses from his nose and set them down on his desk. He grabbed his coat and keys and followed his brothers out the front door. Tum-Tum was suddenly all smiles as he claimed the passenger seat. Rocky pulled himself into the back row of seats and buckled himself in.
"It's been a long time since I've been driven around," he commented, moving out of the way of Colt's hand as he reached back to plant his hand on the back of the passenger seat. "This is weird."
"Just wait until little Michael starts driving," Colt said as she eased his truck out onto the street. He reached out his hand and pinched Tum-Tum's cheek, only moving to shift the car into drive when Tum-Tum batted his hand away.
"Not much longer now," Tum-Tum chirped. He leaned forward in his seat and reached for the volume knob, cranking up the already loud metal music. Rocky made a face but didn't say a word. He preferred silence while driving, but it wasn't his car, and he wasn't driving. "As soon as I get my permit, I'll be behind the wheel at all times."
"In that case," Rocky said, leaning forward in his seat to rest his arms on the driver and passenger seats, "consider yourself permanently driving me around."
"What's wrong with me?" Colt asked.
"Let's wait until after Tum gets his license to start teaching him how to be a speed demon," Rocky suggested, causing Tum-Tum to start laughing uproariously.
"You get one speeding ticket," Colt mumbled. He also had lost driving privileges and had to perform extra chores around the home to raise money for his half of the ticket.
"Tum can drive however he wants after he passes the driver's test. It's better if he learns how to do everything perfectly before he gets to that point."
Jessica was more patient sitting in the passenger seat, but she did have her moments as a panicked driver. Rocky had caught her on a few occasions with her eyes closed when he was first learning to drive on the highway. Sam on the other hand was more alert in the car, peppering Rocky with questions about road rules, and what to do at a railroad crossing, or what flashing yellow lights meant as he drove. Though the hard tone in his voice was more nerve wracking than all the other drivers on the road. Both parents just brought different stresses to the drive.
To dwindle that as much as possible when it was Colt's turn to learn to drive, especially with Colt's short temper, Rocky took things upon himself. He took Colt out around the neighborhood in quick driving trips to get him familiar with the car and driving as much as possible. He had planned to do the same with Tum-Tum as well.
"Where are we going, anyway?"
"If mom and dad ask, we're getting ice cream," Rocky replied.
Colt maneuvered his car through the streets before coming up on the city park. Even as late as it was, there were multiple cars in the parking lot. Tum-Tum practically pressed his nose up against the glass of the passenger seat as he looked out into the night.
"There's a huge group by the baseball fields," Tum-Tum tapped the window with his finger, "at the pavilions."
"That's where we're going," Colt said, sliding out of the driver's seat. He was already taking long strides across the sidewalk as Tum-Tum and Rocky scrambled to follow after him.
"Just keep your cool, dude," Rocky said, rushing to catch up with his brother.
"Yeah," Tum-Tum agreed, "but if they start something, I've got your back." Colt's look of determination cracked slightly to allow a hint of a smile through. Even Rocky laughed when Tum-Tum started to shadow box, punching the air in front of him, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I'm not afraid of these guys."
"Let's just see what happens, ok?" Rocky said. One of them needed to be thinking rationally, it might as well be him. Colt was getting himself worked up with each step he took. And Tum-Tum was never one too scared to tackle a challenge. Even when he was younger, he would stand up to anyone and everyone that towered over him. "It might not come to that."
As a pair of headlights passed them, moving slowly through the parking lot, Rocky glanced over, catching sight of a yellow truck. His pace slowed. It was just a car. Anyone could be out at that time of night for whatever reason. Still, he had the feeling that there was something familiar about that truck.
"Rocky, hurry up!"
Rocky faced forward and set off at a jog to catch up with his brothers. As soon as they got to the pavilion, the crowd that had gathered there parted and Colt slipped past, making his way over to Darren and Darryl who were perched atop a table.
"Dude!" Jason grabbed onto Rocky's arm. "I was hoping you wouldn't show up. I saw what was going down online. I was going to bring Colt home if I saw him."
"You know my brother," Rocky said, angling his head towards his brother. Jason nodded. "But, thanks, dude. I appreciate it."
"Yeah, no problem." Jason slapped his hand into Rocky's palm. "Are you ok, though? You guys were weird at lunch the other day."
Rocky sighed through his nose. He just needed to accept it; whenever Snyder was brought up, he would never be normal. No matter how hard he tried, he would have an involuntary flinch or did what he did best: keep quiet. Jason was one of his best friends, and he still hadn't told him a lot about what had happened. All these years later, and the man still could get a reaction from him and his family. And now his name was being brought up all over again, and potentially being lumped in with his family.
"It's fine," Rocky said with a shake of his head. Closing his eyes, he took in a breath through his nose, held it for five seconds, and let it out. Calm down. Just calm down.
Breathe.
Calm.
Upon opening his eyes, Rocky slid back into his usual role. Focusing on others. Making sure everybody else was ok. Making sure Colt wasn't getting too in over his head.
"Look," Colt said, spreading his arms out, "we don't like each other. We never have. But, don't you think life would be easier if we just left each other alone? That's not too hard, is it?"
"Oh," Darren said with a tisk, "but it's just too much fun. School's boring, you know? We need to find something to make the day a little better."
"You had no problem talking at school," Darryl commented. "So why don't you back up that mouth of yours?"
"Why don't you back up yours?" Colt replied. "You talk tough all the time, but you never want to do anything about it." Rocky watched as Colt slid his hands into his pockets and gave a slight head nod in encouragement. He was taking the steps to try and diffuse the situation as best as he could; hiding his hands to keep himself from throwing a punch or showing that the boy's words are getting to him. But even from the outside of the circle (mostly comprised with people holding up their phones, some adding light with their flashlight apps), Rocky could see how stiffly he was standing. "We're not at school now, so take your best shot. If you want, to anyway."
Darren got to his feet and made a show of stalking towards Colt. He didn't say a word, just threw out his hands, landing a shove squarely on Colt's shoulders. Colt stumbled back but recovered his balance quickly. "Come on," Darren said, beckoning Colt with his fingers. "Let's see what you learned from your gramps."
"No one talks about our grandpa like that!" Tum-Tum's voice rose about the crowd. Rocky craned his neck to see where he was but couldn't find him in the group.
"Come on! We want to see a fight!"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The crowd around Rocky and Jason suddenly surged forward, and Rocky felt a hard push to his back and he stumbled forward into the center ring. Annoyance rushing to a spike, Rocky turned around to face the boy behind him. He recognized him from school but didn't know him well enough to know who he was.
"Do not push me," he said.
"You always have your brother fight your battles for you?" Darryl called from over Rocky's shoulder. Rocky briefly glanced back at Darryl. He was walking towards Rocky. As soon as Rocky faced the boy a second time, he was shoved again.
"Get in there and fight."
"Please. Do not. Put your hands on me," Rocky said firmly.
"Behind you." Jason pointed and Rocky whirled around, bending backwards out of the way of an arching punch Darryl aimed towards his cheek.
Rocky quickly spun out of the way, holding his hands up in front of him. He shuffled backwards, trying to put space between him and Darryl. Over and over, Rocky tried to dodge every punch, kick, and grab Darryl sent at him.
"I don't want to fight you," he said. "We can settle this another way." Darryl rushed towards him in response.
Rocky blinked in surprise at the sudden, quick movement, but still managed to bring up his forearm in a block. Angling his arm, he absorbed Darryl's swinging blows, allowing them to slide down his arm and away from his body. He heard scuffling behind him from Darren and Colt but couldn't see how his brother was doing as Darryl was coming at him with quick, repeated attacks that had Rocky constantly moving to keep space between the two of them.
Just breathe, keep him moving, Rocky coached himself as he moved. Breathe. In. Out. He reminded himself to stay focused, to keep his growing frustration and anger in check. He was always recognized as the calm on, the one always in control. Get him in a sparring match, or even in a fight, and he found his anger, annoyance, and frustration bubbling just underneath the surface. Still, he knew how to keep it in check, to meditate through it all. To not show any emotion.
The crowd squeezed in tighter around the four boys, jostling each other for a good position. A good camera angel. Shouting words to antagonize the boys even further. Darryl lowered his head and rammed his shoulder into Rocky's chest. Anticipating the move, Rocky had jumped up and backwards, landing on the bench of the table. He planted his hands onto Darryl's back and flipped himself over. The balls of his feet collided with the ground first and he stumbled forward onto his hands and knees, scrambling to get back up to his feet.
Colt had shed his coat at some point in the middle of the fight but was still quickly side-stepping Darren. Both their faces were red, and occasionally, they would stop and shout at each other, words drowned out by the equally loud crowd – the crowd that suddenly dispersed and started running in different directions.
"You ok?" Tum-Tum asked, grabbing Rocky's elbows, helping him to his feet. "Man, you should have let me in there. I could have gotten a good hit or two."
"I'm fine, Tum." Rocky said with a huff. He knew he was being short, and Tum-Tum's scrunched eyebrows and twist of his mouth indicated that. He couldn't help it. He just needed a minute to himself. A minute to decompress. And the jostling and bumping from running teenagers wasn't helping.
Tum-Tum took off before Rocky could react, shouting, "Colt!" as he went.
"Come on, we gotta go." Jason pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed Rocky's arm. "I heard someone say something about cops." He started pulling Rocky through the pavilion. "Let's go, let's go."
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Rocky nodded and the two of them ran off into the cool night. Gravel crunched under their feet as they ran, the only sound coming from them accompanied by their heavy breathing. Jason stopped by his car, and Rocky moved to run past him to Colt's when he realized he didn't have the keys. He patted his pockets frantically before running back to Jason's car. They talked at the same time.
"I don't have the keys!"
"My car won't start!"
Rocky bit back an exasperated, "Of course it's not," before moving to lift the hood of his best friend's car. Frantically, he looked under the hood for anything that could have been the cause, this time, for Jason's lemon of a car, but he didn't even know what he was looking for to begin with. All around them, teenagers piled into their cars, sped out of the parking lot, and slid into the light traffic.
"Move," Colt commanded, appearing by Rocky's side. Rocky quickly did a once over of his brother; his coat hung off his shoulder, his t-shirt had stains of dirt, and made a rip at the seams on his shoulder, but overall, he looked ok. "Move!" He pushed on Rocky's shoulder and he got out of the way. Planting his hands on the metal of the car, Colt quickly scanned what was before him before reaching into his pocket, retrieving his car keys. "Rock, go start my car. We'll be out of here in a jiffy. Tum, come here. I need small hands."
Rocky scrambled to identify the correct key before running to his brother's car. He jabbed his thumb into the fob and the lights blinked twice. He pulled himself into the driver's seat and started the car. Slapping one hand over his ear to cut out the loud metal music, he used the other to adjust the driver's seat and to pull the seatbelt across his lap.
"Ok, come on, come on, come on," he whispered to himself, shifting the truck into reverse and backing out of the parking spot. He carefully maneuvered the vehicle over to his brothers and friend and put it in park only to pause partway through removing his seatbelt. A row of four, square lights appeared in the rearview mirror, drawing his eyes.
The sound of the idling truck slowly melted away. A rushing sound filled his ears. He swallowed as quietly as he could. Didn't want to bring any attention to himself. He jumped when the driver's side door was pulled open. Colt leaned out of the way of the buckle of the seat belt as it went swinging into the door frame.
Colt gave Rocky a look that was half "What the heck?" and half concern. Rocky threw himself into the back row of seats, ignoring his brother's silent question. "Did you move my seat?" he asked instead.
"I'm not as tall as you," Rocky replied, reaching out a hand to purposefully, yet gently hit his brother on the side of his head with his fingertips. Colt's chuckle indicated that he was very aware of the fact. "Just drive, jerk."
At the sudden forward jerk of acceleration (Colt pressed his fist into his horn twice as they passed Jason), Rocky pulled his seatbelt across his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he gazed out the back window and at the still non-moving row of lights. The vehicle sat still at the end of the quickly emptying parking lot. It didn't move until Colt pulled his car to the exit of the parking lot, with Jason pulling his car up behind them. Rocky squinted against the bright lights, trying to make out the vehicle, realizing with a start that it was the same yellow truck he had seen earlier.
With a quick jerk of the wheel, and the rev of the engine, they were pulling out into traffic.
"Rock, move your head," Colt said, "I can't see."
Still, Rocky stared out the back window. He watched Jason cut across the four lanes of traffic, heading in the opposite direction. Then, the set of headlights pulled out. Rocky held his breath, waiting for the wheels to turn to follow them. But it continued on straight, disappearing into the night. Rocky sighed through his nose.
None of them spoke until Tum-Tum said, "Well, that was fun."
Even Rocky couldn't help but burst out laughing at his dry, direct tone. A relieved laugh. A laugh to allow himself to relax. He jostled Colt's shoulder. "Good job," he said. "Darren isn't an easy person to talk down."
"You should have just punched him," Tum-Tum said.
"Yeah," Colt chuckled. He rest his elbow on the car door and rest his head against his fist. "Darren's mostly talk." He shrugged. "I did give him a chance to not be an idiot. This just means he'll be ragging on me even more, though."
"That's his problem," Rocky said. "I'm proud of you, dude." Colt made a noise in the back of his throat, but Rocky caught the smile on his face reflected in the rearview mirror. "Take a right up here. Ice cream's on me."
"Ice cream?" Tum-Tum asked. "Yes!"
"We're already out, and If that's the story we're going with, might as well make it true."
"Who are you, and what have you done with Rocky?" Colt asked. He merged his car over into the lane next to them.
"Did you even look to see if a car was there?" Rocky asked.
"Ah. There he is."
Rolling his eyes, Rocky checked all the cars around them as far as he could see.
Just to be sure.
He didn't have much longer to hang out with his brothers until he was off to college. He was going to make damn sure he could keep an eye out for them as long as he could. Because if he had done so years ago, he would have found a way to call 9-1-1 the first time he heard that the supposed pizza delivery men had guns. It was the logical thing to do.
A/N: And now we've got something from Rocky's POV. It's always interesting to me to think about things from Rocky's view as the oldest, and how his character may have grown and changed over the years, but still stayed the same in some instances. Mori will make an appearance with the next chapter, and things will really start picking up from there.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this.
-Rhuben
