A/N: Hey guys. Thanks for all the support so far! Tommorow, late afternoon, I'm leaving for New Hampshire with my friends for one of their birthdays, and won't be back till Monday. Urk. Expect a new chapter as soon as I get back!
A pair of bare feet shuffled soundlessly down the stairs and toward the sliding glass door where the rest of the family was waiting. Just as Bradin exited outside, dressed simply in a white tee shirt and navy blue swim shorts, the cluster of people he knew so well became oddly silent. Were they talking about him? Of course they were. For quite a while he could not help but hear his aunt and her friends, along with his own flesh and blood siblings speak of his condition...wondering if he'd get better. Like there was anything wrong with him in the first place. Choosing not to speak wasn't a crime! At least, that was how the sixteen year old thought of it. Even since he just spoke previously in the living room they would all probably be chatting about it. Did each and every one of them think he was deaf?
"You all ready?" Ava questioned cheerily. The grin so widely spread across her face nearly glistened in the sunlight.
Everyone else nodded in unison and the pack all began down the pale gray boardwalk. When passing by the beach's sandy shore Erika glanced out of the corner of her eye to notice Bradin's slight nervousness. He took a step into the middle of the huddle so he was farthest away from the shore, shoving Derrick without mercy where he used to stand. She sighed gently and adjusted the bottom of her pale blue tank top, deciding to speak up to him.
"Hey, Kansas," she began with a sugar coated smile. Bradin tilted his head upward once he heard his little nickname she gave him through the months living in California. "Don't you have to open up the shop today?"
"No, not today." Jay answered for him. "I decided to close it for a week or two. We're repainting, anyway." Erica was a bit dissapointed on who gave her a response, so she tried a second time, eyes still locked on the blonde teenager not too far away from her.
"Think you'll be up for surfing later today? I heard the waves are going to be amazing." Once again the Australian could not help but barge into the conversation. How badly she wanted to just tell him to shut up and let the boy talk, but instead forced a weak smile.
"I heard they were going to be huge. Maybe too high for your level, mate." Ah...She figured out where Jay was going with this. Not one male on the entire earth, especially one as competitive as this one, could easily take a challenge without at least giving it a shot. Johnny sideglanced at the scene behind him expectantly. He couldn't help but force back a small grin. Bradin on the other hand stared directly up at Jay and raised his eyebrows. Speaking was not very common for him, but ever since he had done so a little while ago, it caused his throat to ache.
"I don't think so." he replied softly. His lips formed into an uncomfortable frown, scratching at the base of his dirty blond mop of hair. Nikki clicked the base of her tongue against her teeth idly, eyes scoping along the beach as if searching for something. Finally, something had caught her intrest, and she raised a hand out to point. There was a rather large oval of people, all of them ranging from child to young adult years, a majority of them carrying flyers colored electric blue.
"What do you think that's all about?" She questioned. Sussanah was the first to look over. She grinned broadly when realizing what all of the commotion was about. Her elbow nudged Ava lightly in the stomach to catch her attention.
"They haven't had the AST's out in a while. Coincidence?"
Nikki stared over in curiousity. "AST's?" Erica smirked and slightly shook her head.
"The A.S.T. is only the biggest competition Playa Linda's seen." Jay nodded absent-mindedly with agreement but remained quiet. "It stands for Adolscent Social Talent. Basically, it's a talent show blown way out of proportion. You get some cash for winning though. Not too bad, if you consider how many girls will be going around in skirts six sizes too small and shaking it up to get the judges' attention bad." Soon after Erika's little speech the entire group broke off into quiet laughter realizing she was most likely correct. Johnny side glanced to his fellow Aussie friend and grinned doggishly.
"You up to entering this year?"
Jay returned the sinister smirk. "Of course."
Before anyone else could question the pair sidestepped off over the boardwalk and down into the sand where the sign ups for the A.S.T. were being held.
"Why don't you sign up, Bradin?" Ava suggested. "I bet you'd make it in the top five easily just by singing."
Nikki nodded in agreement, as did Derrick, who was unusually quiet. After watching the two middle aged men hoard themselves through a group of bubbly teenagers in order to reach the sign up stand Erica turned to her surfing student in somewhat surprise.
"You sing? You're just full of surprises, aren't you Kansas?"
Bradin smiled gently and raised a shoulder. "I guess, yeah."
The news of him having some vocal talent was giving her a bit of excitement to hear his voice. "Why don't you sing something for us?"
"Yeah, go ahead." Ava added in. Nikki and Derrick's faces were filled with smirks, knowing their brother's loathing for singing in front of others, even if it was two people close to him and his own siblings.
Bradin shook his head in automatic response. "N-no way." His aunt quirked an eyebrow at his stuttering but figured it was only natural for someone just getting used to speaking again.
"Come on, it isn't going to hurt."
He stared up into the face of his housemate's girlfriend and could not help but give into that expression. Her lips, full and painted with a light coating of clear gloss, curved into a pout, eyes blinking in pure innocence.
Derrick held back laughter at watching his sibling's defeat rise over. "Sing the song mom used to sing to us."
All five stopped in their tracks to pay more attention. The lines and packs of people passing by were forced to step around them.
Bradin mumbled a stray curse word under his breath and paused to think of the lyrics. Intense eyes closing, he easily could hear his mother's voice chanting the words of the song in his head, the vision of her doing so flashing like a movie scene.
The entire city belonging to Kansas's government was swept with a torrent of pounding rain. Lightning streaked across the sky in jagged lines as thunder awoke the sleeping bundle of todler Derrick. Nearby, a woman with ravishing auburn hair stood from her perch beside her oldest son, who was enraptured in watching Disney's Tarzan, in spite of the fact he was twelve years of age. The heartwarming scene of the large, female gorilla cradling her human little boy reflected off the glassiness to his eyes. With Derrick tucked securely over her shoulder and the thought of her daughter being at a friend's house the middle aged woman sat beside her son. She gently rocked back and forth against the cushion and leaned her free arm around the blanket against the young boy's shoulders. In response, eyes never leaving the screen, he smiled brightly and leaned his head against his mother's chest. The tranquility of the evening was soon shattered by a blinding flash of light, in which the television screen flickered to black, as well as the rest of the lights in the house. Young Bradin gasped and curled sleepily against his mom. She had no intentions of leaving either child's side and softly began to hum the tune of the melody once blaring from the TV. Soon, the soundless hit turned into words, and her soothing voice began to fill the house, warming it freely like a nonexistant flame.
"You'll be in my heart, yes you'll be in my heart. From this day on, now and forever more.."
Hands all clasping and prodding at his shoulders awoke the teen from his daze. He quickly shook his head out of the trance-like state and felt the sensation of tears bubbling from his lids due to the memory he cherished so deeply. With a short sniffle he eyed a suspicious Erica and nodded to the question that her expression seemed to scream; 'Will you hurry up and sing before I make an even more irresistable face that will make you want to go to your knees and bow to my beauty?' Chuckling to himself at the thought, Bradin once again felt his eyes close. His lips parted soundlessly for a split second in order to memorize the lyrics. Soon after his rather soft yet smooth singing voice melted into the air binded closely around him.
"Come stop your crying, It will be alright. Just take my hand, Hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you. I will be here, Don't you cry. For one so small, You seem so strong. My arms will hold you, Keep you safe and warm. This bond between us Can't be broken, I will be here don't you cry." A gentle breath was taken in, almost inaudible, before continuing on.
" 'cause you'll be in my heart, Yes you'll be in my heart. From this day on, Now and forever more. You'll be in my heart no matter what they say. You'll be here in my heart always...Always."
Bradin's lower lip trembled ever so slightly as the last line slid freely into the warm atmosphere. Two identical patches of deep scarlet formed at either cheek, and after a few moments, his eyes flitted open, only to have quite a few people staring- no, gawking at him. It wasn't just his much-older friend and relatives, but a near-dozen people had actually stopped to listen. One of them he later noticed was a girl with thick but slightly greasy black hair tracing down to her waist, wearing a lopsided grin. Just as he realized it as the girl who nursed his wounds she left back down the boardwalk.
"...Wow." Ericka mumbled. Ava nearly hugged her nephew but held back due to the small group of fellow teenagers not too far away, still watching him as if watching for an encore. The tallest member of that crowd reached a hand in his gray cargo's pocket and pulled out a spare handful of change. Without so much as a word he dropped it at Bradin's feet, who just stared, obviously confused.
The rather deep voice of the unidentified young man, maybe eighteen or so, set off snickers from the rest of his crowd. "Sorry, but if I wanted to hear live street entertainment from you, I could strangle a couple'a cats." Before anyone else could say anything the crowd walked by, the one carrying the insults brushing his fingers along his chocolate brown hair, left spiked an inch or two above his skull. He and the rest of his peers crossed over toward the same direction of Jay and Johnny, to the several sign up stands hosted on a single white clothed table. Bradin's eyes narrowed to mere slits, and he thrust his arm outward, dragging Erica at his side down to the AST's main area. She could not help but laugh and tried her best to catch up. "I'm guessing that you're signing up, huh?"
His only response was a mere grunt. He snatched a black inked pen from the rather crowded table top, along with taking one of the cerulean sheets, beginning to fill in the several information selections with a scribbled handprint. Erica hovered over his shoulder with mild intrest, eyebrows raising at the ridiculously personal questions the paper was asking. After watching him add check marks to random categories, she blinked repeatadly at a more specific one before grinning.
"No more virginity, huh?"