Freddy's eyes opened wide as he heard his dad come in. He looked up at his mom for help, and reassurance, but she had her eyes fixed on the door. His dad came banging through a moment later, and his mom's shiny red lips stretched into a fake smile. He was extremely tempted to run up to his room and slam the door, but no. He must be strong.
"Great(!) I'm home at six o'clock and there's no sign of food!"
"But, darling, I've been working all day -"
"That's no excuse, Katherine, and you know it! I work all day to put food on this table, and there isn't any!"
"Hey!" interjected Freddy. "Mom works too, and you know that!" His mom sent him a pleading look to stay out of this, but it was too late. Once again, it was an argument between just Freddy and his dad.
"Oh, does your precious mommy work too?" sneered his dad. "I know full well Katherine works! But does she get paid? No! No, she goes around doing all this goody goody volunteer work, and then I have to work twice as hard just to feed you!"
"Oh, don't tell me! I'm lucky to have a roof over my head, I'm lucky to be able to eat every night, I'm lucky to go to the most prestigious prep school in the country!" spat Freddy. "Well, here's news for you, I don't care!"
"Oh, so you'd rather be out on the streets, would you?"
"Yeah! It'd be better than living here with you!"
Freddy's mom gasped, and covered her eyes. Freddy had just gone too far this time. His dad pulled himself up to his full height, and Freddy couldn't help thinking what a monster he looked, like some crazy guy. His face was a mottled red, almost purple in places, and his words were flecked with spittle. If Freddy hadn't been so tough, he would have been... scared.
"Right then! Frederick David Jones, get your stuff and get out of here right now!"
"No!" Freddy's mom said, standing up and planting herself in between her son and her husband. Both Freddy and his dad stared at her in disbelief.
"What did you just say?!" shouted Freddy's dad, recovering quickly.
"No," repeated Freddy's mom, firmly and quietly. "You can do a lot of things, Eddie, and I'll just stand by and watch, but kicking our son out of his own home when he is not even sixteen is not one of them! Now here's some money, go to the pub and calm down! Don't come back until you're in control of yourself!" As Freddy's dad left the house, Freddy's mom led her son gently over to the table, and sat him down. Pulling out a chair opposite him, she sat down and said, "Now, Freddy. Where were we?"
"Well, let me see... oh yes! You were just about to tell me this big important secret," Freddy replied sarcastically.
Freddy's mom looked at him sadly, and he immediately regretted those words. However, there was no way to draw them back, so he shut up and listened.
"Ok. Ok," said his mom, taking deep breaths. "You know your dad?"
"Yes?" replied Freddy cautiously. "What about him?"
"He's not," she said simply.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
His mom sighed, and put her hand over his. "He's not your dad," she said quietly. "He doesn't know it either. I just thought you deserved to know." Freddy sat in silence, trying to work out if this was good or bad. I mean, sure his dad was mean, and they argued a lot, but he probably loved him deep down... somewhere... And at least his dad had never hit him...
"Freddy, honey? Are you ok?" his mom asked, unsure whether or not he'd be angry with her.
He looked up at her, his large brown eyes filling with tears. "I don't know," he said.
His mom stood up, and held out her arms. He came towards her, and she rocked him gently in a hug. He began to cry into her shoulder, and she stroked his back.
"Oh, my baby," she said quietly. "What have I done to you?"
Freddy sat on his old wooden swing, his head in his hands. His dad had made him this – this swing. No, wait – he hadn't. Some random stranger that lived with him had made this. He sighed deeply. A few hours earlier if someone had asked him what he'd be like if he discovered his dad wasn't really his dad, he'd have said delighted.
With things like this you never really know until it happens.
He looked at his watch, and realised he was late for band practice – it'd started twenty five minutes ago. He leapt off the swing, and hurried off to Dewey's, ignoring his mom's sad gaze.
All the band members gathered around him.
"Freddy, have... have you been crying?" asked Katie worriedly. He look around, at the circle of friends surrounding him.
Marco – Lawrence – Zack. These were the ones he was closest to. Marco, the little red-headed kid. He was cool, and really into cars. At the minute he was longing for an Aston Martin DB9. Last month it had been an Audi TT, even though Freddy had repeatedly told him that they were horrible cars, and looked like they'd had a big chunk taken out of them. Lawrence was still... Lawrence. He couldn't really change. Zack was louder, and more fun. He was Freddy's best friend. The one he told his secrets to.
Katie and Summer were cool, and all, but they were, when you got right down to it, girls. Not that he had anything against girls as such, he was sure some of them might make fine friends, just none of the ones he knew did.
Marta was a self-centred show off, Tomika was always stuffing her face, Alicia drank all the time and swore heavily, Michelle and Eleni were just that – Michelle and Eleni. They never went anywhere without the other, and sometimes even spoke for each other. Cute at first, but it got annoying after a while. Katie was sometimes ok, but she had two personalities. One minute she'd be all cool, and like, yeah man! The next she'd be wandering off somewhere, linking arms with Michelle and Eleni and giggling over some picture in some magazine. Summer was Summer. She saw herself as above everyone. They'd tried to include her as a part of the band, but the truth was she didn't see herself as a part of the band. They now saw her as an adult, or a teacher.
Janey and her group of friends weren't much better. Janey was cool when she was around him. She didn't know much about rock, but it was still ok as it didn't really come up much in conversation. She was quite popular, but she wasn't a Popular, with a capital 'P'. He would never dream of hanging round with her, though. She came up to him and said hi, and they sometimes ate lunch together, but in school they each had their own group of friends, and they were both fine with that.
He blinked, bringing everyone back into focus. Ah, yes, the others he hadn't mentioned. Frankie – Gordon – Leonard – Billy. Frankie had put on so much weight he could now consider becoming a sumo wrestler. He was a real 'heavy man', knew boxing, and wrestling, and didn't hesitate to use it on anyone. Gordon was even smaller, if that was possible. Just hid behind his laptop, blinking rapidly behind his over sized glasses. Leonard had quit the band. He was now into rap, pop and R 'n' B. Well, not proper rhythm and blues, but this stupid sucky stuff they call R 'n' B nowadays. He was never seen without a bandanna tied around his head, and his Nike tracksuit pants (tucked into his Burberry socks). When he quit he told them all he was 'going back to da ghetto, man' to 'hang with his crew'. Billy was still... Billy. They all knew he wasn't gay really, or they wouldn't tease him about it. He was sweet, and hung out with the girls, discussing clothes in his squeaky high pitched voice.
Not that this meant that the band had gone bad, au contraire. No, the band had gone from strength to strength. Sure, everyone sucked in Freddy's opinion, but they didn't lack anything in the things that mattered: loyalty – honesty – trust. It was all there.
"Freddy?" repeated Katie. "Freddy, Freddy, come in Freddy!" He blinked again, and sat up groggily.
"What... What happened?"
"Zack said something about his dad and you passed out," Lawrence informed him quickly. "You muttered something, something about..." He thought.
"It was about a stranger," Marco told him, "and about a swing." Freddy started to stutter some kind of explanation, sending a frantic help me look at Zack.
"It was probably just random gibberish," said Zack quickly. I'm sure you don't say normal things just before you pass out. Now, come on! Let's get rocking!"
Freddy smiled in remembrance at Dewey's famous line. Dewey was gone now, to the Great Beyond...
The Great Beyond retirement home, that was. They still used his place to rock out, as he'd legally given it to them. They still called it Dewey's though, because to them... well, it was. They had no idea what Dewey had retired from, but when they went to visit him he seemed happy enough. Sure, he muttered things under his breath about how he was going to kill them all, and how the Man was brainwashing him, and he usually told them about five new conspiracies he'd discovered, but he usually got distracted and told them to leave whenever a pretty young nurse walked past.
Freddy seated himself behind his drum kit, and picked up his sticks from where he'd left them on the windowsill.
"Yo! Zack!" he called. "I've got a new song!" Zack came over.
"Let's see." Freddy handed him the crumpled piece of notepaper.
Not mine no more
You were the one there for me
Even though you baited me
The one who cared for me
Even though you hated me
I know you never doubted me
Even though you shout at me
Even though you were unkind
Deep down, you were still mine.
But now I know you're not mine no more
And who better to give this revelation
Than the woman of my creation
The very being of my very core
My mom.
You're not mine no more
And I can't hide from that
There's no escaping that
you're not mine no more.
I really thought you were a part of me
Even though you were away from me
I could tell you were apart from me
You just didn't like to say to me.
Now I've found that you're not mine no more
And you don't know
I can't believe you don't know.
You're not mine no more.
(P.S. Zack – I'll explain later, I swear!!!)
