Kai gave a little groan under his breath as he slipped into consciousness. As his senses came back to him, he began to realise there was a really heavy weight on his chest. He frowned and opened his eyes.
Two pairs of eyes stared down at him, and two cold noses were pressed against his own. Kai jumped and yelled in shock, and the things on his chest meowed and barked and leapt off him playfully. They landed on the edge of the bed and sat watching him, wagging their tails, thinking the game this new comer had started would be continued straight away.
Kai stared at them as if he had never seen a cat or a dog before.
The cat was a pure white with jet black markings, and a smokey grey face. The dog was a border collie, who sat looking at Kai expectantly with it's ears pointing upwards and it's tail quivering.
Kai wasn't used to animals. Not that he didn't like them, but he just wasn't used to them. Back at home with his mum, there would be no way that Kai would have been allowed a pet. Not even a goldfish would be allowed to cross the threshold of the Hiwatari apartment.
"Lei, Jinx, get out of there," a black haired teenage boy stood at the door which must have been knocked open when the animals came in. A faint colouring came to Kai's cheeks as he realised he was sat in the middle of a crumpled pile of duvet with no shirt on, and probably a bleary and confused expression on his face. Remembering that his hair always stuck up like cacti prickles in the morning, he coloured even more.
"Sorry," the boy said, swiping up the cat and shooing the dog off down the corridor, "I suppose they're used to just barging into everyone's room,"
"It's OK," Kai said, trying to ignore the possibility of alarming bed head. Before the boy could say anything, Tyson skidded up from behind.
"Whoa! Hey guys! Morning Kai!...hey Kai, you're awake, great! Breakfast is ready, come on!" Tyson yelled, beckoning madly with a hand and disappearing down the corridor.
Kai wondered whether his brother was always like that.
"He is," the other boy said, simply, "I'm Rei, by the way. This is kind of weird, isn't it? Being stepbrothers and not seeing each other until now,"
Kai felt like he had been shot in the gut. Of course! It hadn't taken too much to remember where he was when he woke up that morning, but he had completely forgotten about the extra details like the fact his mother had forgotten to tell him that his Dad had remarried and had God knows how many children!
"Uh, yeah," Kai said. Rei gave a small smile.
"We've got the summer to sort that out though. Well, as Tyson says, breakfast is ready. You should get dressed and come down, or you'll end up having to eat scraps that Tyson has had the self-control to leave behind,"
He walked away, still holding the cat.
Kai nearly ran back upstairs the moment he got downstairs. Surely breakfast wasn't like this in normal homes! Tyson and a blonde haired boy were yelling and giggling and screaming and talking to each through huge mouthfuls of food, the black haired boy Rei was sat next to Tyson feeding his cat some of his breakfast, and his Dad and that woman Judy was trying to eat amongst all of this.
Kai sidled in, sliding passed Tyson's flailing arms and sitting quietly at the end of the bench around the big wooden dining room table, that looked like it had been made from beach wood.
It was a while before anyone noticed him, even though he had asked his Dad to pass the sugar, and Tyson a spoon.
"Oh Kai, there you are!" Tyson cried. Kai winced. Honestly, if Tyson ever stayed at his for the summer, their Mum would send Ty off to a finishing school in France or somewhere. His manners weren't exactly the best.
Tyson fidgeted as it came to the end of the breakfast. He was conscious of Kai's presence, which was an odd feeling after all these years. He didn't mind it, it just…felt odd to him. One side of him wanted to throw his arms around Kai and cry and tell him how much he had missed him. And yet the other half of him felt like Kai was a stranger.
It was very confusing.
"Tyson, weren't you going to go to the lake?"
"Oh yeah!" Tyson snapped out of his daydream and leapt up from the table.
"Maxy lets go and get the others!"
Kai thought for a horrifying minute they meant going to get other siblings Kai had yet to be introduced to. But he was comforted on that note, when he saw Max and Tyson running wildly across the field just beyond the garden at the front of the house.
"Where are they going?" he asked.
"Our friends live across the fields," Rei answered. He was still feeding the cat.
"Rei don't feed Lei at the table,"
Rei sighed and dropped the cat on the floor. He said something about going to get his shoes and left Kai with Judy and his Dad.
"So, did you sleep well?"
"Yes," Kai said, simply, really not knowing what to do now. His Dad smiled.
"Don't worry, Rei will probably be back to drag you off somewhere, and Max and Tyson will be back soon,"
Oh yes, that all sounded very comforting.
After a few minutes, Kai could see Judy was trying to get his Dad to talk about something. She kept giving him looks, nudging him, even muttering his name under her breath warningly. He blatantly ignored her until she stamped on his foot.
"Ah! Kai, are you serious about your mum not telling you I remarried?"
"She didn't tell me anything,"
His Dad looked ill.
"Really?"
"Yes,"
"I don't believe that woman sometimes,"
Kai gave a little cough and glanced at the ceiling. He'd heard his Dad say that before. It brought up memories from the back of his mind of his Dad muttering to himself in the lounge whilst his Mum fumed in the kitchen.
Rei re-entered the glowing kitchen, his cat tagging along behind him, playing with his dangling shoelaces.
"Do your laces up Rei, you'll break your neck,"
Rei sighed and bent down to tie them sloppily. Just as he was finishing and the cat had got bored and started to paw at Kai's leg, Max and Tyson burst in through the front door, two others in tow. Kai shook the cat off him and followed Rei out of the kitchen.
"Bye boys! Be careful!" Judy called.
Kai swallowed.
"Kai, this is Brooklyn and Kane,"
They both smiled as a hello, eyes shining bright and panting. Max rolled his sleeves up, hot from the run, and beamed.
"Come on then, lets go,"
The four bustled out of the front door, the sounds of their footsteps resounding around the house as they trotted off down the gravel driveway. Rei followed at a more sedately pace, Kai trailing along behind. The black-haired boy gave Kai an apologetic look.
"They always go down to the river. It's one way to pass the summer,"
Kai could think of plenty more, but he didn't say anything. He simply nodded, wishing he was with Tala somewhere back home, passing the summer together and amusing themselves in their own way.
Up ahead, behind drooping willow trees that shadowed the middle third of the driveway, the boys were dragging out bikes from a rickety old wooden shed, painted an egg blue. Kai cocked an eyebrow.
'Oh no,' he thought, 'First their past time's are skipping around the fields like something from Little House on the Prairie, and now I've found they like to do that on bikes,'
Kai watched as Tyson stared at him from where he sat side-saddle on his bike.
"Coming Kai?"
Surrounded by the Prairie Boys, as Kai now liked to call them, he couldn't exactly say 'no' to his younger brother, could he?
Problem was, they all had bikes. Kai didn't. And there was no way he was making himself look like a lunatic by running along beside them.
Brooklyn's fiery orange hair, pretty similar to Tala's, reflected the beams of the sun and all their faces were bright with enthusiasm, apart from maybe Rei's, who was just mildly amused at the whole situation.
"Yeah, sure," Kai said. Tyson smiled, although he seemed to still look uneasy around Kai.
"Right then, lets go,"
Tyson wasn't obviously bright enough to work out that Kai had no bike but as they all disappeared into the huge fields of overgrown wild grass that surrounded his Dad's home, Kai knew he had to go anyway. He slouched off behind them, wondering how he ever got caught up in this.
Kai couldn't possibly conceive how walking through a field was fun. But the Prairie Boys seemed to be having a good time. Up ahead on their bikes, they were mucking around in the dim light of the evening, the midges swarming close to them in the warm muggy air. Whilst Kai trudged along behind. He was bitten everywhere, his legs hurt, he now knew what a water snake was and what an un-pleasurable experience it was to have one on your lap, and that Tyson's dog Jinx seemed to think Kai was some sort of dog basket. The stupid dog would just come up to him and try and lie on him. He was covered in dog hairs.
How could his first day gone so badly? He was hot, miserable and bitten to within an inch of his life. He couldn't remember what he had thought the summer would be like, but definitely not like this.
'I thought I was supposed to be getting to know Tyson,' he thought, finally reaching the driveway the field sloped off, and hanging around whilst Kane and Brooklyn said goodbye, 'But all I know is that his dog seems to think of me as his new plaything,'
Kai soon found out the bathroom in the morning resembled the bathroom in the evening. It was ten o' clock before he got some time in the bathroom to himself. He changed and brushed his teeth, listening to Tyson and Max race each other down the corridor and back up again until Judy shouted at them to go to bed.
Later, when Kai was playing aimlessly on his phone, Tyson came in. He sat down wordlessly on the end of the bed.
"Hey Kai," he said, once he had got himself comfy in Kai's comforter, "You enjoyed today?"
"Yeah," Kai lied, not wanting to hurt his younger brother's feelings.
"Dad said you didn't know anything about Judy or Rei or Max. Did you really?"
"I knew nothing. Mum never told me anything,"
"Why didn't she tell you?"
"She's bitter, Tyson. She's not the kind of person whose decent in any way,"
Tyson stared, "Really? Dad said she was alright-"
"Well he was wrong. She's terrible. She didn't tell me anything. You're lucky to have got to live with Dad,"
Kai winced. He had sounded too snappy then, as if it was Tyson's fault.
"Sorry,"
"About what?"
"Nothing,"
There was a pause. Kai put his phone down in front of him.
"Why do you think I got to stay with Dad?"
"I don't know. Flip of a coin?" Kai shrugged. A ghost of a frown came over Tyson's face then he said:
"Do you mind that Dad picked me? Not you? I mean, you said you didn't really get on with Mum,"
Kai looked everywhere but Tyson's face, unsure what to say. Sure, he'd thought about why he got lumped with their obsessive, paranoid and controlling mother, and Tyson their laid-back, loving Dad. When he was little he assumed it was because his Dad liked Tyson better, which hurt almost more than having to leave his brother and his Dad.
"Look…I'm tired Tyson. I'm going to go to sleep,"
"Oh, OK," Tyson said, nodding a little too hard. He stood up, trying a smile.
"See you in the morning then. Mum said we have to go to town, so you can come along if you want,"
Kai nodded. He didn't feel like speaking, he just wanted to go to sleep. Tyson left, pulling the door shut behind him. The dog Jinx barked and began to paw at Kai's door. He could hear the soft sounds of music coming from Rei's stereo in his room, muffled to allow the rest of the house to sleep. Kai curled up under his duvet and put his phone, still on, on his bedside table.
BEEP
"Hey Kai, it's Tala. Look, are you still angry at me, because I thought you'd have rung back. Anyway, moody-ass, I heard from Bryan. His girlfriend's had about five fits of hysteria within the space of two hours over the tiniest things so he's sick of her. He says he's coming back earlier than he thought but he doesn't know when. I think he'll come back single. I'm doing absolutely nothing these days so I don't care if you hate me, call me. I'm bored as hell. My family's latched onto me in my weak and vulnerable state and I've been dragged to every bloody gymnastics tournament and ice skating performance. I know it's only been a day or two since you left but I am close to killing myself. So….so bye….and call me back when you get this.
BEEP
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