Chapter Eight: Temporary Excitation
Dad's pissed!
The key was only waiting to be turned around in the lock. Kai glanced down at Jo's recent massage and sighed. He inhaled once more and stepped inside the house. He was greeted by the warm lights of the foyer and could hear his family sitting in the dining room. He took of his jacket and hesitated shortly. He could just go upstairs and no one would notice. But he had promised Jo to have her back, even though he wasn't in the mood for a family evening at all.
Unwillingly he went into the dining room and got greeted by Briana's piercing voice. She was pointing her small fingers at him. "Look, mommy Mally's here."
His whole family, minus the twins who were probably already asleep, turned their heads to look at him. It was so uncommon for him to show up to these kinds of things that no one could believe he was actually present right now.
"Told you he would show!" Jo said trying to sound dogmatic but to Kai she only sounded relieved. He gave her an annoyed look as he went to the free seat next to her. She shouldn't be so obvious.
"Hello, Kai. You want some roast pork?" his mother asked him with a bright smile on her face. She hadn't had the whole family together like this since Christmas and she always enjoyed it.
"I think the boy could actually greet us and explain why he is late before he picks something to eat." The low male voice at the head of the table stated calmly. It was an act, Kai knew that. He knew his father was secretly furious for him disobeying once again but he had always preferred to scare his children by using his calm voice. Kai curled his lips into a dishonest smile.
He was looking at her mother, who was sitting on the other end of the table trying to help Briana with the slicing of her portion of roast pork. "Hello, my darling family. It is so incredibly nice to see you all on such a lovely evening." His voice was laced with irony and snappishness and therefore he earned a kick from Jo underneath the table. He was now looking into Briana's eyes and the four year old started to laugh at his words and started to move on her seat.
"Sit straight, Briana!" his mother reproved her and she sad back up. Kai only winked at her to silently tell her that it would be okay if she sat on the chair the way she wanted to. Kai never let an opportunity elapse to counter with his parents' strict education.
"I'm still waiting for that explanation, son!" His father's voice was demanding now.
"And you can keep waiting for it because you're not going to get one." He was still not looking at his father, what only made him angrier, Kai knew.
"Malachai!" His father's voice was like a floating threat over his head.
"Can't you just be satisfied that I am here at all?" Kai's head was facing the wall behind his brother Bellamy but he wasn't necessarily looking at anything. Out of the corner of his eyes he could make out Joey and Melinda whispering to each other.
"No, because I like to think that spending the family dinner together actually requires the family to be there in time. And I want you to look at me when you talk to me, Malachai."
Kai turned his head to finally look at his father. He was still wearing his work suit and the plate in front of him was half eaten. Even though he said he emphasized the presence of all family members for the dinner he sure hadn't waited long for Kai to turn up.
"Aren't you a hypocrite, Dad? You show up here what? Twice a month? And then you demand our attendance like we are some kind of employees of yours and you are now criticizing me for not being in time? Guess what, I do have a life outside of this family and I tend to have some plans for my weekends. And if these kinds of family gatherings wouldn't be announced last minute all the time, maybe I'd actually have time for them. So sorry, but I'm not sorry." Kai practically spit into his father's face right now but he couldn't keep calm with this man.
"I'm warning you, young man."
"Don't be like this, Kai." Jo had leaned over to him to whisper in his ear. Kai frowned at her.
"Why are you getting involved in this all of a sudden? Don't you have other stuff to worry about? Like getting your nails done or laying down a bit?" Kai hissed at his twin.
Jo only looked at him with wide eyes. Surprise, shock and a slight warning laying in them. For a second the two of them stared at each other while the others were silent. Then Kai sight and looked down on Jo's plate.
"I'm sorry, Jo. I… shouldn't have said that." Kai apologized.
"It's alright." She answered him and Kai thought the topic was off the table but of course his brat little sister had something to say to that.
"Uuuh, Kai and Jo have a secret!" Melinda sing-songed.
"What are you talking about? They were just fighting." Joey asked her.
"No, that wasn't just a fight. Kai apologized. He never ever apologizes for anything. So he said something that actually meant something to Jo. Tell us, Kai what are you hiding?" She asked with an arrogant voice and Kai despised her so much in that moment. How could a 12-year old be so glib already?
"Melinda is right! Even if he knows that he is hurting you, he never apologizes." Bellamy joined the discussion.
"Maybe I don't apologize to dumb little brats that don't deserve it." Kai fizzled in Melinda's and Bellamy's direction.
"Or you are hiding something!" Melinda glared daggers at Kai now.
"Kai, Jo, is there everything alright with you?" his mother asked with serious concern.
"Yes." Jo quickly reassured her but her worried gaze was still stuck on her oldest kids.
"Look, it was nothing. I was teasing Jo about something and she asked me to stop it. So I apologized because I had assured her that it wouldn't happen again. That's all." Kai explained with annoyance rising in his gut.
"And what was that teasing about?" Melinda cut in again.
"How does that matter now, Melinda?" now it was Jo who was starting to argue with Melinda.
"It is just so weird how the two of you are suddenly so close again. I know your hiding something from Mom and Dad."
"Mommy what is a brat?" Briana's high voice cut through the heated atmosphere. Everyone but his mother ignored her though.
"Oh oh, the two of you are getting in real trouble when they find out." Joey started.
"There is nothing to find out about!" Jo practically yelled, despair in her voice.
"Oh really? Then why did I see you two whisper to each other yesterday afternoon?" Bellamy asked. It seemed like all his siblings had something to say about a topic that wasn't even worth mentioning.
"Is that illegal now? If so I should probably call the police and get them to bring you to Guantanamo, since all you do is whisper and talk behind people's backs. You are such a girl." Kai flinched at Bellamy.
Everyone was just yelling at each other now. Kai was furious and pissed at his siblings. They proved once more that all of them were backstabbing, annoying brats. And Kai hated them. He knew exactly why he never attended these family nights because he could barely stand living under one roof with them. A night like this always turned out to be a disaster. The argument had left the topic of Jo's and Kai's secret and had moved on to more drastic topics like insulting one another.
"You couldn't even spell the word 'hate' if you tried, Melinda."
"Stop calling me retarded!"
"There is a special place in hell for people who are manipulative and guileful like you!"
"I would watch my back if I were you, because one day I will pay everything back you ever did to me!"
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone's head turned to the family patriarch. He had bashed his fist onto the table and yelled through the loud and heated argument of his children. No one dared to say anything.
"I will not let this happen while we are dining. You five will behave now and if I hear another word that has just a hint of mockery or provocation you will be grounded for the rest of the month, am I clear?" His father said with fury in his voice. No one said anything.
"AM I CLEAR?" he yelled at them again and his children let out a collective "Yes, sir." Everyone but Kai. He only glared at his father. He had to prove who the boss is in this household once more and Kai hated it.
He looked back at his plate and shook his head. "You know what? Screw this! I'm out." He was standing up from his place.
"You haven't eaten anything, love." His mother said.
"Well, I think I am not hungry." He said in her direction with a slightly less toxic voice.
"Malachai, sit back down. You stay here and finish the dinner with us." Came his father's warning voice.
Kai had already passed everyone on the table and was now behind his father. "Make me!" he said sounding bored and left the room to get upstairs without another look back.
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"Mom, I'm home!" Bonnie yelled through the house. Her first way was to get to the fridge. She was hungry as hell and she secretly hoped that her mom had made something for dinner even though she had told her she would grab something to eat on her way home. She would have done so if she would have taken the bus home.
"Hey, honey." Her mom had entered the kitchen. Bonnie was searching the fridge for something to eat. "I thought you said you would eat something on your way?" Abby asked her.
"Yeah, change of plans. Did you make anything today?"
"No, it was just me. I ordered a pizza. But there is still something in the freezer, should I check for you?"
"No, I'll have a look myself." Bonnie went into the storage room and picked frozen chicken fricassee from last week. "God, I am starving. I could eat a whole football team." She told her mother as she got to the stove.
"How was it today? Did you get along with Kai?" Of course her mother had to ask that. Bonnie knew she was trying her best to sound as candid as possible but she was secretly waiting to hear about all the horrors Kai had done today.
"I have to disappoint you, Mom. Kai had actually been a real teammate today." Bonnie thought she saw a small pout rushing over her mother's face. She kept quiet.
As she was defrosting her meal she turned around to face her mother.
"You know what? You can actually quit being so anti about Kai. I really got along with him great today, even though I would have never thought that. What I got from today is that Kai gives a damn about what other people think of him, which I think is actually a real good expertise. He isn't calculating, manipulative and defiant like everyone makes him out to be. Well, maybe I'm wrong about the defiant part, but never mind. He is just very careful about who he trusts and reflects the way people are treating him. And he has some pretty good and rational explanations about his behavior, a behavior that other people tend to describe as hard to get along with, but that is not true. I had no problem at all today to work with or talk to him. He is just a normal guy who sometimes likes to get into trouble, that's all. There is nothing devilish about him and when I am done with this assignment I can actually see myself continuing to talk to him."
Her mother looked at her with an open mouth. Bonnie had given a speech of a lifetime. She didn't know why she had the need to clear this up but it had come over her and she was feeling relieved now that it was out in the open, not only to her mother but also to herself. Yes, she had begun to understand Kai better and she had begun to enjoy his company and she had the feeling that after this was over she would have a good and solid base with him, one that she didn't want to end. The perspective of sharing more classes with him in the future didn't look too bad anymore.
"Okay!" Her mother said now and nodded. She accepted what Bonnie had just said.
"Okay." Bonnie affirmed. She turned back to her meal and finished the preparations. She put it on the plate and took it to her room. There was no urge to have a family dinner today, so she got to her room and sat on the bed with her laptop. She got a facebook massage from Caroline.
Found a flight. Prepare yourself for our arrival in February! Text you the details tomorrow. C
February. Still so long. But Bonnie was looking forward to it. Maybe she would already be done with the history stuff and actually find some time for her friends. Thinking about them made her think of someone else she was dying to see again.
She reached into her bag and searched for her phone. When she didn't find it she started to panic. Where was it? She had taken it with her to the library and she still had it when she was in Kai's car. She punched herself in the face with her palm. She had texted her mom from the car and when she was talking to Kai she had put it on her seat. It was probably still there. She could laugh at her own dumbness and scantiness. She would have to try and call her phone the next day or she would have to see if she could reach Kai to tell him to search for her phone.
But right now she would leave it at that. She got up and picked up the landline phone and called Jeremy's and Elena's number.
"Hello." A female adult voice answered.
"Hello Miranda. It's Bonnie!"
"Ah, Bonnie sweetie. How are you doing?"
"Good, and you?"
"Ah, same old same old. So which one of my children do you want to talk to today?" she asked with a slight snicker in her voice.
"I was wondering if I could speak to Jeremy. I mean if he is home. I lost my phone and I couldn't ask him."
"Yes, he is in his room. I'll just get upstairs." Bonnie could hear her taking the steps. "So when can we plan on seeing you again here?" she asked while searching for Jeremy.
"Not too soon I'm afraid. I have a lot of school stuff to deal with right now." Bonnie told her.
"Ah, what a shame. But I heard Caroline and Elena are going to visit soon. I was trying to get Jeremy to join them but you know how he is, such a stay-at-home." She was laughing. "Jer? It's Bonnie." Bonnie heard her say in his direction. "So give my love to your mother and tell her to call me."
"I will. Bye Miranda."
"Bye Bonnie." And then there was a short silence and Jeremy took the phone from his mother.
"Hey Bonnie! What's up?" his voice was friendly but a little distant, as if she had interrupted him at something.
"Hey Jer. How are you? Did I interrupt anything?"
"I'm good. No, I just did some scratching, nothing special."
"You always say it is nothing special but in the end I always love your work. Will you let me see this one?" She was smirking into the phone.
"Only if I think it is worth being seen. I'm not really sure about the motive, yet."
"Well, let me know when you have decided."
Silence. This has happened last time too. Bonnie wondered when they had run out of topics to talk about. But usually she hadn't been the only one that had something to say on the phone.
"So, is there something special you wanted to talk about?" Jer asked her.
"No, just wanted to catch up with you. I lost my phone so I can't text you. I hope I'll have it back at Monday, wait that's unlikely, maybe Wednesday if I'm lucky."
"Why, where did you leave it at?"
"In the car of … my project partner. We met at the library today and I left it as he drove me home." Bonnie had hesitated a moment, she had wanted to say 'friend' instead of project partner but calling Kai that was a bit drastic; but the more important reason was that she didn't want Jeremy to know that she was spending so much time with some other guy. It was irrational, Bonnie knew that but she still thought it would be better to describe Kai as sketchy as possible. Jeremy had kind of an issue with jealousy.
"He? Who is this new partner?"
"Haven't I told you about him, yet? His name is Kai. We were matched by out teacher and have to do the assignment on the Second World War battles together. I wasn't too keen on working with him because I have never really known him but he is actually kind of smart and I think that the assignment will turn out good." She made Kai sound like a nerd. Better for Jeremy to think he was an obsolete mama's boy then a dashing bad boy. No need for Jeremy to worry.
Bonnie saw that her plan had worked because Jeremy sighed in relief. "Well, it is good that you finally got a partner that can actually help you."
"Yup, that is true!"
Silence again. Bonnie was starting to feel uncomfortable. And of course the worried thoughts made their way back into her mind.
"Jer, is everything okay? You seemed distant the past few days."
"Yeah, everything is good. I am just spending a lot of time with my friends these days, they kind of distract me, sorry."
"So, are we good?"
"Sure, Bonnie. I'm sorry but I am actually supposed to meet my friends in a few minutes, so… I gotta run. Call you tomorrow?"
"Sure, have fun. Bye Jer, I love you."
"Bye." And Jeremy hung up. Even though he had reassured her that everything was alright the feeling of insecurity spread through her body like a virus.
To distract herself she opened her mail account to track the package she had ordered in an online fashion store two days ago. When she scanned through the mails she stopped at a mail from Mr. Bright. She wondered what this was about because he had never sent her an email before. The mail had been received yesterday. Bonnie opened it.
Good day, Miss Bennet.
I would like to ask you to meet me in my office on Tuesday morning to give me an update about your assignment. I have talked to you teacher, you will be liberated from your first class. So, I hope I send this email early enough for you to read it. I wish you a good weekend.
I send my regard,
Benedict Bright, principle of Jefferson High School, Portland
Gosh, she had forgotten about that. She silently sighed and put her laptop aside. She was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about the deal she had stroke with Mr. Bright. It seemed more and more wrong to her to report back to him. Bonnie had the feeling that this might become a real problem for her in the future.
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He lay in his bed. Even though it was dark outside he didn't bother switching the lights on in his room. The only source of light was the dim light on his desk that was barely lightening the room. He had been throwing a tennis ball in the air and catching it back in his hands for the past 10 minutes.
When Kai had left the dining room he had been enraged. Before calming down to his current level he had been pacing the room for minutes. Now he was just trying to keep his thoughts of the situation that had just accrued downstairs. He was bored and throwing the ball in the air would probably not be enough distraction for him for much longer.
He heard a silent knock on the door and it simultaneously opened. "Knock, knock!" came Jo's hesitant voice. She reached her head inside his room and took in the situation. She pondered his current mood and stepped inside the room without him taking any further notice of her.
"Peace offering?" She had closed the door and stood a few steps away from it now presenting something to him. He stopped throwing the ball in the air and turned his head to see what she waved at him. He sighed and the corner of his mouth went up. She mustered a smile of her own and threw the bag of pork rinds at him. He caught it and opened the bag instantly. His twin sister did know how to get to him; he had to give her that.
He started munching on the snack and enjoyed the taste of it. Jo had stepped closed to his bed.
"Well, that family gathering went well!" She said.
"Did you expect anything else?" He said between to piles of pork rinds that were going directly in his mouth.
"No, of course not. I knew this would happen the second Dad had come home and demanded to know where you are. I knew that he wasn't going to be civil tonight. Hey, move over!" Jo instructed him to jiggle a bit so she could place herself next to him on the bed. Kai did as he was told and Jo let herself fall on the bed heavily. She reached her arm into the bag and started to eat some pork rinds. The two of them lay like this for a while, no one saying anything.
"You did a good performance down there, Kai. Thank you." Jo broke the silence.
"You, too. I promised to help you tonight. I knew Dad would rather freak out about anything I did before he would notice there was something going on with you. I know exactly how to provoke our father. Even though I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for Melinda's snarky comments. She could have gotten us in real trouble." He turned to look at his sister and the both of them started to laugh at the memory of their faked fight back at the dinner table. They were such an experienced team in manipulating their family that it came so easy. A fight like this was one of the basics of their repertoire.
"Still, you didn't have to make Dad mad at you. You could have just tried to prevent certain kind of topics from coming up and everything would have been good." She kept on.
"Oh, please. Have you seen yourself the past days? You were practically freaking out about every gaze you got from our family, even from Briana, and you nearly panicked on the phone earlier. You would have caved under Dad's sole gaze and would have come clean about everything. I couldn't let that happen, so I chose to give Dad something else to focus on. It was just easier, he always finds something to be mad at me for."
Jo turned to lie on her side and snuggled her face on Kai's shoulder. "You saved my ass today, Kai. I owe you big."
"Nonsense. You're my twin sister; I will always have your back. Plus, I couldn't turn down an opportunity to get on papa dearest nerves, could I?" He smiled to himself.
"Did you see Mom's face? I think we have to apologize to her. She never likes it when we fight like this."
"Well, she'll be the only one I will apologize to. Those brats are not hearing a word of guilt form me."
"Those brats are your siblings. It wouldn't hurt if you tried to play a little nicer with them."
"For what reason? I'm already nice to you and Briana. I don't have any more capacities." He said half kidding half serious. If he was honest to himself, he could barely stand half his siblings. The exceptions were Jo and Briana and occasionally Joey. But Melinda and Bellamy along with Lukas and Olivia were just a pain in his ass, and Lukas and Olivia weren't even old enough to do something to earn his antipathy.
He earned a beat from Jo for his comment. But she snuggled her head back onto his shoulder and giggle a little, so he knew she wasn't really mad at him for it.
"How am I going to keep this charade up?" Jo asked with sincerity in her voice.
"It's not that much longer and everything will be over. And I'm still here to help you. We'll make it through together, like we always do." Kai answered.
Jo started to cry. She had been holding these tears back the whole day, Kai knew. He took his sister into his embrace and patted her back. "It's gonna be alright!"
"I know." Jo sobbed."Thank you, Kai. For everything." She wiped away her tears and tried to smile at him. It looked pathetic. Kai had to laugh at the weird expression on Jo's face and Jo joined his laughter just seconds later, this time it sounded genuine.
Author's note: So here is the promised chapter where you got a little inside into Bonnie's and Kai's families and their relationships with them. It's a big chapter for Kai and Jo and the 'Jo-mystery' is getting mentioned. I hope you liked it and that you'll be back for the next one. Until next time, LiLaAir.