Chapter 35
"It's all my fault." Zach said vehemently. "I should never have taunted him."
"How could you have known he was upset? We're always joking around with him." Scarlett tried to calm him down.
"Yes, but I should've known something was wrong. Especially since he hadn't said much the whole day."
"He'll be fine."
"Can anyone call him?"
"I will. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Liam put in and started to call Jasper.
We watched as he put his phone away and shook his head, indicating that he hadn't reached him.
"He's not picking up. I expected that. I guess he'll call back when he cools down." He told us.
"We'll have to pack up now." Scarlett said.
"Is this much enough?" Caleb asked, pointing to the money we had raised.
"No." She sighed. "But I have a few days left before I get kicked out. Hopefully, we will be able to earn some money by then."
"Scar." Liam's voice was hesitant.
"What?"
"You know you can go to your grandmother's house, right?"
"No. I can't."
"You can! She's willing to take you back."
"You don't understand. I can't." She breathed out. "I can't go back."
Her face was calm but I could see how tightly her jaw was clenched and how stiffly she was standing.
"We will get some money." I assured her, with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Liam looked at me, but didn't say anything.
"I don't mean to be insensitive, but you have to find a replacement for Jasper." Caleb reminded us. "If he doesn't come back soon, you won't have a keyboard player for the contest."
"Are you sure we can't do anything else?" I turned to Liam. "Can't we go to his house?"
"If he doesn't want to see us, we can't do anything but stand outside." He sounded like he had accepted that we had no other choice but to find a replacement.
"I know someone who can play the keyboard." Zach said grudgingly.
"Good. We have to start practice from tomorrow."
"I'll tell him where to come." He turned away to make the call.
It felt wrong to move on so quickly, but I knew we had no choice.
The sun was starting to set when I decided to head home. I was so preoccupied that I didn't notice the car in the driveway when I walked through the front door.
My parents were sitting in the living room, waiting for me. Jake was standing next to them, looking angry.
"Alexandra." My mother acknowledged my presence.
"Hi." I lingered in front of them, unsure about if I was expected to stay or if I was allowed to go upstairs.
"What is this?" She asked, holding up a Rise Against C.D.
I instantly knew that she had been inside my room. I tried to remember where I had last left my records. They weren't in sight, so I was sure she hadn't found those. This one had been shoved under my bed hastily.
What had she been doing looking under my bed?
"It's a C.D." I tried to say this obvious fact in the least annoying way possible.
"Ever since we came here, I knew something was wrong." She replied.
"What do you mean?"
"I knew there was something distracting you from your goal. I knew that there was something different about you."
"So you checked my room." I stated calmly, even though I was feeling furious.
"How else would I know exactly what going on with you?"
"Yes, it's not like you actually spend time with your daughter to know about her life." Jake cut in.
When his gaze fell on me, my eyes begged him not to tell her about the incident that happened before we moved. It seemed like he was going to, just to make her feel guilty. But then his face softened and he looked at his feet as she spluttered, trying to explain her absence.
"Young man, your mother and I work very hard to support you." My dad reprimanded.
"I know. But what does that have to do with me listening to music?" My patience was starting to wear thin.
"You are forbidden from listening to music. It's a rule set down by us, and you are supposed to obey it!"
"Why is it a rule? Normal parents don't keep rules forbidding their children from listening to music. It's not like it will turn me into a delinquent."
"You can't listen to music because it killed my brother!" My mother shrieked, causing everyone else to fall silent.
"Uncle Tom..?" I asked, finally able to comprehend what she had just said. "I thought he had died in because of a heart attack."
I had been six when my uncle had died, so I hadn't been overly concerned about the circumstances surrounding his death. He had only visited us once and hadn't left a lasting impression when he had. When I grew a bit older to inquire about his death, I had been told that the cause was a heart attack.
"He died because of a drug-overdose." My father was the one who answered.
I waited for him to explain about how this was related to music.
"Your uncle was a musician. He came to New York to make it big. He was sure that he would be famous and rich soon."
"What happened then?" My brother prodded, interested in learning more about something that he had been kept in the dark about as well.
"He didn't achieve what he wanted to. The bills started to pile up and he watched as his dreams crumbled into dust. He didn't have anything but music, so he couldn't turn to an alternative proffesion. It wasn't hard for someone to get him hooked to drugs after that. His neighbours found him in his appartment after a lethal overdose." My mother said robotically, sounding like a part of her had died when her brother had.
"But music didn't kill him. Drugs did." My voice was firm.
"It led him to his downfall. According to me, it might as well have caused his death." She looked like she was too far away for my words to reach her.
"Why did you move here then?" Jake inquired.
"We had an oppurtunity to give you a better future than we had hoped. I had to get over my fear of this city for the sake of my children."
"Can't you do that for music as well?"
"There's only so much I can forgive."
I stepped away from them, thinking that the conversation was over.
"You know, when I played this, if sounded like exactly the kind of music he would have listened to." She said dreamily, waving the disk in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Alexandra." My father told me. "But if we find you doing any activity involving music, we will have no choice but to move back to Telluridae."
I couldn't believe that my parents were threatening me to move back. Especially when I was forced to move here.
I shot my parents one last confused and wounded look and started to walk upstairs, realising what I would be risking by continuing to meet up with the band.
---
A big question was cleared up in this.
Hope you enjoyed. Comment and Vote! :)
