Tempest (Royce/Winston)

003

Jacob's P.O.V.

"Jacob, get up, you're going to be late for school".

I grunted in disapproval at the sound of my mom's voice, but pushed myself up into a sitting position anyway. It took me a minute to actually wake up and begin getting ready. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants with a bunch of stars on them and a black shirt before walking to the bathroom that was right beside my room. One good thing about Axel not being around anymore is that I get a bathroom to myself, he used to hog the hell out of it when he was alive. We got into a lot of fights about who got to use the bathroom first in the mornings, I would have to wake up earlier than usual to get in first before his slow ass got up for school too.

Axel and I used to always argue, well, we used to always argue when he had time for me, when he was actually around. We argued over the stupidest of things, like who got to drive the car, or who got to have friends over, or even what movie to fucking watch. We honestly annoyed the hell out of each other, especially around the time that he died. Mom and dad didn't like it when we argued, but they never did anything to stop it. They figured it was normal for siblings to disagree about some thing, but it started to get more frequent and then they decided that it wasn't healthy.

They tried to get us to go to a counselor to see what was really wrong, but neither Axel or myself was up for doing something like that. We figured if it got bad enough, if the argument got too heated... Well then we'd handle it our own way, and we did. We fought. It wasn't those playful fights either, whenever we fought it was for the soul purpose of letting the other know that we were tired of their bullshit.

"Morning" I mumbled once I was downstairs and in the kitchen. It never took me long to get ready in the morning, especially now that Axel was gone.

"You came home really late last night" my mom stated, her brown eyes looked at me with her eyebrows knitted in with concern. I got most of my looks from my mom, we both had the same big doe eyes and fair skin complexion, along with our facial structure, and not too mention her height. The only thing I got from my dad was his nose, everything else was just... Me, I guess.

"Oh, yeah... Just walking around" I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, before beginning to leave the kitchen.

"I'm worried about you, Jacob!" My mom said quickly, I sighed in slight frustration. "It's like you're never around that much, you're always out and about just like Axel was before he... Jacob, you're not yourself, like how you used to be".

Glancing at her, I noticed the way her eyes were welling up with tears. She used to cry a whole lot when Axel first died, his death devastated her. I could understand why, he was her son. She couldn't go a day without breaking down into sobs, I had to avoid her because every time she saw me she'd only get more upset. I was the spitting image of her dead son.

"I don't want to be how I used to be".

I used to be this kid who tried his hardest to do everything right, I focused on school, I had friends, I did my homework. I was content with life, but all that changed when Axel died, he had to go and fuck everything up by being his rebellious self. I was barely passing classes now, my friends were still acting just a bit different, and don't even ask me about the homework situation. School just wasn't as appealing as it used to be, I mean, how could it be? I'm still getting asked questions about Axel, and if I'm okay. The school counselor is breathing down my neck and is constantly trying to get me to talk to her. I didn't want to talk about Axel when he first died, and I didn't want to talk about him now.

"You were so wonderful back then".

"So what you're saying is that I'm not wonderful now?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying at all, it's just... I see the warning signs, Jacob, you're acting just like Axel was before he... You know..."