Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Blaike’s POV

“Blaike, we need to talk to you sweetheart!”
“Coming mom!” I shut off my computer and bounded down the stairs to the living room where I knew my parents would be sitting. I walked into the room and froze when I noticed the look on their faces, this was so not gonna be a good talk. I plopped myself down into my favorite chair and looked at them expectantly.
“Ok, what’s up?” They looked at each other, then back at me before my dad took a deep breath.

“You know how the company has been having some troubles right?” I nodded slowly, I really wasn’t liking where this was going…
“Ok, well, I talked to my boss yesterday, and the only way I would be able to keep my job would be if I transferred to the corporate headquarters in Phoenix. I told him I would go sweetheart, we move in two weeks.”
“WHAT! No, no way! You can’t do this to me! My whole life is here! My friends, my school, MY LIFE!” I exploded, jumping out of the chair and waving my hands around to illustrate my point. My dad’s face hardened,

“Blaike, we are moving and that is final!” He barked, standing to his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. I put my hands on my hips and glared back,
“No, I’m not going. I won’t do it, you can’t make me.” I snapped before turning on my heel and running back up to my room. I pulled out my phone and called Trin, we had set up a code for when we had an emergency situation and she was the one who called it in. Her and Mistey had become the unspoken leaders of our group, and we were all ok with that.

“Hey B, what’s crackin?”
“Code 42.”
“I’ll call everyone and see you at my house in twenty.” I hung up my phone and grabbed my bag and my shoes, sneaking out my window and shimmying down the tree that was literally right next to the ledge. I made the short walk to walk to Trinity’s house and rang the doorbell until the door opened and her uncle Brian appeared.
“Hey Blaike, what are you doing here sweetie?” He stepped aside and let me in; I checked my phone and noticed it was almost 11 o’ clock at night.
“I am sooo sorry, I didn’t realize that it was so late, but my parents are being retarded and I needed to talk to Trinity. The others should be he…” I was cut off by the ringing of the doorbell, I looked at Brian and grinned.

“Right about now.” I opened the door and everyone trooped in,
“Alright guys, Trin is down in the basement, see you tomorrow morning.” Brian stated and walked upstairs. Trinity’s house had become the sanctuary for when something was going wrong, because if we couldn’t solve the problem then we had a whole house of older sisters who were willing to help us out. We made our way to the basement where Trinity had already set up the pillows on the floor. We sat in our circle and Trinity began,

“A code 42 was called this evening, and we all know what that means. Blaike, what happened?”
“My dad’s company is downsizing, and my dad can keep his job if he’s goes to the company headquarters in…Phoenix.” I sat back and waited for the explosion, and 1.2 seconds later, I wasn’t disappointed.
“What the hell? You can’t move!”
“No, no way, this is not happening!”
“This is bullshit; they can’t do this to you!”
“Who the fuck bases a company in the middle of a fucking desert!?”
“Seriously, I mean, what the FUCK!?!”
“I know, but my dad needs that job. So we move in two weeks.”

Matt’s POV

I was sitting in the studio going over some lyrics when my cell phone rang, I pulled it out and Mary flashed across the screen,
“Hello?”
“Matt? This is Blaike’s mom Mary.”
“What’s up? Is everything ok?”
“Is Blaike at your house? Please tell me she’s there!”
“Yeah, she’s here, so are the other kids, why? What’s going on?”
“We’re moving to Phoenix so Jim can keep his job, and Blaike didn’t take the news so well.”
“Jesus, I’m sorry. Yeah she’s here; she might as well stay here tonight if that’s ok.”
“Yeah, that’s fine, but can you tell her she’s grounded when she gets home?”
“Will do, I’m gonna go check on the kids, I’ll drive Blaike home tomorrow.”
“Alright, thank you so much Matt.”
“Not a problem Mary, see you tomorrow.” I ended the call and got up, stalking towards the basement.

“Alright, all of you need to call your parents right now and let them know that you’re still alive. I can’t believe you all just left home at 11 o’ clock at night without telling anyone. You can all stay here tonight, just call your parents. Oh, and Blaike? Your mom says you’re grounded as soon as you get home tomorrow.” They all groaned as cell phones were pulled out and parents were called. I smiled as I walked out of the room, I clearly remember sneaking out and my mom flipping a bitch. Crazy kids.

Time Elapse: Tuesday June 8th, 12:30pm
Kat’s POV

“I don’t know Danny, I don’t want to live with my brother forever, but money from the tattoo shop won’t start coming in for a few weeks.” I was lying on my bed talking to Danny about the tattoo and piercing shop I had opened a few weeks ago.
“Well, you just need to be patient sweetheart; the money will start coming in soon. Does your brother even know about the shop yet?”
“Ugh, no. I haven’t told him yet, I don’t want to tell him though because I know he’s going to be hurt that I kept it from him. I just want to make sure it works out before I go blurting the news to everyone ya know?”
“I get that honey, but I really think you should tell him. He’ll be so proud of you, I know he will.”
“Ok, I’ll tell him today. I have to go dude, I’ll see you tomorrow at the shop?”
“Yeah, we’re working on my sleeve at two. Bye darlin.” I laughed as I snapped my phone shut, then went to go find my brother. Twenty minutes later and I finally found him in the kitchen, searching through the fridge.

“Hey little brother, wanna go for a ride?” He stood up and glared at me, crossing his arms over his chest,
“You are older by three minutes and I’m taller. Sure, where are we going?” He asked, walking over to me and throwing an arm around my shoulders. I shrugged and grabbed my car keys and wallet off the counter, walking out the front door to my car.
“It’s a surprise.” He glanced at me warily, quickly buckling up. I grinned when I noticed the seatbelt; I had a thing for high speeds and sharps turns.
“You’re not going to kill me like you always threatened to do when we were little are you?”
“No, I’m not going to kill you; I just have something I want to show you.” He nodded and grabbed one of my CD’s, popping it into the player in the dash. I laughed at his completely disgusted expression as ‘Fighter’ by Christina Aguilera came pumping through the speakers. He went to change the song and I grabbed his hand,

“I swear to god, if you change the song Avenged will be finding a new lead guitarist.” I threatened; he gulped and snatched his hand away, grabbing a smoke and his lighter instead. We made the rest of the twenty minute ride to shop in silence, letting the music play. I grinned as pop song after pop song came through the speakers, he had chosen a mix of all the music he hated. I pulled in front of the shop, where Nikki, Anna, and Jennifer were at work.
“You’re getting a tattoo?”
“Not exactly, I own this place…” I sat back and waited for his reaction. I was surprised at the huge grin that threatened to crack his face in half,
“Are you serious? Well, come on then, let’s go meet your people!” I laughed at his enthusiasm and got out of the car, leading him into the shop.

“Hey boss lady, what are you doing here today, we told you it’s your day off!” I grinned at Nikki and gave her a hug,
“I know, but I figured I’d clue my brother in to why I haven’t been home much for the last few weeks.” I waved back at Brian, who just grinned and waved at everyone. The girls all got up and stood in front of him, sizing him up, before they all grinned and tackled him in a group hug. They got off him and pulled him up; he dusted himself off and nodded in approval.
“So, who are you people, what do you do here, and why did you tackle me?” My green and black haired office manager/tattoo artist spoke first,

“I’m Anna, and I’m a tattoo artist and the office manager.”
“I’m Nikki and I’m the piercer.” Brian smiled at my tiny pixie like piercer, then my blonde haired blue eyed tattoo artist piped up,
“And I’m Jennifer, I’m a tattoo artist.” Brian raised his eyebrow, looking her up and down. I knew she didn’t look like the average tattoo artist, but the girl was good.
“Alright, so this is the shop, what do you think?”
“I think it’s awesome that you own a business, but what sort of shit are you doing here?” He asked, as far as he knew, I didn’t have any sort of artistic talent whatsoever. I had hidden my sketch book from him, never told him that I was interested in drawing and shit.
“She’s the head tattoo artist, she’s fuckin amazing! She has like twenty sketchbooks full of designs, haven’t you seen them?” Anna asked, Brian looked at me before shaking his head.

“No, no I haven’t.” He stated and walked out the door. I bit my lip and ran after him, knowing he was hurt.
“Brian, come on man, slow down!” I called after him. He stopped and turned around, crossing his arms and glaring at me. I finally caught up to him and pulled him back to the shop and into my office. He plopped down in the chair and continued to glare at me.

“Bri, come on, talk to me,”
“Talk about what? You want to talk about you feeling like you can’t tell me about you opening a business, or that you’ve been drawing since you were ten? Since when do you keep secrets from me?” I looked down, I knew he wasn’t hurt about the business or the drawing; he was hurt because I had kept it from him. All our lives we had told each other everything, and I hadn’t told him this. I went and sat in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and leaning my head on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry Bri-bear. I just wanted to make sure it was going to work out before I told anyone. And our parents were always lumping us together in everything, so I kept the drawing to myself, just like how you decided on guitar. I can show you the sketchbooks, they aren’t really special though. Anna tends to exaggerate about my abilities.” I stated, Brian just laughed and kissed my head,
“It’s ok Kit Kat, and I’m sure you are that good. Now let’s go home, Jimmy wants a new tattoo and can’t find an artist he likes to save his life. Grab your books.” I grinned and hopped off his lap to go grab three of my books off the shelf and walked out to the main part of the shop with him. Anna looked at me and grinned, waving me out the door. I laughed and nodded, skipping out to the car with my brother. Twenty minutes, and one CD out the window later and we were walking in the front door.

“JIMMY! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!” Brian screamed through the house, moments later Jimmy came barreling down the stairs, tripped on the last step, and fell flat on his face. He quickly hopped up and dusted himself off.
“You hollered?”
“I found you an artist.”
“No frickin way! Who?” Brian grinned and pointed at me, Jimmy gave me look of pure disbelief. I smiled nervously and nodded, handing him the sketchbook. He grabbed them and walked over to the couch, sitting down to look through them. I sat next to him and switched on the TV, flipping over to South Park. Three episodes later and Jimmy poked me in the shoulder; I turned the TV off and swiveled to face him.

“Can I help you Jimbo?”
“Why yes, yes you can. I need a tattoo and well, you’re fucking amazing, so let’s do this.” I grinned hugely and nodded, grabbing his hand and dragging him out to the car.
“Where are we going?”
“To get your tat, duuuh.” He grinned and bounced over to the car, waiting for me to catch up. I grinned as I got in, taking Jim to the shop should be an interesting experience.