You're My Backbone

The library's door shut loudly and made me jump slightly. Garrett chuckled softly next to me.

We were working on some science homework. It turns out we have the same teacher. Unfortunately, just like myself, Garrett wasn't the greatest with science.

I turned around to see who was the one to enter the library.

"June!" Shane smiled widely. A librarian glared at him and told him to be quiet. When he turned back to face me he shrugged and made a face.

Shane pulled a chair over so he could squeeze between Garrett and I. He gave Garrett a curious look, then his eyes shot back to me.

"Shane." He nodded his head and stuck his hand out.

"Um, Garrett." Garrett shook his hand.

"This is my younger brother, Shane." I told Garrett, hopefully clearing some things up for him.

"Hey, wait a minute," Shane held a hand up and continued to stare at Garrett curiously. "Aren't you John's friend?"

Garrett shrugged. "Yeah, and June's."

Something inside of my stomach exploded when he said this. My eyes widened and I tried my best to hide my joyful smile.

Shane nodded his head. "I thought you looked familiar. You live across the street, right?"

"Yes I do," Garrett then turned to me. "I didn't know you and John had other siblings."

Before I could answer Shane cut in. "Yeah, we go unrecognized by many people. John's the star of the family. June certainly knows that," Shane chuckled and nudged me in the arm jokingly. I did not take this at a joke in any way.

"But, there is one more edition to the O'Callaghan siblings. Rossy boy.' Shane showed off his cheesy grin. "But he's just a little tike right now. Well, um, not really. He's actually in what-?" Shane turned to me for an answer.

"He's in eighth grade. Junior high." I rolled my eyes and avoided any eye contact with either of the two boys in front of me.

"Yep, that's it. Ross is the baby of the family....even if he's not really a baby."

"What grade are you in?" Garrett asked.

"I'm a Junior. Just a year younger from this one here," He nudged me again. "As you can see, our parents got pretty busy in that time per-"

"Shane!" I yelled softly and shot him a look.

He put his hands up in defense. "It's true though!"

"Will you just shut up before you get yourself in any more trouble?" I hissed.

Shane sighed defeated. "Fine, fine."

"Why are you in here anyway?"

Shane shrugged. " I got nothing better to do."

I narrowed my eyes. He was in big trouble. "What do you mean you have nothing better to do?" Each word was accented and articulated sharply enough to send chills down anyone's spin. Shane's eyes went wide and he knew how dead he was now.

"I-uh,"

"Don't tell me you're skipping a class right now," I glared at my younger brother. I began to whisper softer to him. "Are you stupid? I mean, of all the places to go sneak off to why would you go to the library?"

"I'm no-I'm not!"

"Don't lie to me Shane Joesph O'Callaghan."

His eyes flickered back and forth between Garrett and I. Garrett kept his head down and avoided any eye contact with the two of us.

I was embarrassed about my slight outburst, but right now I couldn't care. When my mother wasn't around, I was the one in charge. I had to take care of my sibling because out of all of them, I'm the only one who knew how to do anything.

"Don't tell mom." Shane's voice was weak and fragile. He face was red and I know he was embarrassed because he got in trouble in front of Garrett.

I sighed heavily and shook my head. My shoulders hung low and I sunk back into my chair. "I won't. Just don't do it again."

Shane's face lit up with the delivery of this news. I quickly pointed at him. "You have to do John and Ross's laundry for a week."

His face sunk back down and he mumbled something under his breath.

"Why not yours?" Garrett's voice surprised me since he hadn't spoken a word in several minutes now.

"Um, well, I'm a girl and-"

"She has girl things in there." Shane interrupted.

I could feel my face heat up, but Garrett's soft laugh and smile made me feel better and less humiliated.

He then stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Well, I better go hang up the rest of these flyer's. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye." I waved lamely. Something died inside of me when I watched him leave.

I turned around to face Shane once again. Now, he was smiling deviously and tapping his fingers against the table. I sighed and shook my head. "What?"

"Oh damn." He grinned.

"What?" I asked getting more and more irritated by the minute.

"Never thought of you as one to hook up with John's friend."

I swallowed hard and tried to recompose myself after his statement. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I-"

Shane laughed. "I thought you weren't looking for hotties in Tempe."

There was a lump in my throat and I was trying my best to get rid of it. By Shane saying this, I automatically thought about Garrett and the word ''hottie'' in the same sentence. It made my face turn red. Sure, I thought Garrett was really cute, and his messy hair and blue eyes made my heart pound against my rib cage, but the thought of putting him in the same context as ''hottie'' made me want to throw up. It just wasn't me. It just wasn't him. He was more than that. He was.....

Get a grip on yourself.

I sucked in a deep breath. "Garrett and I are friends. You heard him."

Shane rolled his eyes. "Oh please. You must have blushed in front of him, like, thirty times."

I folded my arms over my chest. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Yes, it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Wait till John finds out you like one of his friends! Oh god, this is classic!" Shane laughed and held his stomach.

I punched him in the arm and he gripped it tightly in pain. "Can you shut up? I don't like him! I just met the kid. We're friends, Shane. Friends. Nothing less, nothing more. You're just acting up about this because I haven't had many friends who happened to be of the opposite sex before. Well, now I do."

"And they just so happen to be John's friends? What are you doing? Mooching off of him?"

I furrowed my brow and grimaced in disgust. "Shut the fuck up Shane. They're my friends too. Why can't we share them? What's so wrong with that?"

"You used to hate all of John's friends and you couldn't make your own." He snapped.

I gasped at his last remark and stood up quickly. I hurried out of the library with my belongings. I could hear Shane following me down the hall calling "I'm sorry June! I didn't mean that! You know I didn't mean that!"

I huffed and ran into the girls bathroom. I let out a heavy sigh and examined myself in the bathroom. I waited five minutes until the bell rung. I then emerged and walked to my next class.

The reason John and I didn't drive Shane home was because he was on the football team. The first day he went to tryout for the team and two days later he discovered he was on the team.

Shane was quite the athlete and a well-known kid. Just like John, he had that social personality, the only problem with Shane was that he was cocky. Of course, when John was bothering me or Ross, he would stand up for me, but a majority of the time, Shane was the one who was teasing me.

Surprising, right? I mean, John is my twin, and twin's fight a lot. But, John and I were close at home. Just not in school He had his social life and I had my semi-social life.

When John and I met at our lockers that afternoon I was still clearly upset and he took notice to this. He quickly shoved several books into his bag then closed the locker and waited for me.

John knew me well. He knew not to ask me inside the school. If I was really upset, I might start breaking down and crying right then and there and he knew this. He also knew I would be more than humiliated if this happened.

So, he waited until we were safely in his car to ask me how I was.

"Fine." I sniffled, already cracking and tears on the rim of my eyes.

"June," He narrowed his eyes at me, but I avoided contact. " I know you're not alright. Tell me what happened."

I always pictured and thought of myself as someone who is strong. And in some sense, I am. I seem to come off to some people as someone who is emotionally strong. I would really like to think this is true, but it's defiantly not.

As soon as John said those words, I broke down crying. He shushed me and rubbed my shoulder gently.

"Shane." I croaked up, rubbing my eyes. I was conscious of how my eyeliner and mascara was probably running down my cheeks.

John sighed heavily. "I'm gonna kill him." He grumbled.

I shook my head. "He was being a dick." I spat out.

"He usually is. What'd he say?"

I shrugged and let out a few sniffles before answering. "He was just being annoying and saying that I was fucking mooching off of you."

When I was angry, I cursed and I cursed a lot.

John looked at me curiously. "What? What's that even suppose to mean?"

"Because I'm friends with your friends....or at least kind of."

"They're your friends too, June." John told me, already knowing what I was thinking.

"Well, he said that I was never friends with your old friends because I didn't like them-which is true- but then he also said I couldn't make my own friends."

John muttered something under his breath that i couldn't hear.

I suddenly felt stupid for crying. It really wasn't that big of a deal. I was being a drama queen. "Oh god." I groaned to myself and more tears started to pour out of my eyes.

"Aw, June. Don't cry. What's wrong?"

"I'm making a big deal out of nothing."

"No you're not!" John quickly replied. "June, you take care of Ross, Shane and I all the time because Mom's too busy with work. You deserve to be treated with respect and Shane's being an asshole. You deserve to make a big deal about this because it is a big deal."

I sighed heavily and several more tears escaped my eyes. John started the car and began to pull out of the school parking lot.

"It rained all of May to the month of June." John sang to me, which caused me to crack a smile and peer up at him in admiration.

John sang this line to me whenever I was said and this dated back to as long as John could talk. Whatever I was upset about, that little line could make me feel better.

John could sing too, which made it even better. In fact, John was an amazing singer. He was just too nervous.

The only person he has ever sang in front of was me.

When Garrett told me about the band and how they needed a singer, I immediately thought of John, but I know my brother wouldn't accept the offer.

John sang all the way home, every now and then repeating the line that I loved.