Vengeance Is a Syn

Okay, let me introduce myself first.
I’m Hailey, Hailey Sanders. I have long, straight, light-brown hair and hazel eyes, a dimpled smile and you can say I’m quite short.

My brother is Matt Sanders, the tough guy as many people in our school like to call him. We’re the same age, but we’re not twins, even though everyone thinks we are. Our dad is the same, but his mother left him when she found out he had another woman pregnant of his baby – that is, me! Matt was only a month old when that happened, so he never really knew his mother. Exactly two months after Matt was born, my dad was in the hospital again, waiting for the doctor to show him his baby daughter.

We grew up together, thinking we shared the same blood. When our father told us our mother wasn’t the same, I was actually surprised by Matt’s reaction; he basically didn’t give a shit about that. He considered my mom his mom, since she took care of him as her son.
Matt looks a lot like me; he has light-brown hair, even though it looks darker when it’s short, hazel eyes and a dimpled smile – we take after our father, that’s why everyone thinks we’re twins. The only thing we differ in terms of looks is the height. He’s 6' 1 while I’m 5’4.

It was the last day before school started again. We’re going to be seniors this year, which meant only one more year and school is over!

I woke up with Jimmy’s yawning. He was lying on the living room’s armchair, which was a hilarious thing to see because he was so tall that his legs and his head weren’t even touching the armchair. I bet he was with a huge back pain, but apparently he wasn’t. Jimmy was like that!

Oh, right! I haven’t introduced him yet! Jimmy is one of my and Matt’s best friends – we have our own little group that’s like a second family. We both met him in second grade, I think, he was in our class. He’s the tallest guy I know and the craziest person I’ve ever met, but he’s as adorable as crazy. He has black medium lengthen hair and deep blue eyes. He’s always getting into trouble like the rest of my friends and Matt, but deep inside he’s just a guy who lives like there’s no tomorrow, and that’s what made me love him as a friend.

I looked all over the living room and saw how messy it was. There were beer cans and drinks all over the floor, people sleeping in the most awkward places and food all over the table. We had thrown a party the day before. Our parents were out and they let us have as many parties as we wanted if we promised to clean up all the mess before they arrived. They were really cool parents, not like your average parents. They were very sympathetic and loved having our friends around. They were aware Matt and I weren’t the best-behaved kids, but when they had serious conversations with us they knew how to impose respect.
Jason and Matt Berry were sleeping on the floor, Johnny was lying beside them, my head was lying on Matt’s belly and Zacky and Brian were cuddled in the couch. I swear those two boys look like a couple at times!

Oh, the introductions, right! I always forget that! By now you should know I have a band sleeping in my house. Yes, a band! Am I part of it? Well… I help them as I can and whenever they need a girl singing I’m there for them. It’s my brother’s band, Avenged Sevenfold.

Johnny Seward or Johnny Christ – his stage name – is the little gnome. The boys like to pick on him because he’s short. He has a blond and black Mohawk, brownish eyes and is the bass player. Zacky Baker is Zacky Vengeance, or Zacky V if you like to keep it short. He has black hair, the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen - they’re a mix of blue and green -, gauged ears like Matt and snakebites. He’s the rhythm guitarist and sings the back vocals at times. Brian Haner is Synyster Gates, the lead guitarist and back-up vocals as well. He has black hair that’s spiked in every direction and brown eyes that make me melt each time I look at them. Jimmy is The Rev and plays the drums and Matt is M. Shadows, the singer.

They’re all like my brothers and the people I trust the most, along with my two other best friends. They’re Valary and Michelle DiBenedetto and unlike me and Matt, they really are twins! Val has blond hair and Michelle brown hair and we met in fifth or sixth grade. They also came to the party, but left before we fell asleep. And that’s our little group, Matt, Jimmy, Brian, Zacky, Johnny, the Berry’s, me, Val and Michelle. Actually it’s not that little, we’re a group of ten friends!

You’re probably wondering who dates who, but let me surprise you… There are only two people who date each other in our group: Val and Jason. Johnny dates a girl from Oregon but we barely see her because we live in Southern California, Huntington Beach. She’s Lacey and she’s very nice, but I don’t know how they manage to keep their relationship when they only see each other in holidays and celebrations, when she comes to her grandparents’ house in here. They’re really cute together. Matt has many girlfriends but he’s always breaking up with them. He managed to stay single the whole summer and I was surprised with that. Brian is the ‘ladies man’, he flirts with anyone who’s good-looking and appears in front of him. I told you him and Zacky looked like a couple because they behave like one at times. You don’t see two guys slapping each other’s asses and cuddling in the couch everyday! But don’t worry, they’re not gay, they’re best friends! I’ve had other boyfriends in the past, nothing serious, just some kisses and nothing more. I have to admit I had a crush on Brian when I first met him, but it quickly disappeared as I started to be his friend, he’s like my brother now.

So, to make everything easier for you, here’s a little summary: Val dates Jason, Johnny dates Lacey, Matt finds a new girlfriend at times and the rest is single.

“Good morning!” Jimmy yelled at the top of his lungs as he jumped off the couch. “It’s a beautiful day!”

“Shut up, dude! My head hurts!” Johnny mumbled not opening his eyes.

I stood up and glanced at the living room’s watch. It was 3 in the afternoon, my parents arrived at 7 and they needed to see the living room clean. That seemed an impossible task because it looked like the Third World War had happened in that room. I shook Matt’s head so he’d wake up.

“Matt! Wake up!” I said as I slapped his face lightly. “We need to clean this mess!”

Matt rubbed his eyes and sat on the couch. “What time is it?”

“It’s already three. Mom and dad arrive in 4 hours!” I answered.

Matt looked around and his jaw dropped. “How the fuck will we get this room clean in four hours?”

“We can help you.”, Jimmy said with his beautiful smile. He stumbled to the coffee table, cleared it with his arm and climbed on top of it. “Wake up motherfuckers”, he shouted laughing evilly.

Everyone opened their eyes and looked around.

“Why the hell are you hugging me, Syn?” Zacky complained as he looked to his side making everyone laugh.

“It’s still early, let’s sleep!” Brian said hugging Zacky tighter.

“No, it’s not! We’ve gotta clean this mess before my parents arrive!” I said.

Matt stood up and bit his lip. He did that when he was thinking about something or coming up with a plan.

“Okay, this is what we’ll do…”, Matt said looking at us. “We’re eight and there are three bathrooms in this house. Zacky, Brian and Hailey, you’re the divas, so go and take a shower QUICKLY!”, Matt said making Brian and Zacky start to complain they weren’t divas. We all knew they liked to take care of their hair and that made them spend more time in the bathroom. “Johnny, Jimmy and Matt, you go after them and help me and Jason clean the kitchen.”. He then looked at all of them confident. “Let’s get this house clean in time!”

I stood up and went upstairs with Zacky and Brian went to the ground floor’s bathroom. I closed the door and took off my clothes. The water from the shower felt really good as it touched my skin and erased the smell of alcohol and fast food that hung in the living room. Parties in my house with the boys were never a good idea, but we kept throwing them.
I got off the shower and dressed up and as I was about to do my hair I hear Johnny knocking on my door.

“Hailey! I wanna take a shower!” Johnny shouted.

“I have to do my hair, Johnny!”, I replied.

“Go to Zacky’s bathroom! I don’t who’s worse between you two!” he added.

I sighed and grabbed my stuff. I walked to the other bathroom and knocked on the door. “Zacky, have you taken your shower?”

“Yeah. Why?” he asked.

“Can I come in and do my hair?” I asked.

“Sure.” Zacky said and I opened the door.

“Thanks. Johnny wanted to kill me if I didn’t get out of the bathroom…”, I said laughing.

Zacky looked at me and smiled. “You’re wearing my shirt!”

It was true; he offered me that shirt when we went shopping for the last time. Now you must be wondering why Zacky goes shopping with me – we are always betting, and whenever he loses he has to go shopping with me, whenever he wins I have to do something he comes up with.

I smiled back and messed with his hair. I loved messing with it, it was so smooth!

“Stop it!” Zacky said pouting.

“Aw, you’re pouting!” I laughed poking him.

“Don’t laugh!” he said fixing it. “I have to do my hair as well!”

“You know, guys don’t usually do their hair.” I said trying not to laugh.

“I do. I’m special.” he said smirking.

“You…” I said pointing at him. “… are an asshole!”

Zacky pushed me into a hug and kissed my cheek, slobbering it.

“Ew! Zacky!” I said cleaning my cheek.

“Payback!” he laughed.

We did our hair and then Jimmy knocked on the door. “Guys! Are you ready or are you doing something else?”

Zacky looked at me with a smirk and I understood he wanted to mess with Jimmy. I opened the door and Zacky pushed me to his arms and started kissing my neck.

“We were busy, Jimmy!” Zacky said trying not to laugh.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Jimmy yelled horrified and took his arms in front of his eyes. “Matt!!! Zacky is doing your sister on the fucking bathroom!”

Zacky and I burst out laughing and Jimmy looked at us confused.

“You fooled me?” he asked shocked. “Fuck you!!!”

He ran to us and started doing kung fu, in a crazily way.

“You’re crazy Jimmy!” I said laughing and Zacky nodded in agreement.

“Go away! The artist needs to take a shower!” Jimmy said shooing us.

We laughed and headed downstairs where Matt, Jason and Brian were.

“Finally you guys are here!” Jason said.

“We didn’t take that long!” I answered crossing my arms against my chest.

Zacky laughed and grabbed my hand. “Let’s help them!”

“Will you two go to the grocery store and buy some food?” Matt asked us. “These… heavy eaters ate all the food we had!”

“Sure!” I said as I walked with Zacky outside the house.