Vengeance Is a Syn

“Bri? Is that you?”, I asked surprised.

“You like my new make-up?”, Brian asked with a funny voice.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Brian had his nails painted red, a headband on his used-to-be spiked hair and more eyeliner around his eyes.

“Dude, what did they do to you?”, Zacky asked shaking his friend by his shoulders.
I was still shocked and looking at him. “We lost our friend!”

“I thought you were going to like this! Val and Michelle thought I was great!”, Brian chuckled. “Don’t you think I’m sexy like this, Hay?”

I laughed and punched his arm playfully. “Now he’s back.”

Zacky laughed and let Brian’s shoulders. “Who did this… fucking make-up to you?”
“Val did! And Michelle helped!”, Brian answered.

“No wonder they were the only ones thinking you looked great…”, I said arching my eyebrow and making them laugh.

“Now seriously, I need to get home and take this shit off of me.”, Brian said taking the headband of his hair. “Where’s your brother?”

Zacky and I shrugged; we didn’t know where he was.

“I’m gonna text him.”, Zacky said as he took his mobile phone.

A couple of minutes later Matt answered him saying he couldn’t get out soon, so we should better walk home if we didn’t want to wait for him.

“I can’t fucking walk home like this!”, Brian said pointing at himself.

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing with Zacky.

“I’ll help you. Come on.”, I said as I pushed him inside school. I dragged him to the bathroom but he stood by the door.

“Brian, come on! No one’s in here!”, I said.

“It’s the girls bathroom…”, Brian said.

“Do you want to walk home like that?”. Brian shook his head. “I thought so! Go find Jimmy and Johnny, Zack. We’ll meet you later.”

Zacky nodded and walked away.

“Wow. Why is the girls bathroom better than ours?”, Brian asked.

I shrugged. “Because we’re better than you. Now sit.”, I said pointing at the counter.

Brian sat and looked at me. I took some tissues and poured water on them and then approached Brian.

“Close your eyes.”, I said.

“What if you try to kill me?”, he asked smirking.

“I won’t, don’t worry!”, I answered smiling. He closed his eyes and I cleaned the eyeliner of his eyes softly, so I wouldn’t hurt him, and then I messed with his hair.

“Okay, you’re good now.”, I said smiling.

Brian slowly opened his eyes and smiled at me. He was looking so good, even with the nails painted in red. I put the tissues on the trash can and when I was about to pick my backpack he grabbed my hands, pushing me closer to him. He was still sitting on the counter and my head was at the height of his. He laced his fingers with mine and smiled – what a surprise! He should be with that cocky smirk and not the friendly smile. He cupped my cheek and traced small circles with his thumb while he kept his other hand holding mine.

“Thank you!”, Brian smiled.

“You’re welcome.”, I said. “Ask Suzy something to take that nail polish of your nails.”, I added chuckling.

Brian laughed and locked his eyes with mine. “Why? Don’t you like them this color?”

His hand felt so good on my cheek I wanted to stay like that forever.

“What? Do you like having your nails colored?”, I asked giggling.

“I think it’s sexy!”, Brian answered smirking.

“You’re a jerk!”, I said.

He smiled and kissed the tip of my nose when Val opened the bathroom door.

“Oh! Here you are, Hailey!”, Val said. “Hum… Did I… Did I interrupt something?”

“Of course not, silly!”, I answered laughing and pulling away from Brian. “I was cleaning his face since you and your sister decided to apply make-up all over him!”

“Oh, I think he looked adorable!”, Val said pinching Brian’s cheek and chuckling.

Brian stood up and wrapped his arm around Val’s waist. “See, she liked it.”

We all laughed and I picked up my stuff.

“The guys are waiting for you outside. They couldn’t find Jimmy and Matt.”, Val said.

I walked out of the bathroom with Brian and Johnny and Zacky were talking with some friends.

“We’re ready.”, Brian said as we approached them.

“What the fuck happened to your nails, Gates?”, Johnny asked laughing.

Brian shoved his hands on his pockets after slapping Johnny’s head playfully. “Val and Michelle did it.”

They all laughed and then we started to walk towards Brian’s house.

“Does anybody know what happened to Matt and Jimmy?”, I asked starting to get worried. “They won’t answer my messages…”

“I bet they got into detention again…”, Johnny answered.

“But it’s only the first day of school!”, I said.

“You know how your brother and Jimmy work!”, Zacky chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right!”, I laughed.

We arrived at Brian’s house and his dad and his little sister were already there.

“Hey, Papa Gates.”, we all said as we saw him in the living room.

“Hey, kids!”, he replied smiling. “How was school?”

“No need to answer that question.”, Johnny said.

Papa Gates laughed.

“Where’s Suzy?”, Brian asked.

“Upstairs with McKenna.”, his dad answered.

Brian nodded and we went to his bedroom. I went to McKenna’s bedroom and greeted her and Suzy – Brian’s step-mother.

“Hay!”, McKenna cheered with her arms in the air.

“Hi, little girl. How are you?”, I asked with a kid’s voice. “Hi, Suzy!”, I smiled at her and she smiled back nodding.

“I’m fine, fanks!”, she didn’t speak perfectly yet. “Is Bri home?”

“Yes! He’s in his room with Johnny and Zacky. You want me to take you there?”, I ansked.
She placed her arms in front of her face and shook her head – shy mode: on! “No! Is the big boy there?”.

The big boy was Jimmy. He liked to play with McKenna and she thought he was a big teddy bear.

“No, he’s still in school.”, I answered.

“Come one, McKenna.”, Suzy said as she picked her up. “Let’s leave Hailey with her friends, okay?”

McKenna smiled and waved goodbye. I kissed her cheek and walked to the room.

“Hay, you’re phone is ringing!”, Zacky said.

“Why didn’t you pick it up?”, I asked.

“Because it’s your phone.”, Zacky answered.

“You know you can pick it up, silly!”, I added.

It was Matt calling.

“Where the fuck are you? And Jimmy?”, I asked.

“Hum… Can’t you guess?”, I heard Jimmy yell at the phone.

“Are you really in detention in the first day of classes?”, I asked annoyed and the three guys laughed.

“Yeah… Sorry.”, Matt said. “We’re already out, where are you?”

“Brian’s.”, I answered.

“Okay, I’ll leave Jimmy by his house and I’ll pick you up then, okay?”

“Okay. Call me when you arrive.”

“Sure.”

I hung up the call and looked at the boys who were still laughing.

“You were right… They were in detention…”, I said.

“Are they coming over?”, Brian asked.

“Nah, Matt’s picking me up. He should be almost arriving.”, I answered.

I sat on the bed next to Johnny and watched the two guitarists playing. After a while my mobile phone starts ringing.

“I’ve gotta go guys.”, I said as I stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I kissed everyone goodbye and went downstairs. “Bye, Papa Gates! Bye, Suzy and McKenna!”

“Goodbye!”, they all said.

I got into Matt’s car and he drove towards our house.

“What did you do, this time?”, I asked.

“Nothing…”, Matt answered not taking his eyes off the road.

“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me, Matt.”

“I know, Hailey.”, Matt said as he stroked my cheek. “But I grant you that it was nothing.”
I looked at his knuckles. They were red and looked sore; I knew he got into a fight, but he wasn’t going to tell me yet. I sighed and waited until we got home.

Later that night, I got a call from Val. She used to call me a lot and I called her a lot too. I guess she was just bored.

“Hey, girl. What’s up?”, I asked as I picked up the call.

“Hey. Nothing much… Just wanted to talk with somebody… Michelle’s out with Leanna.”, Val answered.

“Why didn’t you go with them?”, I asked.

“I was supposed to go out with Jason, but he got in some kind of trouble and he couldn’t make it… So now I’m all by myself in my house…”, Val answered. “Well, my parents are here, but still.”

“Do you want to come over?”, I asked.

“No, don’t worry.”, I could hear her smile. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing… I was just watching some television and thinking….”, I answered.

“Thinking? About what?”, she asked. I could hear her smirking, now.

“Jeez, why do you always take things like that!?”, I chuckled.

“I was joking. What were you thinking about?”, Val asked.

“I don’t know… This day… Going back to school… how I miss holidays…”, I said.

“Brian…”, Val said trying not to laugh.

“What?”, I didn’t understand what she wanted to say.

“Yeah, Brian. Were you thinking about him?”, Val asked.

“Hum. No. Should I?”, I asked. I seriously didn’t get what she was trying to pull out.
“I don’t know… After what I saw in the bathroom today…”, she giggled.

“Nothing happened, Val. I was just cleaning the mess you and your sister did on his face.”, I answered confused.

“I’m pretty sure that something would have happened if I didn’t come in that moment.”, Val said self-assuredly.

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“You really didn’t see what was going on? You two would be kissing each other in two minutes!”, Val said.

“What?”, I asked surprised. “We wouldn’t!”

“You didn’t see the way he was holding you? You were inches away from his face!”, Val almost yelled. I’m not that deaf!

“We’re friends! We’ve acted like that our whole lives! And you know who owns my attention…”, I sighed.

This is something you don’t know yet… I lied about considering all of them like my brothers… I lied about what I wanted for my birthday… Everything I wanted was just that guy. But Val was the only one who knew that. Not even Matt or Jimmy knew, and I knew they told me everything that was going on their lives.

“You can’t wait for him forever, honey. Do you still like him?”, Val asked.

“Yes. Yes, I do, Val.”, I said.

“Are you sure? It’s been so long… I’m sure you say that, but you don’t mean it anymore…”, Val sighed.

“I think I still like him… And I think I’ll tell him on my birthday.”

“I’ll be by your side.”, Val said with a friendly voice.

“Thanks, Val.”, I smiled.

“Jason’s finally here, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay honey?”

“Sure! Night”, I said as I put my phone on the bedside table.

Could Val be right? What if I didn’t love him anymore? No, I’m sure I still had a thing for him.



I got out of the bathroom and returned to my room. I was already in my pajamas and when Matt and Jimmy saw me, they got out of the bed.

“Sleep time?”, Matt asked.

“Yeah.”, I nodded. “But you can stay here a little if you want to.”

Matt kissed my forehead and shook his head. “Nah, we need some sleep too.”

Jimmy was also sleeping in our house today. The four guys already had their rooms in our house, and you could even find some of their clothes in them. Even our parents considered them family.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that it’s the first week of school and I’m not used to waking up early yet…”, I said.

“How I understand you, Hay-hay!”, Jimmy said.

“Don’t call me that!”, I said as I slapped his arm playfully.

“Hey! Be careful with my sensitive skin!”, Jimmy joked making us laugh.

I gave him a kiss goodnight and a dimpled smile and they both left the room.

While I pushed the bed sheets over me and got comfy in them, my mobile phone rang.

I looked at the screen and saw that it was a text message from Brian. I smiled and opened it.

‘Hey pumpkin, how you doing? :)’

‘Hey, Bri. I was actually about to go to sleep. :P What about you?’

‘You were? Sorry, I didn’t know… :/ I’m not sleepy at all; I figured I could talk with you.’

‘You can. :) But if I stop answering it’s because I fell asleep! :P’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll know when you fall asleep ;)’

‘How?’

I waited for a reply but instead my phone started ringing.

It was Brian.

“Like this.”, Brian said.

“Hey, that’s not fair!”, I giggled.

“Of course it is!”, he said. I bet he was smirking. “Hello, beautiful.”

“Hi, idiot!”, now I was smirking.

“You’re always a sweetheart, huh?”, Brian said.

“I learnt from the best!”, I chuckled.

“What if I was telling you I loved you? You wouldn’t believe me as well?”, Brian asked.

I didn’t know what to answer. “You’d be kidding me, of course I wouldn’t believe!”

Long pause. Did I say something wrong? “Are you still there, Brian?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.”, he answered. “Look, do you wanna come here tomorrow after school? So we can start on that project…”

“Yeah, sounds great!”, I answered. “I want to finish it as soon as possible!”

“We will, don’t worry.”, he chuckled.

I could hear some music coming from the phone.

“Are you playing the guitar?”, I asked.

“Yeah… Do you hear it there?”, Brian asked sheepishly.

“Yes… What are you playing? It’s not very clear in here…”, I answered.

“Cemetery Gates”, Brian answered.

That song… It had a complete different meaning for me and Brian. Back when we were 13, Zacky and Jimmy betted we hadn’t the guts to kiss each other.



Jimmy, Zacky, Brian and I were at Brian’s house, in his room, listening to ‘Cemetery Gates’, by Pantera, on the computer.

Zacky and Jimmy had smirks on their faces and looked teasingly at Brian and me.

“What?”, Brian asked them.

Zacky looked at Jimmy, smirking again and then turned his face to us again.

“We bet you don’t have the guts to kiss each other.”, he said.

“What do you mean?”, I asked confused.

“We don’t think you have the courage to kiss each other.”, Jimmy explained.

“What do you mean? Like, a kiss? Like Jason kisses Val?”, Brian asked.

They both nodded and I gulped.

“Why did you bet that?”, I asked.

“Because I know you won’t do it.”, Jimmy said glaring at us.

“What do we gain if I kiss her?”, Brian asked.

“What?”, I whispered looking at him.

“10 dollars!”, Zacky smiled. “5 for each of you.”

Brian nodded and looked at me. “We’ll take the bet.”

I looked at him hesitantly and then nodded.

He approached me and I gulped. He cupped my cheek and crashed his lips into mine. I could feel butterflies all over my stomach and see fireworks in front of my eyes. It was my first kiss, with my best friend at the sound of one of my favorite bands.

We looked at Jimmy and Zacky whose jaws were dropping and demanded our 10 dollars. They really believed we wouldn’t do that!

After that day we never talked about that kiss again, but I always remembered it whenever I heard that song.



I smiled at myself and yawned.

“I think it’s time for me to sleep.”, I said rubbing my eyes. “I’m sorry I’m not a great chat partner today…”

“You were, don’t worry!”, Brian chuckled. “Good night, sleep tight.”

“Night, Bri. See you tomorrow.”, I said.

I put my cell phone on the bedside table and closed my eyes. Finally some rest. Ah, that’s what I thought!

I heard someone knocking on my door and opening it. It was Matt, and I could hear someone sniffing. I looked further and saw Val crying and shaking. I got off my bed and hugged her.

“Oh, Val. What happened, sweetie?”, I asked worried.