Finding The Spotlight

Jessica sat up suddenly, awoken by a loud yell from the kitchen downstairs. She rubbed sleep from her eyes and swung her legs out of the double bed she had been sleeping peacefully in. Her stomach gurgled loudly, objecting to the lack of food due to her being ill. She pulled on a hoody and headed down the stairs to investigate the noise.

Arriving in the kitchen, she leant against the door frame weakly, feeling the brunt of the food poisoning she’d been suffering from for the past few days. Callum saw her and ran over, wrapping his arm around her waist and setting her into one of the seats.

“Jessie!” Kaliyah said happily, as she saw her, “We’re going to Immense Music Tour!”

Jessica blinked slowly as the information travelled from her ears to her brain at an insanely slow speed. It sunk in after a minute and similarly, her heart sank. They were going to leave her behind again as they jetted all over the world with each other. Their band didn’t include her, so why take her?

“Awesome. Well done, you guys!” She said, faking happiness that she didn’t actually feel. The happiness in her tone and the smile didn’t reach her eyes and Zac sat down beside her and put his arm round her shoulder.

“You would be allowed to come… Only you know what Jeff’s like…” he tried to console her and she shrugged his arm off bitterly. They hadn’t once tried to include her in the band’s activities.

“Talking of Jeff, we should phone him,” Toby input from his perch on the counter. Kaliyah nodded and Callum and Zac glared at them both. Jessica stood up, pulled her hoody tighter around her and went to speak. Her stomach flipped and she put her hand to her mouth as it convulsed. Fleeing from the room, she made it to the toilet just in time.

As she brushed her teeth for the umpteenth time that day, Callum knocked gently on the door. She opened it and walked back to beside the bath, where she sat gingerly on the edge of the tub and silently brushed her teeth.

“Kali and Zac are fighting about whether or not you should come,” he told her and sat down beside her, “Kali wants you there and Zac says you wouldn’t be safe.”

Jessica tried to smile but didn’t manage it. A loud sigh escaped her lips and Callum put an arm around her shoulders. She leant against him, finding comfort with his body warmth. He chuckled lightly and she looked up at his face, confusion written over hers.

“I find it funny, I mean, you can look after yourself, you’ve shown that,” he explained and Jessica smiled genuinely.

“If only they could see that,” she said and Callum looked as if he was thinking hard. He bit his lip and his eyes gained that faraway look whenever he was deep in thought. Jessica observed more than the average person, she had time to since she was shy and didn’t talk much. She could watch Callum for hours, his little habits fascinated her. He held himself with an articulate sense of elegance that seemed to come naturally to him.

Out of the 4 others that lived in the house, he was the only one who called her by her full name. He called everybody by their full name, regardless of whether they liked it or not. He had been brought up that way. When he spoke, it was always the same volume, unless he needed to be quiet; a midrange volume that was never raised with temper or lowered to be threatening. His personality didn’t even include those qualities. He was the one that everybody went to for advice; such was his rational way of thinking.

Kaliyah called her Jessie, which fitted which Kaliyah’s personality. She was extroverted and easily excited. Her fashion sense was bold, never following trends but setting her own. She had a mouth the size of New Jersey and equally, could speak for the whole state when she was happy.

Zac called her Jess. Similar to Kaliyah - who was his younger sister as it turned out - this fitted in with his personality. He was laid back, rarely fussy and friendly with everyone. He was the complete opposite of his sister, quiet and reserved. He minded what he said and although he didn’t follow fashion trends either, he dressed for himself and only himself. He kept things low key and when any of the 4 others needed to talk to someone, he was the one to go to. He was non-judgemental and didn’t keep interrupting to give bogus advice.

Last of all was Toby. He called her Jay. He’d known her since they were babies and it originated from around that time. As a baby, Jessica was a hard name to conquer and so, he had called her Jay. Even when he could master the most complicated of words, Toby stuck to his childhood name for her. Even when they were both 20, to Toby, her name was Jay. Toby’s personality was similar to Kaliyah’s hair colour; it changed constantly. Some days he could be laid back and sensible, the next he was stressed or bouncing off the walls. He took things to heart easily, which lead him to several bouts of near depression. The last one had occurred just before they had moved to NJ from New York. After he had recovered, his parents and Jessica’s had suggested they finished their year long courses at college, then moved to somewhere new and experience the world before getting into employment.

When all was said and done, Jessica was happier in NJ than she had ever been with her parents. She was free to do what she pleased and had acquired several tattoos since she’d moved out. She had a Chinese dragon in black and red around her lower left arm to her elbow. On her right shoulder she had a huge star that was shooting, the ‘shoots’ reached down to the bottom of her shoulder blade. She had a small death bat on her left hip and a line of three bats trailed from it around her side. Her hairstyle wasn’t one her parents would have approved of either. Her natural hair colour was a dark brown that was nearly black. It was her heritage, her mother always told her repeatedly when she had been living at home and asking for permission to put streaks in it. Jessica’s mother was Spanish and her father was Italian and Jessica had inherited their dark hair and features and olive skin. Naturally, she thought that the skin was a blessing; she never had to worry about getting a tan to rid herself of blaringly white skin. She picked colour up easily when in the sun as well. She spoke both languages too, her parents preferring their native tongues to English and conversing in a mix of both. She loved the ease she could speak them with. But her opinion of her hair wasn’t a fond one, and within a week of moving out, she had deep purple streaks running through it.

Jessica stood up and dispensed her tooth brush into her cupboard. Callum stood up as well, smiling gently at her and then leaving the bathroom, his footsteps echoing the whole way down the wooden floored hallway until he reached the soft rubber tiles of the kitchen. Jessica regarded herself in the mirror. She brushed her hair from in front of her eyes and gazed at her reflection, wondering what other people saw when the looked at her.

A loud yell came from the kitchen, making her jump slightly. Loud noises were common occurrences in that house, with Toby’s clumsiness and Kaliyah, and occasionally Zac’s, swift temper. Sighing softly, she bit back the urge to roll her chocolate eyes and made her way to the kitchen.

“ARRESTED?” Kaliyah looked livid as she screamed at Toby who had backed away from her until he was up against the counter and could get no further away. He nodded meekly and Kaliyah made a noise of complete frustration.

“Fucking arrested? I give up on that shithead. Completely!” she yelled and stormed from the room.

“Problem?” Jessica asked, a smug tone worming it’s way into her voice.

“Jeff got lifted last night. Fucking dealing coke. He won’t get out of it,” Zac muttered and let his head fall to the table with a thud. Callum looked crushed momentarily then grinned.

“Well, good riddance to him then,” he stated and started to make himself a cup of coffee.

“WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?” Toby yelled, “We’ll never get a replacement bassist in time to go to-” He stopped and looked directly at Jessica, who raised an eyebrow.

“Jay, you know the way you play bass?” he soothed. She cocked her head to one side, feeling snarky as she did so. He smiled forcefully at her.

“Would you want to join the band?”