Toxic

Rian sat at the kitchen table holding his heavy head up with the palm of his hand. His dad had just woken him up to offer to make breakfast for Violet and him. It was 11:30 in the morning, too early for a Thursday during summer vacation.

"She didn't seem too pleased" Rian's dad said, entering the kitchen after his attempt to wake Violet.

"Give her a break, Dad." Rian replied, "She's had a rough week."

"She could at least try to make an effort." he huffed.

Rian was shocked at the amount of tension that now consumed the house. Everyone was on edge, but he felt bad for Violet. He wished he'd at least known he had a sibling so he could call her on her their birthday or sent her a gift for Christmas.

In that moment a groggy Violet emerged from the basement, a messy bun on top of her head.

"Hey" she said to Rian in a raspy voice.

"How was the new room?" he asked.

She just shrugged, plopping down into a chair at the kitchen table.

"There's coffee here Violet" their dad said, pulling a mug from the cupboard and handing it to her.

"Thank god" she said, taking the mug and pouring herself a cup. She skipped on the sugar and cream, returning to her chair.

"I drink mine black too" Rian said, lifting his mug to hers and she gave him a half smile.

Their dad made eggs, bacon, toast and sausage, sitting down at the table to join them. "So are the guys coming over for band practice later?" he asked Rian, taking a bite of his toast.

"Yeah at around 2 or 3" he responded.

"You're in a band?" Violet asked curiously, "I mean I saw your drum set in the basement and everything but I wasn't sure."

"All Time Low" their dad bragged, "They're pretty good."

"Nice" she nodded.

Music must have been in their blood Rian thought, remembering the guitar case Violet had brought with her.

"We can order pizza if the guys want to stay for dinner." their dad offered.

"Sure, I can ask them" Rian replied.

The rest of breakfast went pretty quietly. Violet ended up pushing most of her food around her plate. The pain radiating from her right hip was making her stomach twist in knots. Taking her coffee back into her room, she pulled out her song book, scribbling in some lyrics that she'd dreamt last night. Flopping down onto her bed, she began to go over the list of things she would need to pick up before school started in just over a week; a new backpack on the top of her list.

Wondering where the closest shopping centre was, she ran up the stairs where her father was washing up from breakfast.

"Hey Dad?" she asked and he spun around to face her, pleasantly surprised with the way she'd called him dad.

"Is there a mall around here anywhere? I need to pick up some things before school starts."

"Yeah, you probably couldn't walk there but I could drive you there if you want?" he offered, excited to possibly spend a little more time with the daughter he thought about on a regular basis over the years.

"Okay. I'll go change" she replied, turning back down the stairs.

Once in her room, she pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a grey loose fitting tank top. Digging out her black Converse high tops from her closet and slipping them on, Violet returned to the kitchen where her dad was waiting for her.

Handing her a hundred dollars, he dropped her off at the entrance of the mall. Violet told him on the way over that she'd rather go on her own and he agreed to pick her up in 2 hours.

On the other side of the neighbourhood, Alex had just rolled out of bed and gotten into the shower. Standing under the burning hot stream, he tried desperately to wake himself up.

"Alex you idiot!" Jack yelled, opening the bathroom door.

"What?" Alex shouted over the sound of the running water.

"You take the longest showers, hurry the fuck up" his best friend replied before slamming the door shut again.

His mom must have let him in while he had been in the shower he thought to himself, it was pretty normal for Jack to arrive unannounced, or any one of the other guys for that matter. They had band practice in less than an hour though and he figured Jack must have come so they could walk over together.

After another ten minutes, he finally turned off the shower, towelling off his body before walking into his bedroom where Jack was sprawled out on his bed.

"Hey baby" Jack said seductively, and Alex hurtled his can of deodorant toward him on the bed.

Jack deflected the incoming can, "So did you hear about Rian's weird-ass news?" he asked.

"Yeah he told me yesterday, I don't even believe it," he replied, still trying to wrap his head around how obscure the whole situation was.

"I wonder if she'll look like a guy version of Rian" Jack chuckled.

"I guess we'll find out later" Alex replied, pulling skinny jeans over top of his boxers.

--

An hour later, not bothering to knock as usual, Jack Alex and Zack burst through Rian's front door, screaming that they had arrived.

"Hey!" Rian said, entering the kitchen to find Jack on top of Alex's back and Zack rolling his eyes at the other two.

"SO. Where is this twin of yours?" Jack said goofily hopping off of Alex.

"Uhm, I don't know actually. My dad took her out I think." Rian replied.

"Sisters suck man, mine bottled me with her hairspray this morning" Jack responded.

Alex smacked Jack over the head "Not helping!"

"Its true" Jack shrugged, "She'll take all of your sweaters too."

Rian just laughed and they all followed him into the basement to start practice.

They practiced covering a few songs like they usually did; they were still working on writing a few of their own.

"I can't believe we're going to be Juniors" Alex said, flopping down on one of the futons in the basement while the band took a short break.

"We better get invites to all the parties this year" Rian added, "This is going to be our year!"

"I don't want to see Jack on alcohol" Zack threw in.

"Yeah you're fucking crazy enough" Alex said, throwing a kick at Jack who was seated on the floor in front of him.

Trying to dodge the kick, Jack hit his electric guitar, causing a loud sound to crack through the basement.

A non-expecting Violet was walking down the stairs at that moment. Startled by the loud sound, she tripped on one of the steps and fell down the stairs in a crash.

"Fuck!" she cried out, "What the hell!?"

All of the guys hopped up from where they were sitting, looking over at the girl who was lying flat on her back, wincing in pain.

"Violet?" Rian asked in a concerned tone walking over to help her up, "You okay?"

"Mhmm" she groaned, getting to her feet to look over at the 3 strangers who were staring at her from across the room.

"Guys this is Violet" Rian said motioning to his scowling sister.

"What the fuck happened to you Rian, you're so much uglier then her" Jack blurted out, "I'm Jack by the way."

"Alex" Alex said, raising his hand, "and this is Zack" he added in, throwing his guitar pick at Zack. He raised a hand to wave at her too.

"Hey" was all she said with a nod, clutching onto her right hip.

"Your band sucks by the way" she said, scooping up some shopping bags she'd dropped on the way down the stairs.

The guys just stood there looking at her, taken back by her comment.

"I'm kidding" she said with a half-assed laugh, rolling her eyes and walking into her bedroom.

Laughing and turning back to their instruments to pick practice back up, Alex found his mind continuously wandering to the beautiful girl with a liquid brown eyes in the next room over.