“Alex! Get up! You've got to take Rian to school!”
Alex groaned and rubbed his eyes, sitting up lazily and scratching his bare stomach.
“LEX! Come and take your little brother to school!”
“ALRIGHT! I'M COMING!”
The nineteen year old boy swung his hairy legs over the side of his mattress and yawned. The sunlight cascaded in through his open blinds, reflecting off the mirror opposite his bed, and the dark blue bed sheets crumpled under him as he pulled off a pair of bright yellow socks. His bed was pushed up against the wall, his mirror and wardrobe pushed against the opposite wall where his door was. That was it, that was all he had in his bedroom. There were pictures of him and his friends covering the cream walls and a dark blue fluffy rug on the hard, brown wood floor but that was it. The boy trekked over to his dark pine wardrobe and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans and his favourite shirt, a white Blink 182 logo shimmering on the black cotton in the August sunlight. His feet shimmied in to pair of black Vans and he looked in his mirror, fiddling with his mess of brown and blonde streaked hair. He swept his bangs over his forehead and checked himself out.

Too much black? Yeah. Add a little colour. Where? How? Put on a shirt open over this.

The boy pulled on a yellow and grey checked shirt, leaving it unbuttoned, and jogged downstairs. A smile spread across his face as he saw his little brother. Rian was only fourteen, but he looked Alex's age, and probably knew more than Alex and his college friends combined. He was a sweet kid, always putting others before himself, and him and Alex were the closest they could be without it being weird.
“Hey little dude, you ready to go?”
Alex asked while running a hand through his little brother's short hair. It used to be long, about Alex's length, but he had it all shaved off so he could look more 'macho'.
“Yeah.”
The elder boy shoved a piece of toast in his mouth and smiled before kissing his mum's cheek.
“I'm staying the night at Zack's, is that ok?”
“Yeah, remember to go talk to Rian's teacher at two though. I'll see you boys later.”
Rian grumbled and hopped in to his big brother's old, banged up, yellow car. He'd got it for his sixteenth birthday and hadn't really been able to afford to buy a new one. He went straight on to college after high school and spent all his money on that. He was lucky his parents were pretty well off. They weren't a rich family, but they had enough money to not have to worry about whether the bills were getting paid or not. Alex was looking for a job to help pay his way or save up for a flat, he couldn't sponge off his mum forever, it was either get his own place or move in with Zack.
Zack was his best friend. They'd met in middle school, just after Alex had moved to Baltimore from Essex, England and they'd instantly clicked. Zack had been Alex's only friend in middle school, and most of the way through high school, and now he was his best friend in college. They were inseparable and were considering living together. Zack had a flat his parents had bought for him when he applied for collage but he still had to pay rent. If Alex was living there it wouldn't be much more food wise because both boys hardly ate and the rent would be split in half. It sounded like a good idea to both boys. Alex wouldn't have to look after Rian and Zack wouldn't have to struggle with rent by himself, everyone wins.
The elder boy put his pile-of-shit car in to gear, pulled out of the drive, swerved on to the road and set off towards his little brother's school.
“So, how are you doing in this new class? You got moved up right?”
“Yeah, I'm in the top class now. Everyone's really nice and they all like me because my brother's the famous Alex Gaskarth. A lot of people keep asking me why I'm called Dawson though.”
Alex was somewhat a well known name in Rian's school. He was a troublemaker, always had been, so obviously when he'd attended that high school he'd got himself a reputation. He was just acting like a twat though, Alex was a good kid. He did pull some pretty extreme pranks though, some of which were so effective teacher's had quit their jobs and you could still see the marks on the buildings now. But he wasn't complaining, he was idolised by every rebel in town. Alex loved it, but Rian didn't.
Alex and Rian had different views on their dad too. Alex had their mum's maiden name, while Rian had their dad's surname. Alex didn't really get on with his dad, they didn't see eye to eye, because his dad was a homophobic prick that couldn't take the fact his eldest son was gay. His mum and dad weren't married so when he was old enough he'd had his name changed, where Rian had kept his surname.
Alex pulled up outside the high school gates and smiled at his brother.
“I'll see you after school shit head. I have a meeting with your teacher later.”
“See you later asshole.”
The boys chuckled as Rian got out of the car and jogged towards his friends, kicking around a football in the yard.
Alex locked his car and strolled round the corner to his local Starbucks. It was across the road from his collage and it was the perfect place to be, free Wi-Fi and every type of coffee you could imagine. Did someone to say heaven? He sat down in his usual place and pulled out his phone, checking twitter and Facebook before playing with angry birds a bit and getting his friends to email him some notes he'd forgot to take a few days ago when he was really hung over. He sat there for about an hour, fiddling with his phone and people watching, before he saw it was half ten and he needed to sort some stuff out with Zack before he went to meet his little brother's teacher.
Alex smiled at the girl serving him; she was in his sociology class.
“Hey! Beth. Am I right?”
“Yeah, Alex isn't it?”
“Yes it is.”
“What can I get you Alex? Apart from my notes from last lesson.”
The boy groaned and chuckled.
“Was I that out of it?”
“You fell asleep five minuets in and didn't move until I hit you at the end of class.”
The boy blushed and groaned.
“No one noticed did they?”
“No Alex, I think your megaphone loud snoring was very discreet.”
“Fine. If you're just going to insult me I'll have a plain latte please.”
Beth messed around for a while before she handed him his order and smiled.
“Have a nice day Alex, try and get some sleep tonight.”
“I'll try!”
The boy called his reply behind his shoulder as he walked out of the door, his warm to-go cup wrapped in his hands. He loved the winter. His tatty Vans cladded feet took him back to Rian's school and he sighed, hoping in his four wheeled machine as he sipped at his latte.
The piece-of-shit car went off down the road and in to Zack's neighbourhood, pulling up outside his block of flats. The flats weren't scummy or horrible, they were really nice, but the area they were in was horrible. Graffiti covered every inch of wall, not that it was a bad thing, it was just terrible graffiti. Chavs popped up everywhere and Alex hated the area, but loved the places in it.
“Hey, jerk, let me in.”
Alex laughed through Zack's pure white door, the number 24 painted on messily in black. It swung open to reveal a sweaty, half naked Zack, smirking at his best friend.
“You called bitch?”
“Let me in man, I'm bunking here tonight.”
“I know, so why are you here now?”
“I'm just dropping my shit off. I have some stupid parent teacher meeting to go to at two.”
“It's eleven. That gives you at least two and a half hours. What are you going to do?”
“I thought I'd just hang here for a bit, talk to you about the whole moving in thing.”
Alex's best friend's eyes lit up and he yanked him inside of his flat, pulling him in to a hug before slamming the door shut behind him.
“You're moving in?! YES! When?”
“Whenever you want me to.”
“A.S.A.P man! Sorry I'm all sweaty, I was working out.”
“Well yeah, lets live together then.”
Zack nodded like an excited child and pointed to the fridge.
“I'll go get us some celebratory drinks.”
A while later Zack was sprawled out on the floor completely trashed after his ninth beer and fifteenth shot while Alex was sipping at his third beer. He didn't even feel tipsy, this was some sort of miracle. The boy's eyes drifted over to the clock on the TV and he shot up, cursing under his breath and accidentally spilling his beer all over his new flat mate.
“DUDE! What was that for?!”
“Sorry Zack, but it's ten past two! I'm late!”
The younger boy collapsed back on to the floor and pouted.
“Yeah, you go have your parent teacher stuff. TELL ME IF THEY'RE HOT!”
Alex ran as fast as he could towards his car before speeding off towards his brother's school and zooming through the gates. He tripped up as he ran through the halls until he finally found the classroom he was looking for. A big black door with a name plate on it stood between him and the person controlling his brother's future, and to say he was nervous would be an understatement. The only reason he was here was because his mum was swamped at work and no one else could come, apparently this meeting was VERY important. The boy read the name plate out before knocking timidly.
“Mr. J. Barakat.”
“Come in!”
Was shouted through the wood in a muffled tone and Alex took a deep, shaky breath before pushing open the heavy door and smiling at the man sat behind a pine desk.
“Damn.”

Notes

Urm... it gets better. I promise