This World's An Ugly Place

"There's a new kid?" Sebastian, my older brother, asked from behind the counter of the music store. This music store used to be run by our father, but when he and mom died Sebastian inherited it and he kept it up and running. I used to not be able to step foot in the shop because of all the memories it held of my parents, but it got easier as time passed.

"Angel thinks he's hot," Jack mused and I punched him the shoulder.

"Do not!" I protested and then Jack swung his arm around my neck to get me in a head lock and began messing up my hair.

"Do too!"

"Sebastian!" I cried out as I tried to wiggle out of my cousin's grip.

"Okay, okay, break it up," a new voice said, which I soon identified as Case's. "I swear, you guys are worse than Sebastian and I were," he said as he pushed Jack and I apart. Case was Sebastian's closest friend and was pretty much like my own brother.

"You're a dick," I hissed at Jack and he stuck his tongue out at me.

Sebastian began to chuckle at that. "Come on, it's fun watching them wrestle," he said to Case.

"At least Case understands me," I said, hugging my brother figure.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sebastian said, waving me off. "Now, this new kid?"

"Oh, yeah," I said, dropping my hands from Case and hopping up on the register counter to sit. I treated this shop like it was my home. "He's a kid in my grade and his name is Alex."

"And?" Sebastian beckoned me to go on.

"He's kind of hot," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "But I'm going to talk to him again later today because I'm determined to break him out of his shell."

"Oh," Case said now, "was his...family thing, recent?"

I bit the bottom of my lip and, again, shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure, to be honest. When I talked to him he hardly said a word. But, that'll change. I know it will. I just have to keep at it."

Jack wrinkled his nose. "You're going to scare him away."

"Me?" I demanded. "At least I was the pervy guy who wanted to know if it was a dateable girl and forced me to go see," I accused.

Sebastian and Case began laughing at that and Jack frowned at me.

"How do you know if this guy is even going to be friends with you?" he asked.

"I just know it. Plus, he's got wicked taste in music."

Jack's eyes brightened at that since we both shared a similar taste in music. "Seriously?"

I nodded my head. "Why would I lie about that?"

He shrugged his shoulders and began walking towards the back of the store. "I'm going to go practice," he said as he disappeared around the corner. We all knew he was referring to his guitar skills. Even though he just began learning last year, he was determined to become a better guitarist than Case and I were.

"I should probably go help him," Case said, walking off after him and leaving my brother and I alone.

Sebastian sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So...this new kid," he went on. "Since you guys are in the same home, I just don't want you two to be...alone."

"Oh my God, no," I said, covering my face with my hands. "I am not having this conversation with you."

"But I worked so hard on what I was going to say about it!"

"No, no, no," I said, hopping off the counter. "I had health class, I know abstinence, oh my gosh, Sebastian," I said in a shrill voice, getting easily grossed out about talking about sex with my brother.

"Okay, fine," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "But, anyways, you think he'll be enrolled in the same school as you?"

I tilted my head to the side, I didn't actually think about that. "Well, seeing as we only have a couple more weeks left of school until we're out, I'd say no. I didn't ask Ms. Wendy about it."

"Speaking of school," Sebastian said, his tone getting very 'parental' on me, "Ms. Wendy called me about your grades."

My face dropped and I began shifting from foot to foot. "Oh, um, I think I hear Jack calling me," I said quickly, a smile spreading across as Sebastian gave me a disapproving look. I quickly dodged between the aisles as I heard my brother giving chase after me and quickly burst through the only occupied practice room in the back of the store.

Case was standing up with his arms crossed while Jack was sitting down in the seat with a Fender across his legs. They both shot me a questioning glance as I shut the door quickly behind me and turned the lock.

Not two seconds later I heard pounding on the door. "Angelica you open this door right now!"

Case began chuckling at me. "He has a key for all the doors, you know."

"Yes, I know," I replied, putting my back against the door.

"Geez, Angel, what did you do to him?"

"He saw my history grade," I explained.

Jack nodded his head understandingly and then Sebastian's knocking stopped.

"He's going to go get the key," Case said in a song voice.

I let out a groan and stuck my hand out to Jack. "What?"

"Let me play a song," I said.

"No way! Go get your own guitar from out there." He pointed towards the door.

"Come on, just one song," I pleaded, pouting my bottom lip. "Sebastian is probably going to interrupt it anyways."

Jack let out a sigh of defeat and handed me the guitar. I gave him a winning smile before putting the strap over my shoulders and gliding my fingers across the strings. "What song?" Case asked.

"I'm feeling Guns N' Roses," I said as I began playing the chorus to Welcome To The Jungle.

A proud smile had come across Case's face as he watched me play while Jack continued to pout that he couldn't play at the moment. Just as I came up to the second chorus, the door opened and I stopped mid stroke.

"Angel, you can't keep doing this," he insisted, his forehead creasing with worry; something dad used to do.

"What? I'm going to get my grade up, it's just that Mrs. Red is such a pain in the-"

"No, I didn't mean that," he interrupted. "You can't keep focusing only on music. You need to get your head out of the clouds and focus on school. You're almost in your senior year! Have you even thought about what college your going to?"

I blew out a sigh. "Sebastian-"

"I'm serious, Angel. I know you have a lot of faith in our band to make it big, but what if it doesn't?"

I pressed my mouth into a line and swung the guitar off me, handing it to Jack. "Look, Sebastian. Everything is going to work out. Our band is going to make it big."

"How do you know that, Angel?" Sebastian stressed.

"Because...because no matter what happens, I'll always be married to the music. Whether this band makes it big or not, I'm going to find a way to make things work," I said, my voice wavering at the end. I hated trying to think of all these life choices when, really, I was still a kid. I had to grow up way to fast and now all I wanted was to enjoy the rest of my childhood without having to face things like this.

Sebastian's face grew soft and that's when I realized my eyes were watering. I quickly wiped at them and cursed under my breath, pushing my brother out of the way and walking out of the practice room. "I'm leaving," I muttered.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the home."

"Do you need a ride?" I heard Jack call from the back of the store.

"Don't bother, I'll walk," I said as I slammed the door shut behind me.

Notes

This chapter is slightly boring, so I'm sorry about that but I wanted to introduce Case and Sebastian fully to the story :3