Chapter Five
Not a single text from his stepmother arrived after a full week. Aiden stared at his own unfinished text to her, still labeled as draft, and his mind whirled from relief to fear until the two blended together. The text remained unsent.
His finger hovered above the call button of his stepmother’s number. What if I make it worse by calling her? Back and forth, he paced in his living room, praying to the universe to hand him the right answer.
The universe chose by refusing to stop time. Glancing at the top corner of his phone, Aiden shoved it into his pocket, grabbed his shoes, and dashed out the door.
He was late for the photography club.
“I’ll call her tonight,” he mumbled. “I’m not being irresponsible. I’m still thinking about her. She’s the weird one for not calling or texting me.” He zoomed past streets and buildings on campus. “What if something’s wrong…?”
He slowed his pace in time to see a small circle of waiting students already gathered and talking amongst themselves.
Despite the bodies packed together, he picked out Brendan’s voice, then his golden hair, and met his eyes.
Instinctively, Aiden raised his hand slightly to wave, and Brendan returned the favor with a wide smile and an even wider wave.
He picked up his pace to join them. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Yes, I’m not the last one this time!” Javier shouted in victory.
“We’ve got two cars. I’m driving one of them, and Amanda’s volunteered to drive the other,” Brendan explained, “so pick who you want to ride with.”
Aiden fell naturally beside Brendan and followed him to his car.
As he reached for the back door, Christina quickly nudged him over to sit shotgun.
“You’ll need to watch the traffic lights for him,” she said, throwing Brendan a glare.
“He gets too caught up in his car karaoke and forgets to pay attention to the actual traffic.”
“I heard that, and I’m not playing a musical this time.” Brendan settled into the driver’s seat.
“Good luck,” Christina whispered. She filed into the back with Javier and another club member.
I’ve never sat in the front. Aiden stared.
People died in the front.
When he was younger, Aiden's father forced him to watch videos of a driver getting shot from various angles. The explosion of the head from behind, the splattering of blood, and the eyes that rolled backward. He didn’t know a head could open the same way a watermelon did when someone hit it with a hammer.
His father showed him the bullet from that shooting, and he stayed awake at night tormented by the fact that something so small could rip through the hard, protective dome of a human skull.
In the video, the car veered over the edge of the road, and the passengers mangled themselves on sharp glass and twisted metal.
Then again, perhaps it didn’t matter where one sat. His brother died in the back.
“You coming?”
Aiden flinched as Brendan’s voice pulled him back. He nodded. “Yeah.”
He slid into the passenger seat.
“Tell me, why is it harder to study in college than it is in high school?”
“Really? I think it’s easier!”
“Why are grades even necessary in the first place? We should just ban the concept of grades altogether.”
“Hey, I like it when I score well!”
“You, Javier, are crazy, so your opinions do not count!”
Aiden glanced back, opening his mouth in the spaces between the passengers’ conversations but closed it permanently after the third failed attempt to join in. Skin flushing, he clenched his hand and stared down at his lap.
“Brendan, the light!” Javier cried. Everyone lurched forward at the abrupt stop. “Aiden, watch out for him! I’m telling you—this guy is the definition of a distracted driver.”
“I saw that. I was just testing you all,” Brendan argued.
“Sure.”
“Sorry.” Aiden snapped his head up. Heart pounding, heat creeping, and hands clenching harder, he fixed his eyes forward toward all the upcoming lights. "I'll watch him from now on."
“Nah, it’s not your fault. If only the driver were better.” Javier reached over and hit Brendan slightly on the head.
Brendan glared back. “You're not helping me either.”
The air squeezed around Aiden. “I’m really sorry.” His pounding heart sent shivers across his body, dragged like nails across a chalkboard. His hands began to quiver, but clenching his jaw, Aiden forced them still while keeping his eyes on the road.
For a second, he thought he heard his stepmother’s voice whispering in the back.
The banter between Brendan and Javier petered out.
A warm hand squeezed Aiden’s shoulder, pulling his focus away from the lights.
Aiden turned to look at Brendan in surprise.
The president of the photography club was smiling.
His left hand tapped the side of his steering wheel while he hummed lightly.
“Oh yeah. We never actually introduced ourselves in the stereotypical way.”
“Is that really necessary?” Christina asked.
“I think so. Our name and major. That’s all.”
“Oh, I’m going first then!” Javier raised his hand. “I’m Javier, and I’m majoring in biological engineering!”
His heart jolted, instantly ceasing its drumming. He looked back with wide eyes. “Wow, that’s difficult.”
“Thank you. I like a good challenge.” Javier puffed out his chest. “Oh, and I’m also minoring in history.”
Aiden smiled. “That’s right, you like to take pictures of architecture. Art and history are very similar.”
With the face of a smug cat, Javier leaned forward and placed a heavy hand on Aiden’s shoulders. “You understand me.” He wiped a nonexistent tear away.
“Anyway.” Christina pulled Javier back into his seat. “I’m majoring in marketing right now, but I really just chose business on a whim. I have no idea what I actually want.”
The uncertainty in Christina’s future made Aiden’s own heartbeat spike. His hand clenched the side of the car seat. “What if it’s not what you want?”
“I’ve got four years to figure it out. I’ll get to the right place eventually.”
“Aren’t you scared?”
She didn’t even consider his question. “Nope. I’ll figure things out when I figure things out.”
“Well, I’m with Aiden. I’d be freaking terrified if I didn’t know what I wanted,” Javier interrupted.
“Aiden, tell them what you’re studying to be,” Brendan said.
Aiden blinked. He fiddled with his fingers.
“A schoolteacher. I’m majoring in education.
” It’s okay if they think it’s stupid. I’ve already gone through hundreds of the worst responses.
His stepmother scornfully looking down at him with a scowl.
His stepmother casually dropping facts about the lack of financial support he would find in the career.
Sometimes, his stepmother would lead him to answer her about his passion for teaching, and He Bao did the laughing out loud for her.
Christina whistled. “That’s not gonna be easy. I’m impressed. I cannot handle children. Or even my younger siblings.”
“Do you know what year you want to teach?” Javier leaned forward again in his seat.
“Actually, why did you choose that to be your dream job? I didn’t ask you last time we talked.” Brendan’s eyes constantly switched from him to the road.
Suddenly, words easily rolled from his tongue.
His brother’s lessons, pounded into his soul through lectures and trainings, dissolved from his memories.
He didn’t bother to look or hear or dissect the way they reacted.
He answered the first thing he thought of.
Christina reacted in blunt yet kind ways, Javier always responded back in eager encouragement, and Brendan almost missed more lights while continuously watching him from the corner of his blue eyes.
All enraptured by his boring, story-less answers.
It made little sense to Aiden, but he didn’t care to make sense of it. The car rolled along, and by the time they arrived at the garden, he had already forgotten his initial fear of entering the last thing his brother sat in before dying in an explosion.
· · ·
“All right, everyone, let’s just take photos of whatever we want today, and then we can reconvene to figure what we want for lunch.
” Brendan clapped his hands, and the club members dispersed.
Aiden looked at the map while one pair headed in the direction of the rose bushes.
Javier dashed off for the hanging plants, and a larger group made their way toward a statue collection.
Beside him, Brendan lowered himself to his knees and snapped a photograph of the first flower greeting them by the entrance.
He shuffled his way over, took a picture of the next flower, and continued down the line.
One by one, Aiden followed and watched. For the brighter flowers, Brendan zoomed out to capture more of the cooler hues to offset the glow.
For the smaller flowers, he zoomed in and focused on the center.
His eyes brightened at the sight of a butterfly landing gently on the flower beside him, and he moved at glacial pace in fear of disrupting the insect.
As the butterfly opened its wings, Brendan captured the second before it flew off for its next conquest.
He stood up and smiled at the picture. Aiden peeked over his shoulder, heart fluttering at the vibrant yellow and red captured on the wings of a fragile butterfly that suddenly looked so strong. “You’re really good at this.”
“Thanks. I love taking photos of animals.”
Smiling, Aiden watched Brendan flip through the photos in his camera. “Can I guess?”
Brendan turned with those clear, blue eyes. “Guess what?”
“Guess your major? You never shared yours.”
“Oh!” Brendan hung the camera back around his neck. “Sure.”
He could only think of one thing with Brendan’s attention to living things—in both animals and people. “Are you majoring in something related to taking care of people or animals? Like a vet?”