Chapter 1
“Don’t
you think that those guys are totally gorgeous?” my sister asked me.
“You
think all guys are totally gorgeous, Mikaylah,” I answered.
I
put the radio back where it belonged, on top of the microwave. “Where are you
going now?” she asked me.
“Out
the back. I think I saw three guys move in yesterday.”
I
went out to the backyard, shut the door behind me and went over to the fence. A
tall guy came over. “Hi, I’m Damian. Damian Hanson. What’s yours?”
“Katia
Andretti. Who are the others?”
“My
brothers. Their names are Justin and Joshua, and they’re twins.”
Damian
called his brothers over. “Justin is the blonde one,” Damian explained.
Justin
was gorgeous. His eyes were an
incredibly deep blue and he had a band of golden freckles across his face,
which was framed by long, silvery-blonde hair. He had two necklaces around his
neck – one was a silver chain, another was a pentagram in a ring hanging off a
length of leather cord. Joshua was equally as gorgeous – russet brown hair that
was a little shorter than Justin’s, light blue eyes and freckles. They were
both about the same height, and were dressed almost identically. Justin wore a
dark blue, V-neck shirt with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath, black jeans
and Doc Martens shoes. Joshua wore a long-sleeved, button-down shirt in blue
denim, black jeans and Doc Martens shoes. “Justin, Joshua, meet Katia,” Damian
said.
Joshua
nodded. “Hi, Katia,” he answered.
He
elbowed Justin in the ribs. Justin glared at his brother and stalked off
inside. “You’ll have to excuse Justin,” Joshua apologised. “He’s deaf and has a
major attitude problem.”
“That’s
okay,” I replied. “I understand.”
Joshua
looked towards the house, and then looked back. “It’s just that Justin can’t
handle meeting new people very well. Have you ever heard a deaf person talk?”
“Yeah,
lots. Their voices sound weird.”
“That’s
what Justin’s problem is. Since he went deaf about ten years ago, he’s hardly
spoken.”
Joshua
put the conversation in another direction. “How old are you?”
“I’m
thirteen, almost fourteen. You?”
“Fourteen
on the 14th of March. It’s the same as Justin’s best friend.”
“Mine’s
June 14th.”
Joshua
glanced at the darkening sky. “Do you want to come inside? It’s going to start
raining soon.”
“Sure.”
Joshua
opened the side gate and let me in. We raced inside, and Joshua shut the door
just as a sheet of rain cascaded down from the gutter. “Is that you, Joshua?” a
voice called.
“Yeah,
it’s me.”
Joshua
led me into the kitchen. “Mum, meet Katia. Katia, my mum.”
“Call
me Karen,” Joshua’s mum corrected. “Joshua, go see what your brother is doing.”
“Make
sure he’s not fiddling with the wires in the fuse box again too?”
Karen
smiled. “That too. Off you go.”
Joshua
did as he was told and returned a couple of seconds later. “He’s asleep in his
room.”
“Did
he take his hearing aids off?”
“Yeah,
‘cause he didn’t answer when I called his name.”
Karen
shook her head. “Go wake him up then. Tell him I want him out here right now.”
Joshua
went off and returned with his brother. “What’s up, Justin?” Karen asked.
Justin
signed to his mother something I couldn’t understand. “You’re scared that Katia’s
going to laugh at you if you talk?” she asked him.
Justin
nodded. “Justin, I am quite sure that Katia would never laugh at you. Okay?”
Hesitantly,
Justin spoke. “Sorry for ignoring you, Katia,” he apologised.
“That’s
okay, Justin. Your brother explained to me why you didn’t speak.”
Justin
laughed. “I can always count on my brother, can’t I? Even if he is ten minutes
older than me!”
I
was confused. “Yeah, I’m the youngest,” Justin explained. “It’s cool, because
Joshua and Damian have to share a room. I just wish I wasn’t deaf, that’s all.”
Joshua
was connecting the PlayStation up. “Justin, grab our games from your room,” he
asked his brother.
Justin
went and got their games from his room. “What games do you have?” I asked.
“We’ve
got Moto Racer, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot,
TOCA Touring Cars and Exhumed. I’m halfway through Exhumed, and Justin’s almost finished Tomb Raider,” Joshua answered.
Joshua
started his game of Exhumed. “So
who’s your best friend?” I asked Justin.
“His
name’s Taylor. We’ve known each other since Joshua, Damian, our mother and I
went over to America for a teacher exchange program. We lived next door to his
family, and we were really good friends for a few years. Damian’s friends with
his older brother, Isaac, and Joshua’s friends with his little brother, Zac.”
“How
old is he?”
“Exactly
my age.”
Joshua
swore then. “Damn! I just got nuked by one of those fireball-throwing things!”
“Language,
Joshua,” his mother warned from the kitchen.
“Sorry!”
Justin stood. “I’ll show you a photo of Taylor,” he told me,
pulling a photo album out from a cardboard box that stood on the coffee table.
He opened the photo album up to a particular page. “That’s Taylor.”
“He
looks like you.”
Justin
rolled his eyes. “Everyone says that. I know he looks like me, you know.
It is the truth, though.” He shook his head. “All the girls where we were
living when Mum was doing that exchange thing were crazy about his band. I
wonder if they still are.”
“You
never know. They still might be.”
Justin
put the album away. “Maybe. That’s a very real possibility.”
“Your turn, Justin,” Joshua said,
handing the controller to
his brother.
“Thanks,”
he answered, taking the controller and loading his game of Tomb Raider.
I
checked my watch. “I gotta go, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”
- x -
My cousin, Siobhan Hancock, called me from America the next day.
“Hi, Siobhan,” I answered, settling on the couch with a book.
“Hi,
Katia. What’s new?”
“Not
much. You?”
Siobhan
laughed. “I’m checkin’ out the guy across the road. Taylor, I think his name
is. He’s cute, you know.”
I
rolled my eyes. “You told me that you think he’s hot already. He’s fourteen,
isn’t he?”
“Almost.
He’s thirteen, fourteen on March 14th. Then again, we know that
already. Remember how we used to call him on his birthday every single year from 1992 onwards? That was heaps of fun.”
“I
know. You still do it, don’t you?”
“Yeah.
I’m looking forward to doing it this year. After that, I have to make sure
they’re home when I do it. Otherwise I get the answering machine.”
I
shook my head. Siobhan was crazy! She was cool, though. “So who are you dating
now? I bet it’s Damian Reynolds.”
“Nah.
I never liked him. My friend Liann likes him, though.”
“She
would, wouldn’t she?”
Siobhan
laughed. “Listen, I gotta go. I’ll call you again soon, okay?”
“Yeah,
sure.”
I hung up
and returned to my book.
