The Family Road

"You have your coffee black with one sugar too?" Emma managed as the last dregs of her lust-filled morning sank away.

"Yeah, weird. Favourite flavour of ice cream?"

"Rum and raisin?"

"Damn!"

"No way, you too?"

If Ryan was nervous about returning to school he didn't show it, laughing along with her as each interest they shared piled up. The cavalier bravado was resplendent in its continuity, nothing ever seemed to annoy or worry him. Problems as large as what he wanted to do with his life were treated in the same cool manner as which brand of cereal he wanted for breakfast. It was oddly reassuring to Emma, who found her naturally nervous disposition permenantly relaxed around him.

He looked amazing in the school uniform, the white dress shirt and checkered mint vest gave him a smart and rich look with his slowly returning hair. Keeping his face clean-shaven gave him the air of a preppy student that only Emma knew betrayed his real nature. The silent whispers changed by each moment, I feel like I've known him for years! He's your brother, you're just getting to know him! I bet he'd look good in a suit... or out of it. He's, your, brother!

"Alright, uh, favourite subject?"

"Science."

"Ah, I'm more of an English kind of girl."

"Well we had to differ eventually, we weren't twins."

"No, blue eyes and blonde hair, we're near opposites there. You must take after dad. What was he like anyway?"

Ryan stopped midway through his fifth piece of toast. His eyes seemed to lose some of their shine immediately, though the more she looked, the more she saw they simply sparkled a different way.

"He was... hard. But warm. I, I'm not sure how to describe him. He was tough on me but I knew he loved me, you know? He'd never have let me have my own motorbike or long hair, but every time I was playing in a game he'd be in the crowd. If I was in trouble he'd punish me, harshly every time, but immediately after we'd always go shooting or camping..." Words began to fail him.

"He sounds wonderful. I wish I could have met him."

"I wish he could have met you. You think he was proud of me? A valedictorian in the family, he'd have never stopped talking about you!" Ryan's smile returned immediately.

Emma's hand found its own way onto his and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "You've got to tell me about him properly some time. When you want to of course. Probably not on the first day of school for you."

"Ha, yeah, I don't want to be balling my eyes out at roll call."

The drive was short, but still they chatted like old friends who could have kept going for days.

Belgrave academy seemed stunning to Ryan, who watched the pearly white rising towers which constituted the schools buildings rise like pale fingers to the sky. In fairness, Emma had seen some of the other schools in less fortunate areas and could understand the astonishment, but she would only be lying to herself if she didn't enjoy teasing him about being a country bumpkin.

"Green and cream? Kind of looks like a mint yoghurt."

"Ew, don't say it like that. Though the walls do need a paint, what do you think Huckleberry Finn? The rest of the school is better I promise."

"I'll say, I mean golden gates? Seriously?"

"You should see the football field, it's got a big screen like a real stadium. The baseball pitch too. The gardens are over there, that's the science building-"

The approach of Miss Sanders and another halted them both, "Ah, you must be the new boy, Ryan is it? Welcome to Belgrave academy, I'm sure you'll fit in well here." Miss Sanders had the innate highborn ability to bore accountants to death, every vowel and syllable stretched to a breaking point with the effort she pushed on them to sound like the Queen of England.

The other girl was much more interesting.

Standing at around the same height as Ryan, her coppery hair was tied into a ponytail with a neat fringe by a bright red ribbon, tumbling down in spirals to either side of her as though drawn perfectly in place by an artist, her smile was welcoming but her stare was innately flirtatious, making it hard for her not to be the centre of attention when around boys. On top of this, Ryan immediately noted her skirt was shorter than everyone else's around her, the silky smooth legs seemed to continue forever like a peachy cream stairway to heaven.

"I'm Trish! Miss Sanders has asked me to show you around before classes, or I can come find you at lunch?"

Miss Sanders nodded her approval at the comment and turned to leave. "It's ok, I was showing Ryan around." Emma interjected, with a noticeable growl poorly camouflaged in her voice.

"Oh you were, well that figures." Trish approached Ryan a little closer than friends would, her rich perfume smelt of honey and vanilla mixed with gold and a haughty upbringing, a dash of a criminal mind a mountain of devilish lust. For a moment when their eyes met, Ryan was almost scared of losing his nerve and taking a step back, the aura of self-assured confidence radiated like a force field from her, "Still, come find me at lunch."

"I said I got it."

Trish pouted her lips and looked through Emma without any distinctive emotion on her face, "She always tries to keep the cute ones for herself. See you at lunch Ryan." The non-uniform heels clicked away as the devil herself disappeared into the school.

Emma held back the tidal wave for a moment, but the dam burst regardless, "She sucks, she is such a bitch it's unreal. Don't listen to her at all, she's a snake."

"Woah woah, I didn't say I was gonna. She did call me cute though, what are you gonna say to up the ante?"

"That you're an idiot if you listen to her."

"Alright, chill, Jesus. She upsets you, I get it. What's the beef?"

"The beef, is that she flirts with any boy I speak to, right in front of my eyes just to annoy me. Ugh, she drives me crazy! She thinks just because her mom donates more than everyone else to this place that she can run it like her own personal playground."

"Well the solution is obvious isn't it? You've got to flirt with someone she likes in front of her. Fight fire with fire." Emma immediately looked shy as her cheeks became flushed. "Come on, you're not telling me you're embarrassed to go flirt with a guy right? Just go pick a boy and talk to him. There must be someone you like here?"

Emma still fidgeted nervously. "I guess, I'll have a think."

"That's a start. Now how about that compliment? I'm thinking, genius or virtuoso."

"I love how you don't care how sad it is to be begging for compliments! Very tough biker mentality right there!"

"Oh! Shot down by my own sister. That hurts!"

They laughed as they began their tour, but Emma's mind was firmly away on its own. How about you've got an ass like Michelangelo's David? How about I can't stop imagining what the inside of your mouth tastes like? Damn it Emma, pull yourself together! Fuck, why does my brother have to be the hottest guy at school?

***

Emma patrolled the halls of Belgrave academy as per usual. She had tried to find Ryan, but in the rush of lunch and with all of the craziness of Belgrave already dizzying enough, she wondered if he was lost somewhere. Actually, she hoped he was lost, the errant thought that he had fallen under the witch's spell randomly spiked into her mind, jabbing her below the ribs and riling her stomach into a sickly sea.

Ryan wouldn't do that to me. He's too nice. Still she worried, Trish had a way of always bending others to her will, a kind of social intelligence far beyond others and an egotistical view of others as mere pawns in her game of life.

Turning down the corridor the slightly opened door of Mr Harvey's class caught her eye. What was inside, made them widen like a cat spotting a mouse.

Poorly hidden behind a bookshelf was the unmistakable form of Trish Longley, leaning up and gently tracing the chest of Adam Kopec II with her long manicured scarlett nails. Whilst she whispered to him in a tone too low to hear, he egregiously fondled her ass beneath her skirt, his long slender arms reaching around her like brittle branches, barely able to muster enough strength to pull her onto him.

Adam's hair always bobbed annoyingly when he laughed, the straight and shiny bowl cut of tawny hair stopped in a worse manner though, as Trish pressed her lips against his.

They enjoyed themselves like this for another minute, as Emma watched on with envy, their tongues at various moments surfacing from the other's mouths, only for a breath before disappearing again. Emma was a virgin in this respect as well, not kissing in general, but a hot groping and make-out session? For sure. The thought had just occurred to her that she was getting into it far too much and should leave, when the eyes swept onto her. "Son of a bitch!"

Trish was the first out of the classroom, bounding out of it with the force of a volcanic eruption, the unfortunate door nearly came off its hinges at the power and nearly swept Adam away as he petered out behind her. "What the fuck are you doing? Are you sick in the head? You little tramp, what were you doing watching us?"

"I'm sick? You can't wait till school's over? What are you a nympho?" Emma was angry for sure, but above all intimidated by the much taller and athletic Trish who seemed ready to claw her eyes out in an instant. She had to pick her moments, not say anything too cutting, or cut was what she would be.

"I'll do whatever I want to Adam whenever I want to you little skank! Are you that desperate that you're going creep on people now? Must suck being the loneliest girl at Belgrave."

A pale hand slithered across her chest and with an effort, pulled Trish back. "I'll handle this babe. You're not stupid Emma but let me keep it plain anyway. Fuck off. Don't say anything to anyone and fuck off. Or I'll be having words with my father."

"Are you keeping in the part where you were clawing at her ass?"

"You little tart, get away from me now!" The voice was rich and commanding with none of the ability or respect it so eagerly craved. "I will have you strung up from the rafters in here! So get away-"

"Woah! Emma what the hell is going on?" Ryan marched forward, his body seemed taut and alert in the manner men get when they're planning on doing something stupid. "Who's this asshole?"

"I should be asking you that! I am Adam Kopec II and I will kick your ass if you don't get away from me right now!"

Ryan seemed taken aback, he chuckled without any happiness in his laugh, "You'll do what? What you think I'm a girl too? Do you treat all your girls this way? Trish right? Tell me he doesn't treat you this way? Because I'm not feeling really flattered right now."

Trish neglected to answer apart from a vaguely angry huff.

"My father is the principal of this school. Ha! Thought that would change your face! If you don't leave now I-" Adam was in the middle of his triumphant speech when the slap landed. It resounded in the hallway and carried into the empty classroom with a stinging aftertaste.

"Change your face did you say? How about a little red? You gonna tell your dad who hit you? You try it and I'll be waiting after school. Picking on girls, unreal."

The now thoroughly decorated smarmy face of Adam rose in a reddening fury. Tears streamed down his face as his arms flailed wildly in a series of windmill swings aimed directly at Ryan. Taking a punch or two on the chin and chest, Ryan dipped underneath the strikes and hooked Adam around the waist from behind, dropping his hips beneath Adam's and heaving him effortlessly upwards near the ceiling in a perfect takedown that caught the attention of the old approaching coach.

"Hey! Put him down! I said get off of him!"

The intervening hands were strong, his grip overpowered Ryan's own and wrenched Ryan's wrists from around Adam's waist. In the fury of the moment, Ryan fell forward as Adam weasled away, landing into a tight headlock. "You better calm down right now or I will scoop your butt and put you through this floor. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah!"

"What? Are you calm?"

"I'm calm, I'm calm! let me go!"

Standing before Ryan was a short middle-aged man with deep dark ebony skin, most of which protruded from a potbelly that seemed to be attempting to escape the constricting blue polo shirt around it. The man's hair had just about receded and seemed now in the process of turning grey, though the strength in his body remained steadfast and his general demeanour seemed to suggest an earnest honesty and care rather than a desire to punish.

"Mr Abernathy! I can explain!" Emma tried to interrupt but was promptly shut down.

"Explain nothing girl! I want to hear it from his and Adam's mouths. Nobody else's Where the heck is Adam?" In the midst of the trouble, Adam had managed to slip away and disappear into the labyrinth of corridors and halls.

"Did you see where he went?" Yelled Abernathy at Trish.

"No!"

"Dag-nabit, come on boy, he'll already be at the principal's office."

The two of them began the long walk across the school. Emma and Trish both uncertain of how to proceed shared a few more sneering comments at each other before heading to classes, each assuring the other that this wasn't over.

***

"What were you thinking boy? That's the principal's son!"

"A bitch is a bitch, he was harassing Emma!"

"Hey! Don't you use profanity in front of me, I know you're angry but cussin' ain't the way to express it. Neither is fighting! Tell me what that move was boy."

"A waist lock takedown?"

"That's right. You a wrestler?"

"I was in my old school. I preferred basketball though."

"Bah, you I bet you can't jump nothing, but you got the strength and the technique to be a halfway decent wrestler. God gives us all gifts boy, you got to learn to recognise them. Now before we go in there, what's your name?"

"What the hell is your name boy?" The damning godlike fist pounded the oak desk in front of it, filled with a wrath bubbling into a frothing rage. The sharp greasy features of Principal Kopec turned Ryan's guts, but he remembered what Abernathy had told him outside of the principal's office.

"Ryan R. Gurtz sir,"

"Oh I've heard of you Gurtz, you're the boy I took a chance on, the little hoodlum who took a tour with a bunch of bikers before deciding he should live a worthwhile life once more. Well, you listen to me, Ryan Gurtz, I will not hesitate to toss you out of Belgrave if you cause murder in my school! I'll do it so fast you'll break the laws of physics! I don't want to hear the name Ryan Gurtz again unless its for a commendation! Otherwise, we'll be having a very serious talk with your parents!"

The idiocy of the last comment stung all the more. Who was this old windbag that didn't know Ryan or his life to sit there and scream at him? Ryan had taken a chance coming here and the entirety of his being shook with an effort not to smack the sneering face of Principal Kopec across the room. "I'm sorry about that sir, it won't happen again." Having had a marine colonel for a father had its benefits, Ryan's could handle a talking down to like he had turned to wax in the space of a second.

"See that it doesn't! Mr Abernathy! Show him where detention is as you go, you'll be spending the rest of the week in it. Understand we don't take fighting lightly at Belgrave."

Now was his time, "Sir? May I apologise to Adam if I see him? I would feel awful if I didn't." The earnest tone and hands behind the back cooled Kopec by hundreds of degrees.

"I think that would be appropriate, whether or not Adam accepts is entirely his choice, but make your peace."

"Thank you sir, I shall." About turn, left foot, march! Ryan couldn't help but smile as he left the office, the memory of his dad lending Ryan his military cap and teaching him how to march at the tender age of five seemed like yesterday, a memory Ryan could reach through and touch the stained chipped wooden coffee table, or burst out the back screen door and head for the trees where his tire swing had been.

"You all right Ryan? Don't be upset man, I think it went well." In the midst of memories, Ryan had somehow come to a deep frown, jarring from how undetectable it had been as it slinked in.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little bummed is all."

"You'll be fine. I take detention on Thursday, I'll let you out early if we see Kopec drive off."

"Thanks. Sad we didn't meet on better terms."

"That's all right. Weren't me you were tussling with. Good thing too, I might have broke your damn arm!" Abernathy let out a bellowing laugh, loud enough to concern Ryan with the integrity of the school's walls.

"One more thing. I'm one of the coaches here, mostly football, but only because we don't really have a wrestling team right now. Half the boys in this school would sooner hold a cello bow and a book than a singlet or a football helmet. Not like the old days, let me tell you what. I could use someone like you and you could use somewhere to take out that anger of yours properly."

"I'm not angry, that was a one-time thing."

"Oh yes you are Ryan Gurtz, I see it in your eyes, you got that fire. Listen, even if I'm wrong, would you consider helping me out? I'm tired of seeing us get whipped by Helmsworth every meet, put a smile on my face and crank a few boys necks for me. I don't forget things fast Ryan." The old man's wink seemed younger than Ryan, a shining enthusiasm for something as small as wrestling.

"I'll think about it. Give me till Thursday. Maybe we could get some training in rather than a detention?"

"Only if we see that Bentley go, but I'll hold you to it Ryan R. Gurtz." Abernathy let out a belly laugh accompanied by his giant stomach shaking in another attempt to break free from the blue polo shirt during the fit, even making Ryan smile.

After school and detention, Ryan stepped outside the hall and lit a cigarette, pointing it at the sun as he remembered Paulie D. doing. The gruff biker never seemed to stop smoking and for some odd reason always held the cigarette to the sun as he lit.

Ryan was barely two drags into it when a car horn sounded. "Hey! I'm over here! Put that out or you'll get in trouble again!"

Emma pounded away at the car horn as she yelled, making Ryan snigger to himself as he took the longest drag he could before tossing the cigarette. "Calm down, here I am."

"How did you even get that? You know its illegal to smoke right?"

"It's illegal to buy cigarettes, smoking age changes based on the state."

"It's bad for you."

"So is coffee, sunbathing and steak. What are you gonna do?"

Emma sighed deeply, but dropped the subject. "Smartass... thanks. For what you did today. It was very sweet. I'm not used to having someone stick up for me."

The two shared a gaze before Emma leaned over and hugged Ryan tightly. "You're welcome. Little sis."

"Stop! Don't say it like that! I'm trying to be nice!"

"What? I'm trying to have family here! A week ago I didn't know I had a sister, now she doesn't want me to call her that?"

"You smell like cigarettes now."

"Wow, astute aren't we? You been reading those Sherlock Holmes books?"

"Shut up." The smile would have to be surgically removed from Emma's face.

"Well if I can't smoke... do we have any beer at the house?"

***

The grinning leprechaun on the bottle wished all patrons of Shamley's beer luck, but his mischievous eyes hinted at something more than a wish tonight. Beer is better than cigarettes. Wine is better than cigarettes. Plus Ryan said he'd replace the bottles. Oh fuck I'm drunk.

Emma lay gleefully staring at the ceiling, far up into the clouds. She'd had the same cute smile plastered onto her face since she'd picked him up, her thin glossy lips shining with the dim ceiling lights, without speaking, inviting, daring something to go wrong.