Besides, I didn't want to ask. Even if I was sure that they would agree, I wasn’t going to do it. I was finally getting to havea nice time away from my siblings. Why would I want them to come along?
I scoffed. "Have you lost your mind?"
My brother returned the scoff with a much more aggressive one. "We want to have nice experiences just like you're going to get.”
"I'm not asking his parents to pay for you,” I said sternly. "The fact that they paid for me is a miracle, I can’t ask them to do that again. And it’s going to cost even more for you guys since you aren’t in the student council. I won’t ask that of them.’
Easton didn't like my answer. His jaw was tight and his eyes were narrowed, I expected him to jump at me. When he inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, my brows furrowed in surprise. He didn’t snap at me like I completely expected him to. Where did emotionally aware Easton come from?
My brother climbed down the ladder as he spoke calmly to me. "Elias, listen. I know we've had our ups and downs and that I can sometimes be cruel—"
"Sometimes?"
He sighed, crouching by the side of my bed. I caught a huge whiff of the smell of weed radiating off of his clothes. "Yes, sometimes. But listen, it would be great for all three of us to go on a trip. We’ve been stuck in this stank-ass house since the day dad died. Plus, I’m sure Macy will be overjoyed that we’ll be out of her house for a week. Would you please just ask him?"
I should have told Easton to fuck off right then and there. He and Emerson had been nothing but mean and hateful toward me since basically forever. I couldn't understand what made him think that I would want to do something nice for him.
However, he wasn't wrong. They both probably needed a trip just as much as I did. And regardless of how they treated me, they were still my siblings.
I was contemplating bringing it up to my rival despite it being a long shot.
"I’ll see," I muttered. Easton’s lips curled into a smile, one that I rarely ever got to see.
He punched me in the shoulder playfully. His punch, although playful, was painful. I rubbed my shoulder as he chuckled and climbed back into his bed.
***
It was finally the day of the first round of Thinkfast: Valedictus Duo’s.
I was so hyped that I woke up an hour earlier than I normally would, super energized and humming as I got ready for school. I even had an apple for breakfast. Not only was it a stellar start to the day, but it canceled the liquor I had for dinner last night.
My siblings found my happiness incessantly annoying, but I was in too good of a mood to let them bring me down.
One would think that I would be as nervous for Thinkfast as I was for the day of the election. They would not be wrong because I was nervous for the competition, but I was overjoyed at the chance to redeem myself. I could finally prove that I was capable of succeeding.
I could prove it to myself.
I only had to spend two hours at school before it was time to go to the convention center that the event was being held in. It was ridiculous that I had to show up to school in the first place, but it was per school policy that I had to be present for those couple hours of class or I would not be allowed to participate in the first round of Thinkfast.
I was under the impression that the school would hire a bus driver for Javier and I to get to the competition. I was wrong, they wouldn't pay someone to bring the two of us on the forty-five-minute drive. So, we had to drive ourselves. I didn't have a ride, so Javier gave me one. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice because if I didn’t make it there then he couldn’t participate.
I laid my head against the window and watched as the scenery passed us by. All to be heard was the faint sound of the car driving on the ground beneath us. He didn't put any music on, which I found odd. We weren't speaking, so any normal person would put music in the background.
Not enjoying the silence and remembering I had a question for him, I cleared my throat loudly.
His pupil shot to the corner of his eye to get a glimpse of me. “Are you good?”
I hit my chest with my fist twice. “I have a question.”
“But are you okay?” he persisted.
I skeptically raised a brow before nodding once.
He focused his eyes on the road once again and his shoulders relaxed. “What’s the question?”
"Did your parents pay for me to go on the trip with the student council?" I knew that Mr. Rowe had confirmed that his parents did pay for my trip, but I wanted to hear it from Javier.
"Maybe."
