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Mibba

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Strength of the World

Painting

CRASH!
My head whipped around at the noise, though it didn’t come from upstairs. I quickly jumped off my ladder, careful not to spill paint, and ran out of the room and down the stairs, trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever mess my brother could have made this time. I went into the kitchen and burst out laughing at the site before me.
Jimmy, my brother, was on the floor under a pile of Tupperware. The cupboard the plastic containers resided in was open, along with our dishwasher. This is why Jimmy doesn’t do chores.
“What did you do?” I finally managed to ask when my laughing fit subsided. Jimmy looked up at me from the floor and pouted, which made me start laughing again seeing as he is lanky and easily over 6 foot, and already sporting a few tattoos. The site of him pouting and giving me puppy eyes behind his glasses was just too funny.
Jimmy started pushing Tupperware off him. “I was putting the dishes away and I opened the cupboard and they all fell on me!” He said, pouting again and running a hand through his wild blond hair. I was about to reply, but our front door opened and we heard familiar voices shouting curses.
“Where you fuckers at?!” someone, Matt I think, shouted.
I smiled, and Jimmy ran by me, not wanting to clean up the mess he made, as usual. I stacked the Tupperware back in the cupboard and put the rest of the dishes away. At least this time it wasn’t a glass. I thought to myself, shaking my head and chuckling.
I walked out of the kitchen and back upstairs, knowing Jimmy had led everyone to my room to help me paint. My parents had finally agreed to let me redo my room, which meant covering the light pink and white that had covered the walls since it was my nursery and brand new furniture.
My walls were now half painted in a mid-toned purple and when we were finished it would include black and silver paint splatters, which is part of the reason Jimmy and our friends were helping me. They were so destructive; they couldn’t resist a chance to throw paint around without being yelled at.
I walked back into my room, the plastic crinkling under my feet, and almost instantly regretted it. “AVRIL!” I heard five voices shout as a pile of five bodies jumped on top of me and suddenly I was on my back, groaning in pain. Everyone was cackling and yelling, while meanwhile I was being squished by four large to small guys and a girl who was much taller than me.
Emily, the girl, was the first to get up, followed by Zacky and Johnny. Matt and Brian stood up next, and then grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet. I glared at them all, rubbing the back of my head since I hit it on the floor when they tackled me. They all smiled at me sheepishly.
“It was all Emily’s idea!” Matt said, pointing at Emily, who glared at him.
“No it wasn’t! It was Brian’s idea!” she said back defensively. Brian, who had walked off and started talking to Jimmy, looked over at the mention of his name and smirked at me. I walked over at him and pinched his arm with my purple-painted nails, and he jerked his arm away, cursing at me. My nails were fairly sharp, and I noticed I broke skin, though it didn’t bleed, which was disappointing.
Brian and Jimmy were best friends, even though the first time they met they got in a fight in class. Apparently fighting is the new way to meet people, because they ended up spending the day together and became best friends. I liked to call it love at first day, seeing as they were fighting at first sight.
I walked over and hugged Zacky and Johnny, the only ones who seemed innocent in this matter. Despite Johnny only standing at 5’4”, he easily towered over my 5’0” height. Zacky and Emily were about the same height, give or take a half inch, at about 5’6”, Brian was about 5’8” or 5’9”, and Matt was about 5’10” to 5’11”. I felt really short right now.
“What’s up, shorty?” Zacky said, ruffling my long black hair. I play glared at him and swatted his hand away, smoothing my hair back down.
“I’m not that short!” I said, standing up straighter to give myself more height.
“I beg to differ,” Johnny said with a shit eating grin, “you’re tiny.” He put his arm on top of my head and leaned on it, almost knocking me over in the process.
“You both suck,” I said, pushing Johnny’s arm away and pouting. I looked at Zacky as he snickered at me and said, “You’re not my best friend anymore. I need a new best friend. Matt?” I looked at him hopefully. He smiled; showing off his dimples, and shook his head. I pouted. “Brian? No wait, you suck too, never mind,” I said, putting my hand to my chin and thinking.
Brian put a hand to his heart and gasped dramatically, acting like I hurt him. “Well fine, I wasn’t gonna be your best friend anyway!” he said, huffing and going back to his conversation with Matt.
“I’ll be your best friend!” Jimmy said, pouncing on me and nuzzling my face.
“Jimmy! You can’t be my best friend, your my brother!” I fake gasped dramatically.
“Ah! Your right! I guess you’re stuck with Zacky then,” he said in a forlorn voice, but his mock sadness was ruined when he started laughing at me.
“Fine. Zacky, you’re herby reinstated as my best friend,” I said to Zacky, still pouting. He clapped his hands together and hugged Emily in excitement, and I ginned at her knowingly as she blushed like a tomato and hugged him back.
“Alright fuckers! No more standing around, time to start working!” I said as Zacky let Emily go. I walked over to a bin on the unpainted side of the room that held paint brushes, rollers, and trays of various sizes and dumped out the contents in the middle of the room. They reluctantly picked up their tools of choice and filled trays with the purple paint bucket on the floor.
Satisfied, I walked back to my ladder and grabbed my brush, dipping it in paint and continuing where I left off.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After two hours of painting, head banging to the heavy metal that screamed from my stereo, and trying to avoid getting paint dumped over our heads, the room was completely covered in purple. As soon as they realized they were finished, the guys rushed downstairs to raid the liquor cabinet while we waited for the paint to dry.
Emily and I followed them downstairs, knowing they’d be hungry but, other than the booze, they were all completely helpless in the kitchen, whereas Emily and I have grown up helping our mothers cook. Our parents were from family’s where the women did house work and the men brought home the money, although Emily and I both had jobs. It’s just what we were raised on.
We set about preparing lunch, which the guys probably could have done themselves since it was just grilled cheese sandwiches and potato chips, and the guys fled to the living room with their stolen booze.
“Hey Av,” Emily said as she pulled the bread and cheese slices from the fridge.
“Hmmm?” I grabbed the pan from the cupboard and looked up at her, smiling. Emily peaked into the living room really quick and looked back at me with a sly smirk.
“Brian was ogling your ass when you were up on that ladder,” she said, looking at me mischievously. I rolled my eyes and set the pan on the stove, turning the burner on low and putting a pad of butter in to melt.
“Please. He’s nothing but a womanizer. It’ll never happen Hun. You and Zacky on the other hand, that has potential,” I replied, waving the spatula I’d just picked up at her on the last part. She rolled her eyes in return, but I couldn’t miss the hopeful glint in her eyes. After all, we’d been friends for seven years, since 6th grade.
“What has potential?” I turned as Johnny walked into the room, puzzled, and smirked. Emily gave me a look that said she’d kill me, but I ignored it, knowing she would never do it on her own.
“Emily and Zacky ending up together by the end of the summer,” I said quickly, dodging the slice of bread that Emily threw at me. Mine and Jimmy’s Husky, Coconut, immediately rushed over and gobbled up the bread before we could stop him. Johnny just smiled and grabbed another beer before sitting down at the table.
“I can see that,” he said thoughtfully, popping open his beer. I put the first sandwich on the pan and it began to cook as Emily pulled out plates. She gave Johnny her most desperate, pleading look as she handed me the plates.
“Johnny, please don’t tell Zacky!” she said quietly as I flipped the sandwich. Seeing as the damage was done, I stayed out of the rest of their conversation, deciding to concentrate on cooking instead. Johnny tapped his chin, pretending to think while Emily looked at him nervously.
“I don’t know…” he said, smirking, “what will you give me for me to keep my mouth shut?” he looked at her, his smirk growing wider. I’m pretty sure Emily and I are the only ones he’s this comfortable around, but that’s probably because we’re all the same age and all the other guys tease him about everything.
Emily thought for a moment, and then seemed to get an idea because she ran out of the room. She returned a moment later carrying her wallet. She pulled out a 20 dollar bill and tried to hand it to Johnny. He simply smirked and shook his head.
“Sorry Emily, but this is very high priced information. Give me 50,” he said, smirking mischievously at her. She rolled her eyes and pulled out a second 20 and a 10 before she handed it to him.
“If I find out you told him, I swear…” she muttered, glaring at Johnny before going back to help me cook. He just laughed and took a gulp of beer. As I cooked, Emily put the finished sandwiches on plates and pulled out two bags of chips, one regular and one barbeque. She opened the bags and poured them in bowls, and then she brought the bowls out to the living room before she came back and grabbed two plates. Johnny grabbed two more and I picked up two before walking into the living room.
I handed Brian and Matt their plates and went back into the kitchen to get my plate, and then sat down on the floor in front of Jimmy. They were watching a baseball game, something I could really care less about, so instead I occupied myself with looking around at my friends while I ate. The guys had recently formed a band and were in the process of recording their first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. They called themselves Avenged Sevenfold, a name Matt had come up with from some bible story.
Technically, Brian wasn’t a part of the band, but Jimmy was working hard on convincing him to join. It was only a matter of time before he did, seeing as it was a well-known fact that he loved women, and women loved a rock star. The only thing holding him back was the fact that he was leaving for college, though none of us thought that would last, even though he would be studying music.
The guys all had stage names. My brother was The Reverend Tholomew Plague, but everyone called him The Rev because it was just too long. Matt was M. Shadows, Zacky was Zacky Vengeance, and Johnny was Johnny Christ. Brian was Synyster Gates, even if he wasn’t in the band. Everyone but Johnny had made up their name, Zacky thought of his. Apparently it suited him. I just didn’t see it.
“Avril, is your room dry yet?” Jimmy whined from behind me. The baseball game had ended a few minutes ago and the guys were already getting bored. I sighed and got up to go to my room. The walls didn’t seem as shiny as when they were wet, so I decided now was as good a time as any to let all hell break loose.
Everyone had followed me upstairs except Emily, so I opened the cans of black and silver paint and stirred them. When I finished I stood up and noticed they looked like they were about to rush forward and start attacking each other for paint, and Jimmy was jumping up and down and drumming random beats into the wall with his fingers, so I put my hands up to tell them to stay where they are.
“At least attempt to get more paint on the walls than each other. I want it to look like it’s supposed to be there, not like someone spilled crap everywhere,” I said, trying to stress it as much as I could. I moved out of the way and fled the room before they could get to the paint, shutting my door behind me. It was a good thing the large window that took up half the back wall and the doors had plastic on them in addition to the rug, otherwise my room would be a black and silver mess.
Emily chuckled when I walked back into the room and we settled down to watch various bands preform on MTV. It was amazing we could hear them at all with all the screams and yells from my room. At some point my mom came home from work, glanced at the ceiling where the noises came from, and sighed before walking into the kitchen to make dinner.
My mom was extremely chill, but I guess when you’re raising a guy like Jimmy you have to be. Our dad left us soon after I was born. Jimmy was barely two and already a little monster. It’s not like he hated us or vice versa, he just never wanted to have a family. He was the kind of man who wanted to get married and have that be the end of it, but my mom couldn’t even consider not having kids.
Despite that, my mom accepted his decision. It wasn’t some evil ploy of hers to have children, it just happened. When I was born, my dad decided he couldn’t handle 1 of us, let alone 2. They got a divorce, but they’re still pretty good friends. My dad didn’t even fight for custody; he just comes to visit when he’s in town. It’s not like Jimmy and I are bothered by it. Our mom is just plain awesome, and my dad does send her checks to help her out monthly.
There was something I had noticed recently though. While my mother and Jimmy had blue eyes, and my dads were brown, my eyes were bright green, like Zacky’s. I hadn’t really acknowledged it until I realized I’m the only one in my entire family with green eyes. I never understood it. I look like both my parents, so it’s not like my mom cheated on my dad, but still my eyes were green. It just seemed so… random.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Jimmy called me upstairs. I walked up cautiously, you never know when those guys were gonna prank you, and gasped when I saw my room. It looked absolutely fantastic. I smiled and thanked the guys, and I would have hugged them if they weren’t covered in paint. They all grinned in return and I went downstairs to help my mom finish dinner. Cooking for seven isn’t exactly easy.

Notes

Feel free to point out grammer and spelling mistakes if you find them, I don't bite... Hard ;)
The thing with her wondering why she doesn't really look like her family doesn't actually matter, she's just a bit paranoid... Just saying XD
Avrils outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/sotw_avril_painting/set?id=53618923
Emily's outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/sotw_emily_painting/set?id=53619188#stream_box

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Comments

I love this, like a lot. I want more. I DEMAND IT!!!!
Kassipoola Kassipoola
7/29/13