Everything She Had, Chalen D. [reading list .txt] 📗

“well don’t you look nice.” my mom said, as i came down stairs.
“i look the same.” i said, looking down at my jeans keds t-shirt and hoddie.
“hmm. must be your hair.” she said.
“can i go now?” i asked nervouly pulling on my side braid.
“sure.” she said.
“aunt jojo.” i said, coming inside.
“oh sweety!” she said, hugging me.
“i’m so so so sorry.”
“no it’s okay.”
she and my mom went to the table and drank coffee while i sat at the table, working on my music. i paused my music, and heard them talking about me. “i’m just so worried about her jojo, she doesn’t want to eat, she hardly ever talks, she even shut out all of her friends.”
“jess, give her some time, it just happened a week ago. kyllie’s a strong girl, she’ll get her things together. how about i take her back, with me for the summer, give her a little chance to breathe.”
“i guess that would be okay.”
“kyllie?” my mom called.
“kyllie?” they said.
i looked up and took my head phones out.
“how would you like to stay with me at my beach house for the summer?” jojo asked.
“sure.” i said.
they stood. we walked her to the door.
“i’ll be back in the morning to get you.” she said.
we hugged and she was gone.
“you don’t have to go.”
“no it’s fine. i have to pack.”
“kyllie?”
i gripped the banistar untill my knuckles where white.
“i’m fine.”
“you keep saying that though.”
“because it’s the truth.” i said, still looking at the stairs. “ just let it go.” i said, climbing up the stairs.
i packed my things, and crawled into bed.
“ready kiddo?” jojo asked.
“yeah.” i said, trying to smile.
she picked up my bag, and my mom grabbed the other. i put on my back pack grabbed my key board, and stand then followed them.
“well i’ll let you two say goodbye.” jojo said, shuting the trunk.
“i’ll call you.” i said. she nodded.
“i’m fine.”
“i know."
we hugged.
“see you.”
“yeah.” she said.
we pulled away.
“she smothers to much.” i said.
“oh darlin’ thats what mothers do.” jojo said, rubbing my arm.
“you hungry?”
“starving.”
“just like your daddy.”
i looked out the window. we pulled into a fast food place that i have never heard of and got some food. she got an ommlett and i got chicken tenders.
“so how you feeling?”
“fine.”
“fine isn’t a feeling, kyllie.”
“look, i can’t explain why i’m acting this way.”
“maybe you just can’t believe it happened.”
i dipped a tender into ranch. “well it did, so.”
“alright. i can take a hint.” she said, taking a drink of her shake. i took a drink of mine. scilence fell, and i started to twich.
“you’re going to love the beach house.”
“i hope so.”
“it’s perfect.”
we through our things away, and got back into the car. “you mind?” i asked, holding up my ipod. “no go for it.” she said, reaching for the radio. i played perfect by lights. jojo woke me up softly. she was right i love the beach house. i grabbed my back pack and my key board. jojo grabbed my bags and we went to the door. “you have a cat?” i asked. “yeah, she’s a sweety.” she said.
“oh.”
“you don’t like cats do you?”
“they’re kinda vile creatures.”
“you’ll learn to love gigi.”
i laughed.
“what?”
“nothing. jojo gigi.”
“alright, laugh it up. she came with that name.”
i laughed again.
“it’s good to hear you laugh.”
“um. where’s my room?”
“oh. up the stairs, and the first door on the right, it was your daddy's room.”
i brang my things to my room. “looking for this?” she asked, holding my key board stand and amp. “thanks.”
“i didn’t know you where into music.” “yeah." i said, turning to the stairs. "your dad was into music to."
i exhaled. "yeah. i know." i said, jogging up the stairs as best as i could. i set up the key board. jojo pushed open the door.
"found this in the basement the other day." she said, setting down the black leather key board seat. "it was your fathers."
"thanks." i said, really meaning it. i ran my hand over the seat.
"you'll have to play for me some time."
"ha ha, not a chance."
"you'll get better at playing your music. i mean more confident in front of a crowd."
i nodded.
"i new thats what you ment."
she noddded, and left to the hall. she came back with a box, which she plopped into my arms.
"thats, also his. he didn't like people hearing him either." she kissed my forehead.
"jojo." i said, as she turned. "thanks." i said, when she turned back. she nodded and went down stairs. i put the box on my bed. i read my dad's wrighting.
1979, robby's music stuff. P.S stay out jojo. thanx.
i ripped off the tape and dug in. "sorry daddy." i said. i pulled out a key board cover, a mic and stand that attached to the key board, lime green and black head phones, a cam corder, and his book of music. i set everything up. i sat down at the leather chair and pulled on the head phones. i took a deep breath and played the first song he wrote. i started to hum, and smiled. the song he wrote fit perfectly with the one song that i didn't write music for.
"sometimes i may stumble in life but i'm doin' just fine. don't worry 'bout me i need to do this on my own. if you don't mind, i'd like to try what's right for me." i sang. i smiled. i went back to the first time i watched him play.
"i know your there, kyllie." he laughed. i crawlled onto his lap.
"daddy, do you think maybe i can play as good as you some day?"
"some day?" he asked, setting me on the seat next to him. "how about we start now?"
"but i'm only five, daddy."
"you can do anything if you put your mind to it. now follow my lead."
i smiled and then pushed away from
the key board. i walked to the window and watched the waves pound the shore. i started to hum again. i nodded my head.
"watchin' the waves with out you by my side, feels all wrong i wanna run and hide, will your forgive me for caring on with my life with out ya' by my side?" i sang.
i unzipped my bag and grabbed my song book. i wrote this down and then grabbed my dad's music book and flipped through it untill i found the music i wanted.
"dinner!" my aunt called.
i shut my book and went down stairs.
"thanks for that box jojo, it really improved my sound."
she smiled brightly.
"glad i could help. i knew how important your dad's music was to him, so i could only imagine how much more important it is to you now that. we're having bqq ribbs, for dinner, why don't you have a seat?"
i sat down.
"if you wanna talk about my dad it's fine. i mean he was your brother. i'm not the only one that lost him."
"sometimes you remind you exactly of your daddy."
"so strong." she added.
i smiled.
"it's like my music is the most important thing to me now, and when i'm doing it, i just feel so happy, like it's the high light of my life."
i speared a fry with my fork. "it is." i said.
" you eat frys like your dad." she pointed out.
"yeah i know. i told him that i wanted to be just like him, so he would do wierd things just to see if i would follow." i said, with a laugh. "some of it just stuck." i forked another fry.
"i bet you miss him."
"oh more than anything, he got me. he new i was me, and not someone else. we comuinacated through music. i can't do that any more."
"well maybe you can conect with fans."
"no way jojo."
"you never know."
"i want to change lives with my music."
"so.."
"so, i have to be perfect." i put my fork down and sat back in my chair.
"you know, what if they get the worng idea about my music, i don't want to be labbled. i'm a little bit of everything i guess." i said, picking up my fork.
"if it's something you love then why care about what people say?"
"true. but music is my life and when people hear it, and it doesn't mean something to people i know that i'm not making a difference so why bother."
she smiled.
"what?"
"your father said, thoughs exact words, at this exact table, at your exact age to me."
"he did?"
"yep."
"must of been hard."
she cocked her head.
"raising him. i mean."
"not really he was so into his music that i never saw him. he