Chapter 1. Radio
The distant sound of an alarm ringing woke Danny from his fitful slumber. It was a long night for both him and his roommate. “Tae.” Danny called out into the morning darkness. “Tae!” This time it was a hiss. “Mmm.” He heard Tae mumbled from across the room. “Who’s alarm is that? This is my first time hearing that.”
“Mmonknow” Tae grunted and flipped over to face the wall. Danny flopped back into his fairly large bed. “Great...”
Danny let out a sigh before climbing out of bed. He decided against sliding into his slippers and crept out into the hall barefoot. The tile floor was cold against his feet, it was still early. The humming of the power ran through the walls creating an eerie horror movie vibe. If Danny believed in any of that, he probably would’ve been scared right about now.
Danny followed the sound of the alarm until it was unbearably loud in his ears. He stopped outside his older brother’s room and even though the alarm was loud enough to resemble a fire truck, he put an ear to the door and listened. “Never make it...what do y- no. Why would I do that?” The alarm was too loud, Danny could barely make out what was being said but even then he could tell that something was wrong. ‘Who is he talking to?’ Danny asked himself. Danny was confused. His older brother Andrew worked apart of a travel agency that helped guests book hotels and tour foreign countries. It was really a smuck job but their parents really approved of it. They even bought him a car, fully paid off. Danny put his ear to the wood again, but this time the alarm cut off and Danny was listening to utter silence. ‘Can they hear me breathing?’ He wondered.
Spooked, Danny crept back up the hall towards his room shutting the door lightly behind him. “What happened to you? Look like you jus seen a ghost.” Tae was sitting up on the edge of his bed. His usually neat dreads were sticking up in all directions and his loose hand me down V neck hung loosely off his shoulders. “You really need to trash that shirt dude. It’s practically a dress now.” Danny said crossing the room and plopping down onto his bed. “For real? I think it’s straight. It prolly has a few good months left in em...” “A few months? That shirt died a few months ago when you got it.” They both chuckled. For Danny it felt good to have Tae around even though they weren’t blood related he still felt like family. “So what’s the moves today?” Danny asked. Tae shrugged nonchalantly. “I figured you’d still be sleep round now so I didn’t really make any plans. Although I was talking to Kayla all night.” “Kayla M?” Danny asked. “Yessir, Kayla M.” Tae stood up and walked over to their joint closet. “You know, you should try to talk to her sister...” “Who? Chyenne?”
“Hell ya. They’re almost twins dude. They’re both fine as hell anyways Kaylas jus a lil thicker that’s all.” “Yea you right. I dunno. I was thinking about that girl Dalilah from the library this summer.” “Oh yeah? What about her?”
Tae pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and a plain white T shirt, sniffed them and tossed them onto his bed. “I mean she’s not bad. Shes pretty, and her parents are on the school board committee which means the yearbook shit is in the bag.” Tae stopped like he was thinking about it. “True, true.”
For a few minutes it was silent. Danny made up his bed while Tae got ready for his traditional hour long morning shower. “Alright. Go for it.” Tae finally broke the silence. “Dalilah. Go for it.” “For real? You think so?” “I mean it couldn’t hurt having someone like that on our side right? I mean fuck it. Worse case scenario you dump her and get with Chy.” “Yea well you say that like it’s nothing.” “Isn’t it tho?” Danny didn’t respond. Tae was the heart breaker that’s jus what he did. Girls fell for him, he used them up dry and then moved on. It’s been that way since middle school and almost every girl at Margaret Key High School knew about it so if they got with him that was their choice. On the other hand, Danny has dealt his fair share of heartbreak out but he was nowhere near as notorious for it as his partner in crime.
An hour and a half later, Tae and Danny were out the door and on their way to school. “What do you think Andrew is up to today?” Tae asked. Danny shrugged. “Hard to tell. I don’t know his schedule anymore.”
As the boys approached the bus stop something seemed to change. The air felt thinner, nippier. Danny looked at Tae who seemed to notice the change too. “You feel that?” Tae looked around. It was half past 6 in the morning on a late October Thursday so the streets were relatively vacated. Tae could almost hear his own heart hammering at his chest. It’s not that he was scared he was just very alert. Cautious. When they reached the bus stop, any strange feelings or hunches seemed to have vanished. The sounds of groggy mumbling, giggling and the occasional phone chime canvased the area filling Tae with a sort of suspended relief.
“Yo Tae, Danny!” A voice came from the car behind them.
Before they could completely turn there was an arm around both their necks and the smell of expensive cologne was fight their noses. “Damn Drew you smell like a beauty pageant!” Danny said pushing his older brother off of him. “Do I really?” Andrew leaned down and smelled his shirt. “What do you want bro?” Danny asked. “Damn so I can’t say wassup to my lil brother? Is that such a crime?”
Danny shook his head and kept walking forcing both Andrew and Tae to follow to keep up with him. “You guys are actually going to school today?” Andrew asked after a few silent seconds. “Yeah?...Why wouldn’t we?” Tae responded. “Um, because...you guys never go to school. Duh.” Danny stopped and spun around to face his brother. “So not true. I go to school all the time have you seen my attendance sheet?” “Actually no I haven’t. Do I even wanna see it?”
Danny had to think for a second. Eventually he just shrugged and kept walking. “That’s up to you. I’m going to school today.” Tae laughed and followed behind his roommate. “Yeah we’ll see.” Andrew said. “Come to my room when you get home then, I got a surprise for you!” “Yeah yeah” Danny waved his arm shooing Andrew away. “I’m foreal. Both of you. As soon as you touch base.”
