Bonds of Another Kind

Chapter 2

Brandon

He sat through his first period class annoyed with his mother’s decision to, again, have her heart ripped out by another waste of space. He hated Roger from the moment he met the man. Sure, Brandon was protective of his mom, but something about that guy reeked of scumbag. 

He thought he could smell other women’s perfumes on Roger whenever he came home, and could swear he smelled s*x on the guy whenever he came home late. 

Toby could smell it, too, but never wanted their mom to worry or hurt. He was always wanting her to be happy even if someone was pulling s**t like that behind her back. He tried to keep her heart happy by letting her be ignorant of the situation. 

Brandon didn’t even understand the appeal of marrying the guy. She wanted to date him, fine. Move into their house—no, he was never okay with it, but it made her happy. Fine. But marry the dude? Anya was upset, but got over it eventually when Brandon didn’t show up to the wedding. His Uncle Cam tried to beat his ass, but waited until they were alone to pat Brandon on the back and tell him he wished he was strong enough to have done the same. Even Cam hated Roger. It was nice to have someone in his corner, as long as Cam was willing to give it back.

Toby always tried to keep an “open mind” whenever his mom went out with a guy but none of them were ever good enough for her. None of them could measure up to Brandon’s high standards. He respected his mother all too much to let any loser stick around. 

It was hard enough keeping men away from her wherever they went. She certainly didn’t look like someone who should have two teenage sons, so why would anyone assume she had kids at all— especially without a wedding ring? 

He was brought out of his anger and thoughts when the class was interrupted by a new student coming in. The moment she stepped inside, Brandon’s heart stopped. 

She was beautiful. No, she was a goddess. 

She walked in, holding a binder and a highlighter pink backpack slung on her back. She had long, straight brown hair with gold streaks throughout. Her amber eyes looked like his. He had never seen anyone else with eyes like his before. It balanced well against her pale skin. 

She wore distressed, black skinny jeans that hugged her hips exactly right. She wore a white tank top under an unbuttoned red and black checkered flannel. She had black combat boots on and a necklace with a crescent moon resting perfectly in the center of her chest.

She approached Ms. Hansen, the English teacher, with a note. The teacher read it to herself and looked up. “Everyone, this is Zuriah. Please welcome her, she is transferring from out-of-state.” She turned to Zuriah, “there is a seat next to Brandon over there,” she pointed to Brandon, still frozen on the girl, “you can take that one for today.”

Zuriah took the seat next to Brandon, who unwillingly held his mouth open and didn’t realize it until drool dripped onto his hand. Zuriah looked over and noticed the drooling fool, smiled, then giggled. “You know, you might swallow a fly or something if you keep your mouth wide open like that.”

Brandon, not registering what the goddess said at that moment realized he was not just staring, but looked like a complete i***t—and she noticed. He cleared his throat and turned his gaze back to the board. Though he wasn’t looking directly at her, his attention was fully on her scent (whatever perfume it was that she wore was instantly his favorite) and what movements he could catch in his peripheral view. 

When the bell rang, he gathered his things and cleaned up before following Zuriah and the rest of the class out.  He reached out to tap her shoulder, wanting to offer to walk her to her next class, “Hey, umm Zur—“ 

“Brando!” He heard the voice of his best friend, Jackson, catching up with him to walk to their next class together. 

Zuriah had kept walking down the hall, and Brandon missed his chance. He rolled his eyes and turned around to Jackson. “Whoa, dude, what the hell is your problem? You look pissed.” 

“Well, Jackson, let’s just say that the most beautiful girl I have ever seen came into my life and before I could even say something to her, my best friend ruins the moment.”

Jackson scoffed at his friend’s words. “Damn, dude you need more sleep. Besides, you can never get on me about c**k blocking when you never let me stay the night at your house. One night is all I need, and your mom would be screaming my name begging me to put baby in her.”

Before he could even laugh about his own joke, Brandon had him in a chokehold—all thoughts of Zuriah gone. “Say it one more time, and you will be out the rest of the season, possibly losing any type of football scholarship your weak ass would ever get.”

“Oh…..KAY!” Jackson choked out as Brandon released him. 

“Now, regarding my mom, she’s going out with someone else now apparently, so fat chance.” 

“Oh boy, we all know what that means. When do you plan to murder this guy?” Jackson rubbed his neck and rolled his eyes.

“Not until after he proves he’s a piece of s**t, which won’t take very long, anyway. My aunt set it up and she has a habit of finding douchebags for my mom.” 

“I’m sure your mom can pick out a guy for herself just fine. Besides, how are you gonna worry about your mom’s dating when you now have some chick you’re gonna go get for yourself?” 

“I don’t know if she would want to go out anyways, all I did when she walked in was drool all over myself and she laughed at me.” 

“Aw man, you’re done. Give up on it then. Probably thinks you’re stupid or have some sort of personality disorder.” 

“Man, shut up.” 

They walked into their history class and took their usual seats. Then she walked in. His goddess. She turned and locked her eyes with Brandon’s, smiled, and took the empty seat beside him. 

“Hi. Brandon, right?” It felt like a year before he was able to remember his name. 

“Uh-yeah-Brand-that’s my name.” 

“Brand?” 

“Brandon, but yeah-you can call me whatever you want.” She giggled and moved her brown hair behind her ear, getting settled in her seat. 

“Brandon, do you have an extra pencil?” 

“Uh yeah, here.” He handed her the one he had in his hand while he took Jackson’s pencil from his desk while Jackson was busy trying flirt with Jessica, one of the cheerleaders he regularly spent time with after games and at parties. 

“So, you’re a junior?” he asked her, trying to make any type of conversation. 

“Yeah.” She checked her phone for a minute and put it away.

“Where are you from?” She paused, held a deep look in her eyes. 

“Oh I didn’t mean to pry, you don’t have to tell me.” Maybe that was too forward? He wasn’t sure. He rarely made meaningful conversation with girls before.

She looked back at him, “oh no, it’s fine. I’m transferring from Idaho.” Her eyes darted to the side and then back at him.

“Wow, that’s random. What brings you to California?” 

“Um, my mom, sister, and I relocated. She traveled for work a lot after my dad passed, but now she’s decided she wants to settle back here. She’s originally from here, actually.” 

“Oh,” he said. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.” 

Zuriah smiled and opened her notebook up to get ready for the class. “Thank you, he died when I was little, so I never knew him anyway.”

He never really told people about his past, and frankly, never knew anyone he felt that he needed to share it with. He was found in the trunk of a car with his newborn brother. Obviously whoever his real parents were were shitty. As far as he was concerned, nothing mattered before the day his uncle brought him and Toby to their mom. Someone who took in two kids as young as his mom did—the way she did—that’s exactly why he needed to protect her from assholes like Roger. She was the best person to have existed and no one was worthy of someone so selfless and kind.

Mr. Halloway could never make history interesting, which was unfortunate because it was always Brandon’s favorite subject until this year. He always thought maybe he just wasn’t into the world wars or something but just chalked it up to the fact that Halloway had to be older than the First World War and was therefore incapable of making anything interesting. 

Brandon spent this class occasionally glancing over at Zuriah, watching her take notes, listening to the steady breathing and beating of her heart. He never understood why he had such good hearing, among his other senses, but at this moment he was glad he had this ability. 

He took notice of a light scar on her neck. It looked like two identical lines running down the side of her neck down to her collar bone. Wasn’t long, but something inside of him made Brandon feel a sudden jealousy and overprotectiveness, similar to how he felt about his mom—only different. 

When the bell rang, Zuriah handed Brandon his pencil back. “Oh no, keep it. Something to remember me by,” he winked. Zuriah giggled and put the pencil in her backpack. “Hey, Zuriah?” 

“Yes?” 

“If you want, you could come have lunch with Jackson and me. We usually eat outside the library on the hill overlooking the football field.” 

She smiled, “okay.” 

His heart jumped in his chest. “Oh, and call me Zuri.” She walked out of the class and off into the hallway. Wherever she would be until lunch, he wouldn’t know. He couldn’t wait. 

“Zuri…” he sighed. 

***

Once the lunch bell rang, Brandon bolted for the door practically leaving Jackson to run after him. He made sure to go straight for the hill overlooking the football field in an obvious spot where Zuri would find him. On his way there, he made sure to scan his surroundings in case he saw her on the way there. No such luck. 

He made it to the spot he told her about and waited. Eventually Jackson caught up to him with his lunch. “What the f**k had you in such a rush?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Dude, you didn’t even wait for me to pack up after class and you didn’t even stop to go get food.” Brandon realized he didn’t grab anything to eat at all. Damn, how he wished he was like his brother making his own lunch the night before. 

“Oh, are you waiting for that girl? I heard you invite her to our sacred spot to eat. Thanks for checking with me, by the way.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t even think about it.” 

“All good, bro. She seems cool anyways and not so stuck up.” 

“She’s a goddess,” he mumbled under his breath, searching the crowds of students for Zuri.

After the longest five minutes of his life, she appeared with another girl that looked like a younger version of her, carrying a tray of food from the cafeteria. As this would appear normal, he noticed the amount of food on the tray and wondered how someone as small as Zuri and even the girl walking with her would fit 4 burgers, a salad, two puddings, three apples, and four waters in her body. 

“s**t dude, she eats as much as you do,” Jackson noticed the amount of food she was carrying as well. While it was true Brandon was a tall, athletic, teenage boy, he still managed to eat a lot more than his peers. He always figured it was due to his extreme athletic abilities, the fact that he was so much larger than his peers, or whatever genetics he carried from the lowlifes that abandoned him and his brother in a car to slowly die.

As Zuri and the girl walking with her approached, Brandon noticed the girl wearing the same necklace. As similar as they looked, the other girl had grey and blue hues in her eyes, rather than the amber Zuri had. “Hey, this is my sister, Ayanne. I hope you don’t mind if she sits with us, it’s her first day, too, and she doesn’t really know anyone else either.” 

“Of course not! Hi, I’m Brandon. Nice to meet you, Ayanne.” He considered reaching a hand out to shake hers, but thought better of it. Shaking hands would be weird.

Ayanne looked over at Brandon, “Do you have a brother, by chance?” she asked.

“I have a younger brother. Why do you ask?” 

“Is his name Toby?” 

Brows raised, he responded, “yes, do you know him?” 

“Not personally, no. Will he be eating lunch with you as well?” Okay, this girl was forward.

“He usually eats in the library while he works on his homework. He is in some advanced placement classes and is taking a couple of night classes at the college so he tries to get to that after school. If you want I could call him and see if he wanted to come sit out here, although I can’t promise you anything.” 

Ayanne seemed to ponder his suggestion for a moment. She looked up at Brandon and smiled, “that’s okay, I think I need to head to the library anyways. I have a lot of catching up to do here.” She turned to her sister, “I’ll just take one of the burgers and do you mind if I take the salad as well?” 

“No, it’s fine. I’ll see you later then. Text me if you need anything.” Ayanne grabbed her food and walked into the library. 

Brandon watched her walk off, curious as to why some new girl would want anything to do with his brother. Sure, he was a nice guy and all, but Toby spends his life in books when he’s not working out and barely talks to girls. What he could tell about this Ayanne is that she is definitely not shy and takes initiative. 

“So how old is your brother?” 

Brandon brought his attention back to the goddess he so desperately wanted to spend his lunch with. “He turns 15 next Friday.” 

“Oh, when is your birthday?” Brandon, surprised at how forward this girl was, didn’t want to explain the complexities of figuring out his birthday. 

“Why? You wanna get me a present already?” 

Zuri giggled as she bit into her apple. “Just curious.” 

Brandon, suddenly feeling the overwhelming need to tell her everything about his life, “well, technically my birthday is the week after Toby’s.” 

“Technically?” she asked with a confused look on her face. 

“Well, they don’t know my actual birthday, so they set one when I was about a year old.” 

“What do you mean they don’t know your actual birthday? Your parents don’t know?” Brandon looked down to the field, watching some other guys walking down the field tossing a football back and forth. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry. If it’s too personal, please don’t answer.” 

“No, no. It’s-it’s fine.” He sighed. He kept his gaze on the guys tossing the ball back and forth. “My brother and I were found abandoned as babies, he was about two days old and I was about a year old. They never found our birth parents. He and I are adopted.” 

Zuri paused for a moment, processing everything she just learned. “So, you don’t really know anything about your heritage or ancestry at all?” She looked over to Brandon, still looking at the field. “Not really, but we don’t really care about it. I love my mom with everything I have and she has been there for my brother and me since day one. I have no reason to look into my heritage. It doesn’t really define me or make me who I am. If the people that left me had any family that cared, they would have come looking for me.”

Zuri, not wanting to dive further into the conversation anymore noticed Brandon didn’t have anything to eat. “Hey!” She said a little too excitedly. He looked over at her. “You don’t have anything to eat. Want one of these burgers?” 

“Sure, thanks.” He gladly accepted a burger to feed his empty stomach. Normally he would eat two burgers, a couple of apples or oranges, some jerky, and whatever else he could get his hands on. Today, he would hold back so she didn’t think he was a psycho.

The sound of a throat clearing to the other side of Brandon reminded him Jackson was still sitting beside him. “So I think I’m gonna go meet up with Jessica, she’s uh..behind the gym,” he wiggled his eyebrows to Brandon with a look Brandon had come to know all too well. 

“Yeah, see you later.” 

Jackson walked off, leaving Brandon and Zuri to finish out lunch. When he looked back at Zuri, she had been texting someone but he didn’t catch who it was or what the message said. It’s not like it was really his business, though he felt as though he should know. 

“So…Zuri. You know a bit more about me than I intended to share. How old are you?” She smiled back at him. “I’ll be 16 next Friday. Yes, same birthday as your brother. My sister will be 15 on Friday as well.” 

Brandon raised his eyebrows, surprised at the coincidence in birthdays. “So not only do you and your sister have the same birthday, but you also have the same birthday as my brother. That’s so weird!” Zuri giggled at this. 

“Well, you never know. They gave you a birthday, but who knows, maybe your birthday is the same day too.” 

“I doubt that but that would be even weirder. Like we were all supposed to meet or something.” 

Zuri looked off into the distance with an unreadable expression on her face. “Yeah, really weird.”

“So do you have plans for your birthdays? I know you’re new and all, but like a party or something?” 

“Umm we have sort of a ritual for my birthday this year that will be happening. Otherwise, nothing in the evening, as of yet.” 

“Well, if you want, my family has a few friends coming over and some family members for my brother’s birthday. You and Ayanne could come if you want. My mom would probably find a way to add your names to the cake, too, if you let me tell her about the whole birthday coincidence.” He smiled looking over at Zuri silently praying that she would say yes.

“Umm…” she paused for a moment, “yeah, I think we can do that. Our mom is going to be busy that night anyways and I wouldn’t mind getting to know you more.” 

“Awesome. Why don’t I give you my number and you can text me. I’ll send you the details.” Zuri handed him her phone and he keyed in his number. He made sure to take a selfie and put it as his contact picture. Zuri snorted at this and commented how cute the picture was.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, and Brandon needed to go to his free period, which was usually spent in the training room with his brother and Jackson. On the way, he made a stop at the vending machine outside of the locker room to fill up on some snacks to help with the feeling of starvation.

As focused as he was on the vending machine while thinking about how gorgeous Zuri was and how excited he was that she would be coming to his house, Brandon failed to hear his brother walking up behind him. 

“Don’t you normally eat food from the cafeteria? Why are you emptying out the vending machine?” 

Brandon jumped when his brother started talking. “I had a change in plans today.”

“Oh, I see.” Toby stared at the food piled in his brother’s pockets and arms. “Are you feeling any better?” 

Brandon looked at Toby confused. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, you were kinda pissed earlier when you got out of the car, and stuff like that usually sticks with you the entire day. You seem….” Toby paused for a moment capturing an unusual look in Brandon’s demeanor. “You seem like you are in a better mood than I have seen you in a long time. Maybe since mom let you drive the truck down the street when you were ten.”

Brandon smiled and said “well, I believe I met the woman of my dreams today and I have a feeling she likes me.” 

Toby laughed at Brandon. “What a coincidence, me too.” 

Brandon stopped and looked at his brother. “What do you mean? Who?” 

“Well, she came into one of my classes today. She’s new. Her name is Ayanne. She just moved here and we met in the library during lunch and just started talking and, I don’t know, something strange happened when we accidentally bumped hands.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, you know how mom always talks about the first time our hands touched her she felt like a spark and a warm sensation in her body telling her that we were meant to be family? It was like that only the sparks never stopped and I still feel this warm sensation. I don’t know how to explain it.” 

“Dude that’s nasty. I don’t wanna hear about some girl making you horny because she touched your hand.” 

Toby shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. I mean, yeah she’s gorgeous, but it was so much more. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Wait, Ayanne? The girl with the eyes like yours?” Toby looked at Brandon confused as they walked into the locker room and started pulling their training clothes out. 

“Yes…how did you know?” 

“Oh, well she came up to me at lunch with her sister Zuri. I was having lunch with Zuri and Ayanne came up asking about you. When I told her you might be in the library she left and headed that way.” 

“Well I am so glad that you told her. I am thinking about inviting her to the party next Friday. Do you think mom would be okay with that?” For someone who never talked to girls, it was weird to hear Toby be so…open about liking someone so quickly.

“Oh, no need. I already invited Zuri and Ayanne. You know it’s their birthday too?” 

Toby’s eyes widened. “So what are the chances of mom adding their names to the festivities?” 

“Well, if we tell her, she will absolutely add them to everything.”

Both boys laughed and finished getting dressed, then headed into the training room to meet Jackson who was on an elliptical next to Jessica. Brandon rolled his eyes at the desperation of his friend to be so close to probably the sluttiest girl he has ever known.