Page 75 of Poetry of Flowers

“What did you put for question four?”

“Twenty-five,” I answered my best friend, who sat in front of me at my kitchen table. We were trying to do the math homework for tomorrow, but he was constantly asking me what I got instead of trying to solve it himself.

“Shit, I got minus four,” he cursed, making me giggle. That’s definitely not the answer because that was the answer for question three. He was not even listening when I explained anything, or maybe he is just terrible at math, I guess it’s a bit of both.

“No cursing in his house, boy,” my father tells him. He had come in carrying my baby brother. Remy had just turned two, but still liked to get carried everywhere by Mom or Dad.

“Sorry, Jonas, but I despise math. It’s the worst, and I won’t need it when I’m a famous singer. No one is going to ask me to calculate anything in the middle of a concert,” Kayden replied, rolling his eyes and taking a sip of his orange juice.

The glass originally belonged to my cousin Autumn, but she was spending the week with her father in Boston because he was there for work, and she got a free pass for school. Apparently, it was an educational trip for children her age. I doubt that because when I asked what uncle Lukas was working on, she always shrugged her shoulders, not the least bit interested in what her dad did. So, I gave Kayden the orange juice I had saved for Autumn.

“And what if you have to figure out what angle the stage has to be, so it can hold your entire band?” my father asked him, sitting down beside me on one of the yellow chairs Mom bought from our favorite shop in town.

“First of all, I won’t have a band because I’m a solo artist, and I don’t need one. Second, I’m going to have Tillie help me, she’s a genius at math.”

I nodded, “Yeah, Dad, I’ll do the math for Kayden.”

“We’re going to be the best duo of all time. I just know people will admire us because we’re amazing.”

Now I’m giggling even more, Kayden is right, no one can stop us.

“You two just finish your homework, Remy and I will read a nice book, won’t we buddy? And after that, it’s bedtime.”

Dad stands up with my brother on his hip, who is already whining and wiggling. He hates bath time.

“I want to wait for Mommy!” he whined.

“Mommy’s gonna be home soon, and then she will read you a bedtime story,” he told him, but Remy started wailing.

“Are you hungry?” I asked Kayden, jumping off my chair and walking over to the fridge.

“Not if you’re making the food.”

“You don’t like my food?!” I played hurt. I knew my food wasn’t as tasty as Mom’s but someday I’d learn how to cook. I decided to ask Mom to teach me properly when she got home.

“You always use too much mustard on your sandwiches, it’s nasty.”

Kayden hopped off his chair and walked over to me, gently pushing me away from the open fridge, so he could get what he needed.

“I’m going to make us sandwiches, you pick out a movie, tonight we eat delicious things and not…”

“My food?”

“That’s what you said, but yeah.”

Sighing dramatically, I walked over to the living room and sat down before the chest of drawers where our TV was. I hate watching the news, so I looked through our DVD collection. We gotBarbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses, but Kayden doesn’t like this one, he got no taste because he saysBarbie in A Mermaid Taleis the best one so far. It had come out three years ago, but he had been so obsessed back then that we had to watch it on each of our movie days. I loved the movie, but that was too much.

Then we hadCharlie and the Chocolate Factory, it had been a long time since we watched this one, mmh… Charlie it is!

I popped in the DVD and paused the movie before I let myself fall onto the couch, waiting for my best friend to come back with his incredible sandwiches.

“I put mozzarella on yours because I know you hate cheddar, but you got to tell your parents to buy a new one because I used everything they had in their fridge.” I took the plate he handed me and kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re an angel, Kayden.”

“I know, I hear that often,” He grinned back at me as he took a bite of his own sandwich.

“Oh no, you put on that movie?” he sounded annoyed even with a mouth full of food.

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