A.J.

There are times when patience is a virtue*. A.J. muses\, screw those times.* He was stressing: muscles stretched taut\, brows creased\, sweat glistening on his skin. He managed not to hyperventilate\, but only because Levi was watching.

They were currently in their home library, books scattered on the tables around them. Every few minutes, he would tap the smashed screen of his phone to check the time. Eventually, Levi sighed loudly.

“Can you focus on your work for a second?”

“Sorry,” A.J. mumbled.

“Alright,” Levi slammed his book shut. “Spill it.”

A.J. considered telling his brother the truth, but it was a risky business. In his past life, his brother defended their father until the last minute. Even when their family name came crashing into the mud, Levi refused to believe what was right there in front of him.

But back then, even Adrian was in denial. He’d have to make his brother see the truth, in small doses, so to speak.

He bites his lip, swallowing hard. “They’re bad people,” A.J. states.

Whatever Levi was expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. “Who?”

“Dad,” A.J. says. “And his friends.” He looks at his brother, hoping to communicate something without having to spell it out. Levi remains silent, so A.J. adds, “They’re up to no good. You cannot trust them.”

Levi shakes his head, and Adrian braces for the rebuttal, but what his brother says leaves him stunned.

“I know.”

“What did you say?”

“I know,” Levi repeats. “Of course they’re bad people,” he rolls his eyes. When he sees his brother staring at him, confused, he clarifies, “Nobody that gets this rich is a good person, A.J. We come from a very long line of bad people,” Levi remarks as if he’s merely commenting on the weather, and Adrian’s chest constricts further.

He manages to finish his homework without making it obvious that he’s reconsidering everything he knows about his brother.

But two realizations become crystal clear: A.J. does not remember much about his schoolwork, nor does he understand half of it, apparent by the abysmal attempt at solving his homework staring him in the face. And, two, he always viewed Levi as an easygoing, lighthearted kind of guy, which was becoming evident by the minute to be untrue. He does not know his brother well. Matter of fact, he does not know shit.

What the hell was he so occupied with in his past life to be so damn oblivious? Himself, the thought occurs fleetingly. He was occupied with his damn self.

...****************...

He returns to his room around 6 p.m. and throws his unsatisfactory homework on the bed. There are no words to describe the restlessness clawing at his skin. The emotional display from earlier revealed his cards to his dad, and Donnie James is a smart man.

The next time they come for Ren, he’d be none the wiser.

He paces around his room, trying to summon an intelligent thought. A game plan. That’s when it occurs to him, you cannot set a plan in motion if you are oblivious to the pieces at play.

Running to a drawer, he fetches a notebook and a pen and sets about writing: A.J.’s G.P.—i.e., Adrian James’ Game Plan.

After underlining the header twice, he writes down the names of the characters involved: himself, Ren, Levi, his father, his mother (Was Lady Anette involved? How much does she know?), his father’s friends, and the staff...

There’s Auntie Loola, who raised him and his brother as a second mom. A.J. trusted her. Auntie had a granddaughter who lived in the manor and helped in the kitchen. What was her name again?

There was the driver and the butler (loyalties unknown) and the kitchen staff (head cook and the cook’s assistant). Who else was employed in their house? Three drivers; one for the kids, one who worked for his father, and the one his mother had an affair with.

The affair! A.J. circles that. It would be revealed in his senior year that his mother was having an affair with the driver. Has it started yet? Could he use this knowledge to his advantage?

By the time he hears the engine of his father’s car, it’s already 7 p.m. He peeks out of the window and glimpses Ren and his dad getting out of the vehicle. Adrian rushes to wash his face, change out of his school clothes, and head downstairs to join the family dinner.

...****************...

When he makes it to the dining room, the rest of the family is already seated. Once again, the portion provided to Ren is teetering on the edge of a joke. He fights the urge to pour him a second scoop. He’ll have to be less transparent in his actions moving forward.

He coils the pasta around his fork and takes a bite. His parents are sharing pleasantries, and Levi pitches in every now and then. The picture of the perfect family. But Adrian sees the cracks.

His parents’ conversation is hollow; Lady Anette is telling her husband about a dinner invitation they received, and he suggests that they go dress shopping for the occasion. Levi says he misses that family’s elder son and starts retelling Ren about this one time he smashed that kid’s ego to pieces in a game of golf. Ren nods politely, then Donnie James warns Levi not to take it too far. He should let this kid win a couple of rounds when they’re at their house. Levi laughs it off, saying that he loves that kid and then cracks a joke about how “all those etiquette lessons did not go to waste.”

When the conversation stills, Levi breathes deeply and he grinds his teeth. Seeing that, Adrian feels a stab of pain in his head, and with it comes a memory from his past life. That kid Levi was talking about: he did not love him.

The animosity between the two would bloom and blossom into a full-blown fight, followed by a car crash. However, when the fight happened, it came as such a shock because the two always pretended to be such great friends.

His brother is shrouded in fake pleasantries and jokes, but it seems like every moment of every interaction, Levi’s operating from a baseline: keep the conversation mild and empty, maintain a harmonious atmosphere, avoid the façade cracking.

Adrian stifles a laugh because, sadly for his brother, once you see it, there's not enough plaster in the world to patch it back up.

...****************...

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