Katherine's house was on the wealthier side of the neighborhood but it wasn't such a far walk. Her house was big and it looked like it belonged in a movie. "I want to show you something," she said as she unlocked the door, "It's in the basement,"
My curiosity piqued as I followed her, the house looked taller than it did from the outside. There were chandeliers anywhere there could be. There were fancy furniture and glass items were put literally everywhere. There was no doubting Katherine's family was wealthy which made me all the more nervous. "Are your parents home?" I asked as she led me down some stairs.
"Hardly," she replied.
That made sense, her parents must've been very busy with whatever job they were doing.
We got down to the basement and Katherine took my arm which made me jump a little. She let go when got to something covered in some sort of protective cover. She took it off and it revealed to be a set of drums that looked almost new. The main color of the drums were red and they looked so shiny I wanted to touch them. But I didn't.
"You play the drums?" I asked.
Out of all the things I wouldn't expect Katherine to know how to play the drums. She nodded but her eyes were on the drums with this smile on her face. I always liked the way she looked at the drums, it was always so genuine.
"I haven't actually played in about a month," she said, finally looking at me, "But I want to be consistent with it now,"
"You should do band," I suggested, "Like the one at our school,"
Katherine chuckled and shook her head. "No way. I'd like to be in a band. I mean…"
She took a while before speaking again, like she was contemplating on telling me something. She didn't meet my eyes this time as she spoke. "My brother and I were going to form a band," she said quietly and then smiled a little, "We were going to call it Jellyfish. I love jellyfish. Now that I'm thinking about it…it's sort of unrealistic,"
She let out a weak laugh, I could tell she wanted me to laugh with her. At least smile to brighten the mood but I couldn't. Because I felt sorry for her. "You can still make a band, you know," I said, "It can still happen,"
"No it can't," Katherine said.
Her straightforwardness surprised me. She began to cover back up the drums and I had the sinking feeling that I upset her. Well those suspicions were proven to be correct in the worst way possible. "It can never happen," Katherine said, "Because my brother is gone,"
There was this tone to her voice, I always thought she had sounded angry. Now, I know she sounded hurt instead. She sounded betrayed.
"...Gone…?" I asked quietly.
Katherine began walking up the steps. "Yes, he's dead. So I won't join or make a band. It's just not possible anymore,"
I watched her as she walked up the stairs, my stomach churning. I was beating myself up inside for bringing that up. Katherine looked so happy before I spoke up. Eventually I did walk up the stairs and Katherine was in the kitchen opening the fridge. I thought she was pretending like I wasn't there. I couldn't stay there any longer. "I guess I'll head out," I said, backing away
"Wait," Katherine said almost immediately.
She closed the fridge and for a second I thought she wanted me to stay.
"Before you go," she said, "I didn't actually quit the soccer team. The coach kicked me off,"
Katherine then walked out of the kitchen, went up some stairs, and disappeared from my view. It took a while for me to get going. I kept thinking about why Katherine would be kicked off the soccer team. She was a good player and a good student. There were so many things I didn't know about Katherine. But it was then I knew she loved jellyfish.
Jellyfish.
What an odd animal to love. But it made Katherine so different, almost like it matched her completely. And I just had to like her more because of that.
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