Ty and Raque’s Brotherhood (Short Story)

“Ty, hold up I need to find a pencil or something,” Raque shouted to his stepbrother.

Meanwhile, Ty waited impatiently in the car and thought to himself it must be impossible for anyone to be as stupid as Raque.

Today, of course was the first day of Ty Numen and Raque Matthews’ senior year. This, however, was the first time they have ever driven to school together. Ty and Raque have never exactly been friends, even though they have been classmates for the last three years. They were simply never involved in anything together.

Ty was involved in:

1. Ryken Service Club
2. Varsity Football
3. SAC
4. NHS
5. Animal Conservation Club
6. Xavier News
7. Quick Recall
8. Medical Careers Club
9. History Club
10. Liturgical Musical Ministry

Raque just hadn’t found his niche the same way Ty had. He was involved in:

1. Spanish Club

He of course joined this club for extra credit. It actually saved his grade his sophomore year when he was able to pass due to attending a singular meeting. His teacher was extra nice that year.

It is true that they never hung out too much together, yet somehow this summer had changed everything. Last November, Raque’s mom and Ty’s dad sat them down and announced that they were planning a wedding for June in the Bahamas. Raque didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t give much thought to the consequences of moving in with his classmate! Ty, however, was astonished. He had always hoped that his mom and dad might get back together, but this sealed the deal–his dad was marrying someone else. Ty proudly stood as his father’s best man, while Raque accidentally slept through the ceremony. The tears that rolled down Ty’s face were met with eye boogers falling out of Raque’s eye when he greeted the happy couple as they walked out.

Time passed and then it was the first day of school and all of the summer tensions that had been building were coming to a boil. Moving in with someone brand new was hard for both of them. Raque had a terrible habit of sleep-walking. One night while still slumbering, he burned Raque’s entire baseball card collection in a fire inside the kitchen sink. Ty demanded $3,000, but his dad convinced him it was an accident and nothing was done. Ty agreed to “forget about it.”

Ty and Raque shared almost no friends and to make everything worse, Raque wrecked his car trying to trim his toenails while driving. For the last three weeks of summer, they had to share a car. This morning, Ty was excited to get to school early and greet  all of the teachers. Raque simply couldn’t understand why this guy wanted to get there so early. For the last three years, Raque had slid in at 7:50 and saw no issue with it.

It was nearly 7:45 and Ty maneuvered the car to get into the right lane on Poplar Level Road to turn into St. X.

“If we get there early then we’ll be able to skip all this traffic,” Ty said.

“Bro, chill out. It’s syllabus day,” Raque responded, leaving Ty wanting to scream in madness.

Ty wondered to himself: how could I be stuck with this guy to ruin my senior year?

“Can we back into our spot so we can get out quicker after school?” Raque requested.

Ty then explained how he had a meeting after school and then he was going to see a teacher for extra prep on the math section of the ACT.

“So…what time are we leaving?” asked Raque.

Ty promised it wouldn’t be before 4:30. With no JUG to serve since it was the first day, Raque didn’t know what to do with himself after school. At 2:45 when the bell rang he wandered down to the cafeteria and was annoyed to see all his friends running to their cars. He knew they wouldn’t drive him home because–of course–the Numan’s house is out in the country where Ty and his dad rescue horses with physical disabilities.

There was absolutely nothing Raque could do, and as he wandered the hallways he began to notice something. All around the school, there were signs and posters about brotherhood. All of a sudden, Raque had a great realization; he finally understood why St. X is so great. He had a rush of knowledge come over him. In the middle of the T with only a few dedicated teachers milling about to witness, Raque shouted, “I bet our lunch account balances are shared!”

Raque raced down the hallway into the lunchroom and he bought snacks for all the underclassmen who were waiting for their rides. As he tossed the goodies out, the underclassmen couldn’t believe their luck–zebra cakes, oatmeal cream pies, pizza, ice cream, and every other good menu item from the lunchroom was bought up. All the while, Raque smiled from ear to ear thinking: Ty is gonna get in so much trouble…

Wait to see what happens next in episode two of “Ty and Raque’s Brotherhood”.