16. Julian

       Noah still was trying his best not to talk to me and honestly, it was really hurting a lot. We had never once been mad at each other, except for tiny little arguments like who got the last slice of pizza.

       I just wish whoever told Noah about my early acceptance minded their own business and kept their mouth shut.

       Mom and Dad noticed we weren't talking to each other, so they were trying to help out, but everything they did wasn't working. Noah was trying really hard to avoid being around me.

       So they did what any other parent would do.

       Force us to be in the same room together.

       Every year, Spruceworth hosted a Christmas charity dinner that took place in the city hall, so Mom and Dad basically signed me, Noah, and Holden up to help get the place ready for the dinner tomorrow.

       I didn't mind. I was planning on volunteering anyway, but Noah wasn't happy. And neither was Holden. For Noah, it meant he had to be near me and for Holden, it was because he felt like Mom and Dad were still trying to control his life.

       As soon as we got to the city hall to help out, Noah said to Holden, "Can you tell Julian that if he needs to speak to me, he has to talk to you?"

       Holden sighed. "You're overreacting, Noah."

       "You're overreacting," Noah shot back before marching off.

       "I'm sorry he's acting like that," Holden said.

       "Don't be," I said. "It's my fault. I should have told him about the early acceptance as soon as I found out about it. I just... don't know what to do."

       "It isn't your fault," Holden said. "It's Cassidy's."

       I furrowed my eyebrows. "Cassidy's?"

       "Oh, yeah, she's the one who told Noah about the early acceptance," Holden said. "And she was the one who sent Mom and Dad a picture of me and Shaw kissing, which was how they find out about us."

       "I don't get it," I said. "Why would she do that? She likes Josh, and we're Josh's brothers."

        Holden shrugged. "I don't know the exact reason, but I know part of it is because she told Cleo to stay away from Josh and if she didn't, she was going to tear our family apart. It makes no sense, I know. Anyway, we should start helping out with this. The faster we move, the faster we can finish and I can stay locked up in my room."

       We started getting to work with helping set up for the Christmas charity dinner. A lot of people had showed up to help out so it wasn't taking up a lot of our spare time.

       I had tried talking to Noah so many times, but he kept ignoring me. Or he wouldn't ignore me and would tell me to leave him alone before he called the cops.

       Obviously he was joking, but he was trying to send a message across about him not wanting to be around me.

       I really wished I told him about it sooner. Then he wouldn't be so mad at me. I mean, he would still be upset that I was considering going to a different university, but at least he wouldn't be ignoring me right now.

       I missed my twin brother a lot, and I hated having him mad at me.

       Mom ended up texting me, asking if Noah and I had sorted things out yet. When I told her we didn't, she said I should probably just give Noah same space now and he would come to our senses. After all, we still had our whole lives ahead of us.

       I hated when Mom said that because really, nobody had a clue what could happen tomorrow, a few weeks from now, or even a few months from now. We should be living our lives the best we could, but it was hard when my twin brother was ignoring me.

       I was helping setting up the tables in the main area when the mayor, Enzo, walked over to me. "You know, I couldn't help but notice your brother being mad at you," he said.

       I sighed. "He is. All our lives, we've planned on going to the same university, but I got an early acceptance to McGill University. I still don't know if I should take it and I wanted to make the choice on my own, so I didn't tell him. But, someone else decided to tell him about it. Now he won't talk to me."

       "Oh," Enzo said. "I'm sorry. If it's any consolation, I know how stubborn siblings can be. Well, I've never had any of my own, but I had two sons who were as stubborn as can be at times. They argued all the time."

       "I bet they weren't twins, though," I said. "Twins have a much closer bond than regular siblings, so it hurts a lot more."

       "That's true," Enzo said. "Still, all siblings can get mad at each other, but it's rare for them to not forgive each other at all. My sons were like that. Sometimes, it would take them weeks to forgive each other. In fact, they were just in a huge argument right before one of them passed away, but thankfully, they forgave each other right in time. You never know what can happen."

       "That's what I keep saying," I said. "My mom keeps telling us that we have our whole lives ahead of us, but in reality, nobody knows if we do."

       "Exactly," Enzo said. "And if your brother realizes that soon, he'll forgive you. In the meantime, it might be good to give him some space. You pressuring him to forgive you might make him more stubborn."

       "That's true," I said.

       "Now, I need to head over to The Gold Mine to pick up a few things," Enzo said. "Mind helping me out."

       "Sure," I said.

       Enzo gestured for me to follow him, so I did and he led me outside of the city hall. "You know, The Gold Mine has some excellent choices of wine if you ever want some," he said.

       I tried my best not to laugh. Calvin was always telling us how the mayor was obsessed with wine, and even encouraged underage drinking at times.

       Not the best decision, but still amusing.

       "I'm only sixteen," I said. "I've got three more years before I can drink legally."

       "Ah, but you should live your life to the fullest," he said. "After all, you never know what can happen."

       Right after he said that, a huge explosion filled my ears, and the sudden force knocked me to the ground. My ears were ringing for a while, and it took me a few moments for my blurry vision to turn clear again.

       I sat up, looking around to find the source of the explosion.

       And that was when I saw the city hall up in flames.

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:O

lol so i had a small two day hiatus. I've never gone a day without updating for a while, but i was just not in the right mental state to do anything, and i had the stomach flu. Yay for life.

but i really wanted to get this chapter, as well as the next one, up.

NOW YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEAN BY IT ISN'T SPRUCEWORTH WITHOUT A FEW DEATHS. oops.