Chapter 16

A deep yawn escaped from Tum-Tum as he settled against his backpack in the flatbed of Colt's trunk. Shifting from his side position to his back, he stared up at the sky, clasping his hands together on his stomach. He lifted his hands and used the heels of his palms to rub at his burning eyes. While the sun felt warm on his skin, he was sure it was also the thing that was making him so sleepy.

"Wake up, Tum," Rocky said from where he sat on the side of the truck. He drummed his fingers on the metal before leaning forward to rest his forearms on his legs.

"Yeah, school hasn't started, yet." Tum-Tum could hear the smile in Colt's voice as he talked. He could also picture the roll of Rocky's eyes to accompany the tisk sound he made with his tongue.

"I like school," Tum-Tum replied, his eyes still closed.

"Can't imagine why," Colt mumbled in response.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them, shattered by Tum-Tum's shuddering gasp at whatever freezing cold thing was pressed to the side of his face and neck. Rocky and Colt laughed as he sat up quickly, using his hand to wipe the condensation that dripped down the side of his neck, soaking into the collar of his shirt.

"Relax," Colt said with a grin, shaking the blender bottle he held in his hand. Tum-Tum made a face at the droplets of water flew off and hit him in the face. "Here, drink this. Dad packed it."

"What is it?" Tum-Tum asked, taking the bottle. He used his thumb to pop the cap of the blender bottle and put it to his lips, taking a long sip.

"Protein smoothie," Colt replied, zipping up his backpack. He settled back against the cabin of his truck, stretching his long legs out in front of him. "Get used to it."

Tum-Tum sighed after he swallowed his mouthful of the sweet tasting smoothie. He should have seen it coming. Backyard baseball practices were always followed by bottled waters and Gatorades that filled the shelves of the garage refrigerator. Once school sports really started up, protein drinks were added into the mix breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It wasn't even unheard of to have some of the powder added to pancake mix from time to time.

Tum-Tum had insisted on getting the chocolate or vanilla flavored powders. Rocky and Colt would say he wined about it, but they both agreed that if they were the ones who had to use it, they may as well make it taste good. Even now, as Tum-Tum took a second sip of his chocolate flavored drink, he was grateful that he was listened to in this instance.

"And make sure you drink it, too," Colt said, crossing his arms over his chest. His own blender bottle was nestled between his knees. "I wouldn't put it past dad to smell your breath after school to make sure you did."

"He took the time to prepare it for you," Rocky said with a shrug. "The least you could do is drink it." Clasping his hands together, he looked over at Tum-Tum and said, "Or grab it out of the fridge on your way out the door."

Colt jerked his thumb in Rocky's direction, rolling his eyes in Tum-Tum's direction. "This coming from the guy who doesn't have to drink this stuff," he pointed out.

"Yet," Rocky replied with a shrug. "Not until basketball starts, anyway."

Tum-Tum pulled is mouth to the side before taking another long sip of his shake. Come November, both he and Rocky would be about a month into their basketball and wrestling seasons. Though, Tum-Tum would have to be certain to stay in his weight class, so all the good holiday foods he wouldn't be able to partake in as much as he wanted to. And Sam Douglas would make sure that he didn't overindulge. What was the point of the holidays if you couldn't pig out as much as you wanted to? New Year's Eve was practically made to be an all-day pig out!

Colt hummed. "You're welcome by the way," he said, angling his head in Tum-Tum's direction. "For grabbing it for you."

Tum-Tum widened his eyes in innocence. "I didn't see it," he insisted, his voice going high pitched. "The bag of grapes was in the way."

"And you still didn't see it after you took the entire bag," Colt pointed out to him.

"It wasn't the whole bag," Tum-Tum protested as Rocky chuckled. "Half of it was already eaten."

"By you."

"I wasn't the only one who ate it."

"Enough." Rocky bowed his head, clasping his hands behind his neck. He lifted his hat from his head and pushed his fingers into his hair before he set it back down. "This isn't worth arguing about."

"Can we argue about why you insisted on being here so early?" Colt asked, blinking in Rocky's direction.

Tum-Tum yawned again as he shifted his attention to his brother. It was strange. Normally, he would be halfway to school in his own car before Colt and Tum-Tum got anywhere near the front door. Today, he had insisted on riding to work with the two of them.

"Just wanted to make sure that mom and dad wouldn't hear what I had to say," Rocky replied. Colt's eyebrows lifted in surprise. He wrapped his right arm around his knee, pulling it to his chest, and used the left to lift his own bottle to his mouth.

Tum-Tum on the other hand moved onto his knees and pressed his cold bottle to Rocky's forehead. "Ucgh." Rocky twitched away from his younger brother and used his forearm to wipe his forehead. "Tum, what are you doing?"

"You're keeping something from mom and dad?" Tum-Tum asked. "Either it's hotter out here than we think it is, or you're coming down with something." Rocky gave Tum-Tum an impatient look, ignoring Colt's laughter, and pushed his brother's hand away. "Fine. If you don't want to know what I have to tell you."

Tum-Tum rolled his head on his shoulders to look at Colt whose upper lip curled slightly as he rolled his eyes. He let out a heavy sigh. It sucked being the youngest sometimes. Rocky and Colt could get away withholding information from him any chance they got. Sure, he could be a blabber mouth every now and then as he grew up, and he wouldn't be doing his duty as the baby brother justice if he didn't throw information back in their faces from time to time, but it was stuff like this that really bugged him.

He wasn't a little kid anymore. He had thoughts and feelings and ideas. He didn't have to be carried around anymore. Even his grandpa had noticed he was able to keep up with his brothers during whatever obstacle courses he had set out for them on his land. Rocky could strategize the best way for him to move through every situation to the best of his abilities. Colt, as usual, worked his speed to his advantage and with his developed parkouring skills could maneuver through things with ease.

Tum-Tum didn't have his body weight slowing him down as much anymore, but he still knew how to use it to his advantage. He was lithe and could still squeeze through smaller areas. He could just as easily climb things, and leap across the wide spaces that he needed help when he was younger. And every now and then he could even beat his brothers in a match or two. He wasn't the person that needed to be lifted over trees or helped down off high places.

He didn't slow his brothers down, anymore. So, why did they still think he was someone they had to withhold information from whenever they felt like it?

"Stop being a jerk and just tell us," Colt said, sighing in annoyance.

"Yeah, seriously," Tum-Tum agreed. He carefully capped his blender bottle and put it into his backpack. He wasn't going to miss a word his brother said. Not if he was being this mysterious about it.

Rocky looked back and forth between his brothers and said, "That old picture of grandma and grandpa had Snyder cropped out of it, right?" Colt nodded. Tum-Tum widened his eyes in a "Duh, would you get on with it?" kind of way. "And at grandpa's cabin, we saw some more pictures he appeared in. So, I was wondering just how many more times he appeared in pictures we've looked at a thousand times but didn't know it was him."

"And?" Colt prompted.

"And I gave Rhuben one of mom and dad's photo albums to scan all the pictures to a disc," Rocky said, talking slowly. "So, we could look at all of the pictures to see if we could any other instances of him being around mom and dad." Neither Colt nor Tum-Tum said anything in response to his. "I know we promised mom and dad we'd stay out of it, but I did this before they had asked. If nothing comes from it, then it's not a big deal and I could always pass it off as a Christmas gift or something."

"You really have lost your mind," Colt said declared after an extended silence. "Both because you're doing something behind mom and dad's back, and because you're going to regift them something."

Rocky snorted. "As if we haven't done things behind mom and dad's back before," he commented. "They still don't know everything we've done while we've been at grandpa's." Colt bobbed is head back and forth, his lips pulling down in the corners. A silent agreement. "And you know mom has been talking about transferring all her pictures to discs for a long time, anyway."

"So, once again, Rocky will get them the best Christmas gift," Tum-Tum pointed out, rolling his eyes. He then fixed his gaze on Rocky, his eyebrows coming towards each other. "Why'd you ask Rhuben to do it, though?"

"Yeah, you trust her with something like this?" Colt asked. "You barely know her, and Brett can do the same thing." He pointed at his brother with his blender bottle before moving to store it in his bag as well. "Probably faster."

"True," Rocky agreed. "But, if there is something to all of this, and Snyder does have something to do with why the moved here, I'd rather not bring anyone else into this that we don't need to."

"Jason, too?" Tum-Tum asked.

"Jason, too."

"Hopefully, mom and dad are right; and this really doesn't come to anything," Rocky said, clasping his hands together once again. His gaze shifted past his brothers and Tum-Tum turned, following his gaze towards the car that turned into the school's parking lot. Colt pulled himself forwards, squinting against the sunlight to peer at the car. "If anything comes up, they'll tell us."

"If they're allowed to tell us," Tum-Tum said.

A thoughtful look crossed Rocky's face and he nodded his head. "If they're allowed to tell us," he agreed.

"And if not?" Tum-Tum pressed.

"Do what we always do," Colt said, pulling himself out of the back of his truck. He grabbed his backpack with his free hand and swung it onto his shoulder before reaching for his sports bag. "We do things our way."

"Colt," Rocky said with a sigh. He reached for his brother, letting out a sharp breath when Colt shimmied away from him. "Colt! We should really think about this."

"The same way you thought about things before giving the new girl at school our family photo album?" Colt asked. "We all agreed we wanted answers." He jumped out of the back of his truck. "This is your way of getting some answers." He put his hands in the air. "If we really have nothing to worry about, that's fine. We'll keep our promise and stay out of the way." He then crossed his arms over his chest. "If not, I'm not going to sit around and wait for things to happen to us. Not again." Rocky pressed his lips together. "You can sigh all you want, Rock, but you know you're tired of it, too."

Tum-Tum climbed out of the truck and looked back and forth between his brothers. First at Rocky, who always seemed to be the one who had all the answers. Who was always one step ahead of everyone. Maybe he was seeing something they couldn't. If that was the case, he understood Colt's frustration. They were always following Rocky's lead, never fully understanding what it was he was thinking until he told them. Maybe they needed to take charge this time. As usual, he was stuck in the middle, seeing both sides to the situation, but not knowing which side the best was to take.

And then there was the promise they had made to their parents.

"I think," Tum-Tum spoke up, catching his brothers' attention, "I think maybe we should do what mom and dad say." Colt pulled his eyebrows towards each other. Rocky merely blinked. Tum-Tum shifted his weight from foot to foot. He wasn't used to either of his brothers giving him their undivided attention. They always were the ones to make the decisions one way or another and then tell him what his part in the plan was. "Rock, you should look at the pictures, anyway. If something was to happen, we'd already have a head start. But for now, let's just…be normal for once in our lives."

Colt chuckled and placed a hand on Tum-Tum's shoulder, shaking him. "Tum, you're never going to be normal," he said. "But he is right, Rock." He made a face. "I can't believe I just said that."

"Jerk." Tum-Tum shoved his brother's hand away from him. He then gave Rocky a cheeky smile. "So, what made you trust her so quickly?"

"I'm sorry?" Rocky asked, a confused look coming to his face.

"I mean, Jo, Miyo, this new girl," Tum-Tum said with a grin. "You've always been quick to let a girl help us out." Colt snickered and Rocky rolled his eyes at the implication. "So, what is it about her that you like?"

"I don't even know her," Rocky retorted.

"You barely knew anything about Lisa DiMarino," Colt pointed out to him, "but you still followed her around like an idiot." Tum-Tum burst out laughing and Rocky's face turned bright red. "Oooh, he's blushing."

"Shut up," Rocky snapped. "Hi, Jo."

"Jo!" Tum-Tum pushed past Colt and took quick steps to the passenger window of the car that came to idle near them. Jo waved out the passenger window before popping the seatbelt situated across her chest. "How are you?" He pulled her into a tight hug the second she stepped out of the car.

"Hey, Tum-Tum, I'm good," Jo said with a smile. She reached behind her to free her hair from between her backpack and her back, her large hoop earrings swinging wildly as she did so. "It's good to see you guys." She then stepped forward to give Rocky and Colt a hug.

"You must be Cedar Cloudstrike."

Tum-Tum watched as Rocky leaned into the car, offering his hand to the long-haired Tawankan boy that sat behind the steering wheel. "I'm Rocky Douglas." The boy tilted his head upwards in a nod of greeting, his lips forming a relaxed smile. Tum-Tum's gaze then shifted towards Colt. He was curious to see how this would play out.

Colt would deny that he was a jealous person. Tum-Tum would say the opposite. To an extent. Tum-Tum may not have been into girls when he first met Jo, but even he could see how oddly frustrated Colt got when Jo would do something as small as greet Rocky and Tum-Tum whenever they visited The Reservation. Or the sigh he would let out when he was pulled from their conversations from one reason or another.

Things, from what Tum-Tum could understand, and what he surmised Colt chose to tell him, had come to an amicable end between himself and Jo. Colt had always been, or attempted to be, nonchalant with everything involving her. Maybe it was just that simple. Still, this was a guy that appeared on Jo's social media a lot. And, if the girls in his class were to be believed, the more someone appeared in your social media interactions, the better the chance that there was something going on between the two people.

Tum-Tum pulled his mouth to one side, holding back a laugh when he watched a muscle in Colt's jaw twitch, watched his eyes look over the boy's frame, and watched as Colt's whole body relaxed. He parted his lips into a smile and offered his hand to the boy in the driver's seat.

"I'm Colt," he said, introducing himself, "and this is Tum-Tum."

"You can call me Cloud," the boy said, returning Colt's smile. "It's nice to meet you." His dark lashes fluttered, his eyes narrowing as his smile widened. "Jo's told everyone a lot about you. I'm sorry it's taken this long to meet."

"Do you go to school here, now, too?" Tum-Tum asked, crowding beside his brothers in the space of the car door.

"No," Cloud replied with a shake of his head, "just dropping off, Jo. I needed to stop in town to get some fresh hay for the stables. And then I was going to stop in on Charlie."

"Cloud's shadowing dad for a bit," Jo explained, "looking to see if he wants to start up an internship with him this summer."

"The more people we have working in politics," Cloud explained, "the better off our people will be. Of course, we still have you three to thank to get people to listen to us."

"It was nothing," Colt said, "we were happy to help. No one deserved to go through what you guys did."

"Anything we can do to help now," Rocky said, "we'll be happy to do anything we can." Cloud lowered his chin in a silent "thank you."

"Right now, you can get me caught up on Chemistry before our quiz," Jo said, adjusting her backpack on her back. "I've been studying for ages, and I still get some of these formulas mixed up." He turned back towards Cloud and said, "Meet you back here around 3:30?"

"I'll be here," Cloud said, "I better get going. I don't want to be late." He lifted his hand in a wave to Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum before he shifted the car into drive. "It was nice meeting you all."

"You, too." Tum-Tum ducked underneath Colt's arm and he pushed closed the passenger side door. They all watched as Cloud carefully eased his car out of the parking lot and back onto the street. As soon as the car rounded the corner, Jo turned back to face the three brothers, a deep frown on her face. "Whoa. What-?"

"What's wrong?" she asked them. "I can feel it. Something's off about you guys." She titled her head slightly to the side. "Your auras reflect you perfectly, but they're slightly muddled now. You have something weighing on you."

Rocky and Colt exchanged amused glances.

"Ok, no offense," Tum-Tum said after a beat, he lifted a hand to cover his yawn and managed to get out, "but it really freaks me out when you do that."

Jo smiled.

A/N: You got to see little snippets here, but I need to do more relaxed, brotherly stuff with Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum because I really enjoyed writing it. And I think it's fun to see how they'd be with each other as they get older and mellow out in some ways as they get more intense in others.

-Rhuben