Excerpt of Uncharted by Claudia Burgoa

JACOB

“Can we order them online?” Matthew whines while waving
the booklist in front of me. We
could, with a few clicks and a credit card, but I want to
have the whole college
experience, and that includes the campus bookstore.
“Think about the hours of sleep I’ve
missed already.”

Not even glancing in his direction, I continue my way to
our destination. Moments like
these make me wonder if we made the right decision about
heading to UW instead of
following our sister to UT. AJ would help with
babysitting Matthew—and maybe me too.
Instead of a dorm, perhaps the parents would’ve leased an
apartment for the three of us.
She’d clean, I’d help her cook, and we wouldn’t be miles
apart.

I won’t ever admit this in front of her, but I miss my
sister. We’ve gone months without
her because of summer camps or vacations. However, this
situation is different from the
others. This time she’s going to be far away for years.
Two bachelor’s degrees, a
master’s, and whatever else she plans to do with her
life. Matthew tried to persuade her
not to go to Texas. We even agreed to follow her to any
music school that accepted her,
but she declined all of them.

As my brother and I discussed our options, Seattle won.
Our parents own an apartment
they are letting us use, we have access to the recording
studios, and our father Chris
visits Seattle often. Neither of my parents plan on
visiting my sister. Both avoid being
seen with us in public. A part of our daily life, living
in the shadows because of their
fame.

“We’ll go in and out, Matthew James.” I push on the glass
door, and as we enter, we both
stop in our tracks. The entire place is jam-packed—
clearly the first sign we’re in the
wrong place and why we should find a way to move in with
Princess-bitch. She’s usually
the one who keeps us organized. Without her, I have to
create my own evil plan. “You get
in line, I’ll gather the books.”

“Can we come back at a better time?” He hunches his
shoulders, using a dreadful voice.
“No.” I fight the urge to slap him in the back of his
head for behaving like a child.
“Your job is to stand in line.”

I hurry through the mass of college students, gather the
books on the list, and head
back to where MJ waits.

“Here, carry your own shit.” I hand him half of the stack
and keep the other half.

“They’re heavy.”

“Why buy two of each?” That’s a rich question coming from
the guy who had issues lending
his toys, and sharing his drums, guitar, or any other
object he owned.

“For the same reason our parents always bought two or
three of each.” He gives me a
hooded glare. “You have trouble sharing and making
decisions on what you want to do.
This is college, not home.”

He shakes his head, rolling his eyes in exasperation. The
mane of dreadlocks dangles
along with his face. “Dude, I’m not a child anymore.
We’ll take one set and save some of
that money they gave us.”

I hang my head without uttering a word. He dares to tell
me with a straight face that he
isn’t a child anymore. The dreadlocks and Jamaican hat
imply the opposite. The outfit he
wears screams party: “I’m here for the beer, the sex, and
whatever else they throw my
way.”

“Humor me, MJ. Let’s take both sets.”

I plan on having fun too, because all work and no fun
isn’t my game. However, he’s all
fun and little work when our parents aren’t around. Just
one reason why I’m hauling his
ass. The main reason is because I have no fucking idea
what I would do without him. This
dude and I have never been apart. Never. Ever. And the
thought of that happening this
soon scares the shit out of me. I’m not ready to face the
freaking real world without
him. One day we’ll do it, but not yet.

“As long as you do my homework, you can buy as many books
as you want, Jacob.” I slam a
hand on my forehead. That had been a stupid promise.

He wanted to be an English major, a useless degree that
would take him too long and
would be a waste of our time, as we both want to pursue
our music career. He made the
right choice when I explained that the more time we spend
in college, the more we have
to push the release of our second EP. The band is our
life. We started it two years ago,
released a few singles and one EP, and toured with a
couple of bands. Nothing too far
from the West Coast, but we do have a small fan base.

Pushing him toward finishing school with me was easy, as
I’d promised to help him study,
do his assignments, and be his personal butler for the
first month. As far as I’m
concerned, in a couple of years we’ll be as famous as our
father, Chris, and we’ll hire
our own butler. If we can stick to the plan for one
entire school year, we’ll earn our
freedom.

“No, Mommy.” I hear a soft voice behind me. My ears
tingle with the sound and it makes
me look that way. “I’m telling the truth.”

A black curtain of curls blocks the view of the female
subject that piqued my interest.
She holds a bunch of old books, and her eyes remain on
the floor, even when I clear my
voice trying to grab her attention. That’s when I realize
she’s on the phone. I stare at
her olive colored legs and the fun, pink Converse
sneakers she’s wearing. Time to
implement some of those moves I keep in reserve to lure a
girl in. College awaits. If
only I had done this while we toured—flirt with girls.
However, Chris traveled with us
and used his hawk-like vision, steering us away from
trouble. The two times he was
unable to join, he sent his trusted friend and bodyguard,
Arthur Bradley. Unlike the
other bands, we were escorted straight out of the venue
once we had finished playing.
College is the opportunity to expand my horizons, get
acquainted with the opposite sex,
and have sex. My brother elbows me, giving me a warning
glare. Choosing to ignore him is
a no-brainer. With a beauty like this, I couldn’t have
picked a first college fling
better if I’d tried.