- Food / Music
Mark wouldn't let it go as they walked home. He thought they were the best invention since the Internet.
“It's the latest thing! From Japan!”
Lea wasn't convinced, “You sound like an ad, you do realise that.”
Mark smiled a too-wide smile and put on his best presenter voice, holding an imaginary microphone, “It's perfect for every occasion and will even clean your house!”
Lea perked up, “I'll take three!”
“Awesome.”
“Would you like to borrow one for your room?”
“Oh, haha. Seriously, though, they're really good. Amanda gave me some. You should try one.”
Lea frowned, hitching her bag higher onto her shoulder, “I don't think so.”
“Why not?” Mark was whining now, wanting his way.
“Are they bad for you?”
“What?” His eyebrows went up, “No! They're chewing gum.”
Lea stopped walking, “Chewing gum?”
Mark tugged her arm, “Yeah. What did you think I was talking about?”
Lea shrugged away and started walking again, though the uncertainty didn't leave her eyes, “I don't know. Amanda gave some to you. She's the one who got everyone in your class into smoking, isn't she?”
“Right. Except me,” he reminded her, “because I'm smart. I'm told it runs in the family, but quite frankly I don't see it.”
She smacked his arm.
“It's just chewing gum, though.”
“So what makes it so special?”
She pulled her keys out as they walked up the path to the house.
“Well”, he grinned, “they've got music in them.”
Lea unlocked the front door, “As in, they've got clefs and stuff printed on them?”
“No, they've got music in them. You can hear songs while you chew.”
Mark walked into the kitchen as Lea followed and gaped.
“You've finally gone insane.”
“Here,” he said, opening his packet and shaking one out, “try one.”
She hesitated, “I don't know...”
“It's just chewing gum, I promise,” he said, little round sweet on his open palm, “just that. Would I lie to you, my darling, darling sister?”
“Without a shadow of a doubt,” she replied, taking the gum, “but alright.”
She popped it in her mouth, and so far it was just like any other chewing gum, hard sugar shell. Then, when she broke through, a guitar started. Mark went on with preparing his after-school snack.
About thirty seconds in, she recognised the song.
“You bastard! That's a Justin Bieber song!”
Mark howled with laughter.
Lea stole his glass of juice, but didn't drink it, still listening to the song. It was amazingly high quality audio.
Mark was still trying to get over his laughter as he explained, “I don't – oh God, that's amazing – I don't know what song is in any gum – Bieber! Classic – I just got a list with the packet. It's like the list on the back of a CD where the tracks are all mixed up.”
Lea nodded, chewing thoughtfully, “And when does the song stop?”
Mark shrugged, going back to making them snacks, “When it normally would, unless you take the gum out first.”
“That's incredible.”
“I know. They're only doing songs for the moment, and only ones from big companies, who can afford to sponsor, but if they started doing, like, Wikipedia entries, it'd be awesome.”
Lea spat the gum into the bin, “I don't think so. You'd sit there chewing for an eternity while trying to sift through a whole lot of useless information.”
“Huh,” Mark placed Nutella sandwiches on the table, “I didn't think of that.”
“And teachers would notice all their students chewing on gum in class. When it's one or two, they don't mind, but can you imagine an entire class chewing with their mouths open? Anarchy!” She exclaimed, adding a dramatic hand gesture.
“I guess you're right. Still, they're pretty awesome.”
“Yes they are. Now, can you get me a packet?”
Mark grinned at her, “I already did. So tell me who is your favourite brother?”
The gum became famous around school without teachers realising. All the kids had to do was keep their mouths shut and the nodding along to a minimum. They weren't planning on getting discovered – it was the only way to make boring classes interesting; to the sounds of Katy Perry and Jamie Foxx. No one slipped up. No one, that is, until Mark was caught singing Thriller during his Biology exam.
