Terrifying moment

I've been working on this story for a while now and have only let one person read it. I'm eager to see what people think of the opening page. I'm not sure whether or not I'm happy with it. Thoughts?

Chapter 1

My stomach seemed completely unprepared to eat food on that morning. Instead, I pushed the cereal around the bowl until it got so soggy, so mushy, that its texture was comparable to that of wet concrete. My brother, Lincoln, didn’t seem fazed by what faced us this morning; then again, nothing ever seemed to faze him. He’d practically inhaled a bowl of cereal, two slices of toast and a protein shake – the latter for good measure I assume. I knew he was planning to get back his post on the lacrosse team as soon as possible.

In the car, Lincoln’s red ’67 chevy impala, I didn’t speak. Instead, I pulled A Midsummer Night’s Dream from my bag and began to re-read the section that we were meant to be studying today. “Why,” Lincoln started, “are you reading on the way to school?”

It wasn’t until I finished the page that I acknowledged my brother. “Elmo said that this is what we’re discussing today so I figured I’d try and catch up.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes, sighed and then mumbled some derogatory name under his breath before turning back to the road as he continued driving. Apparently, that was it. Or at least I thought it was. About two more blocks passed before Linc – as I had called him since I was three – spoke to me again. “In the back.”

“What?”

“You heard. Get in the back. We’re picking Brit up and you’re in her seat.”

It was my turn to do the whole eye roll and sigh thing before I climbed half over the seats; dropping at a really uncomfortable angle with my butt and legs in the air and my head in the foot well. Of course, as if Lincoln had planned this down to the second, he chose this very moment to pull up outside Brit’s house; Brit being his girlfriend Brittany Devin.

They were a perfect couple. On TV they’d be the beautiful, popular couple; captain of the high school sports team and the head cheerleader. While yes, Linc was one of the star players of West lake Highschool’s lacrosse team, he had no inclination of being the team captain. And Brit was certainly no cheerleader: the last thing she wanted to do was spend her time bouncing around with pompoms at sporting events. She’d rather be writing about them for the school’s social media pages. They were contrasts to each other: him with our family’s dark hair; her with hair almost the colour of daffodils.

“Morning.” Her voice was the kind that they give elves and fairies in fantasy movies; soft and pitch perfect.

“Mornin’ beeb.” Whilst I was still struggling to get out of my current situation, I knew from past experience that Lincoln would be following that greeting with a tongue filled kiss. If I’m honest, I was kind of glad I couldn’t see it. When they called each other beeb, they were really… handsy.

Before I managed to fully right myself, Brit gave her sweet little lilting laugh. “And how are you, Toby?”

Managing to get myself upright, I forced a smile. “I’m – uh – good. Glad to be getting back to normal.” I knew immediately I had said the wrong thing. Brit’s eyebrows furrowed, her eyelids dropped just a little and her smile went from a broad one of greeting to one where just the tiniest curve at the corners was the only evidence of a smile at all. It was an expression I had seen many times over the past few weeks, ever since…