I glared at his hand and imagined how it’ll be if I could have laser eyes. He didn’t release it though, if anything he tightened his hold by a tiny bit. If we weren’t in school and he knew about my secret, I would’ve probably kicked him onto his ass but alas, that wasn’t an option.

I raised my eyes to meet his after a few minutes of silence, one of my eyebrows was raised to ask him silently on what he wants. He seemed out of it for a few minutes but after a moment, he released my wrist, taking a step back to give me a much appreciated space.

“I wanted to ask you to go to a party on Friday, as my date.”

My eyebrows shot up. Is this how they ask girls out these days? Momma always said something about daddy going to grampy’s house before taking her anywhere. What happened to that chivalry?

“No.”

He didn’t seem surprised. Well, considering we weren’t on good terms in the first place, he couldn’t have expected otherwise.

His face turned into one of determination and took a hold of my elbow before dragging me out of there and to a deserted corner.

I glared so hard at him. Why oh why couldn’t looks kill. It’ll seriously do me a great deal amount of favor. I tilted my head upwards, groaning lightly before facing him and throwing him the most menacing glare and snapped.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?” I whispered harshly at him.

He smiled cheekily at me and I saw his eyes glint with mischief, what is he getting to here?

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, “Is this some kind of joke or a test that you have to pass before you get to join the popular clique?”

He looked frowned and looked confused, “What?”

When I gave him a blank look, he shook his head and tried to coax me into coming with him again. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

I sighed and looked at him in the eye. “Will this stop you from bothering me ever again?”

He grinned as he realized he might have a chance. “Only if you want me to..” he dodged slyly.

I snorted, earning myself a chuckle from him. I groaned as I realized that my mind had made its own choice. I have a huge feeling that this won’t turn out good but I don’t plan to do anything else anyways. I usually stayed in and have a movie marathon while eating some ice cream so I guess a party wouldn’t hurt.

“I won’t let you leave until you say yes,” he added as a taunt.

I clicked my tongue to express my annoyance at him and glared lightly through the few strands of hair that fell in front of my face.

“Alright, I’ll go,” I sighed, caving in.

He fist pumped the air in excitement and I had to suppress a smile from making an appearance and held my pointer finger out to pause his mini victory dance.

“In one condition.”

His smile didn’t falter at my words and he just stared expectantly at me as if nothing I say will drag his spirits down. “I get to use my daily attire.”

He grinned and shot his hand out towards me, “Deal.”

I shook his hand and left the school, shaking my head lightly. What the hell did I get myself into this time?

***

I rushed into the house after kicking the door close and went up the stairs, rushing to my bedroom and took a quick shower before putting on my pajamas and jumping on the bed. I pulled my laptop onto my lap and turned it on going to youtube to listen to music videos. I spent the next hours on the assignments the teacher gave us and some Biology research while listening to ‘We The Kings’.

I hummed in content as I took a break and stared out the window only to realize that it’s turned dark. How long have I been sitting here, doing school work?

I yawned in exhaustion and stretched out my limbs, twisting from side to side and sighed as I heard the satisfying cracks of my stiff back. I moved my laptop and the books onto the spot beside me as I piled them up and threw aside the sheets that covered my lower body and swung my foot to the edge of the bed.

I flexed my neck before trying to stand on my feet.

I must’ve sat for too long because the next thing I know, I lost my balance and ended up sitting on the bed again.

'Bed, I know you love me but I need to cheat on you with food right now.' I thought sullenly as I tried to stand up again and held onto the bed post for support. The stiffness soon went away as I flexed them repeatedly.

I tried standing up on my own and when I succeeded, I exited my room and made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

I was half way down the stairs and was treading my way down in a sluggish pace, trying not to put as much pressure since I don’t know when my legs would give up on me. I hate when this happens, I’ll sit for too long and won’t notice the time but when I do notice it, it’ll be too late and I’ll end up with half asleep legs. I huffed irritably as I glared down at my legs when I heard the door went off with a loud bang and a familiar voice echoed through the silent house.

“Honey, I’m home!” My mother hollered.

I didn’t respond for a while until I heard her shout, “I bought some pie and cookies!”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get your teenage child rushing down the stairs and welcome you happily; if ravaging the plastic bag you hold is anything welcoming. All leg issues will be long forgotten and their main goal would be to welcome the food home.

“Well hello to you too. Anyway, your dad would be home soon, you know the drill.”

My dad is rarely home, he goes to random business trips and is always busy but he makes up to it by movie night. “Okay.” Though my voice is muffled by all the pie and cookie I stuffed in my mouth, I know she heard me.

“Cassandra Rylie Johnson! What did I tell you about eating food bit by bit?!”

I looked at her, sheepish as she chided me off. I tried swallowing the food but found my throat too dry.

“Ha! Now you can’t swallow it! Serve you right!” My mom snickered.

Yea, mom. Feeling the love.

I rolled my eyes at my mother, drinking a bit of water to help swallow the food down. After drinking a final gulp, I stuck my tongue out to my mom and ran to my room to change.

“Real mature, Case. Real mature!” She yelled up to me.

In response, I cackled. Yes, I cackled. Problem?

Putting on an oversized tee with a Harry Potter’s quote on it and a pair of straight jeans, I checked myself on the mirror to at least make myself decent.

My dad, unlike my mom, never had a problem with my sense of fashion, heck, he turned all angry once when I was a kid for using extra short short pants. Never again. Even the thought of it made me shudder. What I was thinking as a kid will never fail to amaze me.

“Girls, you ready to go?” My dad’s voice echoed through the house. I applied a very small amount of perfume and deodorant before skipping down the stairs and hugged my dad. “Aw, I miss you, princess.” I snuggled further into my dad’s embrace, “I miss you too, daddy.” Yes, I’m a daddy’s little girl, suck it up.

We made our way to the car, buckling up and driving to the movies. On the way, ‘Eye of The Tiger’ came on and my dad and I sang along, going off key and all. My mom shook her head at our antics and we laughed at her for being uptight all the time.

I looked at my parents, I’m happy by just being here but even then, I knew we were missing something. My thoughts fled to all the times when there was someone to take mom’s side in these kind of things, when a certain boy would bicker with me in the back of the car, earning a stern glare from my mother for causing unnecessary loud noises from our yelling.

I knew that my family can never be complete without my brother. With that, my grin faded and I gazed out the window, watching as the trees whizz by.

I miss you, big bro.