Inferno Part 2

~17~ Paddle

Luke's POV

Liam comes over, and as soon as he walks in, I can tell something is wrong. He's not his normal, crazy self.

"Momma, do you have anything for my stomach?" Liam asks, kissing mom on the cheek.

"What's wrong with it?" Mom asks, feeling his forehead.

"I just ate an entire package of oreos, and now I feel like I'm going to yack" he whines.

I look over at Kelly and give her an apologetic smile.
My brother is stupid. We're used to his stupid, but he does take some getting used to.

"Why on earth would you do that?" She asks, going to her wall of oils and finding the one she wants.

"Because I'm a child" he says, putting his head on the counter and groaning.

"Well, I know that" she says, opening the oil bottle and handing it to him.

"That stuff is gross. Will you do it?" He asks, whining even more.

"You can't put oil on your stomach?" She asks, rolling her eyes.

"Too sick" he says, putting his head back down.

"Liam Alexander" mom says, rolling her eyes and dropping some oil into her hand. She goes over to him, lifts his shirt up, and massages the oil onto his stomach. Then she kisses his head. "That should help, darling" she says as she puts the oil bottle away.

Liam stays like that for a few minutes, and then he sits up. "Man that stuff is magical. I feel great now. Momma, do you have any chips?" He asks, getting up and rummaging through the pantry.

"You want to eat more junk after you just felt sick? You need some vegetables, kid" mom says, disgusted as she gets out some celery and hands it to him.

"Ick. Why would I want that?" He asks, acting appalled.

"Because this is the kinda food that adults eat"

"Then I don't want to be an adult" he snorts, crunching a chip in her face.

She takes the bag of chips out of his hands and replaces it with celery.

"Ah, man" he complains as he takes a bite of celery and walks out, going back home.

Mom chuckles as she puts the chips away. She acts like she's annoyed by him, but she isn't. She misses him living at home. I miss him too.

We get back to homework, after the show is over.

"This project is a nightmare" I complain to Kelly.

"Yeah, but you're doing really good. You shouldn't have any problem getting an A" she says, smiling a little at me.

"It's not the project I'm worried about. It's the huge test next month. There's no way I'm even going to pass it. Let alone get an A."

She shrugs. "Let's just focus on the project first. Let's get you your A in that and then we will focus on the test" she says.

I nod. I hate to admit it, but my grades are improving drastically. I'm already not failing math anymore. Mom may have actually been right. I'm not telling her that, though. It's still embarrassing being tutored. Especially by someone you have made fun of for four years.

"Kelly, can I talk to you about something?" I ask. I've been nervous for a while to talk to her about it. Mom is in the other room, and no one else is around for once.

"Sure" she says, putting down her pen and looking at me.

"I'm sorry I've been such an ass to you these last four years. You didn't deserve it" I say.