Robert

Chapter Three: Mandy

She kicked her bed in frustration. Mandy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tommy Fernando was going to Elsa Morgan's party with Tasha, not her. That backstabbing bitch. The nerve on her. She knew the whole lacrosse team was Mandy's territory yet she still went and got a date?!

Mandy wasn't going to take it. She was going to call the banners she thought pacing her bedroom. If this bitch wanted a war with the head cheerleader she got one.
 
She tossed her phone onto the bed and stared out the window. It was cloudy today, a welcome difference from the sweltering heat that had plagued Georgetown recently. This was a shitty town in her opinion, but it always gave her a good reason to stay. The unpredictable weather was one. It was unusual to have a snow storm in Autumn, on rare occasions in  early summer.

Down on the road the Asuka twins were playing with thier bicycles. They were going in circles till they got so dizzy they would fall laughing. The two girls were barely twelve yet they were prettier than some cheerleaders in Mandy's squad. Their older sister got the whole asian beauty magic. She made even Mandy jealous and the weren't a lot of girls that could make her do that. Thankfully, Ming didn't know how pretty she was and went to great lengths to hide herself, not to mention she wore glasses. Ofcourse there was nothing wrong with glasses, but that wasn't what Mandy and her crew told her when they were little. Admittedly, they went a bit too far with the teasing but the memory still made Mandy smirk. Ming thought she was ugly and Mandy stayed the prettiest girl in her grade.

A car drove by and the twins had to stop their game. The driver scolded them, and sullen they walked back to their yard pushing their bikes. They passed out of Mandy's sight but as soon as the car drove away the came back giggling and resumed their game, as Mandy had expected. The Asukas had lived next door for as long as she could remember and those two girls had been nothing but trouble. From stealing Bethesda's ( Mandy's other neighbour) dogs to graffiti, the twins were a scrounge that rivaled even Abella and Heidi, her brother's classmates.

Speaking of her brother he was supposed to clean the car today. Mandy stomped out of her room after admiring the brilliant shade of pink that covered every inch of it. She went down stairs into the garage. Their father's hotrod was still red but it was still dusty as well. She felt a ping of annoyance. On the rare occasions their father didn't find the time to wash "his" car, her little brother always found a way to bail out. He would go and hide with his friends while she was stuck washing the damn thing. He wasn't going to do that today. Over her dead body.

She marched up the stairs and burst into his bed announced, grinning manically. It was empty. She checked the closet.

Empty.

She looked around for more hiding spots on this poorly decorated den Robert called a room. The were a couple posters on the wall, all of poor taste ( cars and other things Mandy didn't recognize) an old moth eaten wardrobe and a matching drawer. The was a bottle of pills on the drawer. Pain killers. She frowned at them.

A knock interrupted her inspection. Down the stairs she went, and to the door. Behind it stood two policemen, one very young and the other slightly older, but both were barely more than boys. They youngest and cuter one gapped at her. Mandy always had that effect with boys. Especially in the tight shorts and ripped t-shirt she had on. She smiled at them sweetly.

"Can I help you officers?"

"Is this the Craven residence?" The older one asked. He stood stiffly with a deep voice and a hulking frame that screamed quarterback.

"Yes it is."

"And you are Mandy Craven?"

She nodded.

"We were wondering if we could have a word. Maybe inside."

"Sure," Mandy said, twirling her hair. She opened the door wider so they could enter and led them into the lounge. She sat opposite to them and crossed her legs, smilling at the young officers. Both were trying to grow beards but the results were only a thin stubble, a peach fuzz in the case of the youngest, barely out of collage she guessed. The older would have been cute if he didn't look as if he had a stick up his ass.

"Are your parents home?" Peach-fuzz asked.

"No, their out of town, officer.  My I ask what is this about?"

"It's your brother," Mr Stick-up-his-ass began. "Has he been acting strange lately?"

Her mind was drawn to the bottle of painkiller she saw in his room. She shook her head.

"We received a report that he assaulted... assaulted maybe the wrong word, was in a fight with three boys last Saturday. One had a broken jaw and another fractured ribs."

"No need to get worried. Nobody's pressing charges but you'll need to alert your parents," Peach-fuzz said quickly.

Mandy stared at them. When they didn't burst out laughing telling her this was a joke she said, "Are sure you got the right house? I mean, my brother isn't even capable of hurting a fly, even if he wanted to."

"The report states that it was Robert Craven of 34 Bayley street," the older officer replied. "Now, as we said, nobody's pressing chargers so there won't be anyone else knocking on your door but you'll have to keep a close eye on your brother. If anything of the sort happens there'll have to be a fine."

Mandy was still processing this as she showed the officers out. She didn't even think of a good reply to the youngest officer who, despite his senior's evil glare, tried to initiate further conversation. The two left officers left with the Mr Stick-up-his-ass scolding his partner about being professional. It was a hilarious sight.

Mandy sat on the sofa, frowning.

Where the FUCK was Robb?

Abruptly, she stood and went to the garage. She found Robb there doubled down, puking in a bucket. She wrinkled her nose at the sight.

"So that's what your doing in the toilet at night, you little fuck," she said. "I thought you had simply started masturbating more often. Don't deny it, Uncle Kevan caught you at it."

Robb raised his middle finger in her general direction as another wave went into the bucket. Mandy even saw a bit of last night's pasta. She turned away from the sight. The sound alone was worse. Mandy left the garage and shouted through the door that if he got into a fight again, she would tell mom and dad. She was going to tell mom and dad about today too if he didn't do the dishes and clean the windows, not to mention the attic. When the only response was the shifting of a bucket she left him at it and locked herself in her room.

She screamed into her pillow. Tasha had hell to pay.